Helping Cuckfield’s Biodiversity
Would you like to help protect and enhance Cuckfield’s wildlife and to make the parish an even better place for nature to flourish?
The Parish Council has recently agreed to produce a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP), partly in response to the recent State of Nature report that showed that in the UK, of the species studied since 1970, there has been an average decline of 19% with 43% of birds, 31% of amphibians and reptiles, 28% of fungi and lichen and 26% of terrestrial mammals at risk of being lost.
A BAP can be wide ranging but the initial aim would be to establish some baseline data for the parish’s habitats and wildlife and then devise some practical actions to help. These could be at habitat level such as grass verges, gardens or hedges or at species level, for instance butterflies (White Admiral), birds (Swift), mammals (Hedgehog) or amphibians (Newts) but can all be determined at a later date.
Ongoing monitoring will be key but should provide opportunities for participation, with potential for citizen science projects that might be undertaken by schools or other groups while Greener Cuckfield will also be on hand to help with some of the implementation.
However, the most important part of any BAP is the interaction with the local community, so if you do have an interest or local knowledge of wildlife or particular species, it would be great to hear from you, especially if you are a landowner or have any involvement or connection with land in the parish. Please email adrian. podmore@cuckfield.gov.uk.