By Nicky Holbrook (Greener Lindfield), Amy Hurn (Gardens & Greenspaces Coordinator, Knepp Wildland Foundation), and Will Faas (Greener Cuckfield)
Our local nature needs your help to survive and thrive! Do you have a green space that you look after - your garden, balcony, school field, allotment etc? Could you pledge some of this to nature recovery? Without swift action, we will continue to see a fall in the diversity and abundance of nature across the UK and the loss of all the ecosystem services they provide.
The good news is that we can reverse this trend and we can ALL make a difference. Beneath our patios and goalposts and all our gardens are part of ancient ecosystems which can provide crucial stepping stones for pollinators, small mammals, amphibians and birds.
Here in Sussex Weald to Waves is a great project coordinated through the Knepp Wildland Foundation to create an initial 100-mile nature friendly corridor from the High Weald and Ashdown Forest, through the Low Weald and over the South Downs National Park, along the river catchments of the Arun, Adur and Ouse to the coast at Climping, Shoreham and Newhaven and out to the kelp forests of Sussex Bay (see map). Its ambition is to tie together a wide community of land managers and owners, farmers, conservation organisations, councils, schools, businesses, local community groups and individuals working for nature recovery across Sussex.
The Weald to Waves project is mapping and supporting efforts of all sizes and is a leading national example of how nature’s recovery can coexist and support sustainable food production alongside our cultural and social lives. The nature recovery corridor will enhance habitats and support species, allowing our wildlife to survive and thrive across our local areas. Key to this success is engaging and connecting people and communities across Sussex by creating new opportunities to understand enjoy and protect nature.
We can all be part of this great project as last year Weald to Waves launched their Gardens & Greenspaces project. Everyone in Sussex can register and pledge their green space and you can contribute to extending this nature friendly corridor right now! This doesn’t mean abandoning your gardens but rather working with nature. The ambition is to create something truly remarkable; a community-led nature corridor extending across Sussex which will demonstrate landscape-scale recovery in action.
Our gardens are important because they make up the largest block of land in the Weald to Waves corridor. When we add in our parks, playgrounds, allotments, balconies and verges, this amounts to more land than Ashdown Forest!
When you register and pledge your green space, with your agreement, it will appear as a dot on a digital map. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to start linking up dots all over West Sussex? Could you leave a hole under a fence, plant some climbing plants or a native tree so nature can fly, jump and scurry between nature friendly spaces?
Signing up to the Gardens and Greenspaces project will offer you ideas and practical guidance for nature recovery, as well as opportunities to connect with others, share knowledge and experience. You will learn about species and habitats and can take part in monitoring and recording what we have outside our back doors.
So are you involved with a school playground, a scout hut, community orchard or an allotment group? Are you part of a community group managing green space such as a churchyard, burial ground or a community garden? Are you a gardener trying to make changes in your garden or window box? The Weald to Waves Garden & Greenspaces project urges you to SIGN UP and PLEDGE your space. Let’s link up with different communities across Sussex.
To read more and sign up, go to the ‘Get Involved’ page on the Weald to Waves website www.wealdtowaves.co.uk Information on Greener Cuckfield can be found at www.greenercuckfield.org or email greenercuckfield@ gmail.com.