Chairman's Report

Welcome to our Spring 2009 Newsletter, and my sincere thanks to all our contributors.

The recent news about the Western Weald’s inclusion in the South Downs National Park is very welcome – although it has taken sixty years for the Park to become a reality

The weather has been kind to us over the winter period and allowed most of our work parties to proceed unhindered by the elements. More details of the work we have carried out are given elsewhere in this newsletter.

We have purchased a brushcutter, funded by a grant from the Town Council, which Andrew Williams has been using to good effect on the barrows and margins.

Our AGM will be on Tuesday 5th May at 7.30 pm in the Town Hall Rose Room and I invite all our members and their friends to attend. We are fortunate in having two managers from the South Downs Joint Committee, Nick Heasman and Bruce Middleton, coming to speak at the AGM. It will be interesting to hear their views on the new National Park. Our third speaker will be committee member and archaeologist Peter Price, who will talk about and answer questions on the archaeology of the Heath.

John Pike

Around the Heath - Autumn 2008 / Spring 2009

...contuned

In January the Arctic weather prevailed (I recorded a night-time low of -10C on the 7th) which forced the resident wildfowl to become almost fearless whenever food was offered. The piratical Black-headed Gulls did their best to snatch it away but found it difficult to manoeuvre close to the shrub-covered bank. Beside the now regular Pochard and Tufted Ducks a lone Shoveler appeared for a few days. It wasn’t many years ago that we had a flock of 30 Shoveler on the pond at this time of year. Around mid-month, the weather relented and open water returned but there were no further visitors until the end of the month when a single Great Crested Grebe was seen. Throughout the month I had seen a mixed flock of finches gathering in the trees in the late afternoon. On closer inspection these were Goldfinches and Greenfinches and they probably roosted together in dense shrubs in a nearby garden.

February started cold but thankfully not as bitter as the previous month. The first week produced a single Cormorant and a Reed Bunting, the latter being rarely seen at the pond in recent times. The small flock of Pochard and Tufted Duck could still he seen diving for food in the very clear water which obviously encouraged them to overwinter here. Towards the end of the month the Mute Swan pair started getting amorous and true to form the cob, who regards anything in white a rival, started to drive his remaining cygnet from the pond. The cygnet is a good flier but decided it wanted to stay. It had to be removed later by the R S P C A for its own safety. By the end of the month the pair had begun to build a new nest in the reed bed close to the Sussex Road car park.

During the first week of March the small flock of Pochard had left, no doubt beginning the journey to their breeding grounds. The majority of Pochard migrate to the north and east of Europe but some will remain in Britain with a few pairs recorded annually in Hampshire. In the following week I recorded the first spring migrant, a Chiffchaff whose monotonous song was audible throughout my visit that day. Another welcome visitor that day was a small flock of Redpolls which I have not recorded at the Heath for some years now. They are a heathland species so could breed here or, more likely, move to the larger heaths in the north east of the county. A long-awaited spell of settled weather gave us some much needed sunshine which brought out our hibernating butterflies. I saw a few Peacocks and Commas but no other species. To my utmost surprise the warmer weather also encouraged the occasional fish to break the surface of the pond. It will be interesting to see if there is any evidence of spawning this year. By the end of the month four Coots were dutifully sitting on their nests and further migration was evident with the arrival of Swallows, House and Sand Martins. Hopefully summer is not too far away.

Alf Smallbone