Sussex Wildlife Trust

Customer Reviews about Sussex Wildlife Trust:

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  This is a very specific review concerning the activities of the Sussex Wildlife Trust (SWL) on the Ashdown Forest in East Sussex, where they have established a stronghold (reserve?) referred to on their website as Old Lodge. If you were to visit their site and check out the few elements of it that function correctly, youd realise they have their fingers in a number of pies. This leads to a superficial understanding of several issues, but a knowledge of virtually none. Unfortunately this is evidenced by their attitude and activities in an area of the Sussex countryside that has been shaped by human interaction over thousands of years, yet remains a uniquely wild area within an overcrowded region of the south-eastern UK. The countryside is not a playground for those with expensive cameras and long lenses to enjoy in their spare time. It is a living and breathing entity that includes and exists because of those who have lived, loved, walked and worked in a particular vicinity though all weathers and at every time of the day, often over decades and for generations. The SWL can claim little regard for history or how this ecosystem has survived untarnished before they came along. They talk about access yet the reserve is heavily fenced, in a part of the world that has always been proud to let people and animals wander unhindered. Dogs are supposed to be kept on a tight leash, while throughout the rest of Ashdown Forest they must simply be under control, as on paths and firebreaks they do no harm whatsoever and enhance the amenity value of this wonderful area. So-called ponds have been dug to attract dragonflies, yet as these never existed previously, few will be flooded throughout the time it takes a dragonfly nymph to develop, while the marshy ground and streams elsewhere remain as full of these insects as they always were. Exmoor ponies have been introduced from Devon and Charolais cows from France, while the evocative silver birch woodland is being decimated in favour of the ecological disaster that is pine. Nesting boxes have been nailed up everywhere and remain almost universally empty, while the birdlife advertised on the SWL website is for those who visit regularly, only notable by its absence. In short, this reserve is an unmitigated disaster from almost every point of view. Sure the scenery is beautiful, but there is much more of it nearby, without the limitations imposed by a few misguided fanatics. This is an excellent example of the blind leading the blind, to the detriment of the countryside and all wildlife. Those who know the area like the back of their hand, cannot but long for the bad weather and dark evenings of winter, when such individuals are no longer around.
  By jennytaylor, August 18, 2020

About Sussex Wildlife Trust in Henfield

Sussex Wildlife Trust