A day at Lewes Local Nature Reserve in the rain
By Holly Foat, responsibletravel.com
We at responsibletravel.com tend to talk a lot about what travellers can do to benefit their travel destination and we like to offer advice on the best way to minimise impacts and how to support conservation projects.
But we’re not all talk and last week we stopped talking and took some action. Perhaps, not in a way that you might expect.
Responsible tourism isn’t all about carbon offsetting and conservation projects in far off lands, it’s also about local communities. Which is why, last Thursday the whole of the responsibletravel.com office went to support our local community by volunteering on the Lewes railway land local nature reserve.
As the name suggests, the Lewes railway land local nature reserve used to part of the railway sidings which fell into disrepair as the rail network fell out of favour.
It was rescued in 1987 by community action supported by the Friends of Lewes and this led to the formation of the Railway Land Wildlife Trust in 1988. In 1995 the land was declared a Local Nature Reserve. This 25 acres site offers diverse mix of habitats from woodlands to wetlands and is a haven to wildlife and local people alike. The site is accessible to the whole community with footpaths and wheelchair accessible paths winding through the site offering sightings of the myriad of species that make their home here.
The railway land is being carefully managed to provide a variety of habitats. Recent projects have developed areas such as reed beds which have attracted kingfishers. Other wildlife visiting the reserve includes march frogs, woodpeckers, damselflies and 365 species of wild plants. There are also wet woodlands and wet grazing meadows (we really should have been expecting to get wet!)
Under the guidance of Dan the community ranger we set about resurfacing footpaths and clearing brambles to maintain access to this reserve. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t on our side in the morning but we’re a hardy bunch and we didn’t let it slow us down. By lunchtime most of us were soaked to the skin and some of us were suffering from splinters and nettle stings but we were still not dissuaded from our task. As the sun came out (to dry us off) we got our second wind and we pressed on.
At the end of the day we had managed to resurface almost 900metres of the path and clear away brambles and over hanging vegetation so that the people of Lewes can enjoy this rural retreat over the coming summer months.
This volunteering day is part of our commitment to our local community. We aim to volunteer like this every six months and to date we have worked with, amongst others, The Green Gym in Brighton, The National Trust near Hassocks and The Friends of Sheepcote Valley in Brighton.
If you know of anywhere we can help out and make a difference to the environment or the local community in the Brighton area on our next volunteering day please send your suggestions to Lyn@responsibletravel.com or let us know what you think on our blog here.
We at responsibletravel.com tend to talk a lot about what travellers can do to benefit their travel destination and we like to offer advice on the best way to minimise impacts and how to support conservation projects. But we’re not all talk and last week we stopped talking and took some action. Perhaps, not in a way that you might expect.
Responsible tourism isn’t all about carbon offsetting and conservation projects in far off lands, it’s also about local communities. Which is why, last Thursday the whole of the responsibletravel.com office went to support our local community by volunteering on the Lewes railway land local nature reserve.
As the name suggests, the Lewes railway land local nature reserve used to part of the railway sidings which fell into disrepair as the rail network fell out of favour.
It was rescued in 1987 by community action supported by the Friends of Lewes and this led to the formation of the Railway Land Wildlife Trust in 1988. In 1995 the land was declared a Local Nature Reserve. This 25 acres site offers diverse mix of habitats from woodlands to wetlands and is a haven to wildlife and local people alike. The site is accessible to the whole community with footpaths and wheelchair accessible paths winding through the site offering sightings of the myriad of species that make their home here.
The railway land is being carefully managed to provide a variety of habitats. Recent projects have developed areas such as reed beds which have attracted kingfishers. Other wildlife visiting the reserve includes march frogs, woodpeckers, damselflies and 365 species of wild plants. There are also wet woodlands and wet grazing meadows (we really should have been expecting to get wet!)Under the guidance of Dan the community ranger we set about resurfacing footpaths and clearing brambles to maintain access to this reserve. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t on our side in the morning but we’re a hardy bunch and we didn’t let it slow us down. By lunchtime most of us were soaked to the skin and some of us were suffering from splinters and nettle stings but we were still not dissuaded from our task. As the sun came out (to dry us off) we got our second wind and we pressed on.
At the end of the day we had managed to resurface almost 900metres of the path and clear away brambles and over hanging vegetation so that the people of Lewes can enjoy this rural retreat over the coming summer months. This volunteering day is part of our commitment to our local community. We aim to volunteer like this every six months and to date we have worked with, amongst others, The Green Gym in Brighton, The National Trust near Hassocks and The Friends of Sheepcote Valley in Brighton.
If you know of anywhere we can help out and make a difference to the environment or the local community in the Brighton area on our next volunteering day please send your suggestions to Lyn@responsibletravel.com or let us know what you think on our blog here.