We continue to be the target for those antisocial people who think nothing of spoiling the beauty of the Forest by fly-tipping, dropping litter, leaving gates open and even starting fires. We need to identify these individuals and to prosecute them if possible and we need the help of everyone who cares about this unique environment. If you see anyone engaged in any of these activities and youhave an opportunity of recording a registration plate,time and place of an incident and a description of the vehicle and occupants, then please telephone 999 (in the event of an emergency like a fire) or0845 60 70 999 (Crimestoppers). We all need to bevigilant because unfortunately this type of behaviouris on the increase.

Fly-tipping...ASHDOWN FORESTlifeFor all those who care about the Forest www.ashdownforest.org

ISSUE NO. 7 SPRING/SUMMER 2009

FROM DEER TO DARWIN

HERITAGE LOTTERY FUNDING

ENJOYING THE FOREST - BIRD WATCHING

CONSERVATORS AND COMMONERS

SHEEP NEWS

SPRING AND SUMMER ON THE FOREST

FLY-TIPPING

NEWS AND DIARY DATES

FRIENDS OF ASHDOWN FOREST EVENTS For bookings, telephone 01892 611414 or email ashdownfriends@aol.com

Wednesday 20th May Private group visit to the British Wildlife Centre, Newchapel. 2.30 p.m. Tickets £10.50 in advance.

Sunday 7th June A field walk in Pippingford Park, Nutley. 2.30 p.m. from Millbrook East car park.

Tuesday 16th June A Nightjar walk. 8.30 p.m. from Long car park.

Saturday 4th July Walk in Old Lodge Nature Reserve. 2.30 p.m. (booking essential).

DIARY DATESSunday 17th May Wildlife Watch Roadshow. In association with the Sussex Wildlife Trust. Please contact SWT on 01273 497561.

1.00 - 4.00p.m. at the Forest Centre.

Wednesday 27th May Sheep Day. Hebridean lambs, shearing, spinning and weaving demonstrations. 11.00 a.m. at the Forest Centre.

Until 20th July On the Forest Floor and Beyond. An exhibition of natural artworks by Pamela Hurwitz at the Forest Centre.

Wednesday 29th July and Wednesday 19th AugustRoman days. Just announced - see website for details.

Sunday 2nd August Amazing Ancient Ashdown Forest Living History Walk. A walk led by costumed guides to meet the Forest's past inhabitants! This forms part of the annual Festival of Archaeology. 1.00 p.m. at the Forest Centre.Please book with Ruth Dawson (High Weald Unit) on 01580 879954. Funded by Heritage Lottery Fund.

Wednesday 12th - Sunday 16th August Same Sky artist in residence building a Maiden of the Weald for Ashdown Forest (from wood and willow)

at the Forest Centre. Funded by Heritage Lottery Fund.

August onwards Ashdown Forest - an Artist's View. An exhibition by Nutley-based artist Juliet Murray at the Forest Centre.

Editorial: Paul Cooper, forest.marketing@btinternet.com Design and production: Studio 4, m.marriott@btconnect.comTHE CONSERVATORS OF ASHDOWN FOREST

Ashdown Forest Centre, Wych Cross, Forest Row, East Sussex RH18 5JPT: 01342 823583 E: conservators@ashdownforest.org www.ashdownforest.org

Only printed on paper from sustainable forests. All paper used is FSC Certified and produced only at mills holding ISO 14001 certification.

We are grateful to Natural England for supporting Ashdown Forest Life.

We are always grateful for volunteer help - all ages welcome!Why not become a Friend? Contact www.friendsofashdownforest.co.uk

Additional photography: Rich Allum, Louise Amos, Paul Cooper.

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Welcome Welcome to the summer 2009 issue of Ashdown Forest Life. As youcan see we have increased the size from 8 to 12 pages due to thepopularity of the publication and the positive response we have had.

In this issue we cover a wide range of topics from deer to Darwin,explain the make-up of the Board of Conservators and the role ofcommoners, bring you up to date with all the news and highlightsome of those aspects that still cause real concern such as deer collisions and fly-tipping.

We have also taken advantage of our extra pages to explain thevarious ways you can gain the most enjoyment from visiting the Forest. Whether you come to walk the dog, have a picnic, ride ahorse, watch for birds or simply stroll over the open heath and enjoy the wildlife and spectacular views, we will give you tips on the best places to go, at what time and what you may see. In this issue we are featuring bird watching and hopefully this will help and encourage people to start this fascinating pastime in an environment where rare species can be seen. Our ongoing programme of heath restoration is really having a positive effect on wildlife.

Thanks again to Natural England for their funding of various aspects of our work including this publication.

Let’s hope for a drier summer than the last!Hew Prendergast CLERK TO THE CONSERVATORS

Cover: Wrens Warren - photograph by Dave Brooker

From deer...Like the New Forest, Ashdown Forest was created for the hunting of deer. It was enclosed as a royal hunting ground by the 13th century, its boundary created by a “pale” of bank and ditch that is still visible today in some places.

Enjoying the heathOne of many! -photograph by Matt Pitts

Over the centuries the original population ofred deer disappeared from the Forest and thepopulation of fallow deer has fluctuated between none at the end of the 17th century,when the pale was no longer maintained, to the very high numbers we see today.

In the 1970s there were about 250 fallow onthe Forest. Now twice as many get killed onlocal roads every year. To deal with casualtiesover an ever larger area, the Ashdown AreaDeer Group, with representatives from East Sussex County Council, Sussex Police, the Deer Initiative, the RSPCA, the British Deer Society, land-owners and the Conservators, has this year been training up deer wardens. The Group’s efforts also produced the conspicuous deer warning

signs on the A22 between Wych Cross and Nutley – a stretch of road with the highestrecorded number of deer casualties anywhere in the whole country.

Away from the roads, the Deer Group has been collating information about the extent ofdamage done by deer in the local environment(for example to trees and woodlands).

While everyone seems to like deer, there is increasing realisation throughout the countrythat their increasing numbers may need someform of management.

The Deer Group minutes may be seen atwww.ashdownforest.org/conservation/deer.php

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Walking

Horse riding

Dog walking

Enjoying the Forest...to DarwinFew can be unaware that 2009 is the 200th anniversaryof the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th year sincethe publication of ‘On the Origin of Species’. What maybe less well known is that Ashdown Forest also had a roleto play in his extraordinarily productive scientific life.

"During the summer of 1860, I was surprised byfinding how large a number of insects were caught by the leaves of the common sundew(Drosera rotundifolia) on a heath in Sussex. I had heard that insects were thus caught, but knew nothing further on the subject."

These are the opening words of his book ‘InsectivorousPlants’, published in 1875. In 1860 he was staying with his sister-in-law who lived in what is now ColemansHatch. We don’t of course know which plants he actually saw, but there is still a large population of thecommon sundew on nearby Broadstone Heath, growing in wet ground with sphagnum mosses. Darwin becamefascinated by the adaptations of plants to impoverishedconditions such as the poor acid soils of heaths.

Drosera rotundifolia

© The Linnean Society of London

In November came news of an award of£1.92 million from the Heritage LotteryFund to the Weald Forest Ridge Landscape Partnership Scheme. For the Board of Conservators, one of the 18 partner organisations involved, this will mean providing the means to communicate with a wider number of people about theForest and the work of the Conservatorsneeded to look after it.

Work is already underway on producing new walks leaflets (to be downloadable online) and equipping the Education Barn at the Centre with more up to dateand child-friendly furniture. For more information about the Scheme and its focus on the four Norman huntingforests of the High Weald see www.highweald.org

Heritage Lottery Fund

You are entitled to walk anywhere on the common land of Ashdown Forest at any time – 10 square miles of walking freedom! It is best identified by reference to the Map and Guide obtainable from the Forest Centre. If you don’t have a map, it is generally safe to assume that if you walk out from any Forest car park you will remain on the Forest until you come to a boundary fence. An exception is the grazing enclosure fence, but it is usually clear that the land on the other side of the fence is a continuation of the common land.

You may ride your horse on the Forest subject to obtaining a permit from the Centre. Permits are issued either for six months or one year.

Dog walking is one of the most popular activities on the Forest. Probably, on average, for every 10 visitors to the Forest there are six dogs! Heeding the bye-laws and the Countryside Code is important for everyone'ssafety and enjoyment. In issue 3 of Ashdown Forest Life (spring/summer 2007) we featured an air ambulanceundertaking an emergency evacuation of a rider thrown from her horse near King’s Standing. The cause of the incident was a dog that startled the horse. This led to a court case where the insurers for the dog owneradmitted liability on the basis that the dog had not been kept under control. Also over the last few monthsthere have been a number of very distressing reports concerning dogs – for example a Rottweiler attacking a pony on the edge of Crowborough, Bedlington terriers chasing sheep near King’s Standing and a long-coated yellow retriever eating a deer alive near Blackhill. Please ensure that you keep your dog under control at all times, preferably on a lead. Dogs worrying livestock can, by law, be shot.

Enjoying riding on the Forest

Bird Watching

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Friends’ Clump - photograph by Dave BrookerInset: Dartford warbler - photograph by Steve Walton

With its wonderful landscape and range of habitats, the Forest is a great place for birds and bird watching and for seeing species not found in the back garden. However, for those who would like to take up this fascinating pastime, it can seem a bit daunting knowing quite where to start. So we asked Clive Poole, a resident of the Forest and bird watching enthusiast, to give some basic tips on how to get involved.

WHAT EQUIPMENT DO I NEED?Don’t be put off, thinking you need expensiveequipment. Obviously, the more you can pay the better, but a pair of second-handbinoculars is all you need but remember to buyone with a high optical quality – it really doesmake a difference in seeing colours you mightnot notice with the naked eye, especially inpoor light.

Generally binoculars with specifications between 8x30 and 10x40 will be fine – the first figure is the magnification, the secondfigure is the field of vision. You should alsobuy a field guide bird book.

WHICH SPECIES SHOULD I LOOK OUT FOR? Thanks to active management over many years that is maintaining the heaths and theircharacteristic features of openness and extensive heather and rough grass with scattered trees, many species which depend on such areas flourish on the Forest. Without this management these birds would all be lost from the Forest – along with statutory protection.

They include:

MEADOW PIPIT, SKYLARK, DARTFORD WARBLERFound in areas of extensive heather, wherethey breed on or close to the ground.

WHAT TIME OF YEAR IS BEST?If you are new to bird watching, spring andearly summer would be ideal, when the resident birds and summer visitors from Africaare singing and displaying on the heather andgorse, from the treetops and in the air.

WHAT IS THE BEST TIME OF DAY?Most birds wake around dawn and start singingand moving. This activity has quietened downby about 11 a.m. Some species, shy of humans, move to less accessible places later inthe day as disturbance increases, so the earlierin the day the better. There are exceptions ofcourse and a few species, like nightjar andwoodcock, are active around dusk.

Bird Watching

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REED BUNTINGFound in more boggy areas of heather, often with scrub willow and birch.

STONECHATFound in areas of gorse with nearby heather – they sing and nest in or on the gorse.

YELLOWHAMMERMales sing from gorse, holly or saplings in areas close to rough grassland.

WHITETHROATThe male’s scratchy song-flight issues up from a gorse bush.

TREE PIPITDull summer visitor with pretty song: males sing in flight or from the top of lone pine in open areas of heath.

REDSTARTSummer visitor from Africa. Most of the Sussex population breeds on Ashdown Forest in pine clumps on the heath, where males sing from treetops.

CUCKOOGood numbers here, because females lay eggs inmeadow pipit nests. Males call in flight. May is a goodtime to see them around the heather and gorse fromSmugglers or Broadstone car parks.

WOODLARKGerman name is Heidelerche - translated heathlark. A rare bird, males having a beautiful, liquid song “lu-lu-lu-lu” in spring from the air or an isolated tree.

NIGHTJARAfrican summer visitor; males best heard and seen lateMay through June, around 15 minutes after sunset,churring and wing-clapping over heather / gorse.

“Good luck and I hope you really enjoy your early mornings in this amazing environment.”Clive Poole

You could also consider joining the Ashdown Forest Bird Group. Its principal role is to monitor bird life onthe Forest but members also enjoy a full programme oftrips and events. If you’re interested in joining, contactSue Phillips at: suephillips@ashdownbirdgroup.co.ukand visit the website at www.ashdown-forest.co.ukYellowhammer - photograph by Garth Peacock

The characteristic heathland landscape

of conservation with the role of the Forest as a publicamenity, as well as protecting the traditional rights of commoners (such as grazing livestock). Like everywhereelse, the Forest is also subject to further legislation and toconservation designations from both the UK government andthe EU. The most pressing management work is to lookafter the heaths.

COMMONERSMore than any other group of people, commoners have overtime been responsible for the existence of Ashdown Forest asan open, undeveloped area. They won an important courtcase in 1885 that brought the Conservators into existence to protect their rights. This fascinating story is told in

‘The Ashdown Forest Dispute’ by Prof. Brian Short of the University of Sussex (available at the Forest Centre).

Common rights are attached to properties. For historical reasons most of them are not on the Forest itself; some, indeed, are as far away as Fletching. Apart from the pastoralrights, commoners are entitled to vote for representatives onthe Board of Conservators or be elected to become one. By law commoners must pay a Forest Rate, which goes towards the expense of managing the Forest. In 1965, the Commons Registration Act forced all commoners to re-register their rights. Approximately half didn’t bother,which explains why it is possible to have a row of identicalcottages, some with common rights and some without. Ofthe 730 properties with rights today, only a very few takeadvantage of them. After WWII the Forest suffered from thedecline in traditional grazing and the cutting of wood. As aresult, trees previously suppressed by livestock (and perhapsby rabbits in pre-myxomatosis days) grew up and invadedthe heaths. It is to turn this ‘tide’ that the Conservators embarked on its heath restoration work in the early 1990s(when funding became available) and erected the grazingenclosure that allows commoners’ livestock to graze in relative safety away from major roads. If you own a propertywith common rights on the Forest, you might find it useful tolook at the dedicated commoners’ page on the website www.ashdownforest.org/history/the_commoners.php.

Conservators & CommonersBOARD OF CONSERVATORSThe responsibility for managing Ashdown Forest lies with an independent body, the Board of Conservators of AshdownForest, which was originally set up in 1885. But who actually makes up the Board? Eight representatives comefrom East Sussex County Council, two from Wealden DistrictCouncil, five are elected by commoners and one, the Chairman of the County Council, represents the Ashdown Forest Trust, in whose name ownership of the Forest isvested. Most Conservators either live on the Forest or inparishes bordering it, but some do come from outside to represent the wider community. The duties of the Conservators are laid out by the 1974 Ashdown Forest Act.In essence, the Conservators need to balance the objectives

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Phil says “I really enjoy working on the Forest as an assistant shepherd. I enjoy the great views, working with thesheep and most of all working with my trusty dogs Ben aged 12 and Cloud who isonly 9 months old and in her first steps of training.”

Our shepherd Louise and Phil will be busywith lambing in late April and we will report on this in the next issue of Ashdown Forest Life.

We continue to hear of sightings of large cats and wild boar on the Forest. The numberof these sightings makes them hard to dismiss, but what we really need is evidenceof the existence of these animals. So, if yousee anything and can provide some form ofphotographic proof, we would really bepleased to hear from you.

On a less dramatic note you could look outfor the amazing glow worm this summer.

The glow worm ( ) is not aworm at all but a beetle. This is more obviousin the male, which is about 12mms long, haswings, and is a light brown colour.

It is the female that glows. The green lightshe produces, to attract the males, is aboutas bright as an LED and is created by a substance in the abdomen called luciferin.When mixed with oxygen, it breaks down tocreate the light. She has complete controlover the light emission and is able to switch it on and off at will. In areas wherethere is artificial lighting, males get distracted from locating females so for thisreason glow-worm populations seem to survive better in areas with less light pollution. Glow worms are active from May to late August but are most noticeable atnight in June and July when the females light up to attract the males.

Glow worms are in national decline. If you see them on the Forest please do let us know!

Lampyris noctiluca

Over the winter months Forest staff, together with outside contractors, continued the vital work of restoring the heaths in twelve widely scattered separateareas. Elsewhere, two ponds have been dredged atChelwood Vachery thanks to funding from British American Tobacco, as detailed in the last issue of Ashdown Forest Life, and a survey of potentially dangerous trees was undertaken, resulting in the removal of a large beech tree at Wych Cross which was identified as being a high risk to traffic. The ongoing campaign of controlling the rhododendron,bracken and Japanese knotweed will continue into the summer months. Fundraising will begin for thebuilding of new modern toilet facilities at the ForestCentre together with a new entrance to the Centre itself.

These upgrades would form part of further developments that are still under review.

After the last issue we had a lot of response on the subject of mountain biking on the Forest. After much discussion (recorded in minutes of meetings on the website) the Conservators decided to retain the current policy of not allowing it. Some local bikers have been very helpful and dialogue continues with them.

We have also recently launched the Ashdown Forest e-news service and you can register on our website toreceive the regular emails detailing news from the Conservators. www.ashdownforest.org

News

Spring & Summeron the Forest

Bracken clearingBelow: Phil Kidd with Ben

SHEEP NEWSWe are pleased to welcome Phil Kidd whojoined the Ashdown Forest team as an assistant shepherd in November 2008.

He grew up on a smallholding and was always helping with the family sheep. He studied at Plumpton College for two yearsand then worked on a sheep and dairy farmprior to joining the Forest team.

Female glow worm moving from side to side -photograph by John Tyler