Gary Webster, a Heritage Officer with the National Trust, on his second visit to the Group delivered part 2 of The Changing Chalk Partnership. This time around Gary focused on the human history and archaeology of the downland of East Sussex. He recalled the geology of the Downs, the remnants of the huge chalk dome that covered most of south-east England, and the flints found  in the chalk that served as tools for the Neolithic settlers over 5,000 years ago, enabling them to clear the forests and begin some sort of agriculture. Their ‘causeway enclosures’ are still visible in aerial photographs. The Bronze Age farmers who followed them buried their leaders in great hillocks of soil and chalk, the ‘barrows’ that are to be seen all over the East Sussex Downs.

Gary went on to show the hill forts of the Iron Age, the Roman camps and villas and the early Norman castles, and running quickly thorough the Saxon settlements, the agricultural revolution of the 18^th century and the military occupations in both world wars. All these had let their imprint on the landscape. He was leading a project in East Sussex to locate, map, identify, monitor and protect these ancient monuments, using volunteers. This was giving a great deal of enjoyment to the volunteers and making an important contribution to conservation.

Pete Coe gave an update on the work to conserve Ferring’s WW2 Pill Box on the seafront – earlier in the day Ferring’s own ‘Monument Monitors’ formed a human chain along the beach from the Pill Box towards the sea and the volunteers managed to remove 800 litres of rainwater from the floor of this important structure, to enable further work to be done.

Graham Tuppen gave his regular report on local wildlife, highlighting the 19 species of butterflies identified by Ferring Group members on Cissbury Ring for the Big Butterfly Count. Graham also reported on a colony of wall lizards sighted at West Worthing station.

Ed Miller gave the planning report – the Goring Gap now safe from the developers and some good decisions by Arun District Council and the Planning Inspectors on appeal.

On 30 June Ferring Conservation Group had another talk by Sussex historian Chris Horlock – on some of the curious things to be seen in the county’s churches and graveyards, on village signs, in records of its folklore, old recipes and health cures.

He began with St Bartholomew’s Church in Brighton, an enormous building, in brick. A photograph of it under construction in 1874 showed how it dwarfed all its neighbours, including all other churches in the town. Rather dull on the outside, the interior was a ‘High Church’ masterpiece of architecture and decoration – more like a cathedral than a parish church. He went from there to possibly the smallest church in England at Lullington, near Alfriston, a mere 16ft by 16ft. And on to Isfield. Burton, Boxgrove, each with curious features, and the gravestone at Walberton depicting a tree falling on the deceased and our own carrier-pigeon memorial in Worthing.

Chris moved on to Sussex health cures, including mistletoe tea, red flannel dressings, keeping a potato in your pocket, swallowing live frogs and ‘bumping the corpse’ to revive the apparently dead; then to some enigmatic village signs and some very strange recipes. It was a fascinating collection of photographs, facts and anecdotes from the Sussex heritage that needs conservation just as much as its countryside and wildlife.

Also, very enjoyable was the news from the Court of Appeal, only a few hours earlier, that Persimmon had lost their case on Chatsmore Farm – their last opportunity to overturn Worthing Council’s refusal of the developer’s application for a 485-house estate in the north Goring Gap. Ed Miller said this was a landmark judgment which would protect the other green spaces along Littlehampton Road.

On a return visit to Ferring Conservation Group Stuart Card gave an interesting and informative presentation, this time on Barn Owls and the vital work that is being carried out by the Sussex Barn Owl Study Group under the umbrella of the Sussex Ornithology Society.

Stuart shared his enthusiasm for this attractive little owl and began by advising members that populations had declined (it is believed that changing agricultural practices and the development of barns and old buildings could be the cause of this) while the introduction of owl nesting boxes is helping the species and encouragingly they are now recovering.

Stuart advised the audience that it is crucial to maintain ongoing and consistent monitoring of the Sussex Barn Owl population. The Study Group regularly ring birds and record their nest sites and are always on the lookout for volunteers to help erect new nest boxes. With around 90% of Barn Owls now breeding in nest boxes stringent management will enable these charming birds to thrive and increase in number.

Barn Owls are avid hunters and scour open grassland for small mammals such as voles, mice, shrews and rats assisted by their incredible long-distance vision, sensitive hearing and silent flight. Female Barn Owls are larger than males and usually breed between March and August (this usually depends on food supply). Around 4 to 6 eggs are laid, hatching just over a month later and chicks are ready to fledge at around two months old.

Graham Tuppen took to the floor after a break for refreshments with news that he had ventured up to Highdown Gardens and had been amazed at the flowers of the Handkerchief Tree with its beautiful white flowers on display, his photograph did indeed look just like handkerchiefs hanging on its branches. Graham reported that Comfrey was growing amongst the Cow Parsley on the banks of the Rife and the Blackthorn and Hawthorn were in bloom. Yellow Flag Iris were in the Lagoons and Marsh Orchids were on display in this area too. A Mallard Duck with 4 ducklings were seen plus Moorhens with their young but sadly there had been a report of an injured Little Owl in the Plantation. There had also been a sighting of 3 dolphins around 200 metres out to sea off the Bluebird Café area of the beach.

Ed Miller concluded the May meeting with a planning update and advised the Group that a planning application had been submitted to Arun DC for rebuild of a property in Ferring Close and at 1, Sea Drive an additional house in the back garden. Ed advised that Persimmon were still awaiting a decision from the Court of Appeal regarding their further appeal.

Ed reported that apart from these it was ‘All quiet on the Western and Eastern Front’.