At their latest meeting at Ferring Village Hall, over 50 members of Ferring Conservation Group heard from Fran Southgate of the Sussex Wildlife Trust. As well as working for the Trust, she is also the Ecological Advisor to the Arun and Rother Connections project, and this was the subject of her talk – “Building the ARC – Water and Wetlands in the Arun Valley”.

This is a Heritage Lottery funded project, and its main aim is to promote a rich and thriving river system where wildlife flourishes and where people value and enjoy the landscape, natural and cultural heritage. It covers an area of some 77,000 hectares of West Sussex roughly from Horsham across to Petersfield and down to Littlehampton, with a whole variety of habitats including acid heathland, chalk downland, plus areas of clay and shingle. Otters are one of the flagship species of the project as these are good indicators of the health of the rivers, and are starting to colonise the area, having been extinct here since the 50s and 60s. Some other vital species are Water Voles (making good progress) and the very rare Black Poplar trees, which need damp conditions.

The project includes many opportunities for people to get involved including guided walks, practical work days and training, plus there is also some funding available to local groups for practical projects.

To round off the meeting, Group Vice Chairman Ed Miller gave an update on planning matters, and highlighted the progress of the Ferring Neighbourhood Plan which will be going to referendum in the village on December 10th, and the Group is fully supporting a “yes” vote.

Our July meeting was opened by Ed Miller confirming that there were no new planning applications and we do not expect any planning application from Persimmon until Worthing Borough Council consider their options for sites for development. Chairman, David Bettiss announced the launch of our Group’s new website, although there is still some work to do. The address is: www.ferringconservationgroup.co.uk. The highlight of the evening was an entertaining talk and flying demonstration from ‘Owls about Town’. This is a local organisation run by Andy and his wife, Zsi that aims to educate both children and adults about owls. They regularly visit Schools, Nursing and Residential Homes, Charity Events etc. It was explained that any more than one owl constitutes a parliament of owls and consequently Andy and Zsi have named many of their owls after politicians. Including Boris Johnson, Virginia Bottomley and Nigel Farage. On display was a Little Owl referred to as the original ‘Wise Owl’. This owl weighs around 6ozs and is particularly observant. In contrast the European Eagle Owl has a two metre wingspan, weighs 5lbs 8oz and in the wild feeds on pheasants and rats and has even been known to kill roe deer and foxes. Several Group members requested to hold the owls and were amazed at the calmness of the birds. After tea Michael Brown delivered the news that the Rampion Offshore Wind Farm has been approved and 175 wind turbines will be built 13kms off the coast between Newhaven and Worthing. This plan was approved despite the National Park Authority’s opposition to the visual impact and other environmental issues. The meeting concluded with Tricia Hall’s ever popular Nature Notes. Tricia informed us that four Water Voles were seen all at one time along the bank of the River Rife and this could indicate a resident family. Tricia had set an Egg Box Moth Trap and as conditions were ideal had managed to photograph a Drinker, an Elephant Hawk and a Swallow Tail moth amongst others. Tricia also commented on how well the wild flowers had grown this year in the beach and park areas.