Taking steps for wildlife
A season celebrating how we can all help our local Swifts, wildflowers, bees and trees!
Wednesday 24 April – Saturday 15 June, Lewes Climate Hub, Lewes House, 32 High Street, Lewes, BN7 2LU
ADD TO OUR BIG COLLAGE!
Throughout the “Taking Steps for Wildlife” season, contribute to our wall collage, sharing what you are planning to do to help wildlife – or inspire others with details of what you’re already doing!
24 April – 4 May – Celebrating Swifts
From the end of April, Lewes Swift Supporters will have been scanning the skies to look for signs of Swifts returning to Lewes. Our town hosts 10% of the Sussex population of Swifts and their numbers have declined by 58% since 1995.
- Drop into Lewes Climate Hub to find out more about these amazing, red-listed aerial acrobats and discover where they nest in Lewes.
- Learn how you can help to monitor our local Swift population as part of Lewes Swift Watch.
- Find out how to support Swifts – by installing your own Swift nest box and making small changes to your garden.
ACTIVITIES for all ages:
- Craft your own ‘Flying Swift’ to take home
- Take part in our Swift Quiz for a chance to win a free Swift nest box or an artificial House Martin cup.
8 May – 18 May – Wildflower Wonders
Ninety-seven percent of our wildflower meadows have been lost nationwide since the 1970s, with devastating knock-on effects on the insects that depend on them. We can stem this loss by cultivating more wildflower patches across the town and creating “stepping stones” that join up isolated habitats.
Wildflower Lewes will be sharing a wealth of practical tips on how to grow native wildflowers, showing why it is so important to increase the number of bigger, better, and well-connected pollinator corridors across our town.
TALK: Managing South Malling Churchyard for Wildflowers
Saturday 18 May, 1.30pm, Lewes Climate Hub, Lewes House, 32 High Street, BN7 2LU, FREE
Experienced wildlife gardener Chris Burt will give an illustrated talk to share his years of experience nurturing wildflower species in South Malling Churchyard, with lots of practical insights to apply to your own garden!
PLUS: Lots of free fun wildflower activities for all the family!
22 May – 1 June –
The Bees of Sussex
Sussex is one of the richest and most diverse counties in the UK for bees. Drop into Lewes Climate Hub to find out more about the different bees of Sussex and how to help them to find the best variety of habitats for feeding and breeding.
TALK: Ten Sussex bees and the stories they tell
Saturday 25 May, 1.30pm, Lewes Climate Hub, Lewes House, 32 High Street, BN7 2LU, FREE
Join nature conservationist, wildlife gardener and author James Power for this beautiful illustrated talk on the diversity and richness of Sussex’s wild bees. Copies of James’s book, ‘The Bees of Sussex’, will be available to buy, with all proceeds shared between the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society and Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre.
PLUS: Make a bee hotel to take home for your garden.
ACTIVITY: Pollinator Survey
Saturday 1 June, 11.00 am to 3.00 pm, meet at Lewes Climate Hub, Lewes House, 32 High Street, BN7 2LU
Join Jan Knowlson, Biodiversity Officer at South Downs National Park, in the grounds of Lewes House and School Hill Surgery to discover how you can identify and record the location of different bee species and other pollinators using the brilliant and easy-to-use i-Naturalist app.
PLUS: Make a bee hotel to take home for your garden.
5 June – 15 June – Tremendous Trees
The Trees Committee of Friends of Lewes manage the Lewes Urban Arboretum Project, which has led to global recognition of Lewes by ArbNet as an “arboretum town”. Since 2012 the Committee has been working with the community, local councils, and schools to increase tree canopy cover in Lewes – for wildlife and for their beneficial ecosystem values.
Their i-Tree Ecosurvey suggests that Lewes needs to almost double the existing number of trees to become resilient to climate change. Drop into the Climate Hub to find out more about their work, the importance of trees for wildlife, and browse their suggestions of trees you might grow in your garden.
PLUS: Saturday 8 and 15 June: Make your own tree medallion to celebrate the wildlife that depends on trees.
ACTIVITY: Make a wooden flower decoration
Saturday 8 June, 11.00 am-3.00pm, Lewes Climate Hub, Lewes House, 32 High Street, BN7 2LU Join Rustic Tim to learn how to make your own beautiful flower decoration out of wood, (£2 a flower).
TALK: Trees for your garden and how to look after them
Saturday 15 June, 1.30pm, Lewes Climate Hub, Lewes House, 32 High Street, BN7 2LU
Keith Sacre MSc (Arb), BSc Hons, (Arb) MICFor, member of the Trees Committee of Friends of Lewes, will explore what to think about when choosing a tree for your garden and the different steps to take in its early and later life to help it thrive.