3rd November 2019
Introduction
Welcome to the first edition of our Valley Newsletter. I will send it out, not monthly or weekly but whenever there is something important to communicate. Please ‘like it’ so that you always get a copy whenever it is published.
Filsham Reed Beds
There is some confusion about the long term maintenance of Sussex Wildlife Trust’s (SWT) Filsham Reed Beds SSSI. Facebook has an article saying that there will be a 10-month long programme of improvements, including the removal of willow, cutting of reeds and restoring the lake in front of what used to be the bird hide but is now a wicker fence.
However, a senior executive at SWT has written to me telling me that this might not happen after all.
Here is an extract from his letter:
‘With regard to reedbed management, we do not believe a significant increase in resource or effort to create more open water would increase the ecological diversity of the site, as current habitat management is evidentially increasing ecological diversity, and as such we are confident that we have a strong ecological mandate for continued practice.
The aesthetics vs ecological benefit of open water vs reedbed is something that could continue to be communicated through interpretation including education events and literature. The focus on small-scale, sustained and sustainable effort to increase diversity within a manageable area must be set against the disadvantages of short-term capital investment that could achieve short-term visual effects, but could not be maintained over time without long-term input of extra resource and effort.’
I have written back to SWT CEO Tor Lawrence to obtain clarification of the two contrasting pieces of information. Lake or no Lake that is the question?
Solar Panels
Hastings Borough Council has been working to put solar panel farms into Hastings Country Park, and onto farmland it owns at Upper and Lower Wilting Farms. However, there is now a new development in this saga.
Before Amber Rudd MP resigned as an MP during the recent and seemingly everlasting Brexit fiasco, she wrote to the Chair of Hastings Borough Council telling him to stop putting the solar panel farm into Hastings Country Park and instead, put them on top of the Combe Valley Tip site. I managed to get hold of a copy of that letter. It explains that over 1,500 people in Hastings wrote to Amber protesting, so she took the line of least resistance and suggested the panels be dumped onto us and our Valley. However, I am told that this idea is now ‘dead’ and that Upper Wilting and Hastings Country Park are back in the frame.
Rare Creatures – and where to find them
Combe Valley is not well known nationally. It still has many areas where no close examination of the wildlife has taken place. When out walking please do report anything you find which looks unusual. You may have seen the beetle and spiders I found last week. We still don’t have a name for the beetle but we know now that the wolf spiders are fairly rare.
Valley-wide Communications
Conversations with people on the various committees and organisations have revealed the view that a better forum is needed for the Valley. At present we have FoCV, CIC, Groundwork, HBC, Rother DC, ESCC, Crowhurst Environmental, Bulverhythe Protectors, the farming and local social communities and the rural police patrols – but it would surely be better if once in a while we had a Valley-wide conference for the betterment of the Valley, its wildlife and landscape. Please let me know how you feel about it.
Footbridge at Harley Shute
When you walk up from the back of Filsham Reed Beds to Harley Shute Road, you come to a pretty poor patch of land with a gate onto the road right by the very narrow road bridge over the railway. You then have to take your life in your hands to cross over to the other side, to get onto the big metal bridge near the school. I have suggested that a footbridge be built at this point so that those walking up from the bottom of Filsham Road area near Judges Postcards can use the South Saxons path as a route to Filsham Reed Beds without being run over. The bridge would need to curve in an arc from the patch of trees to the scrub land above the Reed Bed path. A HBC counsellor is looking at the idea.
Reedswood Road Footpath
This dangerous path from the housing estate to the Filsham Reed Beds path is in a sorry state. I have asked ESCC if they will repair it but they say it is not a county path so the answer is no. It might be possible for FoCV to raise funds to repair it – but it would need some input from the people who live on the estate who use it as an access point to the Valley.
1066 Trail National Footpath
We now come to an important project – the attempt to make the 1066 Trail into a footpath that can be used by people in wheelchairs. Part of the Trail at Three Bridges is flooded. The path from Crowhurst Cricket Ground is so muddy as to be dangerous. I went to Wales to the Cors Caron National Nature Reserve to study their 40-year life weatherproof trackway (see photo). They have six kilometres of this. To put one kilometre of this track (with passing places) down for wheelchairs from Bulverhythe to Filsham Reed Beds would cost £350,000 inc VAT.
A similar cost would have to be paid for the Crowhurst to Crowhurst Lake greenway track. Ambiental were asked by me on 31 Oct if there was any reason why this track would interfere with their riverside bunds, if the housing development did go ahead – they said no, the concept of a trackway was fine.
To reach Filsham Reed Beds would require a side bridge to the existing river bridge to keep the trackway on the same level.
In the central Valley at Three Bridges the flood water gets to be three to four feet deep. Rother DC Chair Terry Byrne has suggested a stabilised Pontoon Bridge to connect Crowhurst to the southern slope. This type of bridge always stays just above the water level regardless of its depth.
So gradually the idea of connecting up the paths to enable people with disabilities to move about is taking shape. Please let me know what you think about these ideas.
Landscaping Improvements near the Discovery Centre.
The area nearer the Discovery Centre has a lot of fly tipping,
but it also has a woodland corridor with lots of insects including many ichneumon wasps.
We could plant more trees and sow wild flower meadow seeds to encourage more wildlife, especially pollinators. I am asking Rother Environment Department to help us clear away the fly-tipping rubbish (see photos). Please let me know if you would like to help me landscape this area to make it beautiful.
Fishing in the Valley
There is an absolute legal ban on fishing anywhere inside the Valley Park. Of course, if you are on the Caravan Site bank of the Combe Haven then you are not inside the park, but if you are on the Bulverhythe side then you are banned from fishing. The police have been asked to arrest anyone fishing in any lake, stream or river but they also say it is up to ESCC to put up signs telling the public that fishing is banned. Illegal fishing and the leaving of rubbish goes on at Little Bog Lake, Pebsham Lake and Crowhurst Lake (see photos).
The Combe Valley Warden
Because of the damage done in the Valley by vandals – the burning of the reed beds, the cutting of fences, smashing of bat boxes and bird hide panels, the police have begun to take a very close look at what goes on in the Valley. FoCV have been awarded £2,000 by the Police and Crime Commissioner and I have put in a bid to the Police Community Fund for another £500.00 for equipment for the Warden. PCSO Julie Pearce-Martin and PCSO Daryl Holter are the Rural and Heritage patrol officers.
The Deputy Chief Constable Jo Shiner, her PA and staff officers will be visiting the Valley in November. I am working to set up the Warden Service soon and will be letting you know how to volunteer for the post – which will be a completely volunteer post but with a small monthly allowance. A set of safety equipment will be issued to the chosen warden together with patrol area information. This is entirely a FoCV project not connected to the CIC, groundwork, Sussex Wildlife or any other organisation, so the Warden’s reports will come to us but then be shared where appropriate. The money is ring-fenced and spending will be inspected by the PCC.
Walking for physical and mental health & car parking
The police have asked me why it is that so few people are seen out walking by them when they do their Valley patrols. In a recent tour around by police, only one dog walker was seen during a 2.5 hour trip. People have commented to me that the reason few people walk the Valley trails is that there are no large car parks. The lack of car parks is being discussed by Rother DC and I hope to be able to give you some news about it soon. I also hope that soon we can start to co-ordinate some guided walks for qualified walk leaders so that they can take over and safely increase the footfall.
Tier 1 Housing Development
The anti-flood mechanism final details are not likely to be revealed until at least January and formal planning permission will be sought in the Spring – April or May we think. One puzzle is that if Ambiental put a non-return valve into the river – how will the fish that come through the valve when it is open, be able to get back upstream – they are not leaping salmon?
I am sure that a great deal more about the deeply complex plan to stop flooding on a natural flood plain will come to light over the next weeks, but HBC must remain in ‘purdah’ until after the General Election. Ambiental staff told me that ‘This project is quite a challenge compared to our usual industrial estate flood prevention work – but we will not propose anything which will not work – as if it failed, then our reputation as a company would be ruined.’
Well, that’s the end of the First Edition. I hope you will ‘like’ and ‘follow’ this newsletter. Kind regards and all the very best. David.
Text and photos copyright 2019 David E P Dennis LCGI RAF
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