Category Archives: Biosphere

Bobservation No. 71: Summer At Furzefield

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The months of June and July have brought a quite exceptional display of growth in our garden at Furzefield.

We have, over the years, planted with bees and butterflies in mind and so far this summer we have recorded butterflies as follows: Brimstone, Comma, Common Blue, Gatekeeper, Green-veined White, Large White, Marbled White, Meadow Brown, Orange Tip, Painted Lady,  Peacock, Red Admiral, Ringlet, Small Copper, Small Heath, Small Skipper, Small Tort, Small White, Speckled wood, Silver washed Fritillary, and Wall Brown.

As for birds we average about 29 species each week and I expect many of you will have joined us in getting exciting views of the Red Kite which is fast becoming a regular.

We have found that our insect visitors have greatly increased as a result of letting lawn grow longer to encourage clover etc. It has been a great summer in the ‘veg patch’ but it was quite an effort to keep watering adequately. The downside is a very annoying Roe Deer that keeps eating our rose buds!

Bobservation No. 61

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Nick Hughes in Fulking

Nick Hughes
Nick will be leaving us in October and I cannot begin to tell you how much the village and in particular the Social Committee and the Village Hall Action Group will miss him. He has been an enormous help in presenting the annual fair and quite honestly I do not see how we are going to manage without him. Leaving party in the Shepherd & Dog on Friday 4 October at 7.30pm, all welcome. Fingers crossed; he may come back soon!!

Climate Change
Well now! Greta Thunberg at 16 has delivered a message about how young people feel let down by politicians and by the rest of us in our disinterest in addressing climate change before the planet becomes uninhabitable. It would be good to think that as a village Fulking might take this challenge on board but it will need a very enthusiastic and imaginative leader if we are to achieve anything worthwhile. Is anyone concerned enough to offer to lead?

A perfect village wedding
It is not often that a wedding of villagers occurs here, but on September 7 Ollie Levett and Hollie Trist became Mr and Mrs Levett. The weather was perfect for a quite exceptional day. The couple looked stunning and the event was absolutely lovely and very ecologically friendly. How very lucky we were to be invited to such a memorable day. In villages like ours these occasions happen rarely and it would be nice to think that this wedding was the beginning of a new spirit of togetherness in Fulking. The newlyweds will possibly be moving to another Sussex village and that village’s gain will be our loss.  Here’s wishing them a very happy and healthy married life.

Unsolicited Testimonial
The other day I received a letter saying;  “I was lucky enough to have had a Sunday off to enjoy the very successful Fulking Fair. The atmosphere was perfect and my family and I spent the whole afternoon indulging ourselves in tea and cake, music and games. My brother was delighted to win £5 at the Hoopla!”

Greater Brighton

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The Devil's Dyke Loop
Mr. Grylls, our Religious Affairs correspondent, writes:

My fellow parishioners are surely proud to be living in Greater Brighton also known, since 2014, as the Brighton & Lewes Downs UNESCO World Biosphere Region. We are to be vigorously and thoughtfully reminded of this tomorrow, Sunday 1st July, by a vibrant mid-morning stream of pullulating urban visitors encased in a throbbing day-glo rainbow of hi-viz lycra. Their mission is “to connect people and nature and so inspire a positive future that benefits us all” by “combating homelessness, creating opportunities, promoting change”, “conserving and enhancing nature” and “promoting environmental knowledge, learning and awareness”. Faced with such overwhelming beneficence, our humble role, as rural laymen, is simply to smile, wave, throw rice, and accept complimentary copies of The Watchower.

The biosphere has landed

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The biosphere has landed
Yesterday saw the designation of the first new biosphere site in the UK for almost forty years and the first ever in South-East England. The Brighton & Lewes Downs Biosphere was awarded this designation by UNESCO at a meeting in Sweden on 11th June. It joins more than six hundred biospheres in over one hundred countries. All the available new information is here and our earlier posts on the topic are here.

Biosphere proposal sent to UNESCO

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Map of the proposed Sussex biosphere area

Map of the proposed Sussex biosphere area


Insider Media reports:

A group of approximately 40 organisations have submitted a bid to turn a large part of Sussex into a biosphere reserve. The Brighton & Hove and Lewes Downs Biosphere Partnership, which is backed by the University of Sussex, is asking Unesco to award special status to an area the size of the Isle of Wight. .. Unesco is expected to make its decision on the bid in July 2014.