Images from the reserve

I’ve copied a set of images that were in a Flickr gallery and posted them here

AGM – 20th April 2024 10.30am – 12 noon

Our AGM will again be held at the British Legion club in Culver Road.  Doors will open at 10.30 for people to pop in and pay subs in person.  Refreshments will be available to buy from behind the bar and the room has tables for people to chat and catch up.  We will also have a tombola.  The AGM itself will be at 11.30am for about half an hour.  We very much hope you will come along to support us, renew your membership and have a chat.  It is also your chance to find out what is happening on the Reserve, to ask questions and raise any concerns that you may have. 

Task Day 17 March 2024

A small group of volunteers and Emily, the Adur Ranger, were to be found this morning slithering around the Reserve on what turned out to be a particularly damp and foggy task day. Thank you to those who turned up to help us sow wildflower seeds in the areas near the dewpond and, in particular, to our 2 new young volunteers who appeared to end up wearing most of the mud, but we hope had a good time in the process! We were concentrating on the area where the tree felling contractors left behind a lot of damage last year. Hopefully this will help the recovery of the site.

What a contrast today has been to the weather yesterday, when the warmth and sunshine brought out quite a lot of Brimstone butterflies. The lemon-yellow males are particularly noticeable, while the females are a greenish-white. It is thought that the bright yellow male Brimstone butterfly might have been the inspiration for the name butter-fly. These early butterflies are a lovely herald of spring to come.

Task Day 18 February 2024

Our second task day of the year was nearly cancelled early this morning.  Despite the rain, we decided to meet up and see what happened with the weather.  What a good job we did.  The rain stopped and the sun even came out as we continued the raking and clearing of the cut grass – this time in the western end of the chalk pit.  This built on the work done on our January task day.  Seven of us did an amazing morning’s work and we’ve now done as much as we can to the grass in the chalk pit for this winter.  Thank you so much to our volunteer helpers for their hard work.  It all looks very neat and ready for the chalk hill flowers to grow as the year proceeds.  Hopefully the first of these may be the cowslips.  The warm weather also brought out our first bumble bee, but no butterflies today.

Next month we will be up near the dewpond making good some of the damage done by the tree contractors last year.  In particular we will be sowing a mix of grass and wild flower seeds suitable for a chalk site.  If you would like to join us you would be very welcome.

News Update – Nature Stirs…

It is now the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Our ancient ancestors (who possibly used the Ring) regarded this as the start of the time when nature starts to stir a little and the light is coming (although it might be hard to believe that on this dull and damp Friday!). Early signs of the spring to come are there to be seen on the Reserve and in our gardens. A walk this morning showed the violet flowers in the woods above Halewick Lane are coming out. It’s well worth a visit to see them – especially on a sunny day when the violet smell from the flowers and even the leaves is glorious. The birds are also starting to stir and a song thrush was using the bushes by the dewpond to announce itself and possibly its territory. Perhaps you have heard it yourself? It often repeats a phrase several times.

The first butterflies have also been seen. These were a couple of Red Admirals and Peacocks that will have overwintered.

And finally, the mowing has begun too in MacIntyre’s field. This keeps the grass short and allows our wild flowers to come through, but we will have to wait a little while yet for those.

Cuts to the Ranger Service in Adur-Worthing

We have been made aware  that Adur-Worthing Council are planning another reorganisation of the Park Services Department. We were shocked to hear that this will mean the loss of two vital Ranger positions to redundancy.   This will have a severe impact on the work that can be done on the Reserve and the help that can be given to local Friends groups such as ourselves.  At the moment we find that the Rangers do not have enough time to do all the work necessary on our Reserve and these cuts can only make matters worse.

Green Tides is a partnership that brings together Friends groups and volunteers across the Adur-Worthing area and we all share a concern about how detrimental the further loss of these two posts will be to our green space groups. We understand that our council, like many others are facing financial pressures, however the demographics of our Friends groups means that the capabilities of our ranger team are vital. We know they are already stretched in a team of six, so losing two posts is significant.  

In an attempt to try to stop these significant cuts, a petition has been started  online at https://chng.it/hd5CKXLVfv. 

If you feel able to support the FOLR and other volunteer groups in the area, please would you consider adding your name?  We will keep you posted on the outcome on this website and the Friends of Lancing Ring Facebook page.

Many thanks.

The Committee 

Ongoing Work in the Chalk Pit

We’ve just had the first task day of 2024.  Thank you so much to our small band of helpers who spent the morning strimming and raking off the cut grass at the eastern end of the chalk pit.  What a difference this makes to the banks in particular.  We are building on the work we have done in the past 3 years or so.  The short grass allows the chalk grassland flowers to grow and thrive as they can’t compete in long grass.  Last year we saw an increase in several of these chalk grassland flowers including rampions (the Sussex flower), small scabious, birdsfoot trefoil and kidney vetch to name but a few.  These in turn brought in a good selection of butterflies – in particular the small blues that we have been trying to attract.  Now we wait to see what will happen this year. Oh, and by the way we were informed by the amphibian and reptile conservation group that putting the grass cuttings under bushes is great for reptiles.

If you would like to help us in our endeavours to improve the chalk pit even further, why not come along and help?  On the next task day we will be raking the western end.  It is very satisfying to see the neater banks and knowing that the flowers and butterflies are being given a chance.  The raking isn’t too hard and will help with that post Christmas fitness.  The next session is on 18 February, 10:00 at Mill Road car park.

A Message from the Friends of Lancing Ring

Our committee was re-elected at our AGM. See https://folr.wordpress.com/about/the-committee/ for details.

At our AGM one of the main topics of discussion was the damage that has been done to the Clump and fields near the dew pond during the recent ash dieback felling.  The work was carried out by contractors engaged by the Council.  Like many people who have contacted us, we have been very concerned about the damage.  The contractors appear to have shown little sensitivity to the Reserve being a Local Nature Reserve (LNR).

We agreed that the FOLR should seek expert advice as to how the area can best be restored and we are making representation to the Council to explain our concerns and to ensure that the area is made good appropriately. 

Last year the FOLR planted flowering plants donated by the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA) in the area near the dew pond in order to add to those already there to increase the diversity.  We are asking the Council to seek reparation and replacement for the lost flowers at least.

We are also hoping to be part of a tree replanting programme in the Clump later in the year. We will keep this website and the Facebook pages updated on developments, but, in the meantime, the more members we have then the more this will support our cause, so please consider joining our group if you are not already a Member.  

AGM – this Saturday 15th April 2023 – 10.30 am – 12 noon

We will be holding our AGM this Saturday at the British Legion Club in Culver Road, Lancing.  From 10.30 am there will be an opportunity for people to come and renew their membership or join us as new members.  Refreshments will be available to buy at the bar and there are tables and chairs for people to sit and catch up.  We will have a tombola as well.  The AGM meeting will start at 11.30 for about half an hour to include the election of Committee Officers.

We would love to see you there.  This is your chance to find out more about the Friends of Lancing Ring, what is happening on the Reserve and to ask questions or raise any concerns you may have.  If you don’t know much about us you will be very welcome to come and meet us.  The committee will all be there.  

We hope to see as many of you as possible.

Team Effort Today on the Ring

You may remember that following the massive tree removal due to the nationwide ash dieback problem Adur Rangers planted around 2000 saplings to replace them, ultimately. Over the last two summers, because the ground was opened up so much to the light, a lot of scrub, mostly in the form of invasive branbles, has grown up around them and is in danger of strangling the little plants which are struggling to establish themselves (not helped by the long drought in the summer). Last week and today a team of six went up there and cleared around the trees to give them a helping hand. It was quite a task as the area is extensive and difficult to get to (because of the scrub) but hopefully now the trees will have a greater chance to thrive, and also, hopefully, the ground will be clear enough for other woodland species, for example the early purple orchids, to come up in the Spring and beyond and give us a good show. The team, four of them pictured here with two who had to leave early before we had a chance to get the camera out, comprised members of the South Downs National Park, Adur and Worthing Council Rangers and the Friends of Lancing Ring. It was a successful day, although cold, and we were pleased to be able to get together and get the job done before it became dark.