Landscape Recovery
New habitat creation project receives Natural England funding
Sussex is one of the most wooded regions in the country. Brush off your boots and explore the best of the autumn colour across the corridor.
Gravetye joins the corridor, with 600 acres of farmland, woodland and wildlife gardens.
Off the coast of Sussex something amazing is happening. Two years ago the pioneering Sussex Nearshore Trawling Byelaw came into place, pushing bottom-towed trawling 4km off the West Sussex Coast. The changes are now starting to happen.
The interface between land and sea is particularly important for marine conservation, going back to the idea of connectivity being central to all of our efforts. While it may not be the first thing that springs to mind when we talk about pollution, sediment is a real problem for our marine habitats.
We were delighted to get news of Sayaan, a cuckoo that was tagged at Knepp in May, traveling along the corridor route from Knepp towards the Sussex coast and back up towards Ashdown Forest.
A journey up the Arun arm of the corridor with the Wildlife Trust.
Just as soils and land-based ecosystems have become degraded, so have marine habitats. Sewage is regularly discharged into rivers and seas, agricultural run-off upsets the natural balance of the water, while trawling destroys the seabed and the kelp forests that once flourished.
This is your chance to be part of a pioneering project benefitting nature recovery in Sussex and beyond. Your pledges – small or large – will help establish a nationally-significant 100-mile corridor for wildlife, regenerating our local ecosystems for years to come.
Weald to Waves is a citizen-led project powered by the individuals and groups pledging to take part. As project coordinators, we think a key part of our role is to provide the tools and resources the network needs to support nature recovery along the corridor. Among these tools are the interactive maps on our new website.
In a groundbreaking move to safeguard UK waterways, the River Ouse is poised to become the first English river granted legal rights. Lewes District Council has embraced the concept of recognising the rights of nature, acknowledging the crucial need to protect local rivers. This paves a potential pathway to enhancing the health of ecosystems by affording them legal protections similar to those of human beings.
Perhaps first we should ask, why is a corridor important? Traditionally,
conservation has tended to focus on restoring and protecting key areas, such as nature reserves. These core areas are vital for maintaining sustainable populations of wildlife species. However, as human land use has intensified, protected areas have become islands, isolated in the wider landscape. Gradually, species ranges become restricted to these areas, leading to declines, low genetic health, and eventually to local extinctions.