Wildlife experts are warning that plans to build on a Nightingale "hotspot” near Henfield will destroy irreplaceable habitat and leave many endangered or declining species of birds with nowhere to go.
Mayfield Market Towns wants to build 10,000 new homes at Wineham on site well known locally for its birdlife. This month LAMBS (Locals Against Mayfield Building Sprawl) is holding ‘Sight and Sound Birdwatch’ to catalogue the species living there.
Helen Crabtree from the British Trust for Ornithology says the site is an important spot for wildlife.
“The area in question has some fantastic habitat for wildlife and for birds in particular,” she says. “Not only are Nightingales relatively abundant in the hedges and copses, but there are breeding Skylarks, Yellowhammers, Linnets and sometimes Lapwings. These are all farmland birds that are suffering declines in Sussex.”
The Sussex Wildlife Trust’s Adult learning Manager, Mike Russell agrees.
“It is a mosaic of habitats,” he says. “You’ve got the upper echelons of the Adur coming through here, so you’ve got water meadows, you’ve got running water, you’ve got small ponds, you’ve still got a network of hedges – the removal of hedgerows has been one of the major losses of habitats for some species - you’ve got small woodlands and you’ve got agricultural areas. So it’s a real mixture of habitats in a fairly confined area and that gives it a lot of diversity.”
Val Bentley from the Sussex Ornithological Society has been surveying Nightingales in the area since the 1990s. She says that the UK’s Nightingale population has shrunk dramatically over the past 30 years, and Wineham is a “hotspot.”
“It is an excellent area for Nightingales because there is quite a lot of exactly what they want,” she says. “They seem to prefer Blackthorn scrub – in particular Blackthorn scrub near running water; and there are plenty of both around here. We are finding that with so much building going on, these areas that are still relatively untouched are becoming the most important sites for this particular species.”
If you want to take part in Wineham’s ‘Sight and Sound Birdwatch’ please visit lambs.org.uk. or email
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