Indirectly, we can thank the National Lottery for the emergence of Henfield Birdwatch back in 1999. While working for the Sussex Wildlife Trust at Woods Mill the National Lottery set up some millennium awards for people working in environmental education in a conservation project and I got to spend two weeks studying the effects of acid rain on the Bohemian coniferous forests. One of the caveats of receiving this award was to ’do something in your community’ so, having harboured an idea of finding about the bird life in the parish, I set about contacting people I knew that were interested in birds.
Within an hour of a series of phone calls, a group of 10 people were assembled. We then met up at Woods Mill and a committee was formed and three objectives emerged:
1. To monitor the population of Henfield birds through regular surveys and monitoring;
2. To engage the residents of the parish in assisting with the monitoring and also to provide opportunities to enjoy the birds around them;
3. To use the data collected on bird populations to provide the scientific information in relation to planning applications.
Our first year-long survey was then organised for 1999 and very encouragingly, 102 residents actively took part by volunteering to survey a designated area once a month, reporting on the birds in their garden on a weekly basis and reporting random sightings around the parish. The following year, our first report was produced and it gave us a really good baseline of data on which we could monitor the populations through future surveys.
We began doing a year-long survey followed by an annual report every five years and this continued up until 2019. For our 2010 report we were awarded the Marsh Award for a community conservation project from the British Trust for Ornithology that came with a welcome £1,000 donation. We have now changed our way of surveying to doing four a year - two breeding and two winter. What has also changed is that we’re now getting many more random records from residents and visiting birdwatchers through our Facebook page, members email group and from the Sussex Ornithological Society’s ‘What’s Around’ page.
In addition we’ve undertaken long-term special surveys: Nigel and Debbie Colgate, Lesley Milward and Will Green are monitoring the birds on Perching Manor Farm, while more recently Lesley and Val Bentley are now surveying the birds at the Sussex Prairie Gardens. Throughout the 25 years, Val and Will have been assessing the breeding Nightingale pairs in the parish that has involved many a late-night patrol around the lanes with one year attracting the attention of a police patrol car! An iconic bird of Henfield is the Swift, a nationally declining species that many of us look forward to their arrival in May. To help this wonderful bird Debbie now runs our Swift project and through the encouragement of people providing nest boxes, the Swift population is slowly but gradually increasing.
Henfield Birdwatch would not be as successful as it has been without the support of the local community so we encourage people to learn about, engage with and want to conserve the birds so that Henfield remains a great place for wildlife and people to live. We have a programme of talks, walks and trips and over the years we’ve had some wonderful talks on birds from around the world including The South Atlantic, Poland and Guyana. Other talks have encouraged us to think about our gardens for wildlife, learn about the rise of Honey Buzzards and Goshawks in Sussex and most recently, learn about breeding Terns in Chichester Harbour. Monthly walks in the parish show attendees how good and varied the birdlife of Henfield is while the ‘Big Bird Bash’, now an annual event, looks to find how many species are recorded over one weekend.
With all this data we have collected, what has happened to our birds over the last 25 years? Unsurprisingly, trends by and large reflect what is happening nationally. Starlings are our most numerous species but have declined by nearly 50%, as have House Sparrows. Sadly, we’ve lost a number of birds as breeding species, such as Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Spotted Flycatcher and Willow Warbler, while Turtle Doves are hanging on by a thread. However, we’ve gained new species such as Cetti’s Warbler, Cattle and Little Egrets and in the near future we’re likely to see White-tailed Eagles and White Storks over Henfield skies.
In our 25th Anniversary year, Henfield Birdwatch is in a very healthy state with over 250 members and has an excellent reputation as a community wildlife project well beyond its boundary. We look forward to even more success over the next quarter of a century.
Mike Russell, Chairman
Photo Credits:
Owl – David Plummer
Turtle Dove - Paula Blake
Little Egret -Charles Waters
White-taile Eagle - Claire Hilton
