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E-Newsletter Winter 2015 - 2016

Chailey Commons

Society

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CHAIRMAN’S NOTES

Welcome to our Winter Newsletter.

The weather has certainly been the talking point of this winter season and the heathland is looking very soggy at the moment. Let’s hope that the ground will hold some moisture and this will of benefit if the year turns out to be a dry one.

Our new Activities Programme is shown in this Newsletter and I look forward to seeing you on many of these which I hope that you find interesting. The Nightjar Walk is always popular and let’s hope that we will be lucky again this year.

This year we will be surveying Red House Common as part of our rotation in the surveys. Next year 2017, we want to try to do a whole common survey and would welcome more help with the surveys. Please do offer your help if you can so that we can make a good job of it – let me know your particular interest and join us.

This Newsletter gives Notice of our Annual General Meeting in March so I look forward to seeing you there.

William

What’s coming up......................

Thursday February 18th Village Hall 7.30.p.m. The Lost Village of Tide Mills. A Talk by Kevin Gordon. The village was built in 1761 and consisted of a large tide mill and numerous workers’ cottages, housing approximately 100 workers. It was finally condemned as unfit for habitation in 1936. The windmill was moved to Red House Common at Chailey. Thursday March 17th Village Hall 7.30.p.m. The Woodland Trust. A Talk by Nick Hearn on the work of the UK’s largest charitable trust for the conservation of ancient trees and woodlands. Display and results of the 2015 Photographic Competition. AGM after talk.

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NOTICE OF 52nd

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

CHAILEY COMMONS SOCIETY WILL HOLD THEIR

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING ON

THURSDAY MARCH 17th 2016

IN

CHAILEY VILLAGE HALL CHAILEY

AT 7.30.P.M.

After A Talk by Nick Hearn on the work of The Woodland Trust

Display and Results of Photographic Competition

ALL ARE WELCOME

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

THURSDAY 17th MARCH 2016

AGENDA

1. APOLOGIES

2. MINUTES OF AGM 19.03.15

3. MATTERS ARISING

4. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

5. TREASURER’S REPORT

6. ELECTION OF OFFICERS

7. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

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An enthusiastic group sets off for the Bug Hunt !

MEMBERSHIP MATTERS

Another year had gone by and the subscriptions are now due. Many of you will have paid by standing order on Feb 1st so you do not need to take any action with the enclosed reminder.

For those who would like to do this in future please complete the form and send it in to me and I will update my records. It is a preferred method as it saves time and postage etc.

I do hope that you will renew your membership and support the Society. The new Activities programme is now available and is elsewhere in this Newsletter. The Membership cards will be sent out shortly.

Thank you for your continued membership the Society Anne Marsden 59 Sunte Avenue, Lindfield, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 2AB. 01444 414361. Email – members@chaileycommons.org.uk

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THE SCARLET CATERPILLAR CLUB FUNGUS Walking over Pound Common early one morning in October I saw a man lying face down. I went over to investigate, thinking he must have fallen or collapsed. In fact he was trying to photograph an unusual bright orange-red fungus, one that I'd never come across before and which is described as an "uncommon" find. It turned out to be a specimen of Cordyceps militaris - the Scarlet Caterpillarclub Fungus. About 3cm high and club shaped with a textured surface it is an extraordinary fungus. Records of Cordyceps fungi in China during the Tang Dynasty apparently describe an organism with the ability to transform from animal to plant during the summer and then to change back to an animal for the winter. The latter part of the description is quite fanciful but it is the case that the fungus parasitises its host - the underground pupae, and occasionally larvae of moths - the mycelium gradually replacing the insides of the insect. The Latin epithet militaris referring to the way this fungus attacks, overpowers and occupies its host. Despite its bright colouring, Scarlet Caterpillarclub is difficult to spot because the "clubs" are usually much shorter than the grass that it's found in. Although its season is described as 'summer and autumn' I've since found several more examples, on both Pound Common and Romany Ridge, some as recently as mid-January.

ARCHIVES Linda Ball writes: The Society is delighted to receive an important deposit of historical material and meteorological records compiled by (the late) Cyril G McG Williams. Mr Williams lived in Barn Cottage at the Mill House and for many years was closely associated with the preservation of the windmill. His interest in the Commons extended to military history as well as recording daily weather meteorological observations. The donated material includes more than 15 years of continuous met.

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records, as well as notes and correspondence relating to personal research associated with the Commons WW2 searchlight and the Orlit Lookout Post dating from the Cold War period.

The Royal Observer Corps Lookout Post Alpha 4 on Red House Common 200 m NE of Chailey Windmill near the Trig point at GR TQ 388215 was … ‘known as an Elevated Orlit Post, WW2. It was originally the 2/A4 Newick Post and was re-sited near the Trig point when the Aircraft reporting network was overhauled in the 1950s. The wartime Post at Newick had disappeared or its site had become unavailable so this new site on Red House Common was chosen. The new post was constructed in August 1954. When the aircraft-reporting role was superseded by the nuclear role the underground monitoring Post was re-sited yet again. This was when the Cold War was at its height.’ In the photo the windmill can be seen in the background. You may have come across the remains of the Searchlight on Memorial Common within 100 metres of the south-east boundary fence of the sports field. To the east in the woodland area are the well-preserved chevron ‘fox holes’ adjacent to foundations of a hut, water supply piping and cistern. (See map). Cyril Williams established that the Searchlight post was manned by 338 Battery, and the detailed correspondence he has gathered provides important insights into Searchlights role and operation. The two Photographs below show the detail of the sites on Memorial Common. The third set of material, daily rainfall and barometer readings taken at The Barn from 1999-2015 make fascinating reading. Analysis could provide some important indicators of changes in weather patterns and climate during this period. We will write up Cyril’s historical data and add it to the existing display at the windmill on the Commons ‘military history’. Later this year we will deposit all the material in the Society’s archive at The Keep at Falmer (formerly East Sussex Record Office). 30 Jan 2016

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Wartime remains

Chevron shaped foxholes

Rectangular hut foundations

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REPORT FROM THE RANGER This season, we are not grazing the sheep on Red House Common but a group of Exmoor ponies continue their good work munching on the gorse and preventing scrub from taking over. We are planning to leave a small number of ponies on Red House over the summer too as this common has not had any summer grazing since the grazing began. Unfortunately, we have had to remove the rare Soay sheep from Lane End as 2 have now been killed by out of control dogs, despite all the warnings and signage on site. It is likely we will go back to using the ponies there next winter. The HLS winter clearance works are continuing apace but the clearance will probably seem less drastic than last year. We have 4 compartments to manage this season. One is on Pound Common south-west of the car park, where we have cleared a large proportion of small diameter birch scrub and opened up some of the small ponds. Another is on Romany Ridge, west of the wide grassy ride where the birch regrowth is being cleared to allow the lovely large patches of heather to thrive. There are also 2 areas on Red House common which are being worked on. One east of St Georges where we have thinned out the trees and given much better access to the trig point which was impossible to spot from the paths and the other adjacent to Neals Farm where some trees have been thinned to open up the habitat. We have left belts of mature trees and gorse (unless it was very leggy) to help create a good mosaic of different habitats across the commons. We do not have enough funding for any scrapes this year but I am looking into whether we can tap into any additional funding sources for these works next season. This will help to create more bare ground which is important for invertebrates and is also a good base to sow heather seed into. Don’t forget your wellies if you go out on the commons at the moment, it’s very soggy out there! Jo Heading (Senior Ranger) Rights of Way and Countryside Maintenance jo.heading@eastsussex.gov.uk

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Late Autumn on Romany Ridge Common

Meetings 2016

FEBRUARY Thursday February 18th Village Hall 7.30.p.m. The Lost Village of Tide Mills. A Talk by Kevin Gordon. The village was built in 1761 and consisted of a large tide mill and numerous workers’ cottages, housing approximately 100 workers. It was finally condemned as unfit for habitation in 1936. The windmill was moved to Red House Common at Chailey.

MARCH Thursday March 17th Village Hall 7.30.p.m. The Woodland Trust. A Talk by Nick Hearn on the work of the UK’s largest charitable trust for the conservation of ancient trees and woodlands. Display and results of the 2015 Photographic Competition AGM after talk.

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May we remind our members that they attend all the Society’s meetings and events entirely at their own risk. The Society cannot take responsibility for loss of property or injury to persons during our events.

APRIL Saturday April 9th 9.00.a.m. Red House Common car park Our Feathered Friends on Red House Common. Join our Bird Man, Ian Woolsey, on the Common to look for the new migrant arrivals and resident birds. Saturday April 16th 2.00 to 4.00p.m. Townings Farm Plumpton Road North Chaiiey BN8 4EJ Lambing at Townings Farm. Carol and Kevin Uridge invite members and children to come to the farm and watch lambing time. There will be group visits to the lambing barn all afternoon. Meet by the farm shop, Townings Farm, Plumpton Road, North Chailey, Lewes, BN8 4EJ. All welcome. Advice should be taken for Pregnancy, Allergy and other health issues before farm visits.

MAY Saturday May 21st 2.00 – 4.00 p.m. Pound Common car park Meet the Exmoor Ponies. A walk across the Commons led by Monty Larkin, Grazing Co-ordinator for the Sussex Pony Grazing & Conservation Trust to meet our resident herd. Attended by Lisa Clark from the Exmoor Pony Society who will explain the Exmoors’ finer points with her pony Tiger Moth. An opportunity to find out about the ponies, how they are cared for and the benefits of grazing Exmoors on the Commons. Meet at Pound Common car park (TQ378207).

JUNE Tuesday June 14th 9.00 p.m. Red House Common car park Nightjars on Red House Common with Ian Woolsey. Come and hear the sound of male birds ‘churring’ on Chailey Commons on a summer evening. Meet at Red House Common car park, Warrs Hill Road. FINISH IN THE DARK – BRING TORCHES

Saturday June 18th 9.30 a.m. – 5.00 p.m. Coach Outing to Dungeness National Nature Reserve Kent. A follow up to Nikki Gammans’ excellent talk to the Society in 2014 on the Bumble Bee. She will be our guide at this wonderful reserve. Afternoon tea stop on return journey. Depart Chailey Sports Club car park by A272 (TQ389210) at 9.30.a.m. Bring picnic lunch. Return approx. 5.00 p.m. Booking essential – Telephone Linda Kent 01444 440622 Approx. £15.

JULY Thursday July 14th 10.00 a.m. – 3.00 p.m. meet Sports Club Pavilion The Big Draw. Join us for a day of sketching and painting, drawing your inspiration from the Common’s landscape, flora and fauna. No experience necessary. Please bring a notebook and pencil and a packed lunch. We will provide lots of encouragement, an optional demo and some art materials if you don’t have them. No experience necessary. In case of bad weather contact Linda Ball 07790 679295. Meet at the Sports Pavilion Memorial Common by A272. Saturday July 23rd 2.00 - 4.00 p.m. Red House Common car park Summer Butterfly Walk on Red House Common. Come and join Karen Pritty to find these beautiful creatures

Firework parties are strictly prohibited on the nature reserve. Large stands of dry dead bracken, which could go up like a torch; mean the fire hazard is far too great. And, besides putting life at risk, uncontrolled fires cause immeasurable damage