Legacy Projects to 2020

In 2017 the society received a total of £11000 in bequests. The members were canvassed for worthwhile projects which followed the Society’s aims and objectives. These were the projects that were accepted by the Committee and actioned over the following year.

Tree Planting
There were two projects:
1)      In conjunction with Chichester District Council, we purchased 5 mature trees which were subsequently planted by DC staff in Jubilee Park, Chichester
2)      The bigger project was to join in with the National Trust in planting mature trees and whips on the Northwood Project just north of Slindon. We planted 10 trees and about 50 whips and were involved in the actual planting and the erection of substantial barriers around the mature trees. This required 3 mornings of Society members working with NT staff in a mixture of weathers.

Education
We contacted the local Primary Schools about helping them set up wildlife projects with supply of money and equipment from the Society. Three schools took us up on the offer.
1)      Rumboldswhyke. A collection of resources was supplied including bird boxes (1 with a camera feed) and assistance given to renovation of a pond by the pupils.
2)      Funtington. Working with the pupils a wildlife area was created complete with plants. Also, into the area was provided a butterfly box, a hedgehog house, and a bug mansion.
3)       Chidham help was provided to a pond renovation project as well as pot plants for pollinators and other resources.

Bats
We purchased an automatic bat detector designed for being left out overnight to collect the bat calls and arranged for it to be circulated among the members. This has proved very popular and is still on-going. The use of this detector led us to purchase a detector and identification module, which, when attached to an Ipad gives immediate results. Both systems are in regular operation and a large amount of data is being built up.

Swifts
The project here was to supply swift boxes to members and the general public as lots of traditional nesting spaces were being destroyed or built over. There was a slow response but eventually we installed 44 boxes between Midhurst and the Witterings and Bosham to Walberton.

Equipment
We added to our equipment inventory with a tree rangefinder for measuring trees without fighting the undergrowth and a camera trap for identifying overnight visitors to our gardens.