Siege at Nune High

Place: The Liz Williams Butterfly Haven, Stringer Way, Brighton, BN1 6QG. Time: 15:30 hrs on Tuesday 14th December 2021.

Students from Dorothy Stringer School - Brighton, joined the friends of the Liz Williams Butterfly Haven to receive a cheque for £1000 from the staff of both the Hove and Brighton branches of Waitrose on Tuesday 14 December.

The Liz Williams Butterfly Haven is located on the Surrenden Campus in the north of Brighton. It was created in 2007 to provide good quality habitat for wildflowers, butterflies and bees. Over the last fourteen years 33 butterfly species have been recorded from this site, which represent 89% of all the butterfly species (37) recorded in the city of Brighton & Hove and all of this from a patch of land only half the size of a standard football pitch.

The site is used by Dorothy Stringer School to aid their programme of environmental education and every pupil at the school can explore the reserve during their time at the school. This is an exceptional experience for the students because very few children in the UK have access to nationally rare butterflies outside their classrooms.

Dr Dan Danahar, a Friend of the Liz Williams Butterfly Haven, said: “Dorothy Stringer School requires independent expertise to help manage this very special nature reserve and this is why the Friends of the Liz Williams Buttefly Haven have come into being. This group of residents and members of the Dorothy Stringer School staff depend greatly on external funding to carry out their essential work. Without the financial support from organisations like Waitrose this would just not be possible”.

“The funding that Waitrose has provided will help us make a donation to the costs of sheep grazing (provided by the Sussex Wildlife Trust) allow us to purchase native downland shrubs of local provenance (from Special Branch in Stanmer Organics) and partly pay for the educational display design costs (undertaken in partnership with the South Downs National Park). Consequently, we are very grateful for Waitrose’s support.”

Christy Bean, Community lead for Waitrose (Hove branch) said: “We would like to say a huge thank you to the Friends of the Liz Williams Butterfly Haven for arranging our visit yesterday. We were very presently surprised by their work. It was great to meet everyone who has been involved in such a unique project in our local community”.

For more information, contact:

Dr Dan Danahar – Friends of the Liz Williams Butterfly Haven Email: Dan@bignature.co.uk Telephone: 07791113918 or 01273621042

Christy Bean - Waitrose Email: Communitymattershove@waitrose.co.uk Telephone: 01273 329901 ext 411