Seaford Cares – On the Verge On the Verge of what?
As you may have heard, Seaford Community Partnership has been awarded project development funds from the National Lottery, towards the Ouse Valley Cares project. One of the key aims of the project is ‘protecting and regenerating habitats and green spaces’. Our green spaces and wildlife corridors also need to be accessible and enjoyable for the residents and visitors that use them. On the Verge is a volunteer-led project to connect green corridors across and between communities with the wider countryside and National Park. It is a partnership between Trees for Seaford who have been planting trees in Seaford for many years, and Seaford Environmental Alliance, who are an active hub for community projects in Seaford, which will help tackle the effects of climate change and the ecological emergency. We work with local partners including the South Downs National Park, local authorities, schools and ecologists, but we could not do this without the energy and enthusiasm from volunteers in our community. If you are interested in joining our informal group or working parties, or spreading the word as one of our green space ambassadors, do get in touch. No experience is needed! In the few months since we have formed, we have been as busy as the bees we are trying to attract! It started with lots of enthusiastic Zoom meetings, and a team of volunteers out surveying the verges and green spaces to build a ‘green’ map of Seaford. Thankfully we can also start to meet outside in the
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green spaces we all love! A team effort also produced some attractive leaflets that we can give out to people interested in our project. Do ask us for some, if you would like to spread the word!
Verges
We are working with the council and contractors to change the mowing regimes on some verges and grass areas to create ‘mini meadows’. This will allow wild flowers to blossom, and set seed before they are cut, which will improve diversity. Areas agreed so far include areas in the Martello Fields, The Salts, The Covers, the Crouch and Princess Drive Green. This is a fantastic opportunity for us to survey what plants and wildlife come into our green spaces. We have also worked together to ensure that mowing does not take place too close to the precious young trees that have been planted in our town.
Nature Streets
We are working on two pilot “Nature Streets”. Nature Streets are a Sussex Wildlife Trust initiative to get people to work with their neighbours to create small, coordinated wildlife friendly features in their gardens and verges, so that flowers can flourish, pollinators and other insects can thrive,
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