All posts by lukewalter

New edition of South Downs View

September 6th, 2019

How nature can help you fight the winter blues, details of the 2020 Dark Skies Festival and top tips on where to find stunning heathlands are just a few of the highlights in the latest edition of South Downs View. As the nights draw in and the temperatures begin to drop it can be tempting […]

Inspired by the Downs

September 3rd, 2019

By Steve Brookman, Eastern Area Volunteer Ranger The South Downs have always been important to me for exercise, solitude and to connect to nature. I wanted to give something back to the National Park on retirement.  However, by volunteering I soon began to  acquire new inspiration and heightened appreciation for the natural world. At the […]

Heathland – history of a word

August 30th, 2019

Heathland really is remarkable habitat. Perhaps more so than any other habitat found in the South Downs National Park, our lowland heaths are a treasure trove of wildlife and local history, not quite experienced anywhere else. The Heritage Lottery Fund supported ‘Heathlands Reunited‘ project is a collaboration of 11 different partners across the South Downs […]

Getting to know…the Serpent Trail

August 16th, 2019

Despite first impressions, you might find it surprising to know that the South Downs National Park has more woodland than any other National Park in England or Wales. Unlike the South Downs Way, which is relatively free of tree cover, the 106km long Serpent Trail takes you through a varied habitat, consisting of open commons […]

The South Downs is just as much a wilderness as Yellowstone

August 16th, 2019

From Charles Winchester, ranger for the Wealden Heath area This might sound like a crazy talk, but there really is a lot of sense in this claim. Granted, as landscapes go the South Downs is undoubtedly pretty domesticated and agrarian (currently there are precisely zero large predators here), and there’s no doubt that Yellowstone is […]