Thousands enjoy Wild Chalk 2019

July 31, 2019

More than 1,700 people came to the Wild Chalk event at East Brighton Park to learn more about our amazing chalk grasslands.

The popular event, now in its second year, was organised by the South Downs National Park Authority and Brighton and Hove City Council rangers.

With the support of local BHCC ranger, Paul Gorringe, sheep were brought down from the hill into the park to graze on the chalk scrapes Paul has created there, and local residents brought their families for a free day of wildlife activities, including minibeast hunting, woodworking, colouring a bespoke chalk grassland mural, and listening to a storyteller telling tales of shepherding in bygone times.

Events staff handed out dozens of “Bee Bombs” – packs of wildflower seeds – to people to help support pollinators in their gardens as part of the National Park’s “Bee Lines” campaign.

Partners from the ChaMP project also displayed a “working” model of the Brighton chalk aquifer. The project is working to protect and improve the quality of groundwater in the Brighton Chalk Block as a valuable natural resource for public water supply.

More than 30 children got involved on the day, giving the team chance to explain about ways to prevent pollution through working with farmers on land management techniques and developing urban rainscapes to tackle polluted road surface water run-off.

Pictures by Tim Squire and Alex Bamford