Blooming Marvellous
Lynn Dever (newly elected eb4u Board member) and Laurence Townsend of the Green Gym took time out on a very wet and windy morning to plant some bulbs around the bases of the trees on the grass bank opposite Whitehawk Library. Armed with spades, trowels, buckets and a wheel barrow, plus a few hardy (not too worried about the effect the torrential downpour would have upon them) volunteers.

Being residents, Jenny Hamilton and Wendy Walker, Holly Robertson (from Manor Road Housing Office) and Councillor Gill Mitchell set about the planting. The cost of the bulb planting was split between Whitehawk South Central Residents Association, Environment Steering Group both (contributing £200) and the Manor Road Housing Office contributing £100.

Come the Spring when the bulbs bravely stick their heads out to reach for the sun, a blast of colour will enhance the bank and remind all who pass that Summer is not too far away, bringing with it warmer drier climes.

Written by Jennifer Wakeham.

Mother Nature
Conservation Work on Whitehawk Hill: this Local Nature Reserve is one of the best wildlife sites in the city. The rare chalk grassland of the steep slopes of the hill below the racecourse and Manor Hill is a special wildlife habitat created over thousands of years.

It is a very important place for a lot of rare and beautiful flowers, butterflies and other insects that need the open grassland to survive. This Autumn and Winter volunteers will be clearing some of the saplings, scrub and growth of small trees from the hill. If we do not do this then the trees and scrub will end up covering the whole of the hill and we will lose a very rare and valuable wildlife site.

If you would like to come along and help the volunteers or want to find out more about the work and the wildlife of the hill then please get in touch with Crispin Kirkpatrick, Local Nature Reserve Officer, telephone 292 370 or email: crispin.kirkpatrick@brighton-hove.gov.uk.