All posts by Luke Geoghegan

On the tenth day of Christmas…

December 22nd, 2015

On the 10th day of Christmas in the South Downs National Park, there’s something leaping at Lord’s Piece… Lord’s Piece is a very special heathland in Sussex and home to many rare species, including the British field cricket. British field crickets are classed as a vulnerable insect and are a national priority species. By the 1980s the […]

On the ninth day of Christmas…

December 21st, 2015

On the ninth day of the South Downs National Park Christmas, not nine dancing ladies, instead we’re giving you something to dance about. Recent findings from the 2015 State of Butterflies report have revealed that, while many resident and migrant butterflies are in trouble, intensive conservation efforts have started to turn around the fortunes of some of […]

On the eighth day of Christmas…

December 18th, 2015

On the 8th day of Christmas the maids have been a milking in the South Downs National Park to bring you the best local cheese. Plumpton College, known for its agricultural courses, is located at the foot of the South Downs, in East Sussex. Wales Farm is the colleges’ own commercial farm and produces a variety […]

On the seventh day of Christmas….

December 18th, 2015

On the seventh day of Christmas the South Down National Park gave us… Swans-a-Swimming at Swanbourne Lake. Swanbourne Lake started off life as a Mill Pond which was recorded as far back as the Doomsday survey. In the late 18th century the pond was enlarged to form the lake which is fed mainly by the ‘Blue […]

On the fifth day of Christmas…

December 18th, 2015

On the fifth day of Christmas, instead of five gold rings, the South Downs National Park is sharing with you five Iron Age hill fort ‘rings’. We are extremely lucky in the South Downs National Park to be home to many historical features. From Bronze Age barrows, Saxon and Norman churches, dew ponds, to historic […]

On the sixth day of Christmas…

December 18th, 2015

On the sixth day of the South Downs Christmas, we visited SouthDownsFood.org to find some great local locally produced geese – and chocolate, and wine, and beer, and cheese and ice-cream… We discovered that Durleighmarsh Farm shop is stocking Hyden Farm Originals geese, born and bred in Hambledon. Hyden Farm is a small family run […]

On the fourth day of Christmas…

December 16th, 2015

On the fourth day of Christmas the South Downs brought us… No ordinary calling birds, instead we have the beautiful barn owl. Barn owls can be found across the South Downs National Park but you’ll need to stay sharp-eyed to catch a glimpse of their ghostly flight. While hawks use their high speed to surprise […]