Taking the lead in the South Downs as we put a welcome spring in our step!

March 11, 2022

After a long winter, the warmth of spring is finally upon us and that means more wonderful walks in the National Park, admiring all the sights, sounds and scents of the new life-giving season. As ground-nesting bird season begins, we catch up with Rachel Guy, Reserve Manager at Kingley Vale National Nature Reserve near Chichester, to find out more about the site and her advice for making the most of your walk and helping to keep nature happy.

Kingley Vale is a beautiful mosaic of habitat that a few of us at Natural England look after – a mix of ancient yew woodland, chalk grassland and scrub. Together, it makes Kingley Vale a great place for many species of birds, mammals, reptiles, and insects. And a stunning, peaceful site for people to enjoy.

The site wouldn’t be home to so many different species without the help of livestock. Over thousands of years sheep and cattle have grazed the South Downs, allowing the chalk grassland we have today to develop. It’s home to many species that couldn’t survive anywhere else. The livestock are as much a part of this landscape as the chalk hill blue butterfly is.

While enjoying the site with your dog there are a few things you can do to help keep yourself and your four-legged friend safe, as well as ensuring the abundance of wildlife has the best chance of flourishing. Here are my top tips:

Please remember to shut any gates you pass through while out and about – our livestock are adventurous and the last thing we all want is a cow wandering down to the car park at West Stoke to share a coffee with us! We need them to stay in the area we’ve put them in so that they can graze the grassland. Also please don’t share your coffee with them on the reserve either. Litter can be harmful to livestock as well as other animals, so please take it home with you and put it in the bin.
The Nature Reserve is a great place for dog walking, with lots of interesting smells and hills to exhaust them on. My dog loves running up the burial mounds, and I love the peace and quiet I then get in the evening! However, dogs can be scary to our livestock, so please pop them on a lead. Even a dog with the best re-call in the world might be tempted to nip at the heels of a fleeing sheep. It keeps your dog safe to as, although generally slow and docile, our cattle are heavy and could seriously hurt a dog if it got too close.
With the warmer days you may be lucky enough to spot an adder basking in the sunshine. February and March are the months when they begin to emerge from hibernation and will bask in the warm sunlight. Usually un-aggressive, our native venomous snake can, and will, bite if threatened, which is the last thing anyone wants on a leisurely stroll. So please keep your dog on the lead and stick to the paths.
Dogs bring us a lot of joy and pleasure but we all know they also bring us daily mess that we’re responsible for clearing up. Please always pick up and bin your dog’s poo. Yew trees may look a bit like Christmas trees, but they don’t need any added decoration! Flicking dog poo off the path doesn’t count as clearing it up. Unfortunately the chemicals and raw meat in dog food can make dog mess a bad concoction for wildlife (and humans!) as it can leech into the soil and water system.

By doing these simple things you and your dog will be able to safely enjoy the Nature Reserve as everything starts waking up for spring. Enjoy!

Take the Lead in the South Downs

With lambs starting to pop up in fields right across the Downs it’s more important than ever to keep your dog on the lead around livestock and follow Rachel’s top tips.

From March to September it is important to stick to the path on heathland and chalk grassland sites to prevent any birds being disturbed. If you’re lucky, and quiet, you might even get a glimpse of a roosting bird from afar – though their camouflage does make them tricky to spot!

A Dicky Bag for Kavic!

Thank you to everyone who entered our Take the Lead photo competition. We had some brilliant entries showing dogs of all shapes and sizes enjoying the Downs responsibly. Sadly we could only pick one winner and this time it was Kavic and his owner Neil Galloway with this beautiful shot showing a very happy Kavic exploring Cissbury Ring. We hope your new Dicky Bag helps you enjoy your walks in the South Downs even more!