Starting them young at Seaford Head

Sarah Quantrill

Assistant Reserves Officer

We have a great team of volunteers that come out every month to do conservation work on our Nature Reserve at Seaford Head. One of the team, Paul Baker, also does monitoring for us. He has encouraged his grandchildren, Jack and Emma, to take an interest in the nature reserve and they have been helping with monitoring areas where we have carried out clearance to improve the habitat for wildlife. It’s fantastic to see these youngsters getting involved, learning about wildlife and conservation, and contributing to the work of the Trust. Here’s Jack’s account of what they do.

"Our Granddad often goes up to Seaford Head to help Sarah, who is the Ranger, to look after it. They keep paths clear by cutting down shrubs and overgrown trees and burn them up in a bonfire. They also make space for more plants for insects and birds.

Granddad tells us what he has been doing, and asked Emma and me if we wanted to join in and help by taking pictures of one of the paths they created.

We go up to Seaford Head every month to take photos of the path systematically (Me, Emma, me, Emma, etc.), until we get to the end of the path. This shows how it gradually changes each month. This helps Sarah decide how best to look after it.

We have also seen shrews, cinnabar moths/caterpillars, chalkhill blue butterflies and wild orchids. My favourite orchid is the Pyramid Orchid which I think should really be called Cone Orchids instead! We need to be careful of adders although we haven’t seen one yet but we hope to.

We like to go up there every so often to see what’s changed. We like feeling we are doing something useful and want to carry on."