Chailey Common Nature Reserve, which is managed by East Sussex County Council, has been awarded £18,970 by the Viridor Credits Environmental Company. This has been match-funded by a grant of £2,000 by Chailey Parish Council.
The funding has been given to the Chailey Commons Management Committee and will pay for a project to restore and maintain 14.9 hectares of lowland heath.
Chailey Common is a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its heathland plants and diverse insect and bird communities. The project will assist many rare species of wildlife including:
• birds such as the Nightjar and Stonechat,
• insects including one threatened species and six nationally notable species,
• butterflies including the nationally scarce Silver-studded Blue, and,
• moths like the Four-dotted Footman whose larvae only feed on the algae and lichen found on older heather.
In England, only one sixth of the heathland present 200 years ago now remains. Lowland heathland is a national and local priority Biodiversity Action Plan habitat, as a rare and threatened habitat.
The biggest threat is lack of management due to changes in agricultural practices as heathland plants are invaded by birch, gorse and bracken. Some areas of Chailey Common are 59% bracken, and it is areas such as these which will be scraped and seeded using the grant money.
Councillor Matthew Lock, Lead Cabinet Member for Transport & Environment said: “Chailey Common is one of the several nationally and internationally important habitats that we have in East Sussex. I am very pleased that as well as managing the site, we now have extra funding to help us restore this area of heathland.”
Notes to editors
Viridor Credits Environmental Company distributes funding through the Landfill Communities Fund. Funding is available for community and environmental improvement projects within ten miles (priority to projects within 5 miles) of an active Viridor Waste Management landfill site. Since 1996 Viridors Credits has allocated over £38M to over a thousand projects across the UK
For further information about how to apply for funding, please call Viridor Credits on 01823 327221
Reference:
1503
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