Photo: baling in Gravel Pit field 2019 by Stuart Brierley
Annual hay cut due
Posted in Events, Nature, Public | Tags: Chesworth Farm, hay cut, Horsham District Council, Stuart Brierley
BioBlitz at Rookwood Sat 15 Aug
Here is an invitation to try out your wildlife explorer skills at Rookwood (Boldings Brook) on the west side of Horsham this August. Please use the link below to find out everything you need to know about this free BioBlitz and how to book your places.
Pictures: Peter Simpson
Posted in Activities, Events, Nature, Public | Tags: BioBlitz, Boldings Brook, Friends of Horsham Park, Rookwood
Green space surveys need your views
Say no to Rookwood golf course development
Saturday 29 February is the Local Plan consultation drop-in session in Swan Walk, 10am-4pm.
Here is the first (and currently only) opportunity in Horsham town centre to look at the proposed plans in more detail and at the same time engage with representatives from Horsham District Council before sending in comments.
Top of our list for discussion is the proposal to build on Rookwood golf course. The Friends of Chesworth Farm committee (and we believe the majority of our membership) stand with Friends of Warnham Local Nature Reserve in saying “NO” to this development because of the significant and irreplaceable loss of valuable habitat on its very doorstep. We say “NO” to the extremely detrimental effects of this proposal on the wildlife breeding in, and passing through, the reserve, currently the only Local Nature Reserve (LNR) on the edge of Horsham town.
We say “YES” to keeping all our green spaces which are currently under threat of development, fragmenting our precious green corridors, our network (of which Chesworth Farm is also a part) so essential to healthy living. There must be another way, this is your opportunity to voice it.
Friends of Warnham Local Nature Reserve campaign poster
Horsham District Draft Local Plan 2019-36: public consultation is open
The Horsham District Local Plan 2019-2036 public consultation is now live and open for formal comment by 5pm on Monday March 30. Use the link below to find out more – and please take the opportunity to comment during this first stage.
Among other topics, the link takes you to details of:
How you can register in order to comment officially and receive online updates
Local public drop-in events: Billingshurst (already past), Ashington (20/2), Henfield (25/2), Horsham (29/2), Ifield (3/4) & Southwater (4/4)
Where to find a paper copy of the Local Plan (libraries & Parish councils)
A glossary of terms.
Horsham District Draft Local Plan 2019-36: The public consultation is now open
Hedge-laying skills learnt by Chesworth volunteers
Two workshops in the first weeks of the year have given Friends of Chesworth Farm volunteers new ‘estate skills’ in preparation for a future hedge-laying project in nearby Tip Field (on the right entering from Queensway).
In the first of two events led by HDC countryside warden Ryan Allison, the group started by learning how to coppice the hazel stands in The Warren (the wooded enclosed area just down from the Volunteer Centre) which produced the stakes and binders needed for the hedge-laying job ahead.
The second part of the task was to repair a section of previously-laid hedge along Pedlars Way. As you can see from the pictures, the group did a great job.
In the second workshop, the volunteers honed their skills over an afternoon by cutting and laying Hazel, Dogwood and Blackthorn already growing in the Volunteer Centre garden into a new laid-hedge. The team were delighted with their progress – and Ryan can set up the future project in Tip Field with confidence.
Photographs: Ryan Allison, Tim Thomas and David Verrall
Posted in Activities, Events, Gallery, Nature, Public | Tags: Chesworth Farm, Friends of Chesworth Farm, HDC, HDC countryside warden, Pedlars Way, Queensway, the Warren, Tip Field, Volunteer Centre
Cattle grazing update
British White cattle heading onto public fields again
Winter-spring events on the farm
Posted in Activities, Events, Nature, Public | Tags: AGM, Drill Hall, Easter Eggstra, Friends, Friends of Chesworth Farm, Horsham District Council, Litter pick tasks and tea