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TLC Bulletin - May 2018

Nature Now

What's happening in nature this month
 



Coming Up...


Events in your
Environment 


Please visit our events calendar for full details of all of the events listed below and others too!


May

Sat 5th May, 10am-11.30am - Weekend Wildlife walk, Woods Mill, Henfield. (SWT)

Mon 7th May, 4.30am-6.30am - Dawn Chorus Walk, Lewes. Free (RLWT)

Sat 12th May, 10am-5pm - Plumpton College Open Day and Spring Fair, Plumpton. £7.50 / free under 16.(PC)

Sat 12th May, 2pm-4pm - Musical immersion in nature: sound foraging, Stanmer Park, £25. (UTB)

Tue 15th May, 10am-1pm - A walk at Mount Caburn, Lewes Downs, £3. (SWT)

Tue 22nd May, 7.30pm-9pm - Dusk Birds, Woods Mill Nature Reserve. Free. (SWT)

Sat 26th May, 1pm-4pm - Brighton Dolphin Project Discovery Centre Grand Opening, Brighton. Free. (WCA)
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June

Fri 1st June, 9.30am-11.30am - The Long View Children's Art Workshop, ONCA Gallery, Brighton

Sat 16th June, 10am-3pm - Newhaven Fish Fair and Children's Parade, West Quay. Free

Tue 19th June, 10.30am-1.30pm - Orchid Walk and Talk, Saddlescombe Farm, £10. (National Trust)
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Volunteers, Jobs & Opportunities
 
Gallery Supervisor at ONCA
In this part time evening/weekend role you will be responsible for overseeing the gallery and volunteers during exhibitions and events, providing front of house and administrative support. More info

Cookery course volunteers
 Brighton & Hove Food Partnership is looking for volunteers to help cookery leaders run courses and masterclasses in the new Community Kitchen. Deadline 4 May. More info
 
Summer jobs at Olly's Fish Shack
 Olly's Fish Shack is looking for part-time staff for summer work during the festival season. If you're interested get in touch through Facebook or by email

Community Garden project in Brighton & Newhaven
Whitehawk Community Garden and Newhaven Growing Together Garden have come together for an arts and food project. An apple tree has been planted in each garden as a symbol of the connection. If you'd like to get involved, visit their Facebook group.

May 2018

Have you heard the Sound of Nature?

Dear <<Name>>

May ushers in a wealth of natural wonders - see our monthly Nature Now diary - in particular the rich melody of the dawn chorus as our local birdlife reaches its peak of activity. 

Listening or even hearing nature is perhaps a waning experience for many of us, as natural sounds become drowned out in our busy urban lives by louder sources such as earphones and traffic noise. This weekend of 5-6th May welcomes the annual International Dawn Chorus Day, with many local events happening to help us to re-connect to this natural spectacle. Be prepared to rouse yourself early to catch it though! 
Check the 'WoW' section (below left) on the 'Sounds of Spring' for an idea of what wildlife you may hear now in The Living Coast.

Our Bio Blog 
this month (excerpt below right), by research partners at the University of Sussex Drs. Mika Peck and Alice Eldridge, showcases a network of audio events that you can listen in to. It reveals their innovative research using  'soundscapes' to assess the richness of wildlife here and abroad - do have a read!

A different approach to natural sound meanwhile is being pioneered through the concept of 'sound foraging' by local initiative 'Unite the Beat' - bringing people together outdoors to explore their auditory sense and create new sounds from nature. Why not take a look at our 'Spotlight' article to hear more about it?


May is also of course the peak season for local culture, with the Brighton Festival & Fringe taking place this month. Its also however the time when outdoor eco-events really get going - see our online Calendar for inspiration (selected summary list, left).

Lastly you will no doubt be aware that new data protection rules take effect from 25th May. We are writing a new privacy policy (to be included on our website) and wish to assure you that we treat your personal data with respect, and will never share it with third parties. Please note that we use Mailchimp as our marketing automation platform for our e-news data processing, whose privacy policy is here. We will always ensure that we have your 'explicit consent' to receive our communications, by keeping a record of when and how you signed up with us as a 'Friend of The Living Coast'  (formerly 'Biosphere'). You may of course unsubscribe any time you choose, by clicking the web link at the bottom of any e-news edition.      
 
Thank you for your continued support as a valued Friend of TLC,
    
Rich Howorth
Brighton & Lewes Downs Biosphere Partnership

Window On
Our World

Sounds of Spring

Spring sees the return of nature's chorus in The Living Coast (see interactive map), with the dawn chorus of bird song and more:

~ Blackbird - beautiful mellow tuneful notes

~ Song Thrush (see pic) - repeated sets of phrases

~ Starling - a master mimic of chatter & calls

~ House Sparrow - constant chirps in towns

~ Skylark - persistent  songster over the Downs

~ Hedgehogs - noisy sounds of mating in May!

~ Bats - ultrasound is inaudible to most people!



 

Bio Blog

Listening to the Wild

The weekend of 5-6th May heralds the International Dawn Chorus Day – a worldwide celebration of the dawn chorus that reminds us of the close connection  of people and nature.

A radio transmitter on the cliff tops of Newhaven will be linking The Living Coast to a network of open microphones around the world which you can listen in to online.

This local Soundcamp is organised by the Experimental Music Technologies (Emute) lab at the University of Sussex, who have been pioneering research on Soundscape Ecology’.

Their aim is to use sound to measure wildlife diversity, by carrying out acoustic surveys from temperate areas in The Living Coast (mostly of bird song) to tropical Ecuador, where frogs and insects make a lot of noise!

The research results have been really promising, offering a potential new tool for conservationists to assess biodiversity across large remote wild areas and over longer periods of time than is possible from field surveys…read full blog

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