On Sunday 24th November 2019 the Trees Committee of Friends of Lewes, and friends and family, were able to celebrate National Trees Week by planting seven more street trees in Lewes.

We began in Prince Edwards Road where we planted a white Hawthorn, (Crataegus monogyna), a Hornbeam, (Carpinus betulus), and a Wild Cherry, (Prunus avium). This project was in response to a request from three of the residents, who have each “adopted” a tree to help to look after them.

After watering the trees in, we moved on to the green in Cross Way, on the Nevill. There we planted four more trees, two at each end of the green, to allow plenty of room for play space between them. The trees chosen, following consultations with nearby residents, were: a Wild Cherry, (Prunus avium), a Hornbeam, (Carpinus betulus), a Rowan, (Sorbus aucuparia), and an Ornamental Pear, (Pyrus calleryana “Chanticleer”). (Click on image to enlarge)

Nevill Residents’ Association not only asked for some trees here, but they also donated £300 to us so that we might be able to plant some more around Nevill in the future.

If you have a green space or verge near your home, and you would like us to plant a tree there, please do not hesitate to contact us. We investigate all requests to try to gain planting permission from the landowners. You may contact us using the form at the bottom of our Lewes Urban Arboretum web page.

 

In 2014, the Conservation Trust gave the Friends of Lewes Trees Committee nine elm whips, from cuttings taken from surviving trees in Hove (a whip being a small sapling about 75cm in height). After almost five years growing them on from 4” pots to 11” ones, it was clearly going to be some time before they would grow large and robust enough to be suitable for planting as street trees for Lewes.

Instead, the Trees Committee has planted them in Vert Woods Community Woodland, near Laughton. We are very grateful to VWCW for giving them a protected space on either side of what will become an avenue of Elms. Three of the trees were planted on New Year’s Day 2019, and the rest were planted in April 2019.

This adds to the growing collection of Elms at Vert Woods, many of which were planted as part of the “Bring Elms back to the South Downs” project. We hope that they will encourage the White-letter Hairstreak butterfly, which breeds on Elm species, especially on the edges of woodland rides. The numbers of these butterflies declined in the 1970s when its food source was reduced by the effects of Dutch Elm Disease.

The elm varieties planted are: Ulmus hollandica Wentworthii, Ulmus rugosa pendula, Ulmus Hollandica virens, (Kidbrook), Ulmus laevis, (White Elm), and Ulmus coritana, (Minor).

 

The Friends of Lewes continue to help sponsor these attractive flower beds at the western end of the Phoenix Causeway, a ‘gateway’ into Lewes.

 

The Friends of Lewes has conducted a detailed survey of trees in Lewes in order to inform its tree planting programme which aims to help improve the natural environment of the town.

The survey identifies the number, species, and ages of the stock of trees in Lewes, and will guide the choice of trees to plant in order to maintain a varied and healthy tree population. It also puts cash values on the benefits that the tree population brings to the town.

Summary report of the i-Tree Eco Survey of the trees of Lewes [pdf 1.2mb]

 

 

Tingle’s Way is a self-guided trail with themed stories linking the town of Lewes with our natural surroundings. It’s intended as a lasting memorial to Dr Colin Tingle, who died in 2017.

Colin was a Lewesian and respected scientist who specialised in sustainability and the benefits we derive from the natural world’s processes. These benefits are known as ecosystem services, or “Naturegain”. Simple examples are carbon sequestration in trees and plants as an inherent part of their growth, and flood water retention in woods and wetlands through absorption or by acting as natural barriers. Colin was also a major contributor to Lewes’ Neighbourhood Plan, the first in the country to employ an ecosystem approach as its guiding principle.

Tingle’s Way is becoming part of the South Downs Way, offering a route through Lewes, and is being supported by the South Downs National Park Authority, the National Trust and the Sussex Wildlife Trust, amongst others.

Tingle’s Way was piloted with an initial walk in September, and has now been beautifully documented by Lynda Durrant in this guide. Plans for 2019 include the official launch, an exhibition, and the erection of QR-code based way marks by the SDNPA along the route.

Click map for the Tingle’s Way guide

 

 

 

–

 

Lewes Urban Arboretum, Trees Committee of Friends of Lewes planted four more trees on 18 November 2018. At the request of residents living nearby, a Ginkgo biloba, (Maidenhair Tree), Sorbus aria Magnifica, (Whitebeam) and an Acer campestre Louisa Red Shine, (Field Maple with especially red leaves in Autumn), were planted outside Mount Harry Stores. Another Liquidambar styraciflua Worplesdon, (Sweet Gum), was planted in Houndean Rise to add to the twelve which we planted there in March 2018: as a project in consultation with residents to replace trees which have been lost over the years. The residents have taken very good care of the trees by watering them regularly over the dry summer which we have just had.

Liquidambar planted on Houndean Rise, and planting outside Mount Harry Stores, Lewes

 

 

 

 

–

 

Litter-Free Lewes is a group of active volunteers which formed on Facebook only a few months ago, but it has won the support of Lewes District Council and sponsorship from the town’s civic society, the Friends of Lewes, in recognition of the impact it has had.

Litter-Free Lewes’s hi-vis jackets have been printed following a donation of £100 from Friends of Lewes.

Regular litter-picks, equipped by the council, have targeted specific parts of town, revisiting them as necessary. As many as 20 people at a time have joined in clearing litter, and some pieces found can be identified as many years old. Recently there have been sessions on Landport, Brooks Road, Pells and in the tree-belt by the A27 by-pass. Hundreds of bags of litter and fly-tipping have been cleared or recycled.

Friends of Lewes also provided £15 in book tokens to pupils of St Pancras Primary School, who designed posters for Litter Free Lewes and which will provide books about the environment.

 

 

If you know of an area in the town that needs the group’s attention, you can find them on Facebook or by e-mailing litterfreelewes@yahoo.com

 

 

 

 

–

The children of St Pancras Catholic Primary School designed some posters for Litter Free Lewes: to publicise the “Keeping Lewes Special” message through disposing of litter thoughtfully.

Friends of Lewes rewarded the pupils with some book tokens, which they are going to use to buy some books which will help them to learn more about caring for our environment.

All of the children’s posters can be seen on the Litter Free Lewes Facebook page or on the Friends of Lewes Flickr page.

 

 

 

Poster by Emily G.

 

 

 

 

–

During March and April 2018, Tesco customers will have the opportunity to vote with their blue tokens for the Friends of Lewes “Lewes Street Elms” project: to restore the avenue of Elm trees on St Anne’s Hill, Western Road, and create a beautiful, green and healthy gateway to Lewes High Street.

This will improve the health and biodiversity of the environment for birds, bees and humans: through reducing pollution, producing oxygen and helping to avoid water run-off.

Tesco’s scheme has already granted us £1,000 but, with the help of your tokens, we could be given even more! This photograph shows one of the two new DED-resistant Elms already planted on this site in March 2017, thanks to the support of East Sussex County Council, Lewes Town Council and a generous donation from a member of the public.

The original seven Elms, dating from about 1900, have now all been felled because they had Dutch Elm Disease. The two photographs below by courtesy of Mick Symes and the Lewes Past Facebook Group.

Further information on the Lewes Street Elms Project

 

 

 

–

On Sunday 19th March the Trees Committee of Friends of Lewes revisited Abergavenny Road to plant a further nine trees on the grassy area at the top of the bank.

The trees are all native trees which are good for wildlife: Alder, (Alnus glutinosa), Himalayan Birch, (Betula utilis Jacquemontii), Wild Cherry, (Prunus avium), and Field maple, (Acer Campestre).

See where the nine new trees have been planted, and the previous new additions to the Lewes tree-scape, on the Lewes Urban Arboretum tree planting page.

Find out what the Friends of Lewes Urban Arboretum group gets up to, from their webpage, and on Facebook.

 

 

 

–