Category: Tree Warden

Dallington Forest Guided Walks

(Posted on behalf of Doug Edworthy)

It hardly seems possible that 2024 is already half over, the days are getting shorter, and summer is still absent-without-leave. But regardless of the current unseasonable weather, there are three guided walks in Dallington Forest planned for the rest of the year:

  • Sun July 28th
  • Sat Sep 14th
  • Sun Nov 17th

If you’d like to come on any of these walks please contact our walks administrator, Brenda Booth ([email protected]), who will email you details of our meeting location and time.

A lot has changed in the Forge Wood part of the forest following last summer’s clear-fell of non-native Western Hemlock, Spruce and European Larch. The landowner has some interesting plans for this piece of woodland.

So, don’t worry if you’ve been on our walks before, as well as seeing the ancient woodland ghylls, veteran Beeches, standing decaying wood monoliths, walking trees, sandstone ‘ripple beds’ of the early Cretaceous period 145-100 mya, and learning about the landscape and history of the forest, there is still lots to see.

The walks are usually 2-3 hours, influenced by how much talking I do! Depending on the time of year, the weather can be wet, and the tracks can be muddy and slippery with plenty of trip hazards. So, appropriate clothing and footwear are essential. Dogs are welcome on a lead and we ask that owners clear up after them and take the poo out of the forest.

We ask for a £5 cash donation per person, collected at the start of the walk, which goes towards the hosting and maintenance of the Dallington Forest website (www.dallingtonforest.uk – which I urge you to visit and learn more about the forest).

I hope to see you on one of the walks!

Doug Edworthy Tree Warden, Brightling and Dallington parishes

[email protected]

Funding available to High Weald farmers and land managers


(Forwarded from High Weald  AONB via Doug Edworthy):

£1 million awarded to High Weald farmers and land managers

More funding still available from the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme

Farmers and land managers across the High Weald are benefiting from advice, support and funding from the High Weald AONB team, through the Farming in Protected Landscapes grant programme.

More than £1 million has already been awarded, with more money available until March 2025. We want to get the word out to all eligible applicants, so please share this email with anyone you know who might be interested.

What can I apply for? 
Full criteria can be found on our website, but successful projects so far have included:

  • Mobile planned grazing infrastructure (fencing, gates and mobile drinking troughs) to enable regenerative farming
  • High seats for deer control programmes
  • Deer larders and chillers
  • Hedge planting to connect existing hedges and woods
  • Habitat surveys and soil testing to inform new farm management plans.

Find more inspiration in our 2022/23 grant summary >>

What is Farming in Protected Landscapes?
The Farming in Protected Landscapes programme is funded by Defra and managed locally by the High Weald AONB team, with decisions made by a farmer-led assessment panel. It gives grants for projects in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and National Parks that:

  • support nature recovery
  • mitigate the impacts of climate change
  • provide opportunities for people to discover, enjoy and understand the landscape and its cultural heritage; and
  • protect or improve the quality and character of the landscape or place.

Interested? Click the button below to visit our website and register your interest:

Shoot dates in Purchase Wood, Deer Park, Brightling/Dallington

Message from Doug Edworthy, Tree Warden, Brightling and Dallington parishes:

“Forestry England have let me know of dates when there will be shooting on their land in Purchase Wood, Deer Park.

It’s in the North of the wood but best to avoid on those days, especially going off main tracks.

November 6,9,13, 16,20,23, 27,30
December 4,7,11,14, 18, 28,
January 8,11,15

People with nervous dogs, especially, might want to avoid the wood on those dates.”

Forest Walks

Dallington and Brightling Forest Project Walks

Learn more of the local history, planting and harvesting of the forest.
Led by the local Tree warden Doug Edworthy

Guided Walk time approx. 2 hours with donations of around £5 which goes towards the sustainability of the Forest.

For further information contact Brenda Booth  Email [email protected]

Be sure to put these dates in your diary

  • Sunday 1st October 10am
  • Saturday 28th October 10am
  • Saturday 18th November 10am
  • Sunday 3rd December 10am

Dallington Forest Walk 10.06.23

Dallington Forest Walk

The next Dallington Forest Walk will take place on Saturday 10 June at 10.30am.

This will be a walk of approximately 2 hours through Dallington Forest, guided by our tree warden.  You will learn about the forest’s trees, landscape and history in an enjoyable walk with a small friendly local group.

We ask for a donation of £4 per person for the Dallington Forest Project, which does a huge amount of work to preserve, manage and enhance the area.

Please contact Ed Aronson ([email protected] or 07929 065889) to book a place or to ask any questions.

Wanted: landowners’ opinions on wooded habitats

(posted on behalf of Doug Edworthy, Tree Warden, Brightling and Dallington parishes)

Land manager opinions on wooded habitats
I’ve recently taken part in a survey of land managers’ opinions on wooded habitats, being run as part of a research project by a PhD student, Sam Aizlewood, at University of Kent, Canterbury. He would welcome input to the survey from other landowners or managers of woodlands of any size in Brightling and Dallington parishes. The survey takes the form of an online Teams interview with Sam and lasts around an hour. Your data is respected and dealt-with in confidence. Please contact him directly at [email protected], he would be delighted to hear from you. More details below:

Text of enclosed flyer:
Participants needed for study on wooded habitats and land management
We would like to hear from you if:

    • You are 18 or over
    • You own or manage land in Kent, East & West Sussex, Surrey or Hampshire with a property of at least 1 hectare
    • You do not need to have woodland or trees on your property

We want to hear any opinions you may have

What you will be asked to do:

  • An interview over video call or in person with the researcher
  • This should take no more than an hour

For more information email: [email protected]
Prize draw for 2 x £100 Amazon vouchers

Dallington Forest Walk 26th March 2023

(Posted on behalf of Brenda Booth)

Dallington Forest Walk  led by Doug Edworthy (Tree Warden Dallington and Brightling)

26th March Meet at top of Bakers Lane – main road end – at 11am (and don’t forget that the clocks go forward the night before).

Walk will be approx. 2 to 3 hours 

Please contact Brenda Booth (co-ordinator)

Email [email protected] Text 07730402908

New Survey of Plants in Dallington Forest SSSI finds two species missing

(Posted on behalf of Doug Edworthy)

During 2022 a survey of vascular plants was conducted in the beautiful Dallington Forest Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), which straddles the parishes of Brightling and Dallington.

Originally surveyed and designated a SSSI way back in 1953 when regionally and nationally rare species: Wood Fescue, Hay-scented Buckler-fern, Cornish Moneywort, and Ivy-leaved Bellflower were found, there had been no systematic survey or recording since then.

So, funded by the Peter Smith Charitable Trust, this last Spring and Summer three separate surveys were undertaken to discover how many species were still present. The results were interesting in that a total of 48 ancient woodland indicator species were found, but disappointing in that two of the rare species now appear to be extinct in the SSSI.

Visit the Dallington Forest Project website to learn more. The survey report and data can be found at https://dallingtonforest.uk/plants/

“Tree-hugger”