Volunteer session: invasive Himalayan balsam removal
Wednesday 29nd July and Wednesday 19th August, 09:30 – 11:30 We have two dates left to volunteer for this summer: The tasks requires pulling the plant and its root from the ground. You will need to bend at the knees, reach down, and walk on potentially uneven, sometimes wet ground. We will be working on…
Open the Map – funded training opportunity
Friends of the South Downs Funded Open the Map Training Course The Friends of the South Downs are delighted to be working with our Award-winning Business Member Pied A Terre Adventures to offer an ‘Open the Map’ Course to our Members. We think that good map reading is a valuable skill to help us appreciate…
Plastic Tree Guard Clear-up Day
Join Friends of the South Downs members for this volunteer task-force day collecting plastic tree guards! Who hasn’t come across redundant tree guards littering the ground whilst out for a walk? Well, now is your chance to put it right. Trustee David Taylor has organised the first Tree Guard Cleanup Day of the year and…
Reimagining Rivers with Aimee Felus, CE of the Western Sussex Rivers Trust
Tuesday 21 April 2026 at 7pm, Pulborough Village Hall Join the Western Sussex Rivers Trust’s passionate and knowledgeable Chief Executive Aimee Felus for a deep dive into the state of our rivers and how we can take action for our riverscapes – for ourselves, the wildlife who live on them and for future generations. Find…
Guided Archaeology Walk on the Lewes Downs
Sunday 26 April 2026, 09:00 – 14:00 A venture onto the Lewes Downs with views over the beautiful Ouse Valley. The Caburn is an impressive Iron Age hillfort that has seen extensive excavations over the last 150 years. It is a rare example of a hill fort that seems to have been reused in later…
Land of the Nightingales: Guided tour of Butcherlands, Ebernoe Common
Wednesday 6 May 2026, 10:00 Ebernoe Wildlands is a nature reserve just to the north of Petworth. At its heart is Ebernoe Common National Nature Reserve. Here, one of the densest populations of Nightingales in the country thrive. A secretive bird, finding a Nightingale out in the open is a rare event. Their numbers are…
Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2026
Saturday 9 May 2026, 10:00 for a 10:30 start The 102nd Annual General Meeting of the Friends will be held at 10:00 for a 10:30 start on Saturday 9 May 2026 at Glyndebourne, Lewes, BN8 5UB. Members are invited to make nominations for the election or re-election of the Honorary Treasurer and Council Members. The…
Explore Ebernoe Common – a guided tour with Dr Tony Whitbread
Wednesday 13 May 2026, 10:30am Join Dr Tony Whitbread, Trustee of Friends of the South Downs and former Chief Executive of Sussex Wildlife Trust, for this guided tour of Ebernoe Common. This is a chance to hear the song of the nightingales, who arrive in the UK in mid-April and return to Africa in late…
