Summer alongside the chalk stream at Botany Bay, Duncton

Leader:  Anne Dennig (Owner and Founder Member of Botany Bay Community Interest Group) and friends Greta and Matthew

Formerly a small trout fishery, Anne formed Botany Bay Conservancy Community Interest Group over 10 years ago to transform the area with a wooded ravine into a private reserve of amazing biodiversity.

Now wild Brown Trout have returned and spawn in the stream which emanates from the South Downs and never dries up. Citizen Science is undertaken to monitor the water quality and data is sent to The Western Sussex Rivers Trust. Samples had been collected in plastic trays for everyone to see larvae of stonefly, caddis fly, damselfly and midge pupae, water beetle and Bullhead fish.

The beautiful flower-rich meadow is a result of years of clearing scrub and coarse grass, removal of topsoil, brush-cutting and turf-cutting. Many species were in flower including Wild Carrot, Greater and Common Knapweed, Marjoram and Field Scabious.

In recent years more than 1,000 trees have been planted, including Black Poplar and elm and there are plans to plant more.