Crack of Dawn Chorus

Walk & Breakfast
Monday 7th May

Please contact info@railwaylandproject.org to book a place.

Summer Evenings on the

Railway Land

August 20th, 22nd, 27th and 29th 7pm

Come and enjoy the tranquility of the Railway Land in the evening on these informal, informative walks lead by biologist Steve Savage.

Steve has a  wealth of knowledge of the wildlife on the nature reserve and will talk and answer questions depending on what is seen on the evening.

Free

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Exploring Water in the Chalk Landscape

Sunday February 17th 2-5pm

An afternoon of interactive walks and activities looking at how the chalk landscape makes our water system remarkable, the nature of threats it faces, and how we can protect the water we all depend on.
Suitable for all ages. Free.

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Local naturalist and photographer Steve Homewood has spent the last 4 years observing and trying to understand the strange and spectacular phenomenon of the River Ouse's population of Thin Lipped Grey Mullet. In the spring they congregate in their hundreds, in full view from the bank, at the fresh water outlet of the Winterbourne stream beside Railway Land Local Nature Reserve. This culminated in a BBC TV Springwatch feature last year and a discovery that surprised all. Steve will be giving an illustrated talk and stunning display of underwater photographs, which should coincide with this this years appearance of these mysterious creatures.  

Entry by Donation.

Bird Walk

Sunday 25th June - 3-4pm

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Suitable for all ages – youngsters welcome. The bird population on the reserve has been monitored by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable group of volunteers for many years. Paul Harley will lead a guided walk around the reserve, help with bird identification and share his knowledge of bird habitats and behaviours.

Come and find out more about the Railway Land Live! project that has been running here for the last two years. Biologist Steve Savage will lead a wildlife walk  through the woodland, you'll be able to see some of the highlights of the footage captured by our underwater webcams and hear about some of the discoveries that have been made about the underwater life on the Railway Land!

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Sunday 7th August - 2-5pm.

Wildflower Walk

Sunday 23rd July - 3-4pm

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A team of floral enthusiasts have been monitoring the flora of the Railway land for over 10 years. Come and join them on a guided walk of the nature reserve and find out more about the flowers that grow here now and how they have changed over the years.

Songs of Nature

Saturday September 7th

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‘Songs of Nature’ is a benefit concert in support of the Railway Land Wildlife Trust and in celebration of our local natural environment.

The concert features a line-up of interesting artists from diverse musical backgrounds performing music inspired by nature.

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Bee Sunday
 

Sunday 14th May - 2-5pm

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An afternoon dedicated to bees and how we can all help them to thrive - something for all ages!

As well as craft activities and making bee hotels, there will be information stands from the
Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Brighton and Lewes Beekeepers Association,
East Grinstead Beekeepers and Plumpton College

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A 3pm Prof Francis  Ratnieks will be giving a talk on his research at the Laboratry of Apiculture and Social Insects,  at the University of Sussex, "Helping bees in urban areas: research on determining the best garden flowers for bees and other flower-visiting insects".

Free event, donations welcome!

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APPLE PRESSING

 LINKLATER PAVILION
SUNDAY 9th SEPTEMBER 11am - 4pm

• Bring your apples (Bramleysmake delicious juice), pears, even grapes!

• Brown bits and bruises don't matter, but give them a quick rinse

• Bring bottles if you can, or we'll sell you plastic bottles (suitable for freezing)

• We press your fruit for 50p/ litre in our hand-operated wooden presses

Signs of Spring

Join us for arts and crafts activities, pond-dipping, a bird walk and fun!

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5th April - 10am - 12.30pm

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Family drop-in activities. Come down to the Linklater to enjoy all manner of activities to celebrate the coming of Spring. Make a bird feeder, a bug hotel, go for a guided walk through the woodlands, enjoy all sorts of arts and crafts!

 
Donations towards materials, suggested donation £3 per child. Suitable for 3-11 year olds.

Lewes Railway Land Festival

Sunday 15th July 2018

30th Anniversary Celebration

There's something for everyone at our free festival!
Live music from Fleur de Paris, Lewis & Clark and the Angels with Attitude choir

Exhibitions, talks and guided walks

Bug hunts and nature trails

Wishworks puppet theatre

Food stalls, information, craft activities

Community Extravaganza

Sunday March 24th 2-5pm

This will be our first big event in the new look Undercroft, which we will be relaunching as a community venue and renaming in memory of Alison Jolly.
It will also be an afternoon buzzing with activities for young and old as we bring our South Downs project to a close with hands on sessions and walks looking at the habitats on the reserve, the water system of the chalk landscape, and the part we can all play in reducing our waste.
Suitable for all ages. Free

What is a Green Funeral?

A talk by Belinda Chapman from Mourning Conversations

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Sunday 23rd April - 3pm

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With Music, pictures, tea and cake
Entry by donation towards RLWT funds

ALBATROSS

Friday 23rd November at 7.30pm

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A film by artist Chris Jordan, is a powerfully moving love story about birds on Midway Island in the Pacific whose bodies are filled with ocean plastic. This award-winning 97 minute film is offered as a free public artwork.

Entry is FREE but we would like to suggest a donation on the night of £4- £5 split between Albatross film, Railway Land and Plastic Free Lewes.

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Light refreshments available, 7.30pm, film starts at 8pm. Age 12+.

Fleur de Paris
A Railway Land Wildlife Trust Fund Raising event

Sunday 22nd April 7pm - 9.30pm

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An evening of the evocative, ageless sound of Paris from the Fleur de Paris Duo at the Linklater, with gallic food & wines!

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Tickets cost £10 and include french delicacies and your first drink.
Order from info@railwaylandproject.org or call 07501035098.

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A Prize draw of Wines and French Hamper at the interval.

OWL SENSE

Friday 25th May
A reading & talk by Miriam Darlington

A reading and talk by Miriam Darlington on her latest creative non-fiction book, a study of the world of owls.

Free entry by ordering tickets either by email: 
info@railwaylandproject.org or
tel: 07501 035098
 

Event includes snacks and ‘donation’ bar.

Washing Up

Friday 16th March @ 7pm

The Washing Up is a collaboration between Small Performance Adventures and the Cascade Drama Collective and has been co-created with artists and participants in addiction recovery. Come along to a work in progress sharing at the Linklater Pavilion in advance of our performances at Your Place, Brighton Festival in May 2018. 

The Washing Up:  A repetitive mind-numbing chore or an opportunity to be mindful with your hands in soapy water? Who is right? Do you rinse? How many tea towels do you have? Who always does the washing up in your house? The Washing Up will explore these and other important questions looking beneath the surface bubbles to uncover every day and extraordinary stories. With original songs the show will take a serious and absurd look of an every day act that brings us all together.

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Audiences have told us that its “Brilliant and bonkers” Come along and make up your own mind (Marigolds not provided). And remember it all starts with one leftover teaspoon in the sink….

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The performance is free to attend. We will be collecting donations in aid of Martlet’s Hospices.

Pop Up Supper

with the Greencuisine Trust

Saturday October 27th, 7pm
 

An ecological gastronomy of wild & cultivated, imaginative, ethical & wholesome foods including a botanical cocktail with canapes followed by a three course meal.

Healthy food from healthy soil to feast body and mind.

£30 per person

Help Wildlife Thrive This Year!

Bats, Birds , Bugs, Bees

Activities for all ages

Sunday 25th March - 2-5pm

Linklater Pavilion

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3pm Illustrated talk by Amanda Miller
of The Sussex Bat Group

"My work with Bats"

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£2.50 per child members

£4.50 per child  non-member

To cover all craft activities

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Entry to talk by donation

ChAMP for Water

Wednesday 18th April 7.30pm

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A talk by Aimee Felus

Many of us appreciate the downs for their landscape, beauty and wildlife, but perhaps we don’t think so much about what lies beneath.  Here the chalk aquifer stores vital water used to supply our homes.  This water must remain a sustainable resource to benefit us all as well as the landscape, sea and wildlife around us.  Find out how the Brighton ChaMP (Chalk Management Partnership) project is working to protect our water, and what we can all do to help.

Walk with Dinosaurs

Friday 9th February, 7.30pm

This is a chance to find out more about the park in South London where you can Walk with Dinosaurs - although these are not as we imagine them now. These Dinosaurs were ‘given flesh’ in the first attempt at three-dimensional life-like reconstructions when they formed the centrepieces of Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins’s inspired Crystal Palace geological islands.

Ellinor Michel chair of the Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs will speak in Lewes for the Gideon Mantell Memorial Lecture* about the challenges and importance of these models. She is a taxonomist and evolutionary biologist at the Natural History Museum.

Entry £3. Contact Debby Matthews for more information.

* Mantell was born in St Mary's Lane Lewes on 3 February 1790 and spent much of his early life in Lewes as doctor, geologist, early palaeontologist and writer. Every year around this time we invite a speaker on a related theme to present a talk. 

Volunteer Get Together

Tuesday 13th February, 2pm - 4pm

This is an opportunity for volunteers to get together and plan for the year ahead. If you are interested in volunteering for the Railway Land Wildlife Trust, we have a wide range of roles and commitments on offer. Please contact Helen Meade at coordinator@railwaylandproject.org for more details or to register an interest in coming on February 13th.