Amy King Wildlife

 It’s been a weird November – this week felt like the first proper bit of Winter this side of the calendar year. With near-freezing temperatures, a clear day and a low breeze, I took myself out a couple of days ago for a bit of Winter parabolic dishing.  I have been to Ebernoe Common a couple of times to get drone photos for the Sussex Wildlife Trust. It’s a long way from anywhere, nestled between cosy villages and the twisty lanes that connect them. This is in theory a perfect location for audio recording as traffic is a concept that has yet to reach these parts of the county. Here, the constant drum of humanity is reduced to only the tinnitus in your own ears. In theory, at least. Parabolic microphones are odd contraptions. They look a bit like miniature radio telescopes, and they even work kind of the same way. When members of the public ask what on earth I could be doing with this weird white disk, I sometimes answer “Looking for aliens”. I jest, parabolic microphones are ...

 Tilgate is Crawley’s flagship county park. Standing strong at the top of a surprisingly steep hill is the walled garden, a quiet area surrounded by brick and mortar. What has been created in the walled garden is really impressive. Whilst it is not up to the same standard as the National Trust, it’s managed with a stretched council budget and is free to the public. The almost two-acre space somehow fits a maze, a small orchard, a community café, an ice cream shop, two long greenhouses, several flowerbeds, and a quartet of example gardens. One of these, and by no surprise my favourite, is the wildlife garden. The garden last winter This small space has been fantastic for nature. I’ve witnessed robins fight like gladiators to claim this little oasis as their own. And why wouldn’t they?   Spring orchids flower from the scraggly edges. Autumn fungi add their own splash of colour. In the centre sits a large pond. Not an ornamental pond with koi carp, but a true wildlife pond, bub...