In Memoriam – Tilgate Park’s Nature Garden

 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, bubbling with life. Fantastic frogspawn shimmers on the surface, thousands of beady eyes staring skywards. Dragonflies dance in the air, small raft spiders skate on the surface. A shallow bank gives opportunities for thirsty birds to drink and bathe – blackbirds, goldfinches and the like. I’ve helped to manage this pond as a youth ranger with a local nature group, the Gatwick Greenspace Partnership. Waders on, knee deep, wrestling with the reeds to give room for other plants to breathe. There’s a bench tucked underneath a willow arch, shading anyone resting from the strong summer sun. I’ve had many moments here, watching, waiting.

Somehow, somewhere, someone has decided to desecrate this spot. There’s not been a small modification, a change unregistered to the untrained eyes, but a complete and utter overhaul. Almost every shrub has been sliced to an inch of its life. An imposing fence imprisons the pond, barring any would be naturalists from properly peering in. It’s not like there is anything to see. The pond itself has been stripped naked, tearing apart a valued habitat for amphibians and insects alike. The bank has also gone, leaving steep cliff-like sides.

What does the robin now think about it’s hard won territory? Does it sit on the bench, confused at what on earth has happened here? What about blackbirds? Where will they go to bathe? How about the frogs, will they jump into the springtime pond to mate, only to find out that they are trapped, unable to hop out? Who will save the hedgehogs when they fall in? Are there any hedgehogs left to save?

The garden a few days ago

Whoever has committed this ecocide has left a calling card. The pond, as bare as it is, does have a weird object now sticking out of it. It’s a statue known locally as The Boy on the Dolphin. It used to be a fountain in Crawley’s town centre but was removed when the area was refurbished (Dunn, 2025). It’s move to Tilgate was announced at a council meeting in July.

              “I’m really delighted to say it’s going to be reinstated, this time in Tilgate Park within the walled garden. We’d like to keep it near water because although it cannot be used as a fountain anymore, […] we are going to put it near the little pond in the walled garden so people can enjoy it for years to come. It’s a piece of Crawley’s history and especially at this time of such great change for Crawley, it’s really important to recognise and remember all those things that are the legacy of Crawley over the years. So I’m delighted to announce it’s return, it’s rebirth if you like.” – Councillor Sue Mullins, Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and Culture. (Mullins, 2025)

There’s a sly argument happening here, that the history of one broken fountain is more important than the history of the wildlife garden. How many people have sat on the bench and watched blue tits squeeze in-and-out of the nestboxes? How many kids have stared wide eyed into the pond only to see a tadpole staring back? How many youth rangers have waded into that very same pond to help its inhabitants thrive? What about the countless hours put in by the volunteer gardeners? Is that not a history worth saving?

In a way, I find it odd to put The Boy on The Dolphin into a wildlife pond. The boy does not sit on a dolphin, instead a sturgeon, a type of fish. Generally speaking, fish are terrible for wildlife ponds as they are predators for aquatic invertebrates (Howard, 2019). The cruel irony here does not pass me by. Besides, if the point was to remember Crawley’s history, why put it in an out-of-the-way wildlife pond in the walled garden, and not near the far more popular lake? Or how about the Peace Garden with its many ponds, connected by a gentle flowing stream? Actually, remembering Crawley’s history is a bit of a sore point at the moment when it comes to the Walled garden. Recently, the council removed a WW1 memorial which caused a bit of a stir (Sherratt, 2025).

Ultimately, I do not know if Councillor Sue Mullins or anyone else at the Council gave much thought to the life within the wildlife garden. I may never know. I emailed Sue about this topic, curious about the decisions made in the relocation effort. My questions where simple:

Why was the wildlife garden at Tilgate chosen?

Was there an ecological assessment undertaken?

How was the ecological impact of the placement considered?

At the time of writing, 5 days later, I am yet to get a response.

Today, the statue was unveiled to the public (Crawley Borough Council, 2025), with all the pageantry that you would expect from a council affair. The local MP and the Mayor were in attendance. Councillors in monotone coats, proud of their work. Their picture can be found on the local news website in a report written not by the journalists who should be holding these hooligans to account, but by the council itself. Someone killed our garden, and it doesn’t take Sherlock to figure out who.

 

A bench without a view

References 

Crawley Borough Council. (2025, November 10). The Boy and Sturgeon statue has a new home in Tilgate Park. Retrieved from Sussex World: https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/community/the-boy-and-sturgeon-statue-has-a-new-home-in-tilgate-park-5395947

Dunn, K. (2025, July 17th). Much-loved Crawley statue to be given a new home. Retrieved from Sussex World: https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/politics/council/much-loved-crawley-statue-to-be-given-a-new-home-5229099

Howard, J. (2019). The Wildlife Pond Book. London: Bloomsbury.

Mullins, S. (2025, July 16). Crawley Borough Council Full Council Meeting. Crawley.

Sherratt, Z. (2025, April 24). Veterans 'hurt' as council paints over war mural. Retrieved from BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg91kx8rv5o