A Sustainable Horsham District

05/06/2026

Won't it be lovely to celebrate nature and wildlife on our new bank notes? You can pick two from each category: Mammals, Birds, and Amphibians/Fish/Insects. Check out the link below to pick your favourites in the consultation 🦔🦉🦋

01/06/2026

Events in June - Welcome to the Horsham District Council Sustainability page! If you are a community group (including Parish councils, churches, and charities) in the District and are hosting an event about sustainability in June, please add the details in the comments below.

29/05/2026

Just like many of us, our wildlife has suffered in the heatwave over the past week - check out some top tips from Plantlife on how to help wildlife in heatwaves 🥵

22/05/2026

Today is International Biodiversity Day - hopefully with the gorgeous weather predicted for this bank holiday weekend, you can find some time to enjoy the biodiversity in Horsham District 🌞

We've already mentioned these plucky migrants on our feed recently, but the return of the ⭐Storrington Swifts ⭐ is one clear example of how relatively modest, local projects have an impact for wildlife across borders.

Over the past six years, our project has funded community groups, parishes and businesses to install almost 200 Swift boxes to replace lost habitat across the Horsham District for these iconic birds, who travel thousands of kilometres from Sub-Saharan Africa to breed.

Photo: Janet Brown



🐦‍⬛🦅🐦🦅🐦‍⬛

Did you know? Wilder Horsham District is a partnership between Horsham District Council and Sussex Wildlife Trust?

👉 Find out more about the work of The Wildlife Trusts across the UK to help migratory birds to survive and thrive.

https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/blog/leigh-morris/acting-locally-global-impact

21/05/2026

Natural History Live free webinars!

The Field Studies Council are hosting a series of free biodiversity webinars every day next week. These cover a wide range of topics including how to welcome wildlife all year round, how to recognise UK minibeasts, and how to record the nature around us.

Visit their website to sign up now https://orlo.uk/kCiA9

20/05/2026

Weald to Waves is a project that aims to establish a 100 mile long nature corridor from the high weald to the coast, creating better connectivity for wildlife.

While larger landowners play their part in this corridor, there are many ways to boost biodiversity no matter the size of your greenspace, from window boxes to balconies to allotments. Joining the Gardens and Greenspaces Network helps Weald to Waves map the network, and also gives you practical tips on how to take action, such as recommending the plants that are best for natural food sources for birds or how to create bee hotels. 🐝

Weald to Waves estimate that private gardens make up about 7% of the area in Sussex - and when added to community greenspaces, parks and playgrounds, orchards and allotments, churchyards, and verges, this amounts to more land than Ashdown Forest! So you can cee how important it is to map and improve your space. 🌿

Find out more about adding your greenspace to this network here https://orlo.uk/7Dq6c , as well as being able to see an interactive map of the network (a screenshot of the map from the website is pictured below).

14/05/2026

Next week is Walk to School Week!

Research shows that walking to school offers a wide range of benefits for children. A short walk before the school day helps improve fitness, boost concentration, reduce stress, and support overall wellbeing, meaning children arrive alert, refreshed, and ready to learn. Encouraging active travel from a young age helps create healthy habits that can last a lifetime, and if you walk to school with your child, you’ll enjoy the health benefits too. 🧑🏻‍🦽 🚶

Colgate Primary School has partnered with the local pub to let parents park there to reduce congestion around the school and give the students (and parents) a bit of exercise at the start and end of the school day (pictured below). The school newsletter has said "A really big thank you to the parents who are using our walk to school route. Our highest number on a walk into school has been around 40 children. This is brilliant and continues to improve the congestion in Blackhouse Road. It’s such a good way to start and end the school day and good for the environment."

However, not everyone is able to walk to school. For those who can’t, here are some more tips that can help encourage you to walk more:
• Take a walk in nature, whether that’s a local park or nature reserve, or even just a tree-lined road.
• Invest in good waterproofs (coat and trousers) and a hat so you can walk in any weather
• Set yourself a realistic goal, even if it’s to go for a 10-minute walk every day. As you walk more, you’ll build up your muscles and be able to walk faster, further, and longer.
• Use free apps to help you exercise more, such as Active 10 or Couch to 5K.
• Working from home? Use some of the time you would have spent commuting to go for a walk instead, even if you just go for a ten-minute walk before you start and finish work.
• If you want a purpose to your walk, grab a litter picker and a bucket, and pick up bits of litter as you walk. Not only do you get the benefits of a walk, but you can help improve your local community as well!

13/05/2026

Join Plantlife’s No Mow May Movement this year, and let wildflowers like daisies, dandelions, and clovers flourish.

This simple act isn’t about not mowing your whole lawn, or even never mowing – it’s more about leaving a small part of your garden to support wildlife and finding the right time for mowing so that it can support bees, butterflies and other pollinators. March and July/August are great times to think about mowing to avoid most of the wildflowers and encourage biodiversity. And remember, even small wild patches add up to making a huge difference to nature. 🌻 🐝

And if you love the look of those blooming spring flowers and butterflies and bees visiting your garden, why not leave a space in your garden for nature to continue to bloom throughout the summer?

Check out Plant Life’s No Mow Calendar for all the tips and advice you need to give your lawn some flower power this year at https://orlo.uk/2Nx5O, and find lots more top tips in the link in the comments 🦋

13/05/2026

Join Plantlife’s No Mow May Movement this year, and let wildflowers like daisies, dandelions, and clovers flourish.

This simple act isn’t about not mowing your whole lawn, or even never mowing – it’s more about leaving a small part of your garden to support wildlife and finding the right time for mowing so that it can support bees, butterflies and other pollinators. March and July/August are great times to think about mowing to avoid most of the wildflowers and encourage biodiversity. And remember, even small wild patches add up to making a huge difference to nature. 🌻 🐝

And if you love the look of those blooming spring flowers and butterflies and bees visiting your garden, why not leave a space in your garden for nature to continue to bloom throughout the summer?

Check out Plant Life’s No Mow Calendar for all the tips and advice you need to give your lawn some flower power this year at https://orlo.uk/AO5O7, and find lots more top tips in the link in the comments 🦋

Plantlife: saving wild plants

12/05/2026

Sussex Green Living is excited to be offering a pop up shop in Swan Walk, and will be on hand to answer any questions you may have on Wednesdays throughout May (with other groups running it on the other open days, Thursday to Saturday). Check them out from 10-4 tomorrow! ♻️