West Sussex Beach Wardens

 
The West Sussex Beach Wardens are a volunteer group who work to raise awareness and conservation of this important coastline. 

Contact Us

Please contact us on info@westsussexbeachwardens.co.uk

This email is checked periodically but as we a a volunteer group please bear with us!

Local Beach Wardens put up posters for their events so please keep your eyes peeled for active groups in your area.

Sunday May 8th;
Saturday July 9th;
Sunday August 21st;
Septmber to be confirmed to coincide with Beach Watch.

All start at 11.00 am at public car park near The BlueBird Cafe, Ferring

The Beach Wardens often join in with the MCS Beachwatch national Survey in September. This involves surveying and collecting litter from beaches around the country at the same time to build up a national picture.

This list of Beach Warden Cleans will evolve over the next few months:

Sunday 18th September - Worthing Group - Details to follow. Tide suggets a 10am start

Friends of Shoreham Beach are associated with the Beach Wardens and are a very active group. Here are some of their events this spring.

Mon May 30th Shoreham Beach Residents Family Fun Day. Beach Green
FoSB Stand and children’s Activity

Sun June 5th 2.30 pm WILD FLOWER WALK from the Old Fort to the Burrells
Cream tea 138,Old Fort Rd. From 3.45pm

Sat 11th June World Oceans Day Stand at Coronation Green and children’s activity 10am - 4pm

PLEASE help CLEAN /SURVEY OUR MARINE CONSERVATION SOCIETY ADOPTED 400 METRE
Stretch of shingle beach along Sea Road to Sea Lane Beach Shelter Rustington
Meet At the Little BROWN Bus Shelter
Opp: Harsfold Road
ON SATURDAY 4th JUNE 2011 10-30a.m.
Weather permitting!
This regular survey will help collect information that will be used by the MCS to lobby for better control of the maritime environment.
Dress according to weather conditions.
Please Bring Thick Garden Gloves /Drink/Sunscreen & Hat if required

I was really sorry to hear that Beachwarden stalwart John Smith died earlier this year.

John and his wife Barbara had been closely involved in protecting West Beach at Littlehampton even before the Beach Wardens came into being, carrying out monthly beach cleans along with other volunteers.

The Smiths have been such a great strength, organising the twice yearly Beach Watch beach cleans,carrying out plant surveys, rallying other volunteers and offering the hand of friendship to everyone with an interest in conservation.

As a newcomer to Littlehampton in 2004 I was given such a lot of support and encouragement from John and Barbara and I'd like to record here all the gratitude I feel for everything that John did for West Beach and for the kind friendship that Barbara and John extended.

Totally dependable and deeply committed, John would be down on West Beach striding along assessing hazards and marking it out for the Beach Watch cleans at least an hour before anyone else showed up. Armed with all the tools for the job: bags, gloves, pickers, rubber rings to keep the bags open, scales to weigh the results, recording sheets, pencils and his own inimitable sense of humour, no one could have been better prepared.

John's work was really greatly appreciated and he is sorely missed.

Life’s a beach when you work in Corporate Strategy – on this day at least.

A team from the department ventured down to the seafront at Ferring to take part in a beach clean and flower survey.

The idea came from a BIM action which highlighted the worth of holding a volunteering day.

So, armed with protective gloves and plastic bags, they joined Anna Carter, Michelle Harbord and Sue Palmer from the West Sussex Beach Wardens to survey the beach for wildlife and remove any unwanted debris.

Competition Manager Dylan Freeman, who organised the session, said: “I thought it would be a good idea for us to link up with the beach wardens to do a beach clean.

“We wanted to have a bit more of an educational volunteer day and it certainly was that.”

Anna Carter, Southern Water Hub Analyst and Chair of the Beach Wardens group, said: “Corporate Strategy were very keen and cleaned an impressive amount of coastline, it is an area not cleaned by the council so volunteer work is indispensable. In the afternoon we explored the area’s coastal environment – shingle plants, intertidal zone and mudflats along the Ferring Rife- some of the group were lucky enough to see a snipe (a wading bird classified as amber critical by the RSPB).”

The West Sussex Beach Wardens was set up in 2004 and has been sponsored by Southern Water for the past three years.

The group’s 65 trained beach wardens work throughout the year to keep the beaches clean along 44 miles of coastline and conduct surveys of the wide variety of plants and wildlife that flourish there.

The West Sussex Beach Wardens were born out of a Nature coast Project idea.  West Sussex residents have come together over the past 4 years to learn more about their coast and put this knowledge into action - volunteers only needed to show an enthusiasm – full training was provided. Each Warden completed a series of courses; Bird Identification, Shingle Plant Identification, Marine Mammal and Strandline Identification, Working with the Wider Community and Managing Projects.

These courses were generously funded by Veolia Environmental Trust and taught by BTCV. Local experts are enlisted to give essential knowledge, thanks to David Wood, Ivan Lang of Pagham Harbour, the Nature Coat Project and Stephen Savage.

Once fully competent each Warden takes responsibility for a section of coastline and helps out at events.