West Sussex Beach Wardens
The West Sussex Beach Wardens are a volunteer group who work to raise awareness and conservation of this important coastline.
The Beach Wardens are a fully working group with a committee and help out at national events to raise awareness such as World Oceans Day and Marine Week. We also conduct surveys of coastal flora and fauna and litter. The data collected from these surveys is collated by the Sussex Biodiversity Records Centre, MCS (litter survey), and the Beach Wardens. It will be useful for mapping species change, phenology and the general state of our coast and sea.
Other practical work we do includes beach cleans, walks and talks. We have 4 subgroups undertaking this work to allow local community knowledge to flourish. These are Chichester/Pagham area, Arun, Adur, and Shoreham.
This work is supported by Southern Water, who recently became our main sponsor.
Helen Sparkes, Community Programmes Officer says -
"We are absolutely delighted we can offer this support to the Beach Wardens
as at Southern Water we are working towards a common goal of protecting
our precious coastline"
Community Volunteering Day
Wed, 2010-06-23 13:10 | test
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.
History
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.