Apart from the Uckfield Open spaces listed below, Wealden District Council provides a Healthy Wealden website which you can view here: https://www.healthywealden.co.uk/
You can also follow and like the Healthy Wealden Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/HealthyWealden/ for updated health and wellbeing information, events, and campaigns in Wealden.
One of Uckfield Town Council’s most important tasks is to protect local woodlands and green spaces from the threat of loss of habitat.
Our Grounds Team does exceptional work all through the year to keep our protected sites looking the best they can, and as healthy as they can be. This sometimes requires difficult choices about individual trees and areas, which have to be assessed all the time for their impact on surrounding woods.
A significant example of this is in the form of ash dieback, which first made its presence felt in Uckfield in 2020.
Uckfield Town Council has been commissioning surveys on its tree stock over the past three years, working with the Forestry Commission, Arboricultural Association, and other independent experts to identify infected trees, assess the current health of our trees, and consider the possible works required to protect the entire woodland.
This has been a phased process, which has enabled us to look at key areas in priority order. Larger scale works have been undertaken during the winters of 2022/23 and 2023/24 within Boothland Wood and Nightingale Wood, and the third year of the three-year programme of works will be carried out this winter coming – 2024/25.
Our Ranger regularly produces reports on the health of our woodlands. Some examples are displayed here:
Boothland Wood is a lovely five-hectare site acquired by the Town Council in 1991.
It is an ancient semi-natural woodland containing a variety of venerable oak trees and coppiced species including hornbeam, hazel, and ash.
Since acquiring the site, the Town Council have made access improvements to steps and bridges, and have also installed several benches.
A wide variety of interesting flora and fauna can be seen throughout the year, including a fantastic display of bluebells in late spring.
If you are lucky, you might also spot grass snakes, woodland birds including nuthatches and treecreepers, and a variety of dragonflies, butterflies, and other insect life.
The site has a rich history, with evidence of old boundary banks, sunken tracks, and abandoned mine pits to be seen.
This small piece of mixed woodland can be found alongside the old railway line.
Several informal stone pathways run through the site. Access is from Bridge Farm Road.
This is an old and valuable farm pond located within the Harlands Farm housing development.
It is a very important toad pond and also contains a population of the common frog.
Rather unfortunately, it also contains a great number of goldfish, while coots, moorhens, and herons are often spotted waiting to grab a tasty snack.
The small strip of ancient semi-natural adjacent woodland has a blanket Tree Preservation Order (TPO) applied to it and contains a mixture of tree species including alder and hazel.
Great crested newts have been seen in the small stream which runs through the wood.
This is a small strip of ancient semi-natural woodland that can be accessed off Bullfinch Gardens.
The site is covered by a blanket Tree Preservation Order and contains mixed species including oak, ash, birch, field maple, and a significant area of hazel coppice.
Wood anemones and bluebells can be seen in spring, as well as an impressive array of early purple orchids down by the stream.
This Local Nature Reserve runs alongside the River Uck floodplain and is an important wetland habitat in the heart of Uckfield.
As it is so close to the River Uck, the site is subject to periodic flooding during the winter months.
Habitats include regularly inundated tussocky damp grassland, ditches, scrub, established trees including willow, alder, and black poplars, and mixed grassland.
The site supports several greater tussock sedges, considered uncommon in the South East.
Other typical species include hemlock water-dropwort, rushes, sedges, foxtails, crosswort, meadowsweet, and tansy.
Fauna of interest include grass snakes and slow worms. Bird species are variable and include snipe, sparrowhawk, song thrush, and goldfinch.
Insect life is rich and includes a wide range of butterflies, hoverflies, dragonflies, mayflies, and beetles.
West Park Local Nature Reserve is of special value due to the variety of diverse habitats contained within the relatively small area of 11 hectares.
These include mixed woodland, grassland (much of which is flower-rich), and a sensitive marsh that supports several orchid species including the rare southern marsh orchid.
Wooded sandstone outcrops, home to at least 58 species of moss and liverworts, are also present here and were the site of a Mesolithic settlement.
There are numerous access points into the reserve which can be wet during the winter months.
Sheep sometimes graze here during the autumn to help prevent the spread of bracken and encourage delicate wildflowers to thrive.
A population of dormice, a rare and protected species, has recently been discovered here.
Uckfield Millennium Green, to the south of Uckfield off New Road, boasts 8.90 hectares of open space for the enjoyment of the community.
Access is via Ridgewood Recreation Ground or Shipreed Lane.
There is a dog-free picnic area, a pond, and numerous informal paths to explore.
Flora and fauna are abundant, with the land being kept as natural as possible.
You may be lucky enough to see glow worms, great crested newts, woodpeckers, and numerous species of butterflies at the right time of year.
For more information on this site, please contact Uckfield Millennium Green Trust.
Website: www.uckfieldmillenniumgreen.co.uk
Tel: 01825 764 287
Secretary: Mrs. D. M. Sparks
27 Roman Way
Uckfield East Sussex
TN22 1UY
Selby Meadow is a community space created on land saved from development.
There is a large assortment of wildflowers on the site that were planted to attract the butterfly population.
There is also a bug hotel, hedgehog house, toad abode, and bird boxes to encourage the local wildlife to visit.
There is a pathway through the meadow which can be accessed through a gap between Oakley Court and 48 Selby Road.
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