Spatham Lane, Ditchling, East Sussex BN6 8XH
Telephone: 01273 843498
From bird-spotting to bug-hunting, Stoneywish is the perfect place to see wildlife. The reserve abounds in birds of all kinds.
While the hedgerows are busy with familiar garden species and occasional flocks of long-tailed tits, gold-finches and winter redwings, the larger trees attract green and great spotted woodpeckers, jays and tawny and little owls.
Our resident water-birds include grey heron and moorhen and in the spring families of baby mallards and Canada geese are a regular sight.
Rarer visitors such as gold-crest and tree creeper can also be seen if you are patient and lucky. In this protected environment, you will see rabbits playing openly by the paths and foxes and even wild deer will sometimes appear in broad daylight. Other, more secretive creatures probably see us, though we don't see them. Hedgehogs, moles, stoats, bats, slow worms are some we have glimpsed!
In summer the long grass of the meadows hums with grasshoppers and supports over 8 species of butterflies, while the wetlands are home to dragonflies, frogs, newts and fish.
Here at Stoneywish we have been working for years to put flowers back into the English countryside.
The path through the reserve is bright with snowdrops, primroses, bluebells, red campions and foxgloves through the seasons, while the Bog Pond is home to a multitude of self-sown wetland and meadow plants.
Orchids there now number several hundred plants. More than 100 species of wild flowers have colonised the reserve and in the Smallholding there are colourful summer beds of cultivated herbs and vegetables grown according to the gardening principles of the American Shaker Movement. Tree planting schemes include areas of working coppice and a young
pinetum with examples of tree species now endangered in the wild.
Several miles of mature hedgerows provide refuge and food for birds and contain a wide range of native shrubs and trees, including the rare and historically important small-leaved lime.
Our friendly animals are all free-range and preserve the atmosphere of a traditional farm here.
The Smallholding has pens for goats, pigs and sheep with lambs, and bantam chickens and ducks roam the orchard.
Out in the fields you will see more rare breed sheep and a handful of larger animals such as Highland cattle, Large Black pigs, a donkey and horses, not to mention the wild geese that come and go here and the giant carp in the lake, always eager to be fed!
In addition to the permanent museum displays, we mount regular exhibitions at the Visitor Centre, drawing on the vast archive of vintage pictures and texts, collected by the owner here. We are keen to make contact with Emett or local history enthusiasts, so, if you are a collector, or researcher, please contact our office for extra information or to make sure that the exhibition space is free for your visit.
Artist in Residence, Rosemary Pavey, holds classes and exhibitions of her work at the Visitor Centre. Rosemary has been recording the wildlife and plant life at the reserve for almost 20 years now and produces, prints, drawings and paintings on a huge variety of subjects. Her prints are for sale at the Visitor Centre shop.
Please see our News page for details of forthcoming shows.