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Wildlife Garden Forum Talks
All talks are free. Donations welcome towards venue hire and contributions to relevant wildlife charities. Everyone is welcome.
Forthcoming events:
Hannah Fox “Gardening with wildlife in mind”
Saturday 27th September 4.00pm. Kingston Parish Hall.
Latterly of Marchants Hardy Plants Hannah will be sharing her experience of gardening for wildlife. This year, Hannah launched her own micro nursery, Bright Green Fox, and has grown plants for Chelsea, Hampton Court, several designers and for the public. She prides herself on having a garden full of wildlife providing suitable habitats to increase biodiversity and help the garden thrive. Hannah also works at Great Dixter, Knepp, John Little’s Hilldrop and Tom Stuart Smith’s Plant Library. She botanises in her spare time and is currently making a film with Garden Masterclass on propagation. Hannah will share many ideas that she has learned along the way. Nature friendly plants for sale
The talk is free but donations will be gratefully received on the day to cover the costs of our speaker and of hiring the hall.
Past events:
Alice Parfitt 4.00pm 29 March 2025 A talk ‘Minibeasts of Kingston’ will be given by Alice Parfitt of Buglife in the Parish Hall
Read a full report here
Peter King – Cockshut Guided Walk
22 March 2025
A walk from the Cockshut streams source at the top of Kingston Hill to where it feeds into the Cockshut restoration project https://www.cockshutstream.org/ behind Stanley Turner Rugby Ground.
The walk starts at the top of Kingston Hill and is approximately 2mls/3km. At a very gentle walking pace it takes approximately 1.5hrs. Allow extra time to reach the walk start point and to return from the end.
View this informative and fun Youtube video https://youtu.be/1ejVxwrPQ9o of the walk led by Peter King of the Ouse and Adur Rivers Trust (OART) https://oart.org.uk/ on 22nd March 2025.
Emily Thrift – Helping Hedgehogs
Sunday 27th October 2024 3.30pm, Kingston Parish Hall
Emily Thrift is completing a PhD at the University of Sussex. She is passionate about the conservation of UK mammals, and the issues they face due to humans. The European hedgehog Erinaceus erinaceus is one of the main species Emily’s research focuses on as they are facing huge population declines in the UK. This talk will discuss how to help hedgehogs in your gardens and community. The focus will be on how to reduce the risk of different threats to hedgehogs such as entanglement and ingestion of plastic, bonfires, strimmers, and more. The talk will explain how to make Kingston a hedgehog-friendly village with ways to reduce road mortalities and improve connectivity between gardens an will share an easy way to monitor hedgehog populations in your garden and village. Emily will share the results from some of her research focusing on microplastics found within the food web of hedgehogs and the rates of plastic entanglement seen across the UK. Emily has an MSci in Zoology from the University of Sussex, which she began studying for after more than a decade working as a pastry chef.
Read a full report of the talk here
Ryan Greaves – Bats
Sunday 14 July 4.00pm, Kingston Parish Hall
Ryan Greaves is a zoologist and bat expert. There will be an opportunity to handle bats!
Read a full report of the talk here
Dave Goulson – Saving Insects
Wednesday 19th June 2024 7.30pm. Kingston Parish Hall.
Professor Goulson is the author of more than 300 scientific articles on bumblebees and other insects. He has also written for a much wider audience, his best-selling books including A Buzz in the Meadow, A Sting in the Tale, The Garden Jungle and Gardening for Bumblebees: A Practical Guide to Creating a Paradise for Pollinators. In 2006, he founded the Bumblebee Conservation Trust which now has more than 12,000 members.
Read a full report of the talk here
Michael Blencowe – Gardening with Wildlife in Mind
Saturday 17th March 2024
Read a full report of the talk here