Crowborough Common The Official Site
Work is anticipated to begin on Monday October 20th with Phase 1 of a 10 year heathland regeneration project. Tree felling by a previously used Contractor, English Woodlands, will begin on the left-hand side of the 5th and 6th holes. Further work to the left-hand side of the 4th hole will complete the first year’s programme. The cultural and conservation value of Lowland Heathland is well recognised across Europe. Many species associated with this habitat are rare or in decline. Lowland Heathland is a broad term that refers to a mosaic of wet, damp and dry habitats, characterized by dwarf shrubs such as heathers (Ling; Bell; Cross-Leaved) and gorses (Common; Western; Dwarf) all generally found on poor acidic soil below 300 metres.
Heathland supports rare plants and animals such as Marsh Gentian, Southern Damsel Fly, Nightjar and Sand Lizard, all of which are found at Crowborough Beacon.
Open Heath is rarer than rain forest and the UK has 20% of the World total, thus not only do we need to preserve and improve our heathland, but also recreate them in areas recently lost.
The restoration work is being funded/part funded through a Higher Level Stewardship scheme as the Common has been recognised as a valuable area of Lowland Heath and as such provides a rich and diverse landscape. It is not the Clubs aim to remove every tree on the course, even though historic photographs show a landscape and golf course with just a handful of mature trees. The aim is to simply improve on what we already have, such as increasing and improving our heather, maintaining our unimproved grassland, and maintaining our areas of woodland and gorse.
From the back of the teeing ground down the left-hand side of the hole to the Canadian War Memorial, an overgrown area of Birch, Gorse and Alder will be removed. Isolated specimen trees will remain, the area will then have the tree stumps removed, the organic matter removed, followed up by some sympathetic levelling to allow for future mowing. The area will then be seeded with heather. For a period of approximately three weeks there is likely to be some disturbance from smoke from bonfires and machinery noise.
There will be some thinning of the woodland combined with bracken removal in the pre-existing open glades. This work will also open up the view to the South Downs from the 5th green. Another added benefit will be the reinstatement of the old tee directly to the left of the ladies 6th tee.