Wildlife :: Crowborough Common Official Site, Crowborough, West Sussex

Crowborough Common - The Official Site

Wildlife on the Common

Fallow deer

A herd of around 35 live in the woods to the left of the 8th hole.

Roe deer

Can be seen all over the course at dawn and dusk.

Badgers

Difficult to spot but have been seen at the 1st, 5th 8th, 10th, 13th and 18th.

Foxes

Lots of them on the course, we leave them alone as they help to control he rabbit population. The greenstaff will quite often see a fox with a rabbit in it's mouth running along. We have only ever had to shoot one fox on the course and only then, because it was digging up the 5th green on a daily basis.

Weasel

Have been seen by the greenstaff at the 4th and 8th holes.

Stoat

Have been seen by the greenstaff at the 7th and 14th.

Dormice

Rarely seen. They are highly protected, but we did inadvertently disturb some a couple of years ago. Having quickly boxed them up and they did successfully re-hibernate in a box in the shed. We then re-homed them successfully in the vicinity of where they were found in the following late spring. Lots of other mice, rodents and shrews thrive in all areas of long grass and heather. These provide food for kestrels, owls, stoat, weasels and foxes.

Hedgehogs

Seen at the 10th and 14th through the night vision glasses whilst out rabbiting.

Rabbits

These are controlled as they dig and eat the greens, causing considerable damage if left unmanaged.

Grey squirrel

Again we control them as they do damage to the trees and remove the eggs and young chicks of songbirds.

Bats

Can be seen in many areas of the course around dusk. Holes and hollows in trees and dense stands of holly seems to be their preferred habitat.

Moles

Are left alone if in the rough, but trapped and killed if they start working in areas of managed grass.

Reptiles

Adders have been seen on the 1st ,2nd, 4th, 7th, 8th and 10th.

Grass snakes

Have been seen at the 7th, 8th and 14th. One of the reasons we leave cut grass piles around is to provide breeding areas for grass snakes.

Lizards

Found in all areas with long grass or unmanaged heather.

Smooth snakes

Again seen all around the course especially where we have long grass.

This entire section will be updated and eventually contain far more detail after the newly retained Ecologist Mike Edwards has produced his report during 2013.