Nurturing Nature at Wiston Estate
Set in the heart of West Sussex, Wiston Estate’s ancient chalk downland is a place where nature, people, and enterprise thrive together. Through our 2017 Whole Estate Plan, we’re committed to sustainable practices—from vineyard to winery—and to restoring and protecting habitats across the estate.
“We are custodians of a landscape, so we look to manage the land with nature and people in mind.” – Richard Goring
our ecologist, penny
Our ecologist, Penny Green, has recently joined the Wiston team to help guide a more holistic approach to land management across the estate. With a wealth of experience in biodiversity and landscape ecology, Penny is working closely with our foresters, farmers, vineyard team, and conservation partners to ensure that nature is embedded in every aspect of our decision-making. From enhancing wildlife corridors to supporting regenerative farming practices, her role is to help us see the estate as a connected, living system — one where nature and productivity go hand in hand.
CHALK GRASSLAND
Chalk grassland is an internationally rare habitat of which we have 27ha here at Wiston. We are working closely with the South Downs National Park Authority and volunteer groups to make sure this habitat continues to be as good as it can be for the wildflowers and insects that thrive in this habitat. We also work closely with the Sussex Wildlife Trust who graze their cattle and sheep on this habitat for the benefit of wildlife.
CONSERVATION PARTNER DAYS
At the start of the year we worked with the Wilder Horsham volunteers on one of our winter scrub management days. We were working in an area which is historically good for the very rare Duke of Burgundy butterfly – we hope that the work we’re carrying out here will make the habitat particularly good for this stunning small butterfly, which acts as a flagship for all the other insects that do well in this habitat.
FARMLAND
Up on the farm we have many miles of conservation headlands that provide insects, particularly pollinators, with an abundance of nectar sources and habitat during the summer months and wild birds with insect forage in the spring and summer as they feed their young, and seeds to feed on during the winter. Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) funding awarded to us by the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA) has enabled some invertebrate surveys to be carried out across the headlands and field margins. It will help us to identify which conservation options are working particularly well for biodiversity here, with Grey Partridge as a flag-ship species representing other farmland birds that require the same foraging resource for rearing young, including Corn Bunting, Yellowhammer and Skylark.
WOODLAND
In the ancient woodlands and plantations, which cover 27% of the estate, our forestry team provide an array of different wildlife benefits in their everyday work, everything from wide woodland rides for insects, scrubby understory for nesting birds and dead wood for fungi and bats. Working with local community groups we are reviving our Hazel coppice areas. They will help us with winter coppice work parties, with wildlife survey work to monitor the positive changes, and making sure the wood is used in local furniture making projects.
VINEYARD
We are working with organisations, like Buglife, to do as much as we can for monitoring and enhancing nature in and around the vineyards. In particular we’re keen to promote integrated pest management where possible, and we’ve been planting cover crops in between the rows of vines which are fantastic for bumblebees, hoverflies and butterflies.
WEALD TO WAVES
We’re doing lots for nature on a local level but we’re also part of the Weald to Waves Corridor, a contiguous area of 20,000ha of habitat across 100 miles in East and West Sussex. We are a founder member, and contribute a large area of connectivity, helping to join the low weald to the coastal plain as we commit to do more for nature. You can read more about this here
