Best mowers are the ones that have four legs

I WAS interested to see that the programme Country File featured the South Downs above Brighton, where they have introduced a "sheep grazing" scheme to keep the scrub clear, and how local people have become part-time shepherds to watch over the flock and ensure that this is a success.
By The Newsroom
Published 16th Apr 2010, 11:45 BST
Updated 8th Jun 2018, 00:57 BST

A few years ago, the Sussex Downs Conservation Board proposed this same scheme for the downland above Lancing for just a few weeks each year for the sheep to "do their job".

The local council was keen for this scheme to go ahead but a few short-sighted people in Lancing raised a campaign to prevent this happening, drumming up support by exaggerating what would happen if this brilliant idea went ahead.

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Some of these short-sighted people are still giving themselves "pats on the back" over their "win", stating that the Conservation Board "threw their teddies out of the pram" and walked away.

These lovely four-legged "scrub mowers" who have been grazing on the downs since at least the 1700s are now used in many areas of the Downs with the same success as they are having in Brighton and this ensures the return of the grassland habitat with its splendid array of flowers, wild herbs and insects.

The Lancing "two legged mowers" who claim to be doing what sheep would happily do for them could perhaps try their hand at becoming "part-time shepherds", too.

Mrs Margaret Wheeler

The Street

North Lancing

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Related topics:BrightonSouth DownsLancing