Everyone can play their part in helping wildlife flourish at Seven Sisters.
It’s actually the smallest things that can make the biggest difference!
Here are some simple things you can do to help wildlife:
- Bin your litter!
Please use the bins in the car parks. If there is no bin nearby please take your litter home with you.
Litter can take centuries to decompose and causes lasting damage to our delicate ecosystems. Apart from being unsightly and ruining the experience for others, it can kill wildlife. Animals mistake plastic fragments, bags, or rubber for food and eating small amounts can be fatal. Plastic packaging or fragments of glass can entangle animals or cause deep wounds that can be fatal.
- Keep dogs under close control and on leads around livestock
All our habitats are very sensitive and on the ground are a multitude of animals and plants, often ones that you can’t see! From March to September we have lots of ground-nesting birds, so it’s really important that dogs stick to the paths. Chicks are often abandoned if disturbed by our canine friends.
If you’re walking near our ponies, cows or sheep, it’s really important to keep dogs on leads. This is both for your own safety and to avoid disturbing the livestock, which are doing their important work of helping to keep Seven Sisters a haven for nature.
- Bag and bin dog poo
Dog poo contains millions of harmful bacteria per gram, including E. coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Clostridium, which can cause severe stomach illness, vomiting, and diarrhea in humans and other animals.
Dog poo also causes long-term harm to our sensitive habitats. The chalk grassland, for instance, has developed over millenia into a unique ecosystem – precisely because it’s so low on nutrients! Adding faeces significantly changes the nutrient profile and, in turn, harms the plants and animals that thrive on chalk soils.
- Please close gates after you!
We have many ponies, cows and sheep around the reserve, so it’s important that gates are shut to stop them escaping! These grazers are often in a particular field for a reason and are doing vital work to help us improve the site’s biodiversity.
- No barbecues
Barbecues should never be used under any circumstances in any part of the reserve. They are a major fire risk and the ashes or coals can cause serious harm or death to precious wildlife. Please enjoy the food and beverage facilities at the Grab & Go, Saltmarsh Café or bring a picnic.
- Enjoy nature at a safe distance
Just like humans, wild animals and plants enjoy their space! Please take photos from a safe distance as getting too close can disturb and cause distress to wildlife.
It’s really important to give our conservation grazers – our ponies, sheep and cattle – some space, especially as many have young and can be quite protective! While they are generally very docile and friendly, they are large, powerful animals and need to be treated with respect and care.
- Don’t pick flowers
Our butterflies and other insects rely heavily on our chalk grassland plants.
