14/10/2026
Spent an hour on Sunday watching the Starling group which is based at Upper Beeding/South Downs Way bombing across to visit the sheep near the river, before some of them went on to nick the pig food from the farm on the hillside to the West. For thousands of years Starlings have had a close relationship with us humans and our livestock. The downland landscape around Brighton isn’t well suited to arable farming. The soil is not very fertile which is great for grass and wildflowers. To grow wheat, barley and oilseed r**e farmers have to use huge amounts of fertilisers like ammonium nitrate and urea, and for some crops several treatments of pesticides. For this reason DEFRA data shows that the condition of the Brighton Chalk Block aquifer from which we all get our tapwater is “poor”. Leakey sewers also add to the problem. The DEFRA assessment is that we MIGHT reach a status of “good” by 2060. Translate that into real life everyday language: no action is being taken to address the condition of the Brighton Chalk Block. We are literally drinking chemicals and s**t due to this lack of leadership. We need landscape scale change in the way our downland is managed and the way the water infrastructure is maintained. Interestingly thanks to Putin and Trump some of that change is actually happening because the agricultural chemicals and the diesel are now so expensive. It would be better if it was happening out of peaceful choice and good management, but here we are in 2026. Starling City Brighton
