Promise yourself two visits to this spot
Promise yourself a walk over the Hempstead Meadows Nature Reserve in Uckfield as soon as possible, writes The Ambler.
The reason is that I also recommend a return visit during the summer.
Why? Because the difference between the way the reserve looks in the summer compared with now and the rest of the year is spectacular.
Our first picture, taken in March, shows the reserve as a desolate swampy place but our second picture in May shows it looking lush and green. By July it will have changed again!
The nature reserve stretches from behind the Co-op car park, off Uckfield High Street, to the Hempstead play area.
The part that undergoes the most amazing change is nearest the play area where a board walk crosses swampy wetland.
At the moment it looks bleak and boggy - perfectly capable of swallowing you up to your neck - but in a few months it will be bright and colourful with plants swaying over head height.
Normally in July, during the Uckfield Festival, a guided walk is conducted over the nature reserve and if you go you will find your eyes opened to trees, plant and wildlife you might have wandered past indifferently many times.
I've been on two or three of the walks conducted by ecologist Martyn Stenning who helps maintain the reserve but still think it is worth going back because there is always something new to learn.
Dragon flies, damsel flies, butterflies and shy snipe all live on the reserve along with an important wetland plant, greater tussock sedge, many kinds of wild flowers and rare black poplars - the country's tallest native tree in danger of extinction - planted as a contribution to a species recovery programme.
It is only a short walk across the reserve but it can be very wet and a couple of years ago the water on the grassy part of the reserve behind the Co-op was deep enough, in places, after heavy overnight rainfall to seep over the tops of wellies ... so go prepared!
See also: Nature reserve is just off High Street
(Added to site Monday, March 22nd, 2010)
