West Sussex

Local nature reserves (LNRs) are designated by local authorities under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. The local authority must have a legal control over the site, by owning or leasing it or having an agreement with the owner. LNRs are sites which have a special local interest either biologically or geologically, and local authorities have a duty to care for them. They can apply local bye-laws to manage and protect LNRs.As of March 2019, there are twenty-seven LNRs in West Sussex. Nine are Sites of Special Scientific Interest, six are Nature Conservation Review sites, four are Ramsar sites, two are Special Areas of Conservation, four are Special Protection Areas, one includes a scheduled monument and two are managed by the Sussex Wildlife Trust. West Sussex is in south-east England and it has a population of approximately 780,000. The county town is Chichester. In the north of the county are the heavy clays and sands of the Weald. The chalk of the South Downs runs across the centre from east to west and in the south a coastal plain runs down to the English Channel.

Parham is a civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. There was a village of Parham, around the parish church, but its few houses were destroyed in the early 19th century to create the landscaped park and gardens. The parish now consists of Parham Park and the farms and smaller settlements around it. The village is between Wiggonholt and Cootham, about 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Pulborough on the A283 road. The parish covers 1,586 hectares (3,920 acres). The 2001 Census recorded 214 people living in 95 households, of whom 124 were economically active. At the 2011 Census the population was 224.The civil parish includes the hamlets of Rackham, southwest of Parham Park, and Wiggonholt on the A283 to the north, which has a small parish church.

Parham Park SSSI is a 263.3-hectare (651-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in the grounds of Parham Park, west of Storrington in West Sussex. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade 2.This medieval deer park has a very rich epiphytic lichen flora, with 165 recorded species. Habitats include woods, parkland, bogs and artificial ponds. The site also has a large heronry and two rare beetles, Ampedus cardinalis and Procraerus tibialis.The house and grounds are open to the public for a fee.

Parham Park is an Elizabethan house and estate in the civil parish of Parham, west of the village of Cootham, and between Storrington and Pulborough, West Sussex, South East England. The estate was originally owned by the Monastery of Westminster and granted to Robert Palmer by King Henry VIII in 1540.

Amberley Mount to Sullington Hill is a 177.2-hectare (438-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south-west of Storrington in West Sussex.This site has chalk grassland and scrub on the slope of the South Downs. It has several unusual butterflies, moths and snails, including the light feathered rustic and juniper carpet moths and the rare Adonis blue butterfly.

The South Downs are a range of chalk hills in the south-eastern coastal counties of England that extends for about 260 sq mi (670 km2) across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the east. The Downs are bounded on the northern side by a steep escarpment, from whose crest there are extensive views northwards across the Weald. The South Downs National Park forms a much larger area than the chalk range of the South Downs, and includes large parts of the Weald. The South Downs are characterised by rolling chalk downland with close-cropped turf and dry valleys, and are recognised as one of the most important chalk landscapes in England. The range is one of the four main areas of chalk downland in southern England.The South Downs are relatively less populated compared to South East England as a whole, although there has been large-scale urban encroachment onto the chalk downland by major seaside resorts, including most notably Brighton and Hove. The South Downs have been inhabited since ancient times and at periods the area has supported a large population, particularly during Romano-British times. There is a rich heritage of historical features and archaeological remains, including defensive sites, burial mounds and field boundaries. Within the South Downs Environmentally Sensitive Area there are thirty-seven Sites of Special Scientific Interest, including large areas of chalk grassland.The grazing of sheep on the thin, well-drained chalk soils of the Downs over many centuries, and browsing by rabbits, resulted in the fine, short, springy turf, known as old chalk grassland, that has come to epitomise the South Downs today. Until the middle of the 20th century, an agricultural system operated by downland farmers known as 'sheep-and-corn farming' underpinned this: the sheep (most famously the Southdown breed) of villagers would be systematically confined to certain corn fields to improve their fertility with their droppings and then they would be let out onto the downland to graze. However, starting in 1940 with government measures during the Second World War to increase domestic food production – which continued into the 1950s - much grassland was ploughed up for arable farming, fundamentally changing the landscape and ecology, with the loss of much biodiversity. As a result, while old chalk grassland accounted for 40-50% of the eastern Downs before the war, only 3-4% survives. This and development pressures from the surrounding population centres ultimately led to the decision to create the South Downs National Park, which came into full operation on 1 April 2011, to protect and restore the Downs. The South Downs have also been designated as a National Character Area (NCA 125) by Natural England. It is bordered by the Hampshire Downs, the Wealden Greensand, the Low Weald and the Pevensey Levels to the north and the South Hampshire Lowlands and South Coast Plain to the south.The downland is a highly popular recreational destination, particularly for walkers, horseriders and mountain bikers. A long distance footpath and bridleway, the South Downs Way, follows the entire length of the chalk ridge from Winchester to Eastbourne, complemented by many interconnecting public footpaths and bridleways.

Greatham Church (the dedication is unrecorded) is the Anglican parish church of the hamlet of Greatham in the district of Horsham, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. The tiny single-room building has been described variously as "delightful" and "one of the most appealing churches in Sussex". The unrestored 12th-century stone church serves a rural area near the River Arun and sits apart from the hamlet next to the ancient manor house. The church is a Grade I Listed building.

Greatham ( GRET-əm) is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Parham, in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England. It lies on the Coldwaltham to Storrington road about 2 miles (3 km) south of Pulborough. In 1931 the parish had a population of 55.

Wiggonholt is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Parham, in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England. It is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southeast of Pulborough on the A283 road. The village consists of a farm, a few houses and a small Church of England parish church. In 1931 the parish had a population of 54. On 1 April 1933 the parish was abolished and merged with Parham.The RSPB Pulborough Brooks wildfowl reserve is north of the parish church, on the floodplain of the River Arun. Wiggonholt Common is an area of open woodland south of the village that adjoins Parham Park and is popular with walkers. A Roman road, the Greensand Way, from north of Lewes passed north of the village to join Stane Street at Hardham on the west bank of the River Arun. The remains of a Roman bath house have been excavated beside the Roman road.The small rectangular medieval parish church of unknown dedication has a bell turret and Horsham Stone roof, and has a Sussex marble font.

Pulborough Brooks is a 160-hectare (400-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Pulborough in West Sussex. It is part of the Pulborough Brooks nature reserve, which is managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. It is also part of the Arun Valley Ramsar site, Special Area of Conservation and Special Protection Area.These wet meadows are crossed by a network of ditches, some of which have a rich aquatic flora and invertebrate fauna, including several which are nationally rare. The site is internationally important for wintering wildfowl and many species of birds breed there, such as lapwing, snipe, garganey, yellow wagtail, grey partridge, skylark, reed bunting and barn owl.

Cootham ( KOHT-əm, KOOT-) is a hamlet in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the A283 road 0.9 miles (1.4 km) west of Storrington. Cootham's population numbers around 200 and there is one public house named The Crown, parts of which date from 1555. As a well known coaching inn 'The Crown' had its own stables. They were situated on the south side of the road opposite the pub and were converted, some years ago, into houses that are known today as Crown Cottages. The hamlet lies in the lee of the South Downs, between the country estate of Parham (included in the Domesday Book) and the village of Storrington, where the nearest facilities are located. The main road running through the middle of Cootham is the A283 that runs west to Pulborough and Midhurst and east to Storrington and Washington. Items of local interest include the Southdown Gliding Club which operates flights from Parham Airfield at the western extremity of Cootham; Cootham Village Hall which hosts various local community activities and Parham House itself, one of the south east's finest country houses. Public transport is limited to one bus, Compass Travel route 100, that runs to Pulborough railway station on the Bognor Regis to London Victoria line. In the 1980s, oil was discovered beneath a large part of Cootham and a small pumping station was constructed at the corner of the gliding field. This is still operational and features two 'nodding donkey' pumps and a gas burner. Much of the area surrounding Cootham is protected from development, though housing has encroached significantly since the late 1980s and there is now little untouched land between Cootham and Storrington.

Amberley Wild Brooks or Amberley Wildbrooks is a 327.5-hectare (809-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Storrington in West Sussex. An area of 80 hectares (200 acres) is a nature reserve managed by the Sussex Wildlife Trust It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Nature Conservation Review site. It is also part of the Arun Valley Ramsar site, Special Area of Conservation and Special Protection Area.This area of grazing marsh, which is dissected by drainage ditches, has a number of uncommon invertebrates, particularly dragonflies, and 156 species of flowering plants have been recorded. It is also important for wintering birds, with nationally significant numbers of teal, shoveler and Bewick’s swan. There are two rare snails, Anisus vorticulus and Pseudamnicola confusa.