BED 4 - ESTABLISHED CHALK DOWNLAND
Communities grow larger, soil is formed from decayed plant remains and then the fine leaved grass seeds blow in on off-shore winds. These roots bind the communities together forming the wonderful plant mixes of grasses and broad-leaved plants that we see on Seaford Head and the South Downs. These plants are all chalk-loving and one of the most beautiful and biodiverse plant communities in the British Isles. By tradition South Downs chalk grassland is grazed by sheep, cows, rabbits to prevent the further evolution to scrubland – Brambles, Gorse, Blackthorn and eventual forest. Here in Seaford this doesn’t happen. Trees seldom grow upwards!
