page_title: Tortington
section_title: Woodland and Wildlife
hierarchical_section_title: Tortington / Woodland and Wildlife
caption_attribution_description: View of farmland up to edge of South Downs National Park
context_page_description: Tortington is a small village in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It lies between the Arundel to Ford and the Arundel to Chichester roads, 1.6 miles southwest of Arundel.
context_section_description: Around one-third of Tortington parish is designated ancient woodland.
  It is here that one will find some rare and some endangered species such as the dormouse, the nightingale, the bee fly, the birds-nest orchid and the purple emperor butterfly. Tortington has a wide variety of habitats - woodland, open farmland, water meadows, river banks, ponds - and all have some wildlife classed as rare or even as endangered species. In the woods of Tortington the hazel dormouse population is being monitored by the Mid Arun Valley Environmental Survey (MAVES) who are also monitoring owls and bats in this, Areas 5 and 6 in the survey area. The woodland understorey has a variety of smaller floral species - early-purple and common spotted orchids, primrose, bluebell, wood anemones, wood sorrel and snakeshead fritillaries. Many of Tortington's numerous bluebell woods are beside public footpaths so can be viewed in April and May. A protected species, the common bluebell is also an indicator of ancient woodland.
  Before the 15th century Tortington Common was an area of heathland which was then planted with mainly broad-leaved deciduous trees - oak, beech, elm, ash, and later with some conifers in the northern woods. By the 16th century it had become part of Arundel Great Park, a vast enclosed deer park, the southern gate of which existed where Knowle's Barn now is.
  On the woodland fringes many deer emerge at dusk. Bats such as the common pipistrelle and the noctule also emerge to feed and later tawny owls can be heard and barn owls seen swooping on their prey. Over the farmland and the meadows down by the river a huge variety of birdlife is present. Buzzards can often be see soaring high above, kestrels hover above the hedgerows, and skylarks can be heard in summer months. Closer to the ground little egrets are recent visitors to Tortington and in the water meadows by the river, swans, Canada geese, Brent geese, lapwings, pochards or shelducks visit. Fieldfares may be seen on farmland in winter, returning swallows in summer, and of course the cuckoo in spring. Common residents include blackcaps, nuthatches, green as well as great spotted woodpeckers and goldfinches.
caption: A view across Tortington farmland to the woodland boundary of the South Downs National Park.
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