Brooklands Park was the perfect setting for wildlife spotting on Monday 29th April when a group of people from Worthing’s leading social care charity, Guild Care, took part in the international City Nature Challenge 2024.

Sammy Paynter from Guild Care’s luxury care home, Caer Gwent, accompanied a group of residents who came fully prepared to enjoy the afternoon’s nature challenge in the sunshine. They were rewarded by seeing successful clutches of Coot chicks and Mallard ducklings, much to the enjoyment of everyone.

Also taking part were people from Guild Care’s Creating Connections groups, which meet weekly to enjoy different activities together in a social and welcoming environment for people over 65. 

Daryl Peters of Guild Care, said, “The City Nature Challenge involves documenting the natural world where we live by finding wildlife, plants or animals that are living in the wild, and recording them with sound or a photo along with the location. We then shared our findings with the organisers using the iNaturalist app.”

Getting out into nature is well known for being good for mental health and wellbeing. Brooklands Park is on the eastern side of Worthing, facing the coast and stretching inland with a lake and a newly opened café as part of the ongoing restoration and refurbishment. Recent restoration work on the lake and stream has created an environment for fish, wildlife and plant life to thrive in the free-flowing water.

“The City Nature Challenge is about celebrating biodiversity and citizen science,” continued Daryl. “Nature is all around us but sometimes we’re too busy or preoccupied to take a moment to look at the wildlife we share our towns and cities with. It’s easy to extend our learning too, by encouraging wildlife with bird feeders, bug hotels, or hedgehog homes. Just looking out for new plants and flowers in unlikely places helps us appreciate them more.”

Caer Gwent is set in a quiet residential area of Worthing and has attractive mature gardens. Residents are looking forward to seeing the birds, butterflies and bees who join them there this summer. 

Sammy from Caer Gwent added, “I loved being able to take some of our residents out on another wonderful trip that everyone thoroughly enjoyed. Seeing their faces light up is what it is all about for me, making a difference to their lives and it was wonderful to welcome family members that came along. It means so much to be part of that. Everything about the afternoon was fabulous!”

For more information about living at Caer Gwent or joining Creating Connections, get in touch with the friendly team at Guild Care on 01903 528600 or visit www.guildcare.org.