Eastbourne Spring Water Festival 2023

A selection of photographs from our recent Eastbourne Spring Water Festival activities: Eco Stalls Fair, Studio at the Lake, How to make a green roof and other stories, and Blue Planet – ESWF Conference.

Eco Stalls Fair

Ferris wheel in the background with a marquee in the foreground.
First outing for the marquee – luckily there were four of us to take a ‘leg’ each when putting it up!
Four people standing in front of a table, talking.
We enjoyed meeting local people and talking about the project. Some had heard of Blue Heart before, but for others, it was a great opportunity to introduce ourselves.
Event marquee with several conversations taking place between people either side of tables.
The Eco Fair was also a chance for us to show people the work we’ve been doing on developing an augmented reality (AR) map. Our trial location is Shinewater Park, but the hope is to create maps for each area in the Blue Heart project zone.
Printed map with augmented reality clouds floating above it.
The AR element is accessed via an app, allowing the user to explore the Shinewater area; clouds float above the surface, and different layers show points of interest across the main themes of water, nature/ecology and heritage.

Studio at the Lake

Group of people standing and sitting on the grass while listening to a talk.
We started our exploration of Shinewater Park at the site of the Bronze Age trackway and platform, discovered during the creation of the lakes 1995. Chris Greatorex, the archaeologist who excavated the site, explained what he’d found and we got to see and handle original and replica artefacts from the dig.
Two images. Left: man drawing geese and ducks in a sketch book. Right: woman singing while standing by a lake.
As well as walking and talking, members of the group spent time drawing, creative writing and taking photographs. We even had an opera singer serenading us!
Two people standing at the side of a lake, using binoculars.

Our last stop was at Geese Pond, where we enjoyed watching the birds. Over the course of the walk, we spotted 31 species:
Black crowned night heron, Blackbird, Blackcap, Blue tit, Canada goose, Carrion crow, Cetti’s warbler, Chiffchaff, Collared dove, Coot, Cormorant, Feral pigeon, Goldfinch, Great crested grebe, Greenfinch, Grey heron, Greylag goose, Herring gull, House sparrow, Jay, Long tailed tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mute swan, Reed warbler, Robin, Song thrush, Starling, Tufted duck, Wood pigeon, and Wren.

How to make a green roof …

Head and shoulders image of a man wearing glasses and a flowery short, talking to an audience.
Speaker Dusty Gedge spoke about the process and benefits of making a green roof, and shared some of his previous projects from around the world.

Blue Planet, Festival Conference

Group of people standing in a line.
Our Engagement and Comms Lead, Eleanor, was one of the speakers at the conference, which was supported by Caroline Ansell MP and the Mayor Pat Rodohan.
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