Friends of Brandy Hole Copse


Find information on Working Parties, and how to volunteer to help,

on our Volunteer at Brandy Hole Copse page.


If you're new to Chichester, or just visiting, map and access point information can be found here.


Contacts, including in an Emergency

 If you encounter something happening in the Copse which you consider likely to cause serious injury to a person or serious risk of damage to the Copse, always dial 999.


Please also make Chichester District Council aware: ‘phone 01243 785166 between 9-4 Monday-Friday (excluding Bank Holidays). Outside these hours the Emergency ‘phone number for CDC is 01243 785339 (see Useful contacts for emergencies - Chichester District Council ).

 

To report something else needing attention but not urgent, please email parks@chichester.gov.uk and cc environmentalstrategy@chichester,gov.uk . (If you wish to make the Friends aware, also cc fobhc@treesinchi.org .)


The free Chichester District Council mobile app is effective for reporting fly tipping, dead animals or a problem with a litter bin.

*** News Flash ***


Friday 6th March 2026


The Copse is waking up after winter although, at the time of writing the lower path west of Centurion Way remains underwater. Other paths have held up well.


Willow and Cops Ponds are looking huge after the successful de-silting operation in January, and frogspawn has already been spotted. (Please leave it undisturbed - advice from Froglife here.) The replacement gateway (at the western entrance, where the previous one was knocked down) is not yet in place. Once it is, thoughts can turn to replacing the information signboard that also used to be there. Over at the eastern end of the Copse, progress has been made with the sign-off process for the new pond-dipping platform at Brandy Hole Pond, but it's not open yet. All works are instructed by Chichester District Council as manager of this Local Nature Reserve.


The date of our next AGM is confirmed for the evening of Thursday 28th May 2026.

Membership renewals are due 1st April. If you're not yet a member, but would like to support us,

you can find Friends of Brandy Hole Copse membership information below.


There continues to be no news from developers of their progress in working up their plans for Phase 2 development at Whitehouse Farm, involving turning the two adjoining fields into a "Northern Country Park". (You can catch up with their preliminary ideas, April 2025 here ; full details of their outline planning permission here.) 


 Monthly email updates and Chichester District Council-led Working Parties continue

(links include to our email archive and how to volunteer). To sign up to our e-mailing list, please use this link.

(If you've been in contact via email, but not heard back from us, please call or text Paula on 07788 140698 - emails may get missed in a crowded Inbox.)


Since June 2025, we also have a Facebook page and make occasional posts there.

We need your help!

To volunteer for Working Parties, please visit our Volunteer at Brandy Hole Copse webpage

and complete the form.

(Knowing how many people to expect really helps us plan for a safe, happy and effective morning.)

Wildlife to see at the Copse

Help us populate this new webpage by sending your observations to fobhc@treesinchi.org.

We also encourage anyone with a smartphone visiting the Copse to contribute public records using the  iNaturalist app. Please join our Project page on iNaturalist to help us understand what you're noticing where. (Please let us know, if you need a hand getting to grips with how it works.)


Email Update ...

... explore our email archive here.

News Archive

If you remember seeing something here, you should still be able to find it in the News Archive section, now on its own page.


Friends of Brandy Hole Copse logo - words on pale green oval background with silhouette of a tree without leaves

Click on the links (in green) to download a file:



The 2025 Management Plan (Interim), together with a brief introduction to the Copse can be found on CDC's website here.


Next Friends' AGM:   Thursday 28th May 2026

(last AGM held on Wednesday 14th May 2025)

Brandy Hole Copse is a designated Local Nature Reserve. The Management Agreement under which Chichester District Council (CDC) manages that part of the Copse which it does not own was put in place in 2002.


The Friends of Brandy Hole Copse ("the Friends") exists to promote conservation and biodiversity in Brandy Hole Copse and its immediate surroundings. Its work is intended to support the Management Board for the Copse to implement the Management Plan, including through encouraging volunteers to help care for the Copse.


 The Friends faced a positive storm of disruptions in recent years, from the implications of development at Whitehouse Farm, through covid-19 controls, the uncertainties of CDC resourcing and Committee members who have struggled through illness, died or resigned. A new Committee was elected at AGM on 5th October 2023 (and again in May 2025) to take the Friends  forward and inspire continued interest in, and support for, the Copse. We would love to do so much more - find details of how you can help by volunteering for the Friends here.

 

Chichester Tree Wardens created this webpage in December 2022 to support the Friends whilst it has no dedicated website of its own. Pages have since been added:

Whilst we try to keep these pages up-to-date, volunteer time is limited and we don't always manage it. Please do let us know, if you spot something that needs updating.

Friends' Privacy Policy

This may be downloaded to read (see right).


Please note that interactions through this website are subject to Chichester Tree Wardens' Privacy Policy. Communications intended for the Friends of Brandy Hole Copse will be passed on to the Friends by Chichester Tree Wardens.

More about Brandy Hole Copse ...

The importance of Brandy Hole Copse is recognised by multiple designations:

        - Chichester Dyke, Broyle earthwork, section extending 430yds (393m) through East Broyle Copse, to railway, and earthwork extending 400yds (365m) from Brandy Hole Lane, New Fishbourne (List Entry 1005853)

        - Chichester Dyke, Broyle earthwork, section at Brandy Hole, extending E 230yds (210m) from railway, New Fishbourne (List Entry 1005854)


Early records of the Friends of Brandy Hole Copse (starting with its conception as the Brandy Hole Copse Conservation Group) have been lodged with West Sussex Record Office. You can check what is available to view here. The period covered is 1989 to 2013. To help bring the early years of support for the Copse alive, we have transcribed the 2001 booklet: "Chichester's green secret - The story of Brandy Hole Copse" so that its contents are more readily accessible.

How to find Brandy Hole Copse

Access the Copse on foot from Brandy Hole Lane, Centurion Way (cycle and footway), Bristol Gardens or from Old Broyle Road.

There is limited on-road parking on Brandy Hole Lane just off Old Broyle Road (no space for on-road parking along Brandy Hole Lane north of the Copse) - approximate What3Words location resides.sensitive.swing and an off-road car park nearby with entrance roughly at ruler.fairly.perplexed that has been provided as part of the major housing development to the south (Minerva Heights).