The 31st Lavant duck race was fantastic!
Over 300 people attended on the day with 80 people sending the ducks off on their merry way from the start line at Potnore Bridge with huge applause.
400 ducks made their way down to Sheepwash Lane with the winning duck, number 195, arriving in a record 35 minutes time with the river flowing beautifully.
On the village green local groups and organisations provided lots of family friendly activities, including pin the tail on the mallard from Transition Chichester, river critter identification, educational demos and show and tell with the Western Sussex Rivers Trust and fantastic information from The Final Straw Foundation campaigning against plastic pollution.
Our Chalk Stream Resilience Officer for the Lavant, Kate Whitton, whose role is made possible by Chichester District Council, was thrilled with the day's success
“We’ve had a fantastic day - so many people have turned out and supported the duck race and had amazing fun by the river. We really want to showcase how special the Lavant is and how hard we’re working with the community to keep the river and its ecosystem healthy. We asked people to wear blue to support the Lavant and they have! It’s a real privilege to work in this area and we want people to feel proud of this wonderful, local chalkstream.”
Our Water Champion for Parishes and Communities, Lou, whose role is made possible through the Downs to the Sea project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, thought the day was a great success
“I led a short, guided walk before the duck race to highlight some of the habitat improvement works the Lavant Parish Council Environment Team have put in place, including allowing wildflowers to grow in some parts of the village green, creating a dead-hedge, planting a native hedgerow, making a log-pile, and looking after the historic pond, which is home to Great-Crested Newts.
We also walked a small section of the river Lavant to highlight the beauty of this special chalk stream and talked about some of the issues it faces. It was a beautiful sunny day filled with birdsong, butterflies, wildflowers … and little yellow ducks!”
£2000 was raised from the sale of the ducks which will go to support 5 local charities, including St Anthonys and Lavant Primary school who supplied refreshments on the day.