The Friends provided the seed funding for the original Writer in Residence project. Our first WIR was award-winning nature poet Jane Lovell who organised monthly meetings to walk the reserve and to write about nature. The pilot project was so successful that the writing group produced an anthology of poetry and artwork, New Ways of Looking, inspired by the reserve. The book is on sale for £15 at the Discovery Centre and has proven so popular that it is already on its second print run.

The WIR project is now run by the Sussex Wildlife Trust and our current WIR is Louise Kenward.