Wild About Dark Skies Festival
The Wild About Dark Skies Festival is over for another year…
A huge thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate the High Weald’s starry night skies with us!
Running from Monday 28 October to Sunday 10 November 2024, the Festival saw a packed fortnight of stargazing, workshops, talks, walks and fun family activities.
Attendees made spooky pumpkin crafts and took part in creative storytelling; ventured out for atmospheric night-time walks, listened to experts talk about the importance of reducing light pollution, travelled to the stars in the Planetarium, enjoyed demonstrations from astronomers and event watched a short film created especially for the Festival by local artist Steve Geliot.
All events were led by local community groups and individuals passionate about the area’s Dark Skies. It was fantastic to see hundreds of people coming together and connecting with the beauty and tranquillity of the High Weald National Landscape.
A huge thank you also goes to everyone who helped run an event for this year’s Festival – we really couldn’t have done it without you!
The Wild About Dark Skies Festival is supported by the High Weald National Landscape Partnership and sponsored by Lund Trust.
About the Festival
The Wild About Dark Skies Festival aims to raise awareness about these issues and suggest small, simple lifestyle changes we can all make to help reduce light pollution in our own communities.
This is more than just a celebration; it’s a call to action. Light pollution negatively affects wildlife, contributes to climate change, and affects our own wellbeing.
For inspiration, watch the short film created for this year’s Festival by Sussex artist and citizen scientist, Steve Geliot. ‘Sleepwalking in the Dark’ examines Steve’s relationship with the night sky, and how it has inspired his art over the years.
How you can get involved next year
The Wild About Dark Skies Festival will return in 2025, with grant funding available to support eligible events through the High Weald Nature and Community Fund.
We are keen to hear from community groups and individuals who would like to be involved next year; please contact Samantha Nicholas to register your interest.
See you next year!
Our Dark Skies Experts:
The 2024 Wild About Dark Skies Festival welcomed experts on a wide range of topics, from astrology and art to storytelling and ecology.
Find out who appeared at our events below:
Rachel Bennington:
Rachel Bennington is a professional storyteller and has told myths and traditional tales from all around the world to schools and at events across Sussex.
Doug Edworthy:
A space enthusiast since hearing Sputnik’s beeps at the age of four, Doug is an amateur astronomer and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He provides ‘Outreach’ for the public and is especially keen to enthuse young minds with the awesome universe out there.
Dan Oakley:
Dan is a professional dark sky expert and founding director of Darkscape Consulting. He has long experience of working in dark skies and is passionate about providing services to protect our connection the cosmos for people and our planet.
Dan served as the Dark Sky Officer for the South Downs National Park Authority for over 10 years and was responsible for creating and producing all aspects of the South Downs IDA International Dark Sky “Moore’s” Reserve application.
Ralph Hobbs:
Retired Conservation Ecologist based in East Sussex. Experienced Ecologist with a demonstrated history of working in the environmental services industry.
Dave Goulson:
Dave is Professor of Biology (Evolution, Behaviour and Environment) at the University of Sussex. Specializing in the ecology and conservation of insects, particularly bumblebees.
He is also the author of several books, including Bumblebees: Their Behaviour and Ecology (2003), Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse (2021), and more than 200 academic articles.
Steve Geliot:
Dark Skies, Natural Night artist, campaigner, citizen scientist.
Steve works with photography and moving image as well as field recording and remote sensing (NASA Satellite based).
