Pulborough WildArt Trail is a walking route of around 4 kilometres (about 2.5 miles) between the RSPB Pulborough Brooks Reserve and Pulborough railway station walking through fields and alongside the beautiful River Arun across 300 acres of water meadows and then through delightful Pulborough village and its historic areas to the station – or vice versa.
The free app has four parts you can follow on the Trail and these are:
• details of selected wildlife found locally;
• the historical background of the places you are walking through;
• a quiz for children to help them learn about the creatures;
• and, of course, meeting the amazing Pulborough Giant who will introduce his wildlife friends as you go.
Plus, along the walk there are artistic creations by well-known Sussex artist Steve Geliot.
You can use your mobile device and cutting edge Augmented Reality (AR) to walk around the Giant, get close to the creatures he shows you, have pictures taken with him and immediately post them on social media.
Pulborough is at the heart of rural West Sussex and the walk crosses the northern boundary of the South Downs National Park. You will walk through the village conservation area, across the RSPB reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest – and meet the creature that made the area an SSSI. There are shops, cafes and pubs in the village and a café at the RSPB.
The walk is on public footpaths using paths, pavements and roads in the village and through fields and on tracks in the countryside. You will go up and down river banks and there are steps on one bridge. If it has been wet the fields may well be muddy. There are kissing gates but no stiles. There may be cattle in the fields.
You can get here by public transport. The Compass 100 bus passes both ends of the trail and the Stagecoach 1 passes the rail station where there are two Southern trains an hour in each direction during the day (one an hour on Sundays). Check the timetables.
What do you need to do?
Step 1
Download the Pulborough WildArt Trail app before you come as it is a big file and may take some time depending on your connection speed.
You can look at the WildLife and History sections at home by touching the symbols on the map.
Step 2
When you arrive at the start, either end, look for the owl symbol.
Open and load the app and, using the camera on your device, scan the owl symbol.
The Giant will appear to welcome you and off you go. Follow the map and the ‘You Are Here’ symbol will move as you go. The Giant’s appearance at start and finish is not full AR.
Step 3
When you reach the first creature on the Map, look for another owl symbol on a post and scan it.
Point the device to a clear space and touch the screen where you want the Giant to appear. Move your device back and forwards to place him where you want. Repeat the sequence if you want. Now you can walk round him but make sure it is safe to do so. Take a picture if you want by tapping the camera symbol. You can share or save the photo.
Step 4
When that Giant sequence has finished, you can do the Quiz for that creature. If you get all the answers right for all the creatures (30 questions in all) you can go to the RSPB Pulborough Brooks centre and get a small prize.
Step 5
Continue on the Trail
Updates
As part of a continual development programme the developer, Spark Emerging Technologies, will from time to time improve and update the app at any point in the future without prior written notice and will forward updates as soon as they become available.