White Poplar Adur Recreation Ground	Remains of Bramber Castle

Spring Dyke next to the Miller's Stream 2006
Coastal Link Cyclepath 2006
Waterworks Road and Butterfly Copse 2006

Link to the Adur Levels Reports 2009

9 October 2008
A sunny day when the air temperature reached a pleasant 16.1 °C in the shade prompted a cycle ride along the Coastal Link Cyclepath north to Bramber Castle. A murder of Rooks flew over at Upper Beeding where upwards of thirty House Martins were flying over a field and the River Adur before migrating south for the winter. A Goldcrest was spotted in the hedgerow. In the grounds of Bramber Castle there was a Southern Hawker (dragonfly). Common Darters were seen frequently (15+) along the route.

26 September 2008
Upwards of 200 Common Gulls were seen over fields north of Cuckoo's Corner with further gulls on the River Adur. 

24 September 2008
A Sparrowhawk was seen flying over the ploughed earth field north of the A27 and Ricardos on the western side of the River Adur. 

13 September 2008
The Buddleia was the main attraction to the Large White Butterflies in the hedgerows on each side of the on the Coastal Link Cyclepath to Upper Beeding. One bush had at least five on it, and they rarely stayed still long enough to photograph, possibly indicating the deficit of available nectar. Speckled Wood Butterflies were occasionally seen in the more shaded parts of the path, notable by the Cement Works. In contrast the few Common Blues spotted on passage were by the open meadow areas. The few Red Admirals seen were all in fine condition and strong fliers. A yellow Brimstone Butterfly was a surprise. A few Green-veined Whites were recognised, plus a handful of Meadow Browns.

10 September 2008
About a dozen Green-veined White Butterflies were seen on the Coastal Link Cyclepath with half a dozen Large Whites, at least one Red Admiral, one Peacock Butterfly, one Small Tortoiseshell and one Comma Butterfly on ripe Blackberries. A couple each of Common Darters and Southern Hawker dragonflies were noted. 

8 September 2008
 

Leafcutter Bee	Comma Butterfly on ripe Blackberries

A large Volucella zonaria hoverfly was spotted on Ivy in the Butterfly Copse next to the Waterworks Road. Leafcutter Bees were occasionally spotted on the outskirts of Shoreham.

3 September 2008
In a brief spell of weak sunshine, a Common Lizard, Zootoca vivipara, skittered over the tarmac section of the Coastal Link Cyclepath north of the mostly derelict Adur Riverbank Industrial Estate. 

7 August 2008

3 August 2008
 

Spear Thistle on the towpath  north of the Toll Bridge	Lesser Burdock, Teasels and Thistles north of the Toll Bridge

24 July 2008
Hundreds of grasshoppers were stridulating in the Sea Purslane on the eastern estuarine bank of the River Adur opposite Cuckoo's Corner. Provisional identification was to the common species called the Meadow Grasshopper, Chorthippus parallelus.. 
 

23 July 2008
In the late afternoon I made a brief journey to Old Shoreham and added a Comma Butterfly to the species tally from the Butterfly Copse (next to the Waterworks Road) and a few minutes later added a confirmed Green-veined White from the Coastal Link Cyclepath north of the Toll Bridge, making seventeen species of the day and one short of my all-time day record. Although I was not counting out other butterflies, there was also an additional Peacock, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood and Holly Blue in the Old Shoreham area.  As I had reached 17 species I thought I would cycle to Upper Beeding to try and increase the species tally. As is often the case, I was out of luck and although there were about five more Peacock Butterflies taking their count into double figures for the day, as well as three noted Speckled Woods, more Large Whites taking their day count to over fifty, and uncounted Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns.
 

The first hoverfly Volucella inanis of the year was spotted in the Butterfly Copse next to the Waterworks Road. where the first berries of Hawthorn were noted.
About 5:15 pm a large falcon flew low over the Coastal Link Cyclepath towards the River Adur and it looked very much like the falcon seen the day before. 
Tabular Butterfly List
Adur Butterfly List 2008
Full Report
Adur Hoverflies 2008

19 July 2008
A sort half and hour leisurely cycle trip along the Coastal Link Cyclepath around Old Shoreham produced a Green-veined White Butterfly, with frequent Peacock Butterflies (12+), frequent Speckled Woods (12+), occasional Gatekeepers, occasional  Meadow Browns, frequent Large Whites, one Comma, and one Red Admiral. A Chicory flower was blown about in the breeze on the verge of the Steyning Road south of the Cement Works. Marjoram was noted on the verges of the Coastal Link Cyclepath north of the Toll Bridge, and a clump of Lesser Centaury appeared with pale almost white flowers. 

14 July 2008
In the early afternoon, butterflies were common on the Adur Levels in the weak sunshine. I recorded frequent Meadow Browns, occasional Small Skippers, frequent Gatekeepers, occasional Comma Butterflies, one Small Tortoiseshell (on the towpath near Botolphs), occasional Peacock Butterflies, occasional Red Admirals, One Marbled White (on the river towpath) a few Small Skippers, one Speckled Wood, one Small White and frequent Large Whites.
 

The first red berries of the Wayfaring Tree were spotted in the hedgerow of the Coastal Link Cyclepath north of the Toll Bridge, Old Shoreham. 

30 June 2008
In the breezy sunshine I recorded over fifty (88+) butterflies for the second day this year with nine species seen on the Adur Levels and Anchor Bottom, Upper Beeding. The fresh Comma Butterflies were the most impressive. The Ringlets were confirmed with a positive view of the ringed spots on the underwing. Meadow Browns, including courting pairs, were the commonest species with half of all the butterflies seen. I have not yet seen a Marbled White settle this year. A Burnet or Cinnabar Moth fluttered rapidly on the towpath next to the River Adur halfway between Cuckoo's Corner and the Cement Works. A large blue dragonfly hawked the Coastal Link Cyclepath just 50 metres north of the Toll Bridge, Old Shoreham. It was almost certainly a Southern Hawker. 
Full Butterfly Report
Adur Moths

23 June 2008

19 June 2008
Wild flowers recorded for the first time this year were White Stonecrop Sedum album, Common Toadflax, Rosebay Willowherb, Great Willowherb, Field Bindweed, Lesser Burdock and Perforate St. John's Wort on the Coastal Link Cyclepath south of the Toll Bridge, Old Shoreham, and a swathe of Tufted Vetch just north of the bridge.  A worn Red Admiral Butterfly settled on the Coastal Link Cyclepath south of the Toll Bridge. 
Full Butterfly Report

23 May 2008
I recorded the woodland-edge hoverfly Dasysyrphus venustus for the first time in Upper Beeding. 
Full Report & Photograph Link

15 May 2008
Scores of Azure Damselflies, Coenagrion puella, flew over Spring Dyke, north of Old Shoreham. 
Adur Dragons & Damsels 2008

8 May 2008
Red Clover was noted on River Adur towpath on the western side between Old Shoreham and Upper Beeding, where long rows of Cow Parsley were prominent and a distinctive part of the landscape above high tide mark with Buttercups in the fields and Hawthorn now in flower bordering the Coastal Link Cyclepath. Yellow Flag Iris was seen in the Annington Sewer (next to the Saltings Field, Botolphs). A couple of Swallows were seen flying at a low level where they could be clearly identified. 

27 April 2008
There were at least ten Slow Worms, Anguis fragilis, a mixture of adults and young ones (born last summer), under some roofing felt on the towpath north of Ropetackle. 
Slow Worm Facts

26 April 2008
At the Saltings Field stream (Annington Sewer just north-east of Botolphs) small Whirligig Beetles gyrated on the surface of the stream by the Oak Tree. There were probably over a hundred of them on the surface of the water. 
 

Another first of the year were two female Orange-tip Butterflies positively identified from over the Waterworks Road, chased by a single male and very flightly, stopping only very briefly on Green Alkanet flowers, a least thrice after being disturbed by Rhingia campestris hoverflies. I disturbed a Peacock Butterfly in the same area. 

20 April 2008
Four male Orange-tip Butterflies were quickly seen over the Waterworks Road, north of Old Shoreham, the first one seen immediately. These were the first of the year in Shoreham. A Peacock Butterfly settled.
Adur Butterflies: First Dates
Adur Butterfly List 2008

11 April 2008
On a breezy afternoon, a Peacock Butterfly basked on the Waterworks Road with another one on footpath that runs along the south of Frampton's Field to The Street, with a pristine Small Tortoiseshell on Stinging Nettles, from which it may have just emerged after winter hibernation. The first two Common Bee-flies, Bombylius major, of 2008, buzzed around in the same area. 
Adur Butterfly List 2008
Adur Flies 2008

27 March 2008
The verges of the Downs Link Cyclepath from the Cement Works to Old Shoreham contained a few flowering Dandelions, an occasional Lesser Celandine and Daffodils, frequent Coltsfoot and the first signs of one clump of Cowslips. 

26 February 2008
At least a hundred yellow Coltsfoot were flowering on the Downs Link Cyclepath south of the derelict Shoreham Cement Works. Daffodils were flowering in clumps near the riverbank towpath. Nothing much moved except for a few scavenging Magpies and at least one Robin flew across the path in front of me. 

11 February 2008
A handful of Stonechats flew around the scrub on the western side of the River Adur estuary, seen from the towpath between the A27 Flyover and Cuckoo's Corner. The male bird was particularly distinguished with its black head and white collar. 

8 February 2008
A cycle ride along the towpath to the Cement Works and return along the Downs Link Cyclepath produced nothing newsworthy or of note, with no special birds, no flowers or fungi and no large flying insects. It was just a muddy and bumpy ride in the weak afternoon sunshine. 

28 January 2008
Hundreds of Common Gulls and Lapwings were feeding or roosting on the arable fields on the western side of a flooded River Adur on a high spring tide just north of the A27. 
Another circular cycle ride up the Coombes Road to Botolphs, over the South Downs Way Bridge over the River Adur and a return along the muddy and puddled Downs Link Cyclepath to Old Shoreham produced notable numbers of mixed brightly coloured Chaffinches and Goldfinches numbering over fifty in a few minutes at Cuckoo's Corner. Rooks made a lot noise as they left their canopy nests in the rookery on the Coombes Road south of Coombes. Three Little Egrets were seen together in a pasture to the west of Passie's Pond. The first Snowdrops were spotted in their hundreds in the semi-wild field/gardens at the entrance to the 'Old Rectory', Coombes. 
Adur Wild Flowers 2008

13 January 2008
A circular cycle ride up the Coombes Road to Botolphs, over the South Downs Way Bridge over the River Adur and a return along the muddy and puddled Downs Link Cyclepath to Old Shoreham failed to produce anything much of special interest, although Pied Wagtails were frequent in the fields south of Cuckoo's Corner and the Jacob's Sheep were in the field west of St. Botolph's Church.
 

Adur Levels 2007
 

River Adur Estuary Wildlife 2008

Adur Nature Notes 2008:   Index Page