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LOCAL
NATURE RESERVES
EVENTS
WILDLIFE
REPORTS
30
April 2008
A
dead baby Red Fox
was discovered lying dead on the shingle on Kingston
Beach.
Report
by Peter Talbot-Elsden
27
April 2008
The
Smooth
Newt population in my tiny garden pond
in Mill Hill Drive was probably at saturation point. I have regularly found
dead newts around
the pond that appear to have one or two large wounds to the head area.
I think the predator culprit was a large Crow
who has learned to dunk stale bread in the pond to soften it.
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 26
April 2008
Ten
species of butterfly in the afternoon was
the most in a single day this year and did not include a trip to Mill
Hill. My first orchids of 2008
were
frequent Green-winged Orchids
pushing up from the southern side turf on Anchor
Bottom, Upper Beeding.
Adur
Butterfly List 2008
25
April 2008
The
first Dingy Skipper
of 2008 was seen
on the lower slopes of Mill
Hill around midday.
One Grizzled Skipper
was also spotted on a passage journey on a muggy day.
Adur
Skippers
Another
first 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.
Other butterflies seen during the day were
occasional Small Tortoiseshells, occasional
Peacock
Butterflies, two Speckled
Woods, a few Small
Whites and a Large
White.
Eight
species.
Adur
Butterfly List 2008
24
April 2008
A
Short-snouted
Seahorse*,
Hippocampus
hippocampus, was discovered on the
filtration plant at Shoreham Harbour. It was alive when found but died
shortly afterwards. (*assumed to be this species)
Report
by Peter Talbot-Elsden
BMLSS
Seahorses
22
April 2008
My
first Holly Blue Butterfly
of the year was seen in Shoreham in the twitten
from Victoria Road to Ropetackle at the eastern end by the main road.
20
April 2008
Early
Purple Orchids were in flower at Tottington
Woods near Small Dole. These were the first
orchids
of 2008.
The
first Large White Butterflies
and the first male Orange-tip Butterflies
of
the year were seen in the Shoreham area and the first Green-veined
White Butterfly and Speckled
Wood Butterflies were seen on Mill
Hill. Frequent Peacock Butterflies
were the most numerous and with Small Whites,
Brimstone
Butterflies,
Grizzled
Skippers and a Small
Tortoiseshell. This makes four
firsts for Shoreham and about
42 butterflies of nine species seen on a tepid
(>16.9 °C)
sunny day.
On
the lower slopes of Mill Hill, the first
Horseshoe
Vetch,
Hippocrepis
comosa, was seen in flower
with the accompanying pollen beetles. The
first Pyrausta nigrata pyralid
moth
of 2008 was also
spotted.
 A
small male bee Nomada goodeniana was
identified for the first time, visiting a Dandelion
in a clearing of the linear spinney on the south side of the Slonk
Hill Cutting.
Adur
Butterflies: First Dates
Adur
Butterfly List 2008
Adur
Bees
16
April 2008
My
first Hedgehog
of the year was seen in Southwick.
14
April 2008
Oak
leaves are out before the Ash in St. Mary's churchyard in central Shoreham.
Oak
before Ash, in for a splash. Ash before Oak, in for a soak
This
means if the Oak leaves are out before Ash leaves in the spring, then it
will be a dry summer, and vice versa.
The first
local Orange-tip Butterfly
of 2008 is seen
in Spitalfield Lane, Steyning.
Reports
by Betty Bishop
Adur
Butterflies: First Dates
13
April 2008
My
first sighting of both Swallow
and Swift
occurred early in the afternoon, near Lancing seafront over grounds of
Drumconner Nursing Home.
A
Skylark
flew in station above Mill Hill, singing
in the warn afternoon after the midday hail
shower.
There
were three other butterfly enthusiasts on the lower
slopes of Mill Hill in the afternoon, chasing around about ten Grizzled
Skippers. Other butterflies
recorded on the day included three Peacocks,
two Brimstones
and one Small Tortoiseshell.
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
10
April 2008
On
a mild (>10.5 °C)
sunny day there were frequent butterflies
on Mill Hill
and its approaches including my first Small
Tortoiseshell of the year, the first two
Grizzled
Skippers on the lower
slopes, ten Peacocks
and two Comma Butterflies.
Adur
Butterflies: First Dates
Adur
Skippers
Adur
Butterfly List 2008
8 April
2008
Eleven
butterflies
of three species were seen in the sunshine, nine Peacocks,
one Comma
and one Small White,
most of them on Lancing Ring.
Adur
Butterfly List 2008
6 April
2008
A surprise
snowfall
continued throughout the morning to a measured depth of 75
mm at midday
on the pavement outside my home in residential Shoreham. As the temperature
rose during the day most of snow in town melted leaving a patchy and thin
layer on the downs. All the snow fell from
the trees, although on Mill Hill there
was a remnant of snow on north facing trunks in the afternoon.
Full
Report
Shoreham
Weather Page 2008
North
Lancing Snow Gallery
5 April
2008
Mill
Hill SMG Meeting
Despite
the awful forecast and plummetting temperature the first SMG evening field
meeting of the year at Mill Hill near Shoreham
was well attended. However, we only saw three moths - but no-one was complaining;
two were of our target species: Barred
Tooth-striped Moth, Trichopteryx
polycommata, and the other
was the micro-moth Pale Flat-body, Agonopterix
pallorella.
Adur
Moths
4 April
2008
A
Peacock
Butterfly, my first Brimstone
Butterfly of the year, and a Small
White Butterfly were all seen in Shoreham
town.
A golden adult Slow Worm,
Anguis
fragilis, over 30 cm long, basked
in the weak sunshine in the Butterfly Copse next to the Waterworks
Road. This was my first of the year.
3 April
2008
A
Sparrowhawk
took a Frog from
my garden pond in south Lancing and was later spotted perched on the fence
devouring a Blue Tit.
A
glut of early spring butterflies on Lancing
Ring included frequent (20+) Peacock
Butterflies, frequent Red
Admiral Butterflies, five Brimstone
Butterflies, and two Small
Tortoiseshells.
Adur
Butterfly List 2008
A
Small
White Butterfly fluttered across the western
end of Rosslyn Road in Shoreham town. This was
first one I had seen in 2008.
Adur
Butterfly List 2008 |
