Cuckoo's
Corner
Blackthorn
with Hawthorn leaf
April
Gallery
WILDLIFE
REPORTS
22
April 2015
Eleven
species of butterfly were
seen on and around Mill Hill on a day where
the lower slopes were sheltered from the fresh breeze
from the east. They included my first Red
Admiral, Comma,
Dingy
Skipper and Wall
Brown of the year. The Clouded
Yellow Butterfly
was still restless over
the lower slopes.
Butterfly
Report
My
first Large Red Damselfly
of the year was seen at the top of Chanctonbury Drive, north Shoreham.
21
April 2015
Completely
unplanned, my second visit to Mill Hill
in as many days was rewarded by a completely unexpected Clouded
Yellow Butterfly flying over the lower
slopes. They have never been seen so early
before and the only other early one was seen in 2007.
Two
Grizzled
Skippers also made their first appearance
of the year on the lower slopes with scores of the pyralid
micro-moth Pyrausta nigrata
visiting the abundant Dog Violets and
the
occasional
Sweet Violet. Other
butterflies
in flight in the late afternoon on the downs were frequent Peacocks,
and at least one Brimstone.
Adur
Butterfly List 2015
20
April 2015
My
first House Martin
of the year was seen flying to and fro over Mill
Hill. Previously I had recorded by first Large
White Butterfly in Corbyn Crescent, Shoreham,
and more of them over the top of Chanctonbury Drive, north Shoreham, with
my first Speckled Wood Butterfly
of the year.
Adur
Butterfly List 2015
13
April 2015
A
Stoat
gambolled
across the Waterworks
Road, Old Shoreham, roughly underneath
the Flyover.
8 April
2015
Blackthorn
was in full flower at Cuckoo's Corner
where the first Hawthorn
appeared in leaf. My first Small Tortoiseshell
Butterfly of the year was spotted at the
eastern end of the Toll Bridge. The
faded butterfly landed on an Alexander.
6 April
2015
My
first positively identified butterfly
of the year was a Brimstone
by the railway track west of Lancing station as the train whizzed past.
The second was a faded Peacock Butterfly
in the sun over Shoreham Beach Green by the
beach huts.
A rare
appearance of a Red Kite
over Mill Hill
Photograph
by Etienne Fournier
5 April
2015
Easter
brought a spell of weak sunshine and an Adder
basked in air temperatures at 8.6 °C
in the afternoon. It was curled up on a bed of grass by the steps going
down to the lower slopes of Mill Hill.
It stuck its forked tongue out and slithered off under the thorn. The coiled
up snake was my first reptile of the year. I had only fifteen seconds before
it sensed me and quickly disappeared. There were a few bumblebees
and the inevitable flies
on the Alexanders,
but no still no butterflies in flight.
The first Dog Violets flowered
on the lower slopes of Mill Hill, with the Sweet
Violets much less than in previous years.
Green shoots of various herbs appeared through the layer of moss.
Adur
Violets
April
2014 Reports
Wild
Flowers 2015
Shoreham
Weather 2015
EasyTide
(Shoreham)
Shoreham
Beach Weather Station
Adur
Nature Notes 2013 |
