FEATURES
WILDLIFE
REPORTS
23
April 2018
Hawthorn
was budding in the hedgerows often intertwined with the flowering
Blackthorn on the borders of the Downs
Link Path at Old Shoreham (south of the Flyover).
Both bushes were in leaf.
Blackthorn
flowers
appear before the leaves and the Hawthorn
leaves appear before the flowers.
On
a breezy afternoon, Wayfaring Tree
was flowering and more Bluebells
were seen in the shade.
19
April 2018
It
was almost shirt-sleeves weather on the
coast
under a blue sky: 18.3 °C
at 9:00 am but
a southerly gentle breeze (Force
3) blew amongst the haze and it was down
to 17.7 °C
at midday in
Shoreham. I cycled upcountry where it was appreciably warmer and no breeze
felt.
Orange-tip
Butterfly 
With
the sun came eight species of butterfly
including the male Orange-tip.
Adur
Levels Report
Butterfly
Report
11
April 2018
Cowslips
were
flowering
on the verges of the Downs Link Path from
Old Shoreham north to the Cement Works. At the northern end I spotted what
I assume to be the hybrid False Oxlip,
Primula
veris x vulgaris.
Primula
I spotted
my first Brimstone Butterfly
in Upper Shoreham Road (west of the Driveway), north Shoreham, and more
on Mill Hill and at Old Shoreham on the
verges of the cyclepath to Ropetackle where two highly probable Small
Whites were also my first of the year.
There were also a handful of both Brimstone
and
Peacock
Butterflies
over the lower slopes of Mill
Hill.
Mill
Hill Report
6 April
2018
Wall
Lizard
On
a day the weather forecasters predicted
to be warmer than it actually was, my first
reptiles of the year were a couple of Wall
Lizards,
Podarcis
muralis, by Shoreham
Fort. With
a wind
chill and blustered about by a steady Force
5 from the east, I
did not feel inclined to search for any more.
5 April
2018
Standing
water on the Adur
Levels below Mill
Hill
Still
a slight chill under the cirrus blue sky
as a Buzzard
glided over Erringham Hill and a Kestrel
hovered over the edge of the ridge on Mill
Hill above the steep part of the lower slopes. Sweet
Violets were commonly spread over the
lower slopes but not abundant and the flowers
were a bit bedraggled after the recent rain which left the steps and paths
muddy but passable. Ten Peacock Butterflies
flew past me and settled very briefly. I spotted a pair of Small
Tortoiseshells, my first of these butterflies
of the year, near some short growths of Stinging Nettles on the
edge of the scrub on the middle slopes.
Adur
Butterfly List 2018
3 April
2018
Adder
on the Chalk Pit, Lancing Clump LNR
Photograph
by Sarah Reeve
Despite
the overcast rather cool weather (10.5 °C)
we
spotted three Adders basking
in the Chalk Pit area of Lancing
Clump Local Nature Reserve. Two of the snakes slithered off quite quickly
but the third posed for a photograph sensing its surroundings with its
forked
tongue.
Adur
Lizards & Snakes
April
2017 Reports
Shoreham
Weather 2018
EasyTide
(Shoreham)
Shoreham
Beach Weather Station
Adur
Nature Notes 2013 |
