BUTTERFLIES
 DRAGONFLIES
 HOVERFLIES
 BUMBLEBEES

Bumblebees
Hoverflies
Butterflies
Solitary Bees
Adur Bees, Wasps & Sawflies
Flies
Ladybirds
Beetles
Moths
Grasshoppers & Crickets
Damselflies & Dragonflies
Bugs
Spiders

30 April 2019

A female Orange-tip Butterfly near Coombes was ample reward for a cycle ride which originally going too be a brief afternoon jaunt to Cuckoo's Corner, but I cycled further up the Coombes Road. It was fortunate as I caught a glimpse of a white butterfly and I just wanted to see if it was a Small White or Green-veined White seen earlier. Because the Orange-tip has a single early season brood and a short flight time the females are easy to miss.
Adur Butterfly List 2019

23 April 2019
With the first Horseshoe Vetch, Hippocrepis comosa, appearing in bud on the lower slopes of Mill Hill, more butterflies were seen than expected on as hazy afternoon. 

A variety of ten butterfly species was more apparent than sheer numbers with Speckled Wood (one on the southern steps), Brimstone 3+, Small White 1+, the first of the year Small Tortoiseshell (southern, top), the first of the year pair of Dingy Skippers, 2+ Grizzled Skippers, 1+ male Orange Tips, another first of the year fresh Small Copper, at least one Peacock Butterfly, occasional Small Heaths 4+, and two Treble-bar Moths. Micro moths were frequently seen and ones recognised were the pyralids Pyrausta purpuralis and Pyrausta despicata as well as an even smaller Pancalia. 
Adur Butterfly List 2019

22 April 2019

Amongst dense vegetation on the Widewater flood plain I spotted a Hairy Shield Bug, Dolycoris baccarum.
Adur Bugs

19 April 2019

A motorised trip to Woods Mill produced my first ever sight of the huge eggs of the Mute Swan on its nest. There were a few restless butterflies in the sun including my first male Orange-tips of the year, a tatty Peacock and a very lively Brimstone Butterfly. One Orange-tip stopped on a Cuckoo Flower for just a second. A pair of Mallards had ducklings in tow on the main pond. 

18 April 2019

3-spined Sticklebacks could be seen darting to in the surface water of Widewater Lagoon on a sunny afternoon. And the Little Egret spotted one as well.

By the Widewater car park, the Blackthorn showed no trace of flowers or leaves and the adjacent Hawthorn was in leaf and budding. It was on the Blackthorn mostly that the Brown-tailed Moths had built about a dozen nests housing scores of caterpillars which will feed on the interlocking Hawthorn.
Illustrated Moth Nest Report

17 April 2019

Magpies were squabbling with a couple of Crows over the roof tops as a Herring Gull looked on.
Mill Hill Report

15 April 2019
Blackthorn had lost its flowers and Hawthorn was budding at Cuckoo's Corner.  I spotted my first House Martin of the year over the River Adur north of the Tollbridge from the western towpath.

12 April 2019

11 April 2019
On a afternoon when the sun came out unexpectedly, I quickly spotted my first two Grizzled Skippers of the year on the lower slopes of Mill Hill, now decorated with Dog Violets, but much more sparsely than normal. 

Amongst the scrub on the upper part of Mill Hill, the white blossom of Blackthorn looked attractive against the blue sky.

My first Brimstone Butterfly of the year fluttered past. The first of three Peacock Butterflies landed intermittently. No more skippers were seen. Most of the observed action occurred amongst the dense interlocking leaves on the lower slopes where a brigade of working mutualistic red ants, Myrmica sabuleti, were attracted by sugary secretions of  the green and yellow caterpillars of the Adonis Blue Butterfly.
Mill Hill Picture Report
Adur Butterflies 2019

10 April 2019

As the sun cast strong shadows, the local young Common Seal hauled on the slipway on Kingston Beach and just lazed around at high tide for at least a couple of hours in the afternoon. In the chilly north-east breeze, the seal attracted about a dozen visitors at any one time including children at half term. 
BMLSS Seals

8 April 2019
Blackthorn dominated the white blossom plentiful in the hedgerows and amongst the scrub on the downs. Cherry Plum had virtually finished and so had the early Blackthorn, but Hawthorn was yet to flower in the wild. Alexanders attracted frequent small to medium hoverfly species: notably Syrphus type, Eristalis, as well as few bumblebees, Honey Bees and Common Wasps.

Cowslips were common on the verges of the Downs Link Cyclepath between the Erringham Gap and the Cement Works.
I spotted a Speckled Wood Butterfly at Cuckoo's Corner on the Coombes Road.
Adur Butterflies 2019

At Kingston Beach I enjoyed great views and opportunities for photographs of the local Common Seal.

5 April 2019

Hawthorn was budding very early at Northbourne, Southlands, north Shoreham. But this was a planted hedge and not truly wild. Holly was still in berry in the same hedge.

Blackthorn flowers appear before the leaves and the Hawthorn leaves appear before the flowers.

Adur Trees 2019
 
 
 
 
 

April 2018 Reports

Shoreham Weather 2019

EasyTide (Shoreham)
 
 
 

Adur Nature Notes 2013