AREA MAP
Link to Adur Valley Nature Notes 2003
Adur Nature Notes 2016
Link to the Mill Hill Nature Notes 2016 web pages

 
 
 
 Adur Flood Plain
 Chalk Downs
 Coastal Fringe
 Intertidal (Seashore)
 River Adur Estuary
 River Adur Flood Plain
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Adur Valley Wildlife

South Downs:  Beeding Hill
including Anchor Bottom and meadows

Beeding Hill the high point on the downs near Shoreham is 169 metres (554 feet) above sea level. 

Wild Flower Gallery
Photographs by Andy Horton


Photograph by Andy Horton
Harebell 
Small  Scabious
 Greater Knapweed
Kidney Vetch

Cycling Route to Mill Hill
Friends of Lancing Ring (External Link)

Ray Hamblett's Mill Hill & Beeding Hill web page (with photographs of orchids and other wild plants). This page contains a photograph of a male Chalkhill Blue.

Downs around the Adur Valley (under construction September 2000)

CLICK ON THIS TEXT FOR THE 2004 REPORTS

3 October 2003
Flying over the derelict Cement Works at Upper Beeding, I thought I spotted a large black corvid, maybe the grey/silver face of a Rook, which seems to be unusual (or overlooked by me) in the lower Adur valley. The Rook is classed as "very common resident" by the Sussex Ornithological Society. The Shoreham & District Ornithological Society has identified local rookeries. 

6 July 2003
Late in the afternoon whilst cycling on the bridleway to the south east 
of Beeding Hill, I heard one male Quail calling very distantly to the south
west. (TQ 220 093)

Report from Dave Green on Sussex Ornithological Society News


14 June 2003
As I climbed the steep path from the South Downs Way Footbridge over the Adur to Beeding Hill I heard the Skylarks in song and saw their familiar outlines in the sky. Small Tortoiseshell Butterflies increased in frequency and I must have spotted 30 but some could be the same butterfly following me. There was just a solitary faded Painted Lady Butterfly that landed in front of me. 

Fragrant Orchid (Photograph by Andy Horton)Top half of Anchor Bottom (near Beeding Hill) from the meadow to the NE

The photograph above shows the grazed meadow that contained a few battered Pyramid Orchids, Anacamptis pyramidalis, and a handful of better condition Fragrant Orchids, Gymnadenia conopsea. Kidney Vetch, Anthyllis vulneraria, was noticeable.

On the roadside verges at the top of the hill in the picture, I saw a handful of the first Meadow Brown Butterflies of 2003.
 

22 April 2003
A Pheasant was feeding in a stubble field (west side) on the way up to Beeding Hill from Mill Hill. 

Dingy Skipper (Photograph by Andy Horton)

20 April 2003
A Dingy Skipper Butterfly was seen by the side of the Industrial Estate at Golding Barn near Upper Beeding (near Steyning) in the Adur valley on a breezy overcast Easter Sunday morning. This species is not often recorded, although it it is known from Mill Hill. 

Report by Jim Steedman via the UK-Leps EForum



 

19 October 2002
Six Small Tortoiseshell Butterflies were seen between Beeding Hill and Truleigh Hill.

Report by Allen Pollard via the UK-Leps EForum


31 August 2001
On an overcast day, following a shower, a Small Copper Butterfly (probably) was seen at Beeding Hill flying rapidly over towards Anchor Bottom, skirting the hedgerows on the bumpy lane down to Castletown, where a Speckled Wood Butterfly in reasonably good condition settled. 
 

12 September 2000
Common Blue (Photograph by Andy Horton)A few female  Common Blue Butterflies were seen near Beeding Hill. 
This is a female Common Blue.  The white flecks on the wings are typical of female Common Blues found on calcareous soils.  Andrew Daw.

Three or four species of  Dragonflies hawked/darted over the Downs. In order of frequency, they appear to be (subject to confirmation):
 
 
Sympetrum striolatum

Emperor Dragonfly (? ID) (frequent 30+) Anax imperator
(Some of these could have been the Migrant Hawker, Aeshna mixtaon reflection. However, despite the late in the year flying time, the size of the Emperor should make them unmistakable, but they have been confused with Southern Hawkers, Aeshna cyanea.)
Common Darter (very frequent 70+) Sympetrum striolatum
(Some were blue-grey  the others orange-brown and red)
British Dragonfly Society
UK Dragonflies Yahoo Group
Adur Damselflies & Dragonflies
European Dragonflies Picture Gallery

11 June 2000
Martin Davies surprised a Roe Deer when cycling between Truleigh Hill and New Erringham Farm over the downs route to Mill Hill. It was in the arable field on the east side near Beeding Hill.

Butterflies:

Adur Butterflies
 
 Small Tortoiseshell  Aglais urticae
 Clouded Yellow  Colias croceus
 Meadow Brown  Maniola jurtina
 Marbled White  Melanargia galathea
 Large White  Pieris brassicae
 Gatekeeper  Pyronia tithonus
 Speckled Wood  Pararge aegeria
 Small Copper  Lycaena phlaes
 Painted Lady  Vanessa cardui

Common Blues on Chalk Downs

from "Andrew Daw" <andrew.daw@zuken.co.uk>
Subject: RE: New file uploaded to uk-leps (photograph above)

Hello,

This is a female Common Blue.  The white flecks on the wings are typical of female Common Blues found on calcareous soils (Chalk, limestone, ...).
The amount of blue on the wings vary from butterfly to butterfly,
even in the same colony. The extremes in the range (totally blue,
or totally brown) are not so common.

Andrew

> -----Original Message-----
> From: uk-leps@egroups.com
 

The Common Blue caterpillar feeds on Bird's Foot Trefoil.
.

Shoreham-by-Sea
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View over the River Adur (by Ray Hamblett)