BUTTERFLIES
 DRAGONFLIES
 HOVERFLIES
 BUMBLEBEES
 BUGS

Valley and Flood Plain from of the River Adur

River Adur tidal reaches 

Sussex downland on both sides of the River Adur,
including Mill Hill Nature Reserve

Extensive urban area including the coastal towns of Shoreham, Southwick and Lancing, and the inland town of Steyning and countryside villages

Rich marine, seashore, shingle beach and lagoon habitats

31 December 2005
23 different birds were spotted in the back garden of 40 The Drive (near Buckingham Park), (TQ  219 063), during the weekly plus visits in 2005. The numbers of birds are misleading because it is usually the same birds visiting on different days. The most prevalent birds were Jackdaws with 284 recorded on 48 different occasions. Other birds often seen included Greenfinches 157, Blackbirds 76, Blue Tits 75, Starlings 67, Collared Doves 52 and House Sparrows 51. New birds added were  Fieldfares, Blackcaps and a Jay. The absentee this year was the Goldcrest, and both Chaffinches and Song Thrushes were down in numbers. 
Garden Bird Database 2005

Garden Bird List 2004
Garden Bird List 2004 Spreadsheet

27 December 2005
Above (to the west) of Church Farm, Coombes, a Buzzard was seen in flight and perched on a branch of a tree. 

After dusk, the whole of the Adur area was covered by a minimal dusting of snow. Precipitation was recorded on Shoreham Beach at 0.25 mm and the air temperature fell to zero (near Mill Hill) and the dew point was recorded at a low of minus 2.4 ºC at 5:43 pm on Shoreham Beach. 

25 December 2005
Christmas Day
Under a clear blue sky the air temperature reached 7.7 ºC at 2:09 pm. 
Shoreham Weather Reports

This juvenile Pied Wagtail, Motacilla alba yarrelli, was seen soaking up some sunshine on South Street, Lancing, in the early afternoon. It appears to have very little flight feather and so it may have recently fledged.

22 December 2005
A new record 14 species of birds were seen in a north Shoreham garden in one hour, a dozen of them within the first twenty minutes. They were in order of first seen: Jackdaws (8), Greenfinches (8), Blackbirds (2), Wood Pigeon (1), Collared Doves (4), Blue Tits (5), Robin (1), Wren (1), House Sparrows (4), Starling (1), Great Tits (2), Dunnocks (3), Magpies (2), and finally a Herring Gull as I was just about to leave. Food was there to attract the birds.
Garden Bird Database 2005

18 December 2005
 

A Juniper Shield Bug, Elasmostethus tristriatus, came into our south Lancing house (TQ 185 046) on some conifer branches we are using for decorations. True Bugs Web Page

The air temperature fell below freezing for the first time this winter, recorded at minus 0.8 ºC at 6:25 am. 

Shoreham Weather Reports (a selection)

13 December 2005
Winter is rarely rewarding for rockpooling because the mobile fish, crabs, prawns etc. move offshore into slightly deeper water to avoid the temperature vagaries of the intertidal zone. A one metre late afternoon low tide on Kingston Beach, four species of small juveniles fishes were discovered including one Small-headed Clingfish, Apletodon dentatus. 
Full Report

10 December 2005
A Stoat, Mustela erminea, ran across the road at the Halewick Lane, Sompting as we waited to enter the Waste Transfer Station (west of Lancing Clump). This predatory mammal was small red/brown with a black tipped tail.

9 December 2005
Early this morning a Sparrowhawk was seen in the Hawthorn tree at the end of our south Lancing garden (TQ 185 046). It had a small bird clutched in it's talons, it may
have been a Blue Tit or a Sparrowthe light was too poor to discern which.
Later in the day a scattering of wood fragments were found below the bird boxes on the side wall of the house. On looking up to one of the boxes it was clear where the wood had come from. Evidently the work of a Spotted Woodpecker which had chiseled out the hole through the side of the box which was now now twice the width of the original hole.

On the pebbled shore by the Old Fort, there were a dozen Pied Wagtails in each of three directions when I looked east, south and west, as I was standing on the strandline littered with seaweed, whelk shells and dozens of whelk egg cases. There were about a hundred Starlings that rose as a flock and a handful of brown speckled pipits, probably Rock Pipits (possibly Meadow Pipits) searching for morsels amongst the debris washed up. 
Adur Coastal 2005

In the late afternoon a extraordinary band of white mist crept over from the Shoreham Airport and New Monks Farm area which in about fifteen minutes first of all obscured the view of the Toll Bridge from the south-east by the Railway Viaduct and then the view of Lancing College disappeared under the mist. 
Shoreham Weather Reports

5 December 2005
A Little Egret almost choked on one of the prize Koi Carp in my neighbour's (2.5 x 2.0 metre) pond in north Lancing. 

4 December 2005
Venus shone clearly, well above the thin crescent Moon low in the southern sky as dusk turned to darkness. 

1 December 2005
Dru Brook spotted a Red Admiral Butterfly about midday just north the cemetery (TQ 177 060) below Lancing Clump. "The butterfly was flying up over some hedging at the side of the path through to the area north of the cemetery. It was being blown about a bit as the wind was quite gusty and there was some spattering of rain at the time! Not the weather for a butterfly to be out and about in!"