FEATURES
WILDLIFE
REPORTS
27
February 2018
Buckingham Park.
Corbyn Crescent (at
midnight), Mill Hill
Fur-lined
(and little used) Wellingtons passed the test and both heavy duty gloves
were needed, but I felt the wind chill through my anorak in the afternoon
when it was only just below freezing.There was a flurry of settled snow
just after midnight and it remained below
freezing throughout the second successive day. The depth of snow was
too small to measure but it was over 20 mm in places. It remained throughout
the day on the residential little used side pavements in Shoreham, but
the second flurry of snow around midday did not settle in Shoreham town
centre. The daylight ended with a small layer of snow on the downs.
Shoreham
Weather 2018
20
February 2018
In
the morning there was a large lump of frog
spawn in my garden in Eastern
Avenue, Shoreham.
15
February 2018
Squelchy
mud and standing water off the Down’s Link
Cyclepath stuck to the hard surfaces on a circular unplanned cycle
ride from Ropetackle to Botolphs and back along the Coombes Road in the
late afternoon.
Standing
Water next to the River
Adur at Botolphs
Hazel
catkins showed on a single tree
next to the Silver Birch
trees north of the Erringham Gap on the cyclepath. Otherwise there was
not much colour or movement. Snowdrops
showed in abundance in Botolphs churchyard and in the semi-wild near Coombes
where I spotted a solitary Lesser Celandine
in flower. At Botolphs I was fortunate
to spot a male Kestrel
in level flight at eye level for a second.
1 February
2018
Wrapped
up with gloves and a woolly hat, I cycled
the circular route to Lancing and back, via Shoreham
Beach where the large lorries had churned
up the shingle above the high tide mark of Shoreham
Beach Nature Reserve, probably obliterating
two scarce plants for Sussex,
namely the Sea Rocket
and Ray's Knotgrass.
Red-breasted
Merganser 
On
Widewater a householder spooked a female Red-breasted
Merganser into rapid flight from the shallow
eastern end of the lagoon. Three minutes later a Kestrel
flew rapidly over with a large item of prey in its talons.
Four
Mute
Swans occupied the island at the eastern
end with a Little Egret
foraging around the margins. A further two Swans
were on the water by the bridge.
Fencing
around Brooklands
Lake made it a rather unattractive place
to visit, although the diggers for the remedial
work were not active. Freshwater from the Teville
Stream ran rapidly over the small weir and
into the lake. The rippled water hosted a Moorhen
and a Coot.
My
first Snowdrop of
the year was seen in a Lancing garden.
A
flock of seventy or so Lapwings
wheeled in unison over the Tollbridge
at Old Shoreham before settling on the Adur
estuary mud at low tide.
February
2017 Reports
Shoreham
Weather 2018
EasyTide
(Shoreham)
Shoreham
Beach Weather Station
Adur
Nature Notes 2013 |
