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LOCAL
NATURE RESERVES
A
Nature
Reserve is defined in Section 15 of the National Parks and Access
to the Countryside Act 1949, as land managed for the purpose:
(a)
of providing, under suitable conditions and control, special opportunities
for the study of, and research into, matters relating to the flora and
fauna of Great Britain and the physical conditions in which they live,
and for the study of geological and physiographical features of special
interest in the area; or
(b)
of preserving flora, fauna, or geological or physiographical features of
special interest in the area; or for both these purposes.’ |
EVENTS
WILDLIFE
REPORTS
26
January 2012
Four
visiting Brent Geese
looked at home at the western end of Widewater
Lagoon on the water and trotting out on
to the shingle with four Mute Swans.
19
January 2012
"Immediately,
from two feet in front of my nose, something flapped and flopped away,
awkwardly, like an albatross trying to fly in a shed. It was a small Sparrowhawk,
carrying prey a little bigger than it could handle, Blackbird
maybe. It was getting pretty dark by now, and I could only just make it
out, having flopped and flapped a couple of trees away, sitting on a low
branch with its prize, wings held out at half mast, dismantling its prey."
 |
10
January 2012
The
two small Snow Buntings, Plectrophenax
nivalis,
were well camouflaged amongst the pebbles, feeding on seed provided for
them and attracting a handful of birdwatchers
with telephoto lens. Because they look like Sparrows
with the naked eye, they would have been hard to discover if they did not
stay on the same stretch of beach south of the western end of Widewater,
despite disturbance by dog walkers. Snow Buntings
are
a very
scarce winter visitor and passage migrant to the Shoreham area. |
| On
the new wildlife verge of the the cyclepath by the Adur
Riverside Industrial Park (disused) north
of Ropetackle and the Railway Viaduct,
one of the colonising plants seen in
flower amongst the dead vegetation was the Mediterranean species known
as Sweet Alyssum,
Lobularia
maritima, not recorded before on these
Nature
Notes.
|
 |
6 January
2012
An
Iceland
Gull, Larus
glaucoides, was photographed
on Shoreham Beach, on the seaward side of
the west arm of the harbour from late morning
to 1.15 pm.
The
Iceland
Gull is a very
scarce winter visitor and passage migrant to the Shoreham area.
This
Iceland
Gull was seen by other birdwatchers on several
occasions from 4 January 2012.
Earlier it was photographed
over the River Adur.
Native
Sussex (Mick Davis) Birding Blog
Upper
Beeding Brooks has been a regular location to spot Short-eared
Owls quartering fields in the early afternoon,
with Fieldfare,
Heron,
Kingfisher
and Kestrel.
3 January
2012
 It
was a horrible morning with sheet rain and gales from the south-west, reaching
a steady Gale Force 8
from 10:00 am to midday and after,
and gusting to Storm Force 10 (max 61 mph)
from 11:00 am.
Beaufort
Scale
Shoreham
Weather 2012
Met
Office: Shoreham
2 January
2012
I
could hear the birds, but when I went out there was just a blue sky and
no birds in flight. Two Starlings
were chattering to each other from my neighbour's chimneys in Corbyn Crescent
and these were the first birds I had seen in 2012.
On
east Lancing Beach
(by Widewater),
I finally managed to get a look at the small Snow
Buntings camouflaged amongst the pebbles,
the sparrow-sized fawn and cream birds crouching down and one of the two
hiding behind a cobble-sized stone only slightly smaller than it. As I
searched for the Snow Buntings,
I nearly gave up after just spotting Pied
Wagtails amongst the shingle. The first
wild flowers of the year were some Red
Valerian on the beach fringes near the
Church of the Good Shepherd.
Reports
on Sussex
Ornithological Society News
Five
adult Bewick's Swans
were seen grazing on the fields below Wyckham
Farm, north of Steyning. They were viewable from the embankment of
the River Adur.
1 January
2012
On
the first day of the year there was continual rain during daylight and
I omitted to note the first birds of the year.
January
2011 Reports
Adur
Nature Notes 2011
Adur
Wild Flowers 2013
Wild
Flowers in January |
