WILDLIFE
REPORTS
31
March 2016
Comma
Butterfly
The sun
shined briefly and my first Comma Butterfly
of the year made a fleeting appearance at the southern end of the Waterworks
Road, Old Shoreham, followed by a Peacock
Butterfly over Frampton's Field (south-west).
Alas a dead Fox
lay at the entrance to the Waterworks Road by the main Steyning Road. Blackthorn,
one Bluebell, Green Alkanet
and Alexanders were in flower on the Waterworks Road verges with
Lesser
Celandine on the Steyning Road verges.
Adur
Butterfly List 2016
19
March 2016
Common
Frog spawn reported by Helen
Swyer to have been laid in excess abundance
this year. A couple of pints were transferred to my close-by garden pond.
18
March 2016
Sparrowhawk
Photograph
by Sarah Reeve
A Sparrowhawk
caught and killed a Pigeon
in a North Lancing garden.
17
March 2016
Just
after midday a
Peacock
Butterfly briefly landed in front of me
on the larger pebbles by Shoreham
Fort, Shoreham
Beach. It was my first butterfly
of the year. And it was the first rays of
sun that prompted at least 25 Wall Lizards,
Podarcis
muralis, to peek out of their holes in the carnot
wall of the old redoubt,
and from their shelter in crannies of the earth and rubble embankment.
All but one were adults with lizards in pairs and sometimes in three in
choice holes. This number seen was approaching
to the most numerous seen (38) in one day.
One lizard skittered
right up to the top of the wall.
Hundreds
of the egg cases
of the Undulate Ray
were scattered over the foreshore above the high tide
on the shingle marked by washed up seaweeds
and other strandline debris.
Later
in the afternoon I had two further sightings of Peacock
Butterflies on the lower slopes of Mill
HIll. On all three occasions the butterfly
only settled for about second in the feeble sun. The lower slopes also
hosted the first wild Sweet Violet
in flower for 2016.
Adur
Violets
In
the dark of night just after a 70.1% Moon
set
below the horizon, a Fox
awakened the neighbourhood (of Corbyn Crescent, Shoreham.) as it screamed
a harsh and repeated "Vixen
Call" in the early hours (3:00
am). It
was cold night with a below
freezing wind chill.
14
March 2016
Small
Tortoiseshell Butterflies were seen on
the Riverbank (by the houseboats) by Dave
Mason (one) and another one in a garden
of the Dovecote Estate (near Mill Hill)
by Rosalyn
Hamblett.
Adur
Butterfly List 2016
13
March 2016
A
Fox
in the afternoon on Footpath
3138 from Old Shoreham to MIll Hill (west
boundary of Frampton's Field, divided into
Horse runs) in its usual position half way up on the north-south part of
the footpath. |
 |
A first
of the year Brimstone Butterfly
was spotted by Chris
Servante in a Lancing cemetery.
12
March 2016
In
the weak midday sunshine, I quickly spotted at least 15 adult Wall
Lizards, Podarcis
muralis, on the the carnot
wall of the Shoreham
Fort, Shoreham
Beach. One was basking, but they were generally skittish
and rapidly clambered over the flint wall and into holes. These
were the first reptiles I had seen this year.
One lizard skittered
over the top of the caponier.
11
March 2016
In
the fading light of the late afternoon, I spotted the silhouette of a small
bird in a budding Elm tree
on the footpath by Frampton's Field, Old
Shoreham, near where the footpath meets The Street. It turned out to be
the first Goldcrest
I have seen locally for several years.
March
2015 Reports
Wild
Flowers 2016
Shoreham
Weather 2016
EasyTide
(Shoreham)
Shoreham
Beach Weather Station
Adur
Nature Notes 2013 |
