EVENTS
WILDLIFE
REPORTS
31 March
2017
A Peregrine Falcon soared and rose of the
thermals over Mill
Hill on a sunny but breezy
(steady Force 5) afternoon. The Dog Violets were already flowering
on the lower slopes which were sheltered
from the easterly breeze. A Common Bee-fly buzzed around. Peacock Butterflies were courting high into
the blue sky from which a Skylark could be heard but
scarcely seen after the falcon had flown
away.
Adur Violets
30 March
2017
The sun shined in the
afternoon (>15.2
° C) and I
cycled the Coombes Road to Botolphs and
the flood plain south of Bramber (west of
the River Adur). A
pair of Mute
Swans
were feeding on Annington Sewer. Another
pair fed on the Duckweed covered stream at
Bramber.
On the towpath by Botolphs
three Small
Tortoiseshell Butterflies were sparring by the Stinging
Nettles intermittently visiting the
flowering lady's Smock next to the drainage
streams.
Small
Tortoiseshell Butterfly, Cowslips, Blackthorn
Coltsfoot,
Dotted Bee-fly, Lady's Smock
Botolphs.
Bramber,
Upper Beeding
On the return hourney a Peacock Butterfly appeared as the Downs Link
cyclepath narrowed north of the
Cement Works (adjacent to Dacre Gardens).
Coltsfoot was still in flower south
of the Cement Works and my first two Dotted Bee-flies, Bombylius
discolor, of the year visited the
yellow dropping flowers of the frequent Cowslips. A small mushroom amongst
the Cowslips was probably a Stropharia. Blackthorn was mostly in full bloom
at its brief peak on the levels and the
downs.
28 March 2017
Peregrine
Falcons on the electricity pylons,
Southwick, not the most romantic setting
but I was privileged to capture this very
special moment. I wonder where she would
be laying her eggs to hatch ?
Comments
&
Photograph by Sylvia
Lemoniates
27 March 2017
Blackthorn
With the sun
shining under a blue sky and the highest
air temperature this year recorded by the
Met
Office
at 15.5 °C, spring put in an
appearance with Blackthorn flowering near Old Shoreham.
Brimstone
Butterfly
Peacock
Butterfly, Comma
Butterflies
were frequently
in flight:
the
one smaller than usual Small Tortoiseshell, and a half dozen
patrolling Brimstone
Butterflies, a handful of Peacock Butterflies,
six different Comma Butterflies. A few Common Wasps, Honey Bees, small hoverflies and Squash Bugs, Coreus, were noted as well as a
small Nursery
Web Spider.
Adur
Butterflies 2017
Wall
Lizards
On the carnot
walls and surrounds of Shoreham
Fort, Shoreham Beach,
I spotted at least twenty adult Wall
Lizards, Podarcis
muralis, that were quite skittish
but also had courting on their
agenda.
22 March
2017
On a muddy cycle ride
along the Downs
Link Cyclepath from Old Shoreham to
Upper Beeding, the early flowering Coltsfoot was past its prime and
the Cowslips were just beginning to flower
with patches of white Sweet Violet and one clump of Primrose. Pussy Willow catkins were noted on a
handful of small Willow trees. Moles had created mounds of
earth. A dozen Rabbits ambled across the
cyclepath in front of me as the light
faded in the late afternoon. A Great Tit flitted around in the
bare hedges.
Wild
Flower Report
15 March
2017
By the towpath by the
houseboats a butterfly fluttered over my head in
the sunshine. It appeared as shadow and I
had to wait a few minutes out for some
more movement. Then three butterflies
moved quickly in succession chasing each
other off the resting places. Three of us
were watching and we all saw three
butterflies simultaneously. One was a Red Admiral and the other two were a
first of the year Small Tortoiseshell and a first Peacock Butterfly.
Encouraged by these
surprise butterlfies, I cycled to Mill Hill,
where a Peacock
Butterfly put
in appearance over the pasture north of
the Bridge, east of the road followed by a
Comma
Butterfly. Only a few Sweet Violets were scattered over the
lower slopes of Mill Hill, so I ventured
not much further than the southern steps,
but I spotted a handful of Peacock Butterflies in as many minutes.
A Buzzard soared over Mill Hill
where I also found my first Slow Worm of 2017.
14 March
2017
Frogs
Photograph
by
Helen
Swyer
The twentieth batch of frog spawn in an Eastern Avenue
garden pond in Shoreham.
9 March 2017
In the weak but welcome
first sunshine of the year a Red Admiral pipped a Comma as my first butterfly of the year by about five
seconds. Both butterflies made their
appearance at the top of
Chanctonbury Drive (Dovecote Estate)
amongst the undergrowth beneath the trees
(SE of the bridge to Mill Hill).
This semi-wild area hosted flowering Sweet Violets which were visited by my
first Honey
Bee and
my first of the small hoverflies of 2017.
The sun came out and the
air temperature measured 14° C at its highest at 4:00 pm.
Adur
Butterflies 2017
3 March 2017
One clump of frog spawn was discovered in my tiny
garden pond in my
front garden in residential
Shoreham.
March 2016 Reports
Wild Flowers
2017
Shoreham
Weather 2017
EasyTide
(Shoreham)
Shoreham
Beach
Weather Station
Adur Nature Notes
2013
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