WILDLIFE
REPORTS
29
September 2005
As
more Wheatears
were leaving: two were seen at the east end of Widewater,
a Red Admiral Butterfly was
seen flying directly and rapidly from the south over the sea (at head height)
by the Half Brick in east Worthing. This was the first time I was able
to confirm a probable immigrant butterfly
actually flying in off the sea like that. The
wind direction was WSW.
27
September 2005
There
was a worn Painted Lady Butterfly in
my south Lancing front garden on Verbena
bonariensis (TQ
185 046).
The
Fresh Breeze Force 4 (at 24 mph bordering on
Force 5) from the south-west (224° azimuth)
felt stronger and more from due south. This
wind may or may not have brought immigrant Red
Admiral Butterflies to Shoreham. The tally
of 23 in an hour was not exceptional.
20
September 2005
A
distinctive
Clouded Yellow Butterfly
caught me by surprise as I walked through central Lancing near the railway
station. It fluttered around one sunny front garden, flew over a hedge
and disappeared from my view. I tried to locate it but failed.
Adur
Butterfly & Large Moth List 2005
19
September 2005
The
sunset (7:15 pm)
on a exceptionally low equinoctial spring tide on Lancing
Green beach, was a thin ribbon of red sky that outlined Worthing Pier
three miles to the west. Dark skies were illuminated by a huge* Full
Moon rising in the eastern sky around 8:00
pm.
(*
the large size was an optical illusion.)
Rockpooling
on Lancing Beach
At
the same time, a young Fox
cocked his leg in the road just to the east of the Church of Good Shepherd
and ran on to the shingle beach, where for a few seconds it was a silhouette
on the brow of the pebbles where it was joined by another Fox
only three metres apart before they both disappeared out of sight on to
the beach below the high tide mark.
18
September 2005
As
we drove through the Slonk Hill Cutting on
the A27 at Shoreham
a large flock of Starlings
where swooping in tight formation at about 15 metres high to the left of
the road. Among them an fast moving bird of
prey was flying among them seeking out a target.
As we passed we saw it take one of the birds with its talons in mid air.
I think the raptor had a fairly long tail and was slightly larger than
the Starlings
maybe about pigeon size. It was possibly the local Peregrine?
NB:
A
Peregrine Falcon
was seen on Shoreham Harbour Power Station in the morning.
Note
by Peter Talbot-Elsden
16
September 2005
As
I drove from Steyning past the Cement Works at 7.15am
I glimpsed something which looked large and interesting, but couldn't find
it again when I pulled in at Dacre Gardens. I caught up with it at the
Flyover
and had a good view of an Osprey
with a mob of Jackdaws.
It continued to circle and drift down the Adur valley putting up waders
and gulls below the Toll Bridge.
Eight
Goldfinches visited my south Lancing garden,
some on the niger seed feeder others on the Teasel.
Teasel
is the most popular. These small birds seem to be mostly juveniles and
or females without much red plumage.
At
least two Wheatears
and a Pied Wagtail
were spotted in passing on the mud and rocks on the borders of Adur estuary
at low tide and land near the Railway
Viaduct.
Talk:
Booth
Museum of Natural History
Speaker:
Dr Gerald Legg
Hosts:
Shoreham Society
Venue:
St.Peter's Church, Shoreham, 7:30 pm
14
September 2005
The
first Clouded Yellow Butterfly
of the year fluttered rapidly in the Moderate Breeze
over Mill Hill just north of the Reservoir,
landing in a patch of taller herbs on the wind-blown plateau. The smaller
size and distinct black edging differentiated this butterfly instantly
from the Brimstone.
Apart from a couple of Large Whites in Shoreham town,
they seemed to be the only butterflies around.
However, I only visited this allotment patch-sized plot on Mill Hill and
arrived and returned by road.
The
small beetle Galeruca
tanaceti crawled over the herbs, grass and rabbit droppings
just north of the Reservoir, Mill
Hill.
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13
September 2005
I am
not surprised that I missed the Autumn
Lady's Tresses, Spiranthes spiralis,
on previous visits as this orchid is very much
smaller than expected and already past its best. There were three plants
seen in the short grass just north of the Reservoir on Mill Hill.
Adur
Orchids |
About
30 Common Darters
(dragonflies) were seen in an hour on the edge
of town and the downs and there was one in
a Shoreham garden. Most of these had a light
brownish body, but at least one was red.
11
September 2005
This
plant was also seen on Southwick Hill.
6
September 2005
A
young Great Spotted
Woodpecker visited my south Lancing garden
to feed on peanuts in a feeder.
Under
a clear blue sky with little or no wind the sticky warm weather continued.
It
was 19.2 ºC, 82% humidity and Force 1,
Calm, at 10:30 pm.
Adur
Weather 2005 (Selected Reports)
5 September
2005
Thunder
and lightning after midnight but more dramatic than heavy and even then
not anything special with just 2.03 mm of rain. At 9:15
am an air temperature of 20.3 ºC and
a humidity of 87 % made it very sticky.
Adur
Weather 2005 (Selected Reports)
2 September
2005
A Little
Egret, two Oystercatchers
and a small group of about five Turnstones
were feeding on the low neap tideline west of the Lifeboat Station on Kingston
Beach. The photographs above into the sun did not pick out the details
of their foraging activity. The Egret
was seen to lean forward and catch a small fish, probably a small first
year Bass
which were seen in shoals of a hundred or more.
1 September
2005
There
was a Dryad's Saddle,
Polyporus
squamosus, attached to the base of
a wooden sculpture on the Coastal Link cyclepath
near the first layby (from the south) on the Steyning Road.
Shoreham
Fungi (Autumn 2005)
A further
look at the grasshoppers on the margin of vegetation above the high tide
mark on the east side of the River Adur estuary
were definitely two species, the
Lesser
Marsh Grasshopper,
Chorthippus albomarginatus, and the Common
Field Grasshopper, Chorthippus brunneus.
Adur
Grasshoppers
Adur
Hoverflies
Hoverfly
Recording Scheme
Adur
Butterfly Flight Times
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