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LOCAL
NATURE RESERVES
WILDLIFE
REPORTS
25
September 2008
A
Grass
Snake slid under a Privet bush is a depression on the lower
slopes of Mill Hill, but despite looking
through the Privet, I could not find out where it was hidden.
Twelve
species of butterfly were seen on a sunny
day.
Full
Butterfly Report
21
September 2008
Scores
of House Martins
were collecting on the downs north of Slonk Hill,
Shoreham ready for migration. On a fair day in the intermittent
sun when the shade air temperature attained a maximum of 18.1
°C in the afternoon, I recorded ten
species of butterfly,
including only my second Small Copper
of the year
on the lower
slopes of Mill Hill.
On
the approach droveway from Nepcote
to Cissbury
Ring,
the
butterflies were attracted to Hemp Agrimony
20
September 2008
 My
first Small Copper Butterfly
of the year was recorded on the towpath near (north of) the Toll
Bridge in Old Shoreham, only the fourth seen this year. A tattered
Painted
Lady was seen on the towpath north of
Ropetackle. Over 200 Large Whites
and frequent Red Admirals
were seen peaking around the
Buddleia
on the outside of Shoreham town.
Adur
Butterfly List 2008
19
September 2008
A
couple of Whimbrel
were feeding along the water's edge on the River Adur
at low tide on the east side mud half way between
the Toll Bridge and the Railway
Viaduct. Through borrowed 12 x 40 Nikon
binoculars, I saw the down-curved beak of
one of the birds pick up a small crab.
Adur
Estuary Reports
 13
September 2008
The
Buddleia
was the main attraction to the Large White
Butterflies in the hedgerows on each side
of the on the Coastal Link Cyclepath
to Upper Beeding. One bush had at least five on it, and they rarely stayed
still long enough to photograph, possibly indicating the deficit of available
nectar. A yellow Brimstone Butterfly
was a surprise on a day of seven species
of butterfly
on a passage journey.
Full
Butterfly Report
10
September 2008
Nine
species of butterfly
were recorded including a Comma Butterfly
on some ripe Blackberries.
 9
September 2008
It
was still much too overcast, with spots of rain, for butterflies
to be out and about if they had survived the atrocious weather.
A quick check on the Privet-inundated
lower slopes of
Mill Hill produced seven
male Adonis Blues,
ten Meadow
Browns and a Small
Heath Butterfly. There were no Chalkhill
Blues seen. Devil's
Bit Scabious was seen in flower for the
first time this year.
Despite
four days of rain and the whole of the summer, there were still dried-out
cow pats on the Autumn
Gentian covered plateau south of the upper
car park on Mill Hill. Most of the Autumn
Gentian was not in flower.
Adur
Butterfly List 2008
8 September
2008
A
Honey
Buzzard was seen circling over upper Shoreham
at 3:30 pm, it
drifted up
high
and north.
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Small
Heath Butterfly
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Leafcutter Bee
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Leafcutter
Bees were occasionally spotted on the
outskirts of Shoreham, and Large White
Butterflies were particularly frequent
on Lancing Beach.
4 -
7 September 2008
There
was more atrocious weather with heavy rain
intermittently on all four
days.
3 September
2008
In
a brief spell of weak sunshine, a Common
Lizard,
Zootoca vivipara, skittered over the tarmac
section of the Coastal Link Cyclepath
north of the mostly derelict Adur Riverbank Industrial Estate. Large
White Butterflies were the most frequent
of six species of butterfly seen around Shoreham
and the outskirts. A Southern
Hawker (dragonfly)
hawked over the Pixie Path.
Butterfly
Report
2 September
2008
After
the wettest August
in my lifetime of over 50 years, Agaric mushrooms appeared in St.
Mary de Haura churchyard in central Shoreham.
1 September
2008
Only
my third Painted Lady Butterfly
of the year in good condition settled in front of me adjacent to the Middle
Road Allotments, Shoreham.
I
spotted a Common
Sandpiper
from a scope located on the
reopened Toll Bridge. It trotted
over the mud into the cover of Sea Purslane
by the
River Adur towpath to the north-west.
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