Miller's Stream & Spring Dyke on  1 April 2006 The foreground is an old hay meadow still harvested annually and the fields on the right are agricultural pastures	Miller's Stream with Mill Hill, the downs in the background, and the Stinging Nettle covered Spring Dyke in the foreground on 3 May 2008

Spring Dyke 2005

15 May 2008
 

Yellow Flag Iris

3 May 2008
There were two Small Tortoiseshell Butterflies on the Stinging Nettle covered Spring Dyke next to Miller's Stream, Old Shoreham. Two Moorhens were disturbed. A pair of Mallards stayed on the water. 
Adur Butterfly List 2008

24 July 2006

4 June 2006
Yellow Flag Iris was flowering in Miller's Stream and on Spring Dyke next to it at the western end where the stream runs parallel with the Steyning Road. 

18 May 2006
Azure Damselflies, Coenagrion puella, seen for the first time this year, were frequently seen on the Spring Dyke and they appear to have just emerged from the adjacent Miller's Stream. The damsels were just inside the gate. I did not venture around the corner out of sight of the Steyning Road because the Stinging Nettles were too numerous and the dyke overgrown. 
Adur Levels 2006

4 May 2006
Trampling through the Stinging Nettles, I disturbed in order: one Grey Heron, one Green Woodpecker, one Peacock Butterfly and one Common Lizard. The lizard (the first one seen here) skittered through the undergrowth to shelter. There were noisy bird calls from the reeds and I assume that these were Moorhens? (I am not familiar with their calls.)

25 April 2006
A Green Woodpecker took flight from Spring Dyke on an overcast day with a couple of Mallards on Miller's Stream but nothing much moving and nothing of note. The was a hole and burrow the size of a rabbit's burrow but no rabbit droppings were seen at its entrance. 
 

There were also a handful of small isolated mushrooms and a clump of them as well. It was one of those small species that I cannot identify. The dominant vegetation (30% ground coverage) was the young growth of Stinging Nettles. There were few unidentified mammal droppings. 
 

1 February 2006
A single small (5 pence-sized cap) mushroom on the flattened reeds of the Spring Dyke was a Tubaria furfuracea. There was disturbance evidence of a probable Moorhen and five Mallards took flight. A large dry dropping of an animal larger than a dog was spotted. The dropping looked like it contained lots of vegetable matter, so I suspect it was a fewmet deposited on the reeds by a Roe Deer. 
There were a dozen Moorhens on the pasture to the west of the road opposite with a Magpie.

Spring Dyke 2005 Wildlife Reports

Adur Levels 2006

Adur Nature Notes 2005:   Index Page