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LOCAL
NATURE RESERVES
A
Nature
Reserve is defined in Section 15 of the National Parks and Access
to the Countryside Act 1949, as land managed for the purpose:
(a)
of providing, under suitable conditions and control, special opportunities
for the study of, and research into, matters relating to the flora and
fauna of Great Britain and the physical conditions in which they live,
and for the study of geological and physiographical features of special
interest in the area; or
(b)
of preserving flora, fauna, or geological or physiographical features of
special interest in the area; or for both these purposes.’ |
EVENTS
9 June
2012
Environmental
Festival & Adur World Oceans Day 2012
Understanding
and celebrating our marine environment
The
twelfth
Adur Environment Festival
and Adur World Oceans Day 2012 will take place
in the marquee on
Coronation
Green, by Shoreham
Footbridge at the High Street
end on the second Saturday
of the Adur Festival. Len
Nevell of the British
Marine Life Study Society will be there with the usual exhibition of
lobsters
and crabs.
World
Oceans Day on Facebook
Participants
are still welcome but they will need to book their place as soon as possible.
Click on the image above for contact details and more information.
Admission:
FREE
WILDLIFE
REPORTS
2 May
2012
A
male Hen Harrier,
Circus
cyaneus, made an impressive display when it visited the open space
over New Monks Farm, Lancing.
.jpg)
Hen Harrier
(Click
on the image to view the video)
"It
stayed for about an hour, constantly diving down, presumably after mice
or other small animals. It attracted quite a large flock of gulls
and crows that
were trying to mob it, although it didn’t seem too concerned."
The
display was captured on a video
film. This bird of prey is a scarce
(winter visitor and passage migrant) visitor to Sussex.
16
April 2012
On
a Cumulus
day too cool for butterflies,
a visit to Mill
Hill was only entertained because the
forecast for later in the week was worse. On
the lower slopes the
first flowers of Horseshoe
Vetch,
Hippocrepis comosa,
appeared with another prostrate downland herb Milkwort.
The tiny black pollen beetles
Meligethes scrambled over the flowers on
the bank, especially on Horseshoe Vetch, Dandelions
and on a few of the
violets.
Dog
Violets predominated with thousands still
scattered over the slopes. Occasionally, a skipper
(butterfly) rose from the ground and fluttered rapidly to a new resting
place. The only one positively identified was a fresh Grizzled
Skipper.
Adur
Violets
Adur
Butterfly List 2012
30
March 2012
My
first Hedgehog
of the year scrambled in the road gutter at the junction of St Julian's
Lane, Kingston Buci, near Church Green, Shoreham,
and much too near the main traffic for its own safety. It was seen twenty
minutes before midnight.
 28
March 2012
Seven
species of butterfly
were seen on the outskirts of Shoreham in the early afternoon including
my first of the year male Orange-tip
and a Green-veined White.
These
two are new Adur Nature Notes records for March.
My first Small Tortoiseshell
of the year was present as well as a Peacock,
a Comma
and a Small White.
Adur
Butterfly List 2012
Adur
Butterfly Flight Times
Adur
Butterflies: First Dates
Adur
Violets
27
March 2012
I
recorded ten different butterfly species
in a day, which I cannot recall ever doing before during the month of March.
In just a couple of hours at Mill
Hill (Shoreham) I counted four Grizzled
Skipper (first of the year), one Orange
Tip (first of the year), one Speckled
Wood, one Holly
Blue ((first of the year), one Brimstone,
one Small White,
14 Peacock,
one Red Admiral,
two Small Tortoiseshell
and two Comma.
The day-flying moths Pyrausta pupuralis
and
Pyrausta
despicata were both present
in good numbers, along with the odd Pyrausta
nigrata.
I
was surprised to find a freshly emerged Grizzled
Skipper on Mill
Hill. There were also half a dozen Peacocks
and a Small Tortoiseshell.
Reptiles were also out enjoying the sunshine, one black Adder,
two Common Lizards
and a Slow Worm.
12
March 2012
Under
a blue sky and weak sunshine (14.6
°C) the Sweet
Violets were flowering
on Mill Hill, where I saw two Peacock
Butterflies (my first two butterflies
of the year), one flying across the road at the top of the hill and another
one fluttering over the lower slopes.
Adur
Butterfly List
Report
on the Adur
Butterfly Blog
Adur
Wild Flower Blog
29
February 2012
Around
midday
the sun shone weakly under a blue sky, but the warmth was enough for the
first reptiles of the year to come out. On the south and west facing carnot
wall of the Old
Fort (on Shoreham Beach) I noted at least
16* separate
Wall Lizards, Podarcis
muralis, energetically skittered
over the flint cobbled wall and into holes and crannies. All but one had
intact tails and virtually all of them were large adults, but only the
largest had a distinctive greenish tinge. (*
duplicates excluded)
Adur
Lizards
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Widewater
Lagoon
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Wall
Lizard
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On
Widewater Lagoon a
paddling* of ten Teals
were seen swimming on the still lagoon, and distinctively upturning themselves
to feed. One of the three Little Egrets
was feeding in the shallows: it was seen swallowing half a dozen 3-spined
Sticklebacks in four minutes, with only
two failed attempts. On the verges of the
Waterworks
Road in Old Shoreham, I noted a small clump
of the first flowering
Sweet Violets of the year. (*Collective
noun ? paddling in a V formation of three at times.)
22
& 26 - 29 February 2012
A
keen-eyed birdwatcher caught a tantalising glimpse of a Yellow-browed
Warbler, Phylloscopus
inornatus, skulking in the bottom
of the bushes in a build-up area to the west of the hospital in Worthing.
This
Asiatic bird is a rare visitor to Britain where it is occasionally to be
found in bushy coastal locations.
Image
1
Image
2
Image
3
23
February 2012
On
the still waters of Widewater Lagoon, a raft
of exactly a dozen Tufted Ducks
rested, only swimming more to the centre of the eastern end of the lagoon
when approached.
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Snow
Bunting
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Tufted
Ducks
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The
two visiting Snow Buntings
were not so reticent feeding on the flat beach
shingle
in the same area as before just above the sea high tide
mark at the western end of Widewater.
Adur
Nature Notes: Snow Buntings
10
January 2012
The
two Snow Buntings, Plectrophenax
nivalis,
were well camouflaged amongst the pebbles, feeding on seed provided for
them and attracting a handful of birdwatchers
with telephoto lens. Because they look like Sparrows
with the naked eye, they would have been hard to discover if they did not
stay on the same stretch of beach south of the western end of Widewater,
despite disturbance by dog walkers. The two small birds flew off after
the arrival of a Feral Pigeon. |
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6 January
2012
An
Iceland
Gull was spotted on Shoreham
Beach, on the seaward side of the west arm of the harbour
from late morning to 1.15 pm.
The
Iceland
Gull is a very
scarce winter visitor and passage migrant to the Shoreham area.
This
Iceland
Gull was seen by other birdwatchers on several
occasions from 4 January 2012.
Earlier it was photographed
over the River Adur.
Native
Sussex (Mick Davis) Birding Blog
3 January
2012
It
was a horrible morning with sheet rain and gales from the south-west, reaching
a steady Gale Force 8
from 10:00 am to midday and after,
and gusting to Storm Force 10 (max 61 mph)
from 11:00 am.
Beaufort
Scale
Shoreham
Weather 2012
Met
Office: Shoreham
2 January
2012
On
east Lancing Beach
(by Widewater),
I finally managed to get a look at the small Snow
Buntings camouflaged amongst the pebbles,
the sparrow-sized fawn and cream birds crouching down and one of the two
hiding behind a cobble-sized stone only slightly smaller than it.
Reports
on Sussex
Ornithological Society News
Adur
Nature Notes 2011
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