By Sarah Marsh
The long dry spell of weather has been good for our tenant farmer who has been able to get an early cut of the crass. It has also been good for the farmer as nearly all the ragwort has gone from the mowing fields. After a lot of hard work from the Friends last year to remove plants and spot spray, there appears to be very little in evidence this year.
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A lucky speckled wood that just got away at the cost of a more than half of one of its four wings.
The picture is by DKG
Ash dieback is a disease that is especially deadly to Britain’s native ash trees, Fraxinus excelsior.
Continue reading “Ash dieback”Yesterday was the first day of the Big Butterfly Count. Here are some of the park’s butterflies to encourage you to sign up.
Southwick Country Park’s BUTTERFLIES 2019 list
by Ian Bushell
There was a Common Blue butterfly just emerged in the old pond at the end of Lambrok Meadow and, after a long chase, I got a picture of a female Southern Hawker (see above) near the carved Wheel close to the Picnic area.
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We disapprove highly of anthropomorphism but have to admit that DKG has named this frequently photographed squirrel Cyril.
A willow warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus) seen and photographed by DKG yesterday morning.
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A new species of Odonata for our lists: a blue tailed damselfly (Ischnura elegans) spotted and photographed near the Dog Pond by Ian Bushell.
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Somebody has used the Carved Seat in Kestrel Field as a fire place!
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The 1959 Injurious Weeds Act does not just apply to ragwort. It names four more species as well: broad leaved dock, creeping thistle, curled dock, and the spear thistle . The park has all of them.
Continue reading “Creeping thistle”
The first meadow brown butterflies hatch at the end of May and by now, the middle of July, some are beginning to look really tattered.
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A new species of fish found in the Lambrok: a common roach (Rutilus rutilus).
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Every year since 2010, Butterfly Conservation has conducted a survey of the country’s butterflies using thousands of volunteer citizen scientists. Last year over 100,000 volunteers took part.
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This extraordinary creature is the nymph of a speckled bush cricket (Leptophyes punctatissima). It is an inadvertent portrait: the photographer was focusing on the flowers of the common vetch and only found the bush cricket when the picture was enlarged for detail.
More tiny creatures here:
The small green tent in Sleepers Field had vanished by yesterday afternoon. Camping is NOT permitted in the park.
A common whitethroat (Sylvia communis), seen, identified and photographed by DKG near the Lambrok this week. This is probably either a female or a juvenile; the male is more distinctively coloured.
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