Disease resistant elms
The Covid-19 lockdown has interrupted our plans for the five disease resistant elms donated to the park by Butterfly Conservation as part of their rescue plan for the white letter hairstreak butterfly.
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The car park is closed
But SCP is still open.
A message from the Countryside Team:
Is the park open? Yes, I would think it still can be open but access will be on foot and people will need to walk to it from their home address and once there, would need to apply the social distance of two meters. They shouldn’t be meeting up with people from outside their own place of residence and should be taking only one walk a day.
If everybody sticks to the guidelines, then I see no reason why Southwick Country Park has to be closed at present. Obviously if the government advice changes then we will need to take what ever action they recommend.
Go safely and look after yourselves.
There are traffic cones across the entrance to the main car park. Neither the Friends nor their Countryside Officer know who put them there or if they mean that the park is closed. We are making enquiries and will keep you informed. In the meantime, let’s assume that the park is closed.
Rabbit warren
There are two rabbit warrens in the park: one at the far end of Sleepers and one in the thick bramble hedge that runs alongside the central path from Fiveways to Puddle Corner.
Here is a fascinating video, narrated by Chris Packham, about a rabbit warren.
Wood pigeon
The park’s wood pigeons (Columba palumbus) are pairing up for their long breeding season.
Continue reading “Wood pigeon”Common pollen beetle
A dandelion crammed with tiny bronze-black beetles. Our favourite entomologist emailed us:
They’re pollen beetles. Getting a positive ID is going to be impossible without sending me a specimen (and they’re too small!) but this time of year the most common species is the Common Pollen Beetle Meligethes aeneus.
Continue reading “Common pollen beetle”Butterfly numbers
Last year’s record breaking summer was an excellent year for butterflies, with more than half of Britain’s species increasing their numbers.
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Dawn in the park.
A beautiful photograph taken yesterday morning by Chris Jordan Seymour.
If you have pictures of the park, particularly quarantine pictures, send them in and we will post them in a gallery.
A walk in the Park
by Ian Bushell
I took my permitted exercise at the park over lunchtime. There were just eight cars when I arrived at noon and only fifteen when I left an hour later. People were well spaced all around the park; everybody seems to be taking the new regulations seriously.
Continue readingRed kite
A red kite (Milvus milvus) was seen over the park on Sunday.
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A gallery of blue tits.
A blue tit feeding in an oak tree, photographed last March by DKG
Lambrok Stream by numbers
- 8.2 — The length in kilometres of the Lambrok from its source to its confluence with the River Biss.
Throstle
Throstle is the Old English name for a song thrush. We have several breeding pairs in the park; if you visit early in the morning, wherever you go, you can hear a throstle singing about his territory and challenging competitors.
Read on for conservation status and a recording of its songFascinating fact about bees
There are bees out and about: tiny solitary ones like this one photographed in the park last week, as well as big fat buff-tailed bumblebee queens.
Read on for a fascinating fact about beesOur chiffchaffs are back
Chiffchaffs are tiny birds, no bigger than a blue tit. Most are migrants, overwintering in southern Europe or northern Africa and returning here in the spring to breed.
Continue reading “Our chiffchaffs are back”Planting trees
Coronavirus or no, trees have to be planted.
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