We keep constant watch in the park for the invasive alien, Impatiens glandulifera, or Himalayan balsam. It might be very beautiful to look at but it is an environmental horror story
Continue reading “Himalayan balsam”Himalayan balsam
Field garlic
The extraordinary flowers of Allium oleraceum or field garlic, found growing at the bottom of Kestrel Field.
Pictures taken in the park by Simon Knight.
spider silk
The fields are full of spiders’ webs.
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This is common fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica); it is a plant that grows all over the place but nobody ever seems to know its name. As the park’s summer wildflowers go to seed, the fleabane is a welcome splash of colour beside the paths.
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Five number facts about ants
There are 63 species of ant in Britain, 17 of which are introduced.
Continue readingSmall scissor bee
This is the cutest thing we have read on the internet for some time.
Continue reading “Small scissor bee”
and there’s more….
Another wasp spider!
Jason Pickard photographed this specimen on Wednesday in The Race, in the south facing hedge among the tall grass there. Perhaps we have the makings of a colony.
Continue reading “and there’s more….”
Wasp spider
A large colourful female wasp spider found yesterday by Ian Bushell in the set-aside at the top of Kestrel Field.
Continue readingExhibition
A message from Tessa Slack, the Bookings Coordinator at Trowbridge Town Hall, to all the park’s many photographers, artists, poets and musicians.
Continue reading “Exhibition”BUZZ!
Bees buzz in two different ways.
Continue reading “BUZZ!”
Rabbits
There is a well established rabbit warren in the hedge between Cornfield and Sleepers Field. But, despite their long-term place in our landscapes and myths, rabbits are not British natives; they are an introduced alien species.
Continue readingNew bins!
A dozen new rubbish bins have been installed in the park.
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Moth traps
On the evening of July 16th, Ian Bushell and lepidopterist, Hugo Brooke set up moth traps at the top of Village Green. You may have seen them and wondered what they were doing.
Continue readingBotanicals
Angelica, cannabis & scarlet pimpernel
Continue reading “Botanicals”Butterfly transect
Southwick Country Park
Recorder Ian Bushell
Date 21 July 2020
Start time 1420hrs Finish time 1615hrs
Temperature 23C; Cloud 70% Sunshine
Wind direction – westerly, light, odd gusts.
All fields now mown.
Development at H2.5
Newland Homes has published a concept plan for the building of up to 45 houses on the land at Upper Studley (WHSAP site H2.5) just diagonally across the road from the park. They have distributed a leaflet to 170 local addresses as their first step in the process of public consultation.
Continue reading “Development at H2.5”Lost!
Message from Becky Lou: Someone’s little Piglet found at the park today, he hung on but no one returned so he’s being looked after… Get in touch if he’s yours.
What lives in here?
There are funnel shaped webs low down in the dense vegetation of the park’s hedges and edges; what lives in them?
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Thick legged flower beetle
A female Oedemera nobilis, known as the thick legged flower beetle or swollen thighed beetle, photographed in the park last week.
The male has the strangely shaped legs for which the species is named
Flying ants
Yesterday, the Met Office’s radar recorded such a large and dense cloud of flying ants off the southern coast of Britain that it registered as a rain storm.
Continue reading “Flying ants”The Big Butterfly Count
The Big Butterfly Count began yesterday and will run until Sunday August 9th. Join in and help Butterfly Conservation monitor the health of Britain’s Lepidoptera. Spend just 15 minutes in the park, your garden, a field or wood, counting the common butterflies you see.
Continue reading “The Big Butterfly Count”
New species
Wed 15/07/2020 18:48; mail and pictures from Clive Knight
Walking round this afternoon spotted these. The first two pics are of a plant in Sleepers Field – no idea what it is and the bottom pic I found in the pathway through the woods at the top of Village Green. Both single plants.
Sent from my iPhone
