Albatross divorce rate rises
No, we haven’t seen an albatross flying over the reserve but occasionally a story from beyond our particular corner of Southwick catches our eye.
Continue reading “Warming oceans”Warming oceans
Frosty mornings
Over the years we have been sent many images of frosty mornings in the park. Here are a few of them.
Lambrok Stream by numbers
David Feather’s post yesterday highlighted the problems that planning application 20/00379/OUT will create for Lambrok Stream. The access road for the planned development will have to cross the stream and, no matter how many changes are made to the design of the bridge, we do not see how that can be done without damage to the Lambrok’s biodiversity.
Here are some relevant numbers:
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10 facts about foxes
[1] Our native red fox, a common visitor to the reserve, is the largest of the world’s true foxes and one of its most widely distributed. It is found across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe and Asia, as well as in parts of North Africa.
Continue reading “10 facts about foxes”Pigeon post
Pigeons are known to have been domesticated for more than 5,000 years. They are mentioned in cuneiform writing on clay tablets dug up in Mesopotamia and in hieroglyphics on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs. There is a growing belief among archaeologists that pigeons were, in fact, the first birds to be domesticated, more than 10,000 years ago,
Continue reading “Pigeon post”Searching the Species Lists
Over the years, we have recorded hundreds of different species of flora, fauna and fungi in the reserve. Among the rare and beautiful things that attract everybody’s attention (the snake’s head fritillaries, the scarce chaser or the visiting roe deer) are many smaller, more commonplace creatures and plants that we pass by without noticing.
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Winter oak
Woodpeckers
We have both greater and lesser spotted woodpeckers on our species lists but it is many years since the single sighting of a lesser spotted woodpecker in the park. Here is a video from the BTO to help you tell the difference between the two.
Header picture: greater spotted woodpecker in the reserve photographed by DKG
The return of neonicotinoids
On 1st September 2020, the EU’s ban on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides came into effect but investigators have found that eight EU countries and the UK have since exported neonicotinoids to other nations with weaker environmental regulations. These are unacceptable double standards: the companies that produce these dangerous chemicals are prioritising their profits at the expense of our environment.
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Blackcap
Since the 1960s, the number of Eurasian blackcaps that overwinter in the UK has got bigger and bigger. It’s no longer a rare sight to see them in the reserve in the middle of winter. The blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) is one of the rare species that sings all year round. Listen out for them:
Recording: Blackcap by Alexander Henderson (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) xeno-canto.org
Winter moths
The Winter moth (Operophtera brumata) is one of the few moth species that can cope with winter’s freezing temperatures in its adult stage. They are endothermic which means that they can produce heat internally by biochemical processes, just as warm-blooded creatures do.
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Badger Timetable
What are our badgers doing in the middle of this damp and overcast November?
Continue readingHouse sparrow
A study by scientists from the RSPB, BirdLife International and the Czech Society for Ornithology has found that there are 247million fewer house sparrows in Europe than there were in 1980. This is a loss of almost half the house sparrow’s European population.
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Cop 26 does not appear to have reached an agreement that will limit global heating to 1.5°C. The really frightening thing is that we all know what has to be done but the people who make the decisions are not listening to us.
Here is Sir David Attenborough on the simple matter of saving our planet:
Pied wagtail
The car park wagtails are a pair of grey wagtails but we have pied wagtails too.
Continue readingSome of our resident mammals
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[1] Wood mouse [2] Water vole [3] Pigmy shrew [4] Grey squirrel [5] Rabbit [6] Stoat [7] Common mouse [8] Brown hare [9] Badger.
Header image: hedgehog (CC0)
Tree slug!
Message and a picture from Ian Bushell.
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A beautiful photograph from Ian Bushell of the pollarded oak tree by the footbridge between Cornfield and Sleepers.
Toy Story in the Park
by David Feather
Get your children creative with their favourite teddy or other toy character.
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Bonfire Night damage
Over the weekend, the main notice board at the entrance has been damaged and somebody appears to have held a firework party somewhere in the park.
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Pictures from a rain-soaked park
Slime mould
Slime moulds are extraordinary things; here is a fascinating video of time-lapse photography:
Click here for more of the park’s extraordinary organisms
Occasionally, while we are clearing the undergrowth in the reserve’s copses, we find the secret places, among the ivy and blackthorn, where somebody has hidden their plastic bags full of dog poop.
Continue readingFirst frost
Last night brought the year’s first frost to many parts of the country.
Video: Timelapse of frost forming on European beech leaves ©Alastair MacEwen/naturepl.com
Header image: frosted leaves by DKG
Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 