From Wikipedia:
A whip is a slender, unbranched shoot or plant. This term is used in forestry to refer to unbranched young tree seedlings of approximately 0.5-1.0 m (1 ft 7 in-3 ft 3 in) in height and 2–3 years old, that have been grown for planting out.
We have been struggling to make sense of planning application 18/10035/OUT, RPS’s proposal to build 55 houses on the fields between the park and Church Lane, and therefore we have not yet submitted our response. This is the problem.
Continue reading “Planning Application 18/10035/OUT”
“I have photos of badgers eating below my bird feeding station which is on the edge of Southwick Country Park, by Lambrok stream. I thought people may like to see them. They’re not great quality but still nice. Cheers.“
Thanks Jude; brilliant picture!
There are three kinds of pigment in a usually green leaf: carotenes which are yellow, red and pink anthocyanins, and chlorophyll, which is the green that masks the other colours until autumn.
The Blackthorn Tunnel and the footpath at the top of the hill, both carpeted with leaves.
A pair of jays flew over the car park as the Friends left on Wednesday after a morning’s work cutting back brambles.
Continue reading “Jay”
Several of our mature and healthy oak trees have lost branches this summer, not as a result of August’s storms but during calm, still, summer weather. Our Tree and Woodland Officer, Rich Murphy, came to see what was going on.
Continue reading “Summer Branch Drop”
The latest update on the phenomenal growth of the shaggy bracket fungus on the ash tree at Fiveways.
Over the weekend, the grass was cut and baled in all the park’s fields except Village Green. Unfortunately, in Cornfield, the fence around the Lone Oak was damaged by the farm machinery as it turned.
Continue reading “Thanks!”
Yarrow, Achillea millefolium, a late-flowering perennial, photographed by Ian Bushell, in the little triangular field between Simpson’s Field and Fiveways.
Continue reading “Yarrow”
Here’s a thing worth thinking about over your coffee of a Sunday morning.
The header picture is of the path through the copse between Sleeper Field and Sheep Field.
It’s crane fly time!
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The shaggy bracket fungus on the ash tree at Fiveways, first reported by Clive Knight and identified for us by our Tree Officer Rich Murphy, has grown HUGE.
Continue reading “Inonotus hispidus”
Sweet chestnuts (Castanea sativa) in the Arboretum, photographed yesterday from the park’s central path.
Continue reading “Sweet chestnut”
The tiny flowers of thyme-leaved speedwell (Veronica serpyllifolia) photographed in Cornfield.
Last month the Government announced controversial changes to England’s planning system, which will make it much easier for developers to build new homes and commercial buildings but much more difficult for local councils to deny planning permission in designated areas. The ostensible object of the changes is to speed up development but there is an undeniable political subtext….
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A red tailed bumblebee worker (Bombus lapidarius) collecting nectar and pollen from a meadow cranesbill flower.
Photographed in the park, Friday 11th September.
A woody nightshade flower, photographed this week, in the car park.
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Most of our willow warblers will have left by now; they will be on their way to sub-Saharan Africa where they will spend their winter. Theirs is the longest journey undertaken by any of the park’s migratory birds. Why do such tiny birds fly so far and take such risks to do it?
Continue reading “Willow warbler migration”
by Ian Bushell
I had a quick wander round the park this afternoon to see what needs doing, to assess the ragwort situation in the fields, and look at the tree damage done by the wind. There were three Roe Deer under the Owl Oak in the Church Lane field across the Lambrok, where they are planning to build houses..
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RPS has resubmitted Planning Application 18/10035/OUT to build houses on the fields between the park and Church Lane. The application was submitted on Wednesday, 2nd September, for a period of public consultation that will end on September 30th. The county’s policies for this site (H2.4) are on page 43 of Wiltshire’s Housing Site Allocation Plan.
There is a group of shaggy parasols, the fruiting bodies of Chlorophyllum rhacodes, just coming up under the first oak tree as you come through the park’s main gate.
Pictures by Suzanne Humphries
Here is a video, taken from BBC Earth’s Spy In The Wild series, about squirrels caching acorns.
The header picture was taken by DKG
Oak trees produce thousands of acorns every year. Somebody has worked out that an oak tree can produce ten million acorns over its lifetime. In a good year, they carpet the ground under the tree.
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The latest research has found that microplastic in the soil is damaging populations of the tiny creatures that maintain its fertility.
Continue reading “Microplastics”
Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 