Grasses are flowering plants; they have all the same bits and pieces as a buttercup or a dandelion. The difference is that they are wind pollinated so they have not adapted their structure to meet the needs of insect pollinators; they have no scent, no nectaries, no colours or ultra-violet sign posts and no petals to make landing platforms.
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Regular contributor Cheryl Cronnie sent in two lovely pictures of a pair of house hunting blue tits looking around a nest hole in one of our veteran oak trees.
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A Christmas Eve gallery of the reserve’s robins, photographed by DKG.
Some of our residents are really quite hard to see. Here are some of the late DKG’s pictures of the well-camouflaged.
Header picture: public domain.
This post was first published in July 2018
This is a garden bumble bee (Bombus hortorum) collecting nectar in a spear thistle flower at the edge of the large pond.
These photographs were taken by the late DKG in July of 2018
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Robins, male and female, sing all year round but the male’s spring song is louder and more confident as he prepares to do battle for territory and a mate.
Header image by Simon Knight
Audio: European Robin from xeno-canto by david m.
A Christmas Eve gallery of the park’s robins, photographed by DKG.
Here are some of DKG’s many pictures of the park in autumn.
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.
A look back to 2019: a long tailed tit photographed in the reserve by DKG.
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The breeding season of the reserve’s nursery web spiders (Pisaura mirabilis) can extend well into September.
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There are 2,300 species associated with oak, 320 of which are found only on oaks. Here is a gallery of wildlife photographed in the park’s oaks.
Header picture: Oak Bridge by DKG
by DKG (2019)
A Christmas Eve gallery of the park’s robins, photographed by DKG.
Some of our residents are really quite hard to see. Here are some of DKG’s pictures of the well-camouflaged.
Header picture: public domain.
A robin’s lifespan is just 13 months on average due to high mortality among robins in their first year. However, once they’ve passed that first year barrier, they stand a much better chance of surviving for quite a while – the record currently stands at 19 years!
All pictures taken in the park by DKG
We are saddened to announce the loss of DKG, our gifted in-house photographer; David Keith Galliers died peacefully at home after a short illness.
We will miss his dry sense of humour, his kindness and his hard-working enthusiasm for the park, which he recorded for us in all its seasons and moods. His obsession with early morning light has left us some truly unforgettable images.
Our heartfelt condolences go to his family.
Some of DKG’s gorgeous pictures of frosty mornings in the park.
A long tailed tit photographed last year in the park by DKG.
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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.
by DKG
A nursery web spider (Pisaura mirabilis) photographed in the park by DKG on a dewy morning.
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DKG has sent in beautiful pictures of a tiny green-brown warbler; does anybody know if it is a chaffchaff or a willow warbler? Neither is a rarity and both are known to nest in the park but we really have trouble telling them apart.
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Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 