Winter cress (Barbarea vulgaris) is another of the wildflowers first identified and recorded in the reserve by Country Recorder Richard Aisbitt when he visited last summer. It isn’t a rare species or even particularly unusual; it’s just one of those plants that are so commonplace that nobody bothers to look at it or ask what it is.
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Here is another of the plants first identified in the reserve by County Recorder Richard Aisbitt when he visited us this summer: broad buckler-fern, Dryopteris dilatata.
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In the summer, County Recorder Richard Aisbitt identified meadow foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis) in our fields, a tall grass with a furry flower head that looks like a fox’s brush: hence its name.
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When the County Recorder for Flowering Plants, Richard Aisbitt, visited the reserve in May, he found two different species of ragwort: common ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris) and hoary ragwort (Jacobaea erucifolia).
Continue reading “Extra ragwort”
Moschatel (Adoxa moschatellina) is a new addition to our species lists, reported in May this year by County Recorder, Richard Aisbitt.
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by Simon Knight
The weekend of May 21st and 22nd was pretty special for me in the reserve.
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Clive Knight has discovered and photographed a new species of fly in the reserve. He writes:
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Anemone blanda…
…found and photographed in the reserve last week. Anemone blanda isn’t a native species so this is a garden escape but it naturalises easily in the partial shade of woodland edges and our bees will love it. Let’s make it welcome.
By Ian Bushell
This is a Great Pied Hoverfly (Volucella pellucens) so named for its black and white colouring. It is a new species for our lists, seen and photographed in the reserve on Tuesday, July 13th.
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Yesterday, while surveying pollinator networks in the reserve, Ian Bushell discovered a colony of bright pink pyramidal orchids (Anacamptis pyramidalis), an important new species for the reserve.
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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….”
A large colourful female wasp spider found yesterday by Ian Bushell in the set-aside at the top of Kestrel Field.
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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.
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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
A marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) feeding on the nectar of a bramble flower. This is a new species for our lists, despite its ubiquity.
The marmalade fly gets its name from its colour, and its thin cut/thick cut dark stripes, just like marmalade.
It’s June and we are nearly half way through 2020. Here is the round dozen of species that have been identified in the park for the first time this year.
Continue reading “Half time score”
In the last ten days, three new species of invertebrates have been discovered in the park, photographed and identified by experts: an azure damselfly, a tent web of small eggar moth caterpillars and a brown argus butterfly.
Continue reading “A third new species”
On Sunday, Julie Newblé sent us pictures of caterpillars in a tent-web she found strung between blackthorn twigs in the hedge at the top of the Arboretum.
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Last week, Ian Bushell found and photographed bush vetch (Vicia sepium) at Fiveways, near the picnic place. It is quite a common plant in the park but, for some unspecified reason, it had not previously been put on our species list.
Continue reading “Another new species”
A new species for our lists: marsh marigold (Caltha palustris).
Conservation status: Least Concern (population stable); locally threatened by drainage and agricultural improvement.
Another recent addition to our species lists:
Coot
Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 