Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and Comma seen in today’s warm sunshine on the hillside. There seemed to be a Peacock around every corner and Comma’s were almost as frequent. The two Small Tortoishell’s I saw were in among the nettle beds near the cemetary.
In addition I rather liked these white form of sweet violets
The Blackthorn flower is only just beginning to open
The working year begins in earnest on the reserve, as seen from the picture some Sycamore wood is thinned to give our new Beech trees more light to thrive
Making room for new growth
Posted in Nature Notes
Please find attached a small article I’ve written following my walk home this morning from the task day, I decided to take a longer route home of about 2.5 miles as opposed to the half mile if I’d gone straight home and thought I’d write a short article on the walk back after reading your appeal for content for the website..
All the best
Mark
Sussex Woodsman
www.sussexwoodsman.co.uk
The Long(er) Walk Home
There I am with the volunteers from the FOLR clearing the Dogwood, Elder & vicious Bramble from some of the paths by the cemetery at Lancing Ring, but where am I, well I’m the one in the bushes with my saw clearing the larger pieces of timber to open the path right out, behind me I can hear a hedge cutter doing it’s all important and never ending work, clearing the smaller pieces of undergrowth, alongside us, more volunteers are clearing away the cuttings and disposing of the mess we have made, the paths now look many times better than they did ninety minutes ago.
All the time we are working, we are being watched and kept in check, not by the human eye, but the beady eye of an ever inquisitive Magpie, looking, watching, to see if an opportunity arises that it can take advantage of, Mr Magpie is not alone though, through the undergrowth I can hear a Robin and surely if I look carefully I will see him, but it’s not to be.
Chairman Henry declares the work done and thanks everybody for turning up and helping, the old adage really is true “many hands make light work”, it’s at this point that the main group and I part ways for the day with a cheery wave, I decide that rather than walk the half mile back to home, I’ll take the scenic route home instead, after all, the sun is shining and it’s a glorious day, more Spring like than Autumnal.
Heading down towards the playground, I turn right instead of left and soon find myself on top of the South Downs, looking south the English Channel is just visible through a light haze of mist, almost like a shimmering blue/grey veil that has been thrown across the coast line and a stunning sight in it’s own right, as I walk along the path at the bottom of Steepdown hill, I’m met with a crescendo of birdsong, as the Skylarks rise from the winter barley and scatter in front of me, singing for all their might, alerting their neighbours to my unwanted presence.
In the bushes to my left a rustle and slight movement as a female Blackbird betrays her position with her characteristic deep “tut tut tut” sound and below, in amongst the bramble & briar further movement as a Rabbit runs for cover, in front of me two Red Admiral butterflies flitter and flutter around, looking around me at the ground cover, I can see amongst other things Mallows, Bristly Oxtongue, Burdock, Speedwells, Cornflowers & Mulleins growing and the Poppies in the field reminding me of the sacrifices made by generations of families from this very area, then out of the corner of my eye, on the skyline a dark shape, at first I think im seeing things, then no, it is, a Roe Deer, I cant think who is more surprised, it or me?, we look at each other for a few fleeting seconds before it disappears over the hill top and is gone.
Heading down the hill now towards Dankton lane, the woods on the Mountain to the west are resplendent in their Autumn colours, a mix of Golds, Reds & Browns, as I head down, im accompanied by the Jackdaws & Rooks “cawing” in defiance of me being on “their” hillside, to my right I see Cissbury Ring emerging from the mist & fog, only adding to the mysticism of it’s presence in the landscape.
Cissbury through the mist
I’m now accompanied by Stone Chats and Great Tits, the path acting almost as if it’s a barrier between the two species, the Stone Chats to my right on the fence line and the Great Tits flitting around in the Spindle, Dogwood and Blackthorn hedge to my left, never appearing to enter the opposing territory.
As I walk ever closer to home, Im met by the warm sunshine on my face as I turn the corner and head south, there are Sloes on the trees, the remnants of the Damsons cling precariously to their stalks, ready to fall in the slightest of breezes and to my amazement, ripe blackberries still on the bush, my fascination with the flora is broken with a sudden screech from directly overhead, as I look up, I’m rewarded with the magnificent sight of a lone Buzzard trying to catch a thermal off of the fields.
Approaching home now and the hedgerows are alive with Chaffinch‘s, Great Tits and my friend the Robin, out in the turnip field a couple of male Pheasants are running rings around each other, while the female looks on with ‘a familiar’ disdain at their antics, they soon melt into the landscape and are gone from view, but their calls reverberate down the field towards me, betraying the fact that they are still there and im now more or less home.
All of this, because I went to a Task Day at Lancing Ring with the FOLR.
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The Longer Walk Home
Posted in Nature Notes
Members of the Friends of Lancing Ring got to work around the Dew pond today, clearing litter, trimming Bramble and invading Hawthorn and Ash tree seedlings which are beginning to colonise the banks of the pond.
Several sticks of various sizes have found their way into the mud, some pieces were removed but as rotten wood can be beneficial to burrowing aquatic animals, a few bits were left.
The weeks of drought have all but evaporated the water in the pond but mercifully the recent days rainfall has replenished it a little.
One of our volunteers was Mark Emery who runs a bushcraft and countryside skills service providing information and guidance to individuals, small groups and businesses. He can be contacted via this link or from the side links panel
After the pond tidy group had departed I wandered a through the lower meadow for a few minutes.
section of South Meadow
The sky was clouded and only a briefly a few rays of sun broke through. Neither was is it very warm with a cool wind sweeping across the meadow.
Unsurprisingly then very few butterflies were active. I managed to spot half a dozen Meadow Brown, even smaller numbers of Small Skippers and a single Marbled White.
In the grasses and herbaceous plants there seemed to be frequent occurrences of the larval stage of the day-flying Burnet Moth.
As I left the reserve via the car park and down the hill of the Mill Road I noted that Pyramidal orchids are colonising the verge there.
pyramidal orchid on the road verge
Posted in Nature Notes
Tagged Herbaceous plant, Larva, marbled white, meadow brown, Orchid, Orchidaceae
Sweet Violets
Violets are flowering en mass on the reserve.
The volunteers spent Sunday morning working to clear pathways and improve views.
Whilst they worked I took a few photos including this bunch of Violets.
Other wildlife seen included a Brimstone butterfly, Buff -tailed Bumblebee, a Bee-fly (Bombylius major).
Posted in Nature Notes, News
February 2011
The pond is full and looking good. This image taken on a rare sunny day.
On Sunday 20th a small party of Friends volunteers spent a couple of hours clearing edges of paths near the cemetery section. I joined them for a while and helped by clearing the new bramble growth from the clearing where i noted the Dotted Bee Fly last year
2 September 2010
A rather uneventful trek to Lancing Ring found the expected butterflies: Large Whites, Small Whites, Common Blues, Holly Blues, Speckled Woods, Meadow Browns, Small Heath (2), but not much else apart from hoverflies including the large and impressive Volucella zonaria and frequent smaller hoverflies in wood on the eastern border of McIntyre’s Field. This smaller hoverfly was distinguished by its crimson head and distinctive epistrophic behaviour. I have identified it as Syrphus. There was a small amount of water in the dewpond after the recent rain.
via Lancing Ring Nature.
-Andy Horton
Report from Adrienne Stevenson;
Last Sunday, a small group enjoyed a most enjoyable and informative walk around the Ring led by Brianne Reeves. After a rather grey start to the day, (when we began to wonder just how many butterflies we would see), the clouds parted and we were blessed with blue skies, bright sunshine and the warmth that finally encouraged numerous butterflies to emerge from their hiding places. Brianne is such an engaging guide and her enthusiasm and knowledge had us all spellbound and even the young children amongst the group were engaged throughout the walk. We would like to thank Brianne so much for agreeing to give up a Sunday morning to take us round.
So what did we see? Well, there were numerous small blue butterflies – Chalk Hill Blue, Common Blue and Holly Blue and by the end of the walk we were even getting quite good at working out which were which! We saw Meadow Brown, Speckled Wood, and learnt how the Wall Brown often likes to land on paths. There were Small Heath Butterflies which we discovered flop to one side when resting! I will add a list of the varieties at the end, but one lovely discovery was The Silver-washed Fritillary – very beautiful and which we understand is not so frequently seen.
However, Brianne’s walks are not just confined to butterflies and we discovered the names of the numerous plants around the Reserve. We found newly emerged ladybirds that most of us confessed we would have walked straight past! Whilst amid all this our attention was drawn to the call of a Kestrel, Greenfinch or the Chiffchaff.
All in all we had a most absorbing time, left all our troubles behind and immersed ourselves completely in the wonder and beauty of our beautiful hill. Thank you once again Brianne, it couldn’t have been better!
List of Butterfly species observed (I hope I have them all!):
Common Blue
Meadow Brown
Small White
Chalk Hill Blue
Gatekeeper
Small Skipper
Small Heath
Speckled Wood
Brimstone
Silver-washed Fritillary
Wall Brown
Large White
Comma
Red Admiral
Small tortoiseshell
Some of the other species observed:
6 spotted Burnet Moths
Various other moths
Ladybirds
Hoverflies
Bees – various
Dragonfly
Grasshoppers
Some of the numerous Plants identified:
Lesser Burdock
Mugwort
Wild Parsnip
Hogweed
Red Bartsia
Wild Carrot
Ragwort
Hardhead Knapweed
St John’sWort
Greater Knapweed
Hemp Agrimony
Bird’s Foot Trefoil
Brambles
Wild Basil
Yellow Nipplewort
Yellow Rattle
Lady’s Bedstraw
Yarrow
Convolvulus
Pink Clover
Hemp Agrimony
Common Bedstraw
Toadflax
Wayfarer Tree
Purple Loosestrife
Enchanter’s Nightshade
Fleabane
Figwort
Old Man’s Beard
Black Bryony
Silverweed
Common Dodder
Eyebright
Wild Mignonette
Wild Thyme
White Knapweed
Wall Lettuce
Bladder Campion
Melilot
Dogwood
Vervain
Blue Scabious
Dog Rose
Tufted Vetch
Rest Harrow
Spear Thistle
Creeping Thistle
Rosebay Willowherb
Hop Trefoil
Bristly Ox-tongue
Hedge Woundwort
Mallow
Posted in Butterfly, Nature Notes, Wildlife
Tagged Butterflies, Common Blue, Holly Blue, meadow brown, Outdoors, Recreation, Silver-washed Fritillary, Wildlife
21 June 2010
From a distance McIntyre’s Field (north of Lancing Manor and the eastern part of Lancing Ring Nature Reserve) was covered in the yellow of Bird’s Foot Trefoil, and close-up hundreds of small moths and butterflies could be disturbed in the long grass meadow. The numbers were exceptional and included frequent Common Blue Butterflies of both genders, frequent Burnet Companion Moths, numerous Common Carpet Moths, and at least a dozen species that had to remain unidentified because of lack of time and knowledge. The much larger Meadow Brown Butterflies were also frequently seen.
A male Broad-bodied Chaser (dragonfly), Libellula depressa, rose from a dry mud patch next to Lancing Ring dewpond and flew into the scrub where it hid. Two each of Small Tortoiseshell Butterflies and Large Skippers were seen in the path to the meadows by the Cemetery on the southern part of the Nature Reserve.
via June 2010 ADUR NATURE NOTES by Andy Horton
Posted in Nature Notes
Tagged Adur, Broad-bodied Chaser, Butterflies, Butterfly, meadow brown, Moth, Nature reserve, Small Tortoiseshell
