A very rare Long Tailed Tit with two tails…
I know most people like cute kittens, but I’d say the little face on this Long Tailed Tit is right up there on the cutenessometer! Continue reading “So cute!”
Bullfinches are stripping my Cherry Tree!
I’m not complaining – but there will be no blossom on my Cherry Tree this spring!
Bullfinches have a fearsome reputation amongst fruit growers. A pair (and Bullfinches always operate in pairs) can wreck a commercial orchard in just a few days. As gorgeous as they are – some folk consider them to be a pest!
Continue reading “Bullfinches are stripping my Cherry Tree!”
Winter Fieldfares
Caught red handed pinching crab apples
It’s been a busy year for Fieldfares. We’ve had flocks of 30-50 birds, chack-chacking around the hedgerows and squabbling over fruit in our neighbour’s crab apple tree.
Boxing Day puzzle
Do Monkey Puzzle trees grow wild in the UK?
Now here’s an odd question. Are Monkey Puzzles an invasive species colonising the English countryside? Do they self seed or do they need someone to plant them to become established?
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house…
… Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
Well actually there was a Mottled Umber Moth! Flying around the house after I accidentally let it in when I opened the front door.
Continue reading “Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house…”
Little Egret
I wasn’t expecting to see an Egret at the end of the garden!
We’re lucky enough to have a field at the end of our garden. And even luckier to have an Egret wandering around it too!
Poor management of Bepton Down SSSI on The South Downs
60 years of decline at Bepton Down SSSI
Bepton Down is 14 hectares of unique chalk grassland on the north face of the South Downs overlooking Bepton. It’s a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and an area of national importance.
Continue reading “Poor management of Bepton Down SSSI on The South Downs”
A real False Widow Spider
Look what I found in the shed at the weekend!
My children are distraught. My wife says she won’t sleep tonight. And I’m thrilled to bits! It’s Britain’s most venomous spider and we’ve got one living in the shed!
Or maybe there’s more than one! Wah-hah-hah…
Continue reading “A real False Widow Spider”
Red (Admiral) and Green (Bottle)
Dinner for two?
I like to leave some apples under the tree for nature to enjoy. Blackbirds and thrushes enjoy a rotting apple, and so does my dog! But yesterday in the autumn sunshine it was the butterflies that were making the most of it. And hundreds of Green Bottle flies too.
Decline of an SSSI on the South Downs
Bepton Down SSSI should be a unique area of chalk downland in West Sussex – but it isn’t.
Bepton Down is just below The South Downs Way on a north facing slope with stunning views towards Midhurst and beyond. It should be 14 hectares of extraordinary habitat, home to protected species of plants and grasses – and one of the few remaining areas of chalk downland in West Sussex.
Even though Bepton Down has an SSSI status it has been neglected and it is now reverting to a mixture of scrub, wasteland and coarse vegetation. The steady decline of this SSSI has been overseen by Cowdray Estate and regulated by Natural England.
Please help me raise awareness about the decline of Bepton Down by sharing this article.
Thank you.
