Ramblings, photos and thoughts from the village of Bepton, West Sussex – plus Midhurst, The South Downs, Chichester and surrounding areas.
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!”
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.
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?
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…”
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!
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”
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…
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.
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.
Maybe I’m easily distracted. Or maybe I spend too much time looking out of the window, but earlier this afternoon I saw a dot in the sky that had me running for my camera. And the reason I ran was because I knew this bird was something special. This wasn’t any old bird. This bird was a Falcon. Continue reading “Peregrine or Hobby Falcon?”
