An Evening in Friston Forest

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Sussex Wildlife Trust

Author Ronnie Reed

pipistrelle bat / Hugh Clark

pipistrelle bat / Hugh Clark

Pause, stand still, hold your breath and listen. There is something very special about a wood as dusk falls and the night creatures stir. The clamour of the day is over; the noisy rooks nesting along the edge of the forest are still. Only a blackbird silhouetted against the darkening sky on the top branch of a blackthorn bush still sings to the evening air. In the distance across a field a pheasant calls, one long harsh cry held for a second on the breeze.

The wood is settling down for the night, letting out its breath as the shadows shift and the light dies beneath the canopy of pale green beech leaves. A faint chill rises from the fresh earth beneath the trees. Faint rustling in the undergrowth betrays small creatures as they come out to feed, themselves food for owls.

And suddenly, skimming through the branches, a dark shape turns and wheels; the first bat of the evening; a pipistrelle. Weighing at five grams (less than a pound coin), this tiny mammal weaves effortlessly in and out of the trees, using its own high frequency sonar or echolocation to navigate its way around the wood. They call as they fly and listen to the returning echoes to build up a sonic map of the area.

As the bats hunt insects, a dark shadow drifts across the tops of the trees, turns, cries harshly and with huge pterodactyl wings flapping furiously, lands on its untidy nest high in a pine tree in the middle of the woods. The heron has return for the night to its young.

It is time to settle down as well, to light a camp fire and to cook some food, to become part of a tradition, a ritual that goes back through time to a distant past when this was how we lived.

Time to sit facing the glowing embers, shoulders turned to the darkness which has gathered all around. Time to talk, to share a joke, to sit and contemplate, to let the day tension go, to enjoy being at one with the wood and the darkness.

A nice idea? Why not join us in Friston Forest; watch evening fall, listen to the bats, eat food cooked on an open fire and become part of the wood. Bats and Bangers; Friday, 25th May. click for details

camp fire

camp fire

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Incredible peregrines, lost seabirds and blackberries and cream

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Sussex Wildlife Trust

Author Michael Blencowe

burnt orchid / Michael Blencowe

burnt orchid / Michael Blencowe

It was a busy weekend for the Sussex Wildlife Trust over in Lewes. On Saturday evening I organised a talk at the Linklater Pavilion. Phil Everitt of the Sussex Peregrine Study Group gave 40 people a fascinating hour-long account of the history of peregrines in Sussex. He even did an encore – ten minutes about the Lewes ravens!

Next day – with the sun shining! – we started off with two events watching our local peregrine nest with the expert assistance of Phil Everitt and his comrade Jason Ede. Over 60 people attended the two walks and we had great views – and plenty of information – on our local birds. The female falcon stayed mostly on the nest but the male was active; at one point performing an amazing stoop in order to prove his credentials to another passing male. But there were some domestic disputes in the peregrine family. The male returned with a dead starling and we watched as he plucked the bird on the cliff face. Some of the younger observers seemed to particularly enjoy watching this bit. The male was soon hungrily munching away – largely ignoring the female’s pleas for a few bits of fresh starling. It was too much for her and she left the nest and started giving her partner a hard time – screeching at him as she pursued him around the cliff. Incredible stuff!

A rather unusual sight was a fulmar – an ocean going bird which nests on cliffs around the coast – prospecting the cliff face in Lewes. Inland sightings of fulmar are rare although they have been a few historic records of birds eyeing up the Lewes cliffs before. The rather foul defence behaviour of fulmars gave me an excuse to tell a rather horrific projectile vomiting story to the crowds – twice. I’m not sure they were too impressed.

peregrine watching in Lewes / Michael Blencowe

peregrine watching in Lewes / Michael Blencowe

In the afternoon – with the sun still shining – I took a group of 25 people on a hike over the Sussex Wildlife Trust’s Southerham nature reserve. Our target was the one of the UK’s rarest orchids – the burnt orchid. On the way through Southerham we watched wheatears, ravens, linnets and found some freshly emerged butterflies; small coppers and dingy skippers. In the valley bottom I briefed the team in how to find this purple and white flower.

“Just think of blackberries and cream’’

I had been told by an 81 year old lady the previous evening, and, with this in mind, we were soon all scouring the grazed downland for the rare plant. The numbers of orchids here varies each year – would 2012 be a good year? After ten minutes there was a delighted shout – Jeffrey had found one and we soon located many more – there were loads of orchids emerging from the downland turf. And what a stunning little orchid it is! Could I smell blackberries and cream? Or was I just imagining it?

Southerham nature reserve / Michael Blencowe

Southerham nature reserve / Michael Blencowe

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RX Wildlife

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Sussex Wildlife Trust

Author Barry Yates

RX registered fishing boat / Barry Yates

RX registered fishing boat / Barry Yates

RX is the registration lettering for boats based at Hastings, Rye and Dungeness = Rye, susseX

This coast, its river valleys and woodland is also a biodiversity hotspot with large numbers of rare and endangered plants and animals (the rare medicinal leech is a good example) and it has many sites managed for wildlife and people.

So back in 2004, it seemed natural to use RXwildife as the name for a concept, a website, a booklet and a wildlife festival to link up people and wildlife across the Sussex / Kent border.

Here is the website with daily wildlife updates and lots of wildlife information from places, to tides, to weather, to events, to photos… www.RXwildlife.org.uk

Our 8th Annual Wildlife Festival will be held this year on 2nd – 10th June and you can find more details here

There are so many wildlife places to explore, including Combe Haven Valley, Filsham Reedbed, Marline Valley, Hastings Country Park, Brede High Woods, Flatropers Wood, Pett Level, Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, Camber Dunes & Pits, RSPB Dungeness Nature Reserve and Dungeness Bird Observatory. The four sites in bold are managed by the Sussex Wildlife Trust. On the map below the areas in green are those designated by Natural England as Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

Romney Marsh Living Landscape

Romney Marsh Living Landscape

A Living Landscape

More recently much of this area has been covered by the Romney Marshes Living Landscape with a vision to realise a living landscape from Hastings to Hythe, which is of distinctive character, supports sustainable farming, is rich in wildlife and history, and is enjoyed as a place to live, work and spend leisure time.

medicinal leech / Barry Yates

medicinal leech / Barry Yates

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Biosphere Reserve

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Sussex Wildlife Trust

Author Tony Whitbread

adonis blue

adonis blue / Neil Hulme

The Biosphere is the world in which we live and share with other living things – the zone of life around our planet – for which UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is developing a global network of Biosphere Reserves which promote a balanced relationship between people and nature. These are real world-class natural environments.

The Brighton & Hove and Lewes Downs Biosphere Project is a new partnership which aims to gain international recognition from the United Nations for the special nature of the local environment in and around Brighton and Hove.

The Sussex Wildlife Trust is glad to support the project. The aim is to become a “site of excellence” and part of UNESCO’s family. Currently there are 580 sites spanning 114 countries including areas as diverse as the Amazon rainforest, Canary Islands, to the city surrounds of Paris, Cape Town and Rio de Janeiro. In the UK there are seven Biosphere Reserves, including projects at North Devon and on the North Norfolk Coast.

By gaining international recognition the Biosphere bid hopes to enable the partnership to attract funding to improve our environment and to join up current work and activities. The international accreditation will also help with tourism (economy), education and research as well as the more obvious health and environmental benefits.

The vision of the Biosphere project is to develop a unified approach to better care for, manage and enjoy our local environment. This includes the city itself, surrounding countryside of the South Downs and the sea, so we can help to bring people and nature closer together. At present the only large conurbation within the project area is Brighton & Hove, but the bid is equally relevant to surrounding towns and villages such as Steyning, Upper Beeding, Shoreham-by-Sea, Lewes, Newhaven, Peacehaven, East Saltdean, Ditchling, Hassocks, Hurstpierpoint etc.

It is about increasing understanding about how our lives, whether rural or urban, are hugely dependent on the quality of natural environment. For example, most of the area’s water supply comes from the chalk aquifer, the quality of which is dependent, in part, on how the Downs are farmed and the quality of the biodiversity on the Downs. The Downs also provides food, including South Downs Lamb, cereals and other crops. The sea provides locally sourced fish. Both land and sea are also important for recreational opportunities, but the potential is again related to the quality of that resource. For example, clean seas and beaches attract visitors, surfers and other recreational users, helping boost the local economy.

Three events are to be held in different parts of the Biosphere to launch the bid. These will be on Tuesday 22 May 2012, the International Day of Biodiversity.

  • 10:00 – Madeira Drive, Brighton – Opposite the Brighton Wheel on the mid level promenade. A flock of starlings has been jet-washed on a Brighton seafront wall as part of a bid to put the international spotlight on the natural attractions of the area.
  • 15:00 – Devil’s Dyke – National Trust with National Trust members
  • 16:30 – Lewes Downs – Lewes District Council and Sussex Wildlife Trust

In addition, between 12:00 and 13:30 there will be a debate: ‘Food for Thought, what role should the South Downs play in our lives?’ at The Old Courthouse, Church St, Brighton BN1 1UD. It will be chaired by Professor Martin Price of UNESCO; speakers will include representatives from the National Farmers Union, the Environment Agency, the South Downs Society, the South Downs National Park Authority and myself from the Sussex Wildlife Trust. Tickets are £5, which includes a light lunch of locally sourced and organic food. They are available from Brighton Fringe on 01273 917272 or at www.brightonfringe.org.

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7 Up

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Sussex Wildlife Trust

Henfield Diary

Neil Fletcher takes a regular look at the everyday wildlife at Woods Mill, headquarters of the Sussex Wildlife Trust, and at his home in nearby Henfield.

The chicks are seven days old. We have lost two, so are now down to six, and to be honest, if six were to make it as far as fledging, that would be remarkable. The late-hatching chick, 24 hours behind its siblings, wasn’t able to overcome its disadvantage and compete with its one-day-older brothers and sisters. The other failed to jockey for position enough times when the food came round, and so became weaker – it’s a downward spiral.

Mum removes the bodies quickly, indeed she’s almost OCD in her attentiveness towards cleanliness, frequently diving down to the pit of the nest to search for unwanted foreign objects, to the annoyance of her charges. She also encourages them to upend, and produce a neat, white faecal sac, which thankfully she has taken to removing outside for disposal rather than simply swallowing. Now, I’ve noticed that she pokes sleepy chicks to encourage them to consider accepting some food, and seems to be deliberately ensuring that food is distributed evenly among the six, though sometimes a chick will find that it’s head is being sat on by another, which under any circumstances is going to make mealtimes problematic. Those unencumbered by this vexation open the gape of their beaks impossibly wide like demented handbags, the sort with a metal hinge and clip in the middle. The consequence overall however is that the six seem to be, for the moment at least, all doing equally well.

Postscript update!
The next morning I had a quick check before posting the blog and suddenly we’re down to four chicks! One had been removed, and another lies dead in the nest. What tips them over the edge so quickly?

Blue tit video diary: the story so far

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Happy Birthday

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Sussex Wildlife Trust

The Wildlife Trusts celebrate 100 years of nature conservation

On 16 May 1912 a banker, landowner, naturalist and scientist named Charles Rothschild got together with like-minded enthusiasts to whip-up support for a radical idea: to identify and protect the very best of the UK’s wild places. Thus began the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves which would later become The Wildlife Trusts movement – the first time that anyone had come up with a vision for nature conservation.

Charles Rothschild

Charles Rothschild

Before 1912, the emphasis was on trying to protect individual species. Rothschild’s plan was different: to safeguard the places where wildlife lived – the moors, meadows, woods and fens under attack from rapid modernisation.

Today there are 47 Wildlife Trusts, including the Sussex Wildlife Trust founded in 1961, promoting a far-reaching vision for nature known as A Living Landscape and Living Seas. As well as protecting what already exists in reserves and other special places, Wildlife Trusts are working with landowners, local communities and partners to aid nature’s recovery on a wider scale. In Sussex we are achieveing this with the West Weald Landscape Project, Friston Forest Project and the Sussex Wetland Landscapes Project.

Simon King, The Wildlife Trusts’ President writes:

“Over the past 100 years, we have seen phenomenal changes take place in the UK – and we of course have been the architects of most of them. In recent decades many of these changes have been for the better, with trends of extinction reversed, habitats protected or restored and the natural world finding a place in our constitution more often than ever before. But there is still work to do. The spark of Rothschild’s idea – to procure land with a view to ensuring our wild neighbours have safe haven – took a while to kindle. But the spark was sufficient to burn brightly in the hearts and minds of a few, who became a few more, which developed a community that, 100 years on, has blossomed into one of the most significant conservation movements in the world.”

On the 100th birthday of The Wildlife Trusts, Simon King records a special message to celebrate a hundred years of nature conservation.

The Wildlife Trusts’ centenary film

Please visit The Wildlife Trusts’ Centenary webpage to find out more
#wildlifetrustsare100

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Hastings Ghost Walk

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Sussex Wildlife Trust
tawny owl / Alan Price

tawny owl / Alan Price

Haunted Experiences are running a ghost walk event around Hastings Old Town, in support of Sussex Wildlife, on Thursday 17th May. Anyone attending this special event will be asked to make a donation to the Sussex Wildlife Trust rather than paying for a regular ticket.

The tour normally last for between an hour and an hour and a half, and in addition to some ghostly tales, includes history of the area. Beware though, as you never know when a ghost might appear!!

The meeting point is at The Chessboard, in George Street, Hastings, which is just opposite the Black Market bar. The tour starts at 7pm prompt, so anyone who wishes to attend is asked to be there for 18:50.

So if you fancy being spooked (all for a good cause) please contact Tina by email or call on 07817 686781 to reserve your place.

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Dad

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Sussex Wildlife Trust

Henfield Diary

Neil Fletcher takes a regular look at the everyday wildlife at Woods Mill, headquarters of the Sussex Wildlife Trust, and at his home in nearby Henfield.

Turns out I’m a dad. What did I have? Well, octuplets, since you ask.
Yep, every one of the eight blue tit eggs hatched. Not quite all at once. I knew something was up. Apart from the fact she’d been sitting for just over two weeks now, she was getting really fidgety, constantly getting up and messing about with the eggs. Then, in the morning, there were six tiny chicks, and two eggs. The seventh egg hatched late morning. You can’t see it happening unfortunately, because Mum’s in the way, but she sort of helps and munches on the bits of eggshell.

I figured the eighth egg was probably a dud, but it was gone the next morning and only after several reattempts at counting did I confirm that there were eight chicks, all alive. In the film you can see the two parents examining the chicks together for the first time – they look pretty perplexed at what has happened to their lives.

The prognosis isn’t exactly brilliant. All this wind and rain is making finding insect food difficult, but the parents are trying hard. Dad’s been managing to bring in some tiny caterpillars from the ‘Coronation Oak’ nearby, planted to commemorate the coronation of Edward VII in 1901, but Mum’s been forced to stay incubating the chicks as they’ll chill too easily without her. Yesterday during a brief two hours of sunshine they were both out and bringing in food every minute. At least the chicks’ demands for food now are nothing like as voracious as they’ll be in a week or two’s time.

After 48 hours all the chicks seem pretty healthy, all tummy and giant head flolloping about on surprisingly long and limp necks. About half of the volume of their heads is taken up with their closed eyes, which must be full-size from the get-go. Sometimes the chicks are completely moribund for ages and then suddenly perk up. Mum sits on them a lot, I can’t make out what she does with her feet – you’d think they’d get scratched? If you turn the volume up towards the end you can just hear the chicks chirping, which they do without opening their mouths, the buzzing sound is electronic interference from the camera – the birds don’t hear it, it’s not a real-life noise.

It’s kind of weird watching the parents flying around the garden, and then watching them inside the box on the camera monitor – its difficult to match up the images with the reality.

Blue tit video diary: the story so far

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Amazing Spider

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Sussex Wildlife Trust

Author Graeme Lyons

Pellenes tripunctatus / Graeme Lyons

Pellenes tripunctatus / Graeme Lyons

We had a great trip around Rye Harbour with Barry Yates looking at the birds, but with the rain was coming down, any chance of entomology with Chris Bentley seemed slim. We were hoping to see Pellenes tripunctatus, a jumping spider Chris had found on the nature reserve for the first time last year. Then as we were about to finish up, the sun came out and we decided to have one last try for Pellenes.

And there it was! I spotted the first one, squealing like an idiot (it’s all on tape so you can hear it). Pellenes tripunctatus. An RDB1 species, the only member in the genus and what has to be the most striking spider I have ever seen. It’s pretty big for a jumper, not quite as big as Marpissa muscosa but big enough and colourful in a Sin City kind of way. It was very active, regularly crawling under the stones only to peep out at us again a few seconds later with its red-bordered eyes. We found another two males and spent plenty of time photographing them. Even Michael Blencowe, with his arachnophobia, was quite taken with them.

You will be able to hear the excitement for yourself on the next episode of The Natural History of Sussex podcast out soon.

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Snug

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Sussex Wildlife Trust

Henfield Diary

Neil Fletcher takes a regular look at the everyday wildlife at Woods Mill, headquarters of the Sussex Wildlife Trust, and at his home in nearby Henfield.

It all started back in January. On sunny days the blue tits would keep popping in and out of the bird box, just to have a look. It’s their favourite box, inspite of the small dimensions of the rooms, but it’s in the perfect location, and the new legislation means it gets a very high score for energy efficiency with great insulation.

They’d get more and more excited as the weeks went by, constantly nipping by to have a look, until finally they had an exchange date. Then comes the tricky part of moving in. It’s a first home, and they had no idea where to put things. Bits of moss would be brought in, and then taken out. Little arguments, it’s a stressful time. At one point they had something actually beginning to look like a nest, and the whole lot was taken out again and chucked. But eventually they got settled in.

Then the pitter-patter of tiny eggs started to arrive. She’d cover them up every time she left the box so it was hard to tell how many there were, and then suddenly there were five! Then seven! Then eight!

Now she’s bedded down and brooding, shuffling her belly to get the eggs next to her skin, getting up every now and then to turn the eggs and shuffle them around a bit, even in the middle of the night.

It’s been like that for quite a few days now – they should hatch soon. How many will hatch? How many will survive the first week? How many will actually get to fledge and leave the nest?

Blue tit video diary: the story so far

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