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photo credit: Leo-setä
Don't ask me why but I have a real soft spot for Wood Sorrel (Oxalis acetosella). I first heard about Wood Sorrel as a teenager when watching Ray Mears back on the Tracks show (anyone remember that one?!). As a woodsman, Mears sung the praises of this simple little plan
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photo credit: law_keven
On my visit to Woods Mill Nature Trail, managed by the Sussex Wildlife Trust, I heard a lot of commotion in a small forest area where a Jay was. Creeping forward to see what was going on I observed what I consider to be some fascinating behaviour.
The Jay was standin
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The Sussex Wildlife Trust is based at Woods Mill Nature Trail which hosts not just the SWT offices but also a considerable amount of carefully-managed reserve. Whilst small in size, the reserve offers ample parking and a huge diversity of habitats including deciduous woodland, open pasture and a
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For those of you know I don't know personally, one of my hobbies is keeping and breeding leaf insects. The typical hobbyist food of leaf insects in the UK is bramble so every week or so I find myself out in the countryside with a carrier bag and pair of scissors taking some leaves back home (all
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When primroses (Primula vulgaris) and cowslips (Primula veris) are in flower then telling the difference between these two spring flowers is the essence of simplicity. Whilst the primrose has classic open flowers, the clowslip has a number of smaller, bellshaped flowers attached to a stem held h
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photo credit: Benimoto
Whilst I love to see butterflies, I am far from an expert and so regularly find myself leafing through books and websites to learn more about a species I have seen recently.
During my research I have come across a number of useful online resources for identifying Brit
Read Full Story
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photo credit: ahisgett
In spring and summer a visit to a sunny opening near a ancient hedgerow or in a forest will often reveal large numbers of this elegant butterfly who can be so active as to make identification quite a challenge.
Appearance
The general appearance of the Speckled Wood
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Most perfect morning today. After a wet weekend today is bright and sunny with a perfect cloudless blue sky. Just stunning! #
Anyone got plans for National Moth Night on 15th of May? #
RT @nature_org: Google gets wind in its sails, will invest $38.8 mil. in North Dakota wind farm: http://tcrn.ch
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One of the perennial problems at this time of year is figuring out whether that bird that just flew overhead at the speed of light was a swallow, a swift or a house martin.
But fortunately while these birds are all superficially similar, there are a range of differences between them that can make
Read Full Story
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Ah, one of those classic British place-names to put a smile on the face! I recently took a stroll to Faulking Hill in East Sussex to take a look at the scenes and wildlife on the chalk downloads found there.
Whilst the sun was out, the wild was howling across the open hillsides and so while t
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More Articles
photo credit: Leo-setä
Don't ask me why but I have a real soft spot for Wood Sorrel (Oxalis acetosella). I first heard about Wood Sorrel as a teenager when watching Ray Mears back on the Tracks show (anyone remember that one?!). As a woodsman, Mears sung the praises of this simple little plant that he used as a herb when wild cooking, which apparently tastes like apple peel with a pleasant bite to it - perfect for stuffing fish before baking.
One of my favourite habitats of all is deci
July 28, 2010
No Comments Full Story
photo credit: law_keven
On my visit to Woods Mill Nature Trail, managed by the Sussex Wildlife Trust, I heard a lot of commotion in a small forest area where a Jay was. Creeping forward to see what was going on I observed what I consider to be some fascinating behaviour.
The Jay was standing on the top of a tree stump, picking at something whilst calling at the top of it's lungs with that strange rattling call that Jays have. But what was it doing?
It turns out that the Jay was flyin
July 24, 2010
No Comments Full Story
The Sussex Wildlife Trust is based at Woods Mill Nature Trail which hosts not just the SWT offices but also a considerable amount of carefully-managed reserve. Whilst small in size, the reserve offers ample parking and a huge diversity of habitats including deciduous woodland, open pasture and aquatic and semi-aquatic environments thanks to the river running through the site and the man-made pools and ponds.
Apparently originally privately-owned, the site hosts a fascinating range of old
July 7, 2010
No Comments Full Story
For those of you know I don't know personally, one of my hobbies is keeping and breeding leaf insects. The typical hobbyist food of leaf insects in the UK is bramble so every week or so I find myself out in the countryside with a carrier bag and pair of scissors taking some leaves back home (all whilst trying not to get spotted by someone else so I don't have to explain myself and look like a weirdo!).
At this time of year of course hundreds of different invertebrates use bramble as a foo
July 3, 2010
1 Comment Full Story
When primroses (Primula vulgaris) and cowslips (Primula veris) are in flower then telling the difference between these two spring flowers is the essence of simplicity. Whilst the primrose has classic open flowers, the clowslip has a number of smaller, bellshaped flowers attached to a stem held high above the plant.
However when these two plants aren't in flower, identification becomes rather more difficult due to the similar appearance of the leaves.
However there *is* a way to tell th
June 29, 2010
No Comments Full Story
photo credit: Benimoto
Whilst I love to see butterflies, I am far from an expert and so regularly find myself leafing through books and websites to learn more about a species I have seen recently.
During my research I have come across a number of useful online resources for identifying British butterflies and their caterpillars and thought that it might be useful for other readers to gather the best resources into one place.
Possibly the best place to start your identification journe
May 9, 2010
1 Comment Full Story
photo credit: ahisgett
In spring and summer a visit to a sunny opening near a ancient hedgerow or in a forest will often reveal large numbers of this elegant butterfly who can be so active as to make identification quite a challenge.
Appearance
The general appearance of the Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) butterfly is one of a brown butterfly of average size, covered in a number of spots which may range in colour from pale cream through to a yellow-orange. Closer inspection reveals a
May 7, 2010
No Comments Full Story
Most perfect morning today. After a wet weekend today is bright and sunny with a perfect cloudless blue sky. Just stunning! #
Anyone got plans for National Moth Night on 15th of May? #
RT @nature_org: Google gets wind in its sails, will invest $38.8 mil. in North Dakota wind farm: http://tcrn.ch/ccO7PY #
May 7, 2010
No Comments Full Story
One of the perennial problems at this time of year is figuring out whether that bird that just flew overhead at the speed of light was a swallow, a swift or a house martin.
But fortunately while these birds are all superficially similar, there are a range of differences between them that can make telling these three bird species apart reasonably simple once you know what to look for.
Swallows
photo credit: fauxto_digit
Swallows are most easily identified by their red chin and the
May 5, 2010
2 Comments Full Story
Ah, one of those classic British place-names to put a smile on the face! I recently took a stroll to Faulking Hill in East Sussex to take a look at the scenes and wildlife on the chalk downloads found there.
Whilst the sun was out, the wild was howling across the open hillsides and so while there were some amazing views, wildlife was few and far between. Up on the exposed hillside there is little plant cover at all so while crows and magpies were seen on every hillside, there wasn't a hug
May 3, 2010
2 Comments Full Story
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