Red deer bellowing on part of Richmond park earlier this week. Film taken from a respectful distance
Debbie Alston
@debbie1alston.bsky.social
Early retired ecologist, nature enthusiast and conservation volunteer now living in Sussex. Botany, butterflies, birds and mammals mostly. Monty Python and Michael Palin fan.
Our last butterfly transect survey of the year at Horseshoe Plantation/ Belle Toute this afternoon. A total of six species and 30 individuals seen. Biggest surprise was seeing a Chalkhill blue, seems quite late in the season for it.
A morning removing cotoneaster from the Buckle bypass near Seaford with other Sussex Butterfly branch volunteers was rewarded with great views of two Long-tailed blues!
Our penultimate butterfly transect survey of the year today at Horseshoe Plantation /Belle Toute on #EastbourneDownland Seven species and 40 individuals seen. Highlights were a couple of Walls and several Clouded yellows
Had a great day at Dungerness RSPB reserve today - 48 species of birds seen/ heard including the White- winged black tern, 5 Little gulls, Ruff, Avocet and Marsh harrier. Also saw my first ever Grey Bush- cricket. A national scarcity, but reasonably common here apparently.
Record heatwaves bring Britain’s second-best butterfly season in 16 years | Butterflies | The Guardian www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Record heatwaves bring Britain’s second-best butterfly season in 16 years
Volunteers counted almost 1.4m common butterflies and moths, with painted ladies up 335% on last year
theguardian.com
There new-to-me orthoptera seen in a week, all within 3 miles of home in Eastbourne. All verified by county recorder and on iRecord. Southern Oak bush-cricket, Sickle bearing bush-cricket and Large conehead @sussexwildlife.bsky.social
Excited to see my first ever Long-tailed blue butterfly today. I think this one was egg laying on the Broad-leaved Everlasting-pea
BBC News - New site planned for endangered wart-biter cricket www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
New Sussex site planned for critically endangered wart-biter cricket
Conservationists say the endangered crickets are important indicators of grass chalkland health.
bbc.co.uk
A Lace border moth seen at Butts Brow, near Eastbourne yesterday. Stunningly beautiful and quite a rare find too, so I am told @sussexwildlife.bsky.social
Lovely to do a guided walk this morning for some of my fellow @southdownsnp.bsky.social volunteers. We looked at the importance of chalk grassland, it's management and some typical species we see at this time of year. Everyone loved the Autumn lady's- tresses!
Nine butterfly species seen on the Horseshoe Plantation and Belle Toute transect this afternoon- including plenty of Common blues, two Walls and this very tatty Chalkhill Blue
Greater sea-spurrey flowering on the edge of the saltmarsh this week at Seven Sisters Country Park #wildflowerhour
This small puddle on a cow pat was all the evidence left of the heavy rain showers over the last couple of days ....
Plenty of Walls and Common blues and a few Adonis Blues seen along Cradle Valley near Seaford today
