Chesworth Farm - Bird Survey

Mike Ayling carried out his weekly bird survey of the Farm which produced the following:

Black-headed Gull 1, Blue Tit 5, Buzzard 1, Chaffinch 1, Fieldfare 1, Great Spotted Woodpecker 1, Green Woodpecker 1, Grey Heron 1, House Sparrow 2, Magpie 4, Moorhen 1, Robin 6, Woodpigeon 12,  Blackbird 5, Bullfinch 3, Carrion Crow 1, Dunnock 1, Goldfinch 6, Great Tit 2, Greenfinch 2, Herring Gull 57, Jackdaw 14, Mallard 5, Redwing 2, Song Thrush 2, Wren 2

Grey Squirrel 1

Warnham LNR - Latest Sightings

Depressaria daucella - Warnham LNR

Depressaria daucella - Warnham LNR

Walking around the Reserve at the moment you may well notice that some of the flowers of Hemlock Water Dropwort appear to be stunted and closed up. This is actually caused by a micro moth called Depressaria daucella. If you look closely you can see that the caterpillar has made a small tunnel to hide in when predators are around.

Horsham Green Gym - D. Jessop

 This week has also seen Horsham Green Gym return to the Reserve to carry on the development of the scrapes viewable from the Sandpiper Hide. The above image is how the new section started, with the area marked out and the diggers all looking eager!

Scrape Digging - D. Jessop

 Soon enough the group had started to make headway and before long the scrape was starting to take shape. There are several of these to dig out this summer so hopefully each of them will hold water later in the year to attract wading birds. When digging out a scrape it is essential that the edges are not to steep to allow the water to gradually recede during dry weather.

Finished Scrape - D. Jessop

And after a hard mornings work and plenty of biscuits the first scrape is done. Well done to everyone who came along it looks brilliant. Hopefully the rain forecast this weekend will fill up the first pool nicely. If you would like to come along for the next Horsham Green Gym session at the scrape they are next here on Thursday 3rd July.

Guess the Caterpillar! ANSWERED!

Guess the caterpillar...

So a quick game to see if anyone can guess (without looking!!!) what caterpillar this little chap above is. I found it whilst carrying out the volunteer task last Tuesday at Warnham LNR. Anybody got any ideas?

ANSWER: Speckled Wood

Well done to everyone on Twitter and to John Wilks for getting the ID question correct. It is indeed the caterpillar of the Speckled Wood butterfly which was found on Ash twigs last Tuesday.