Horsham Green Gym - Butterfly Project at Broadbridge Heath

A blank canvas!

Yesterday Horsham Green Gym were beginning work on a very exciting new project in Broadbridge Heath. Broadbridge Heath Parish Council have teamed up with David Bridges from the Warnham Butterfly Fields Project as well as Horsham Green Gym as they look to convert a 2-acre area of disused BMX jumps in to a haven for Butterflies in the future.

The site is on Byfleets Lane, opposite the cricket club; the project is linked to Warnham Butterfly Project on Tillets Lane – a mere wings flap away! The idea being that is will provide a stepping stone habitat for all things lepidopteran. As you can see from the photos above there is an incredible amount of work to go into the project yet but the plans look fantastic. You can see the full plan in the picture below which shows all the work that is yet to be carried out.

The Details!

On this task 23 regular Horsham Green Gym members along with 4 members of Broadbridge Heath Parish Council planted close to 400 hedging plants; laid what seems like miles of recycled bark chip path; and collected over a cubic metre of litter. This is an on-going project over the coming months and possibly years, so keep an eye out for future work parties and it will be well worth a visit in the summer months – hopefully you won’t be able to move for Brown Hairstreaks and Silver-washed Fritillary!

Plenty to do

Warnham LNR - Walnut Tree Plantation

Bramble Bashing at Warnham LNR

Another cold morning greeted the volunteers from Horsham Green Gym as they paid a visit to Walnut Tree Plantation at Warnham Local Nature Reserve. This mornings task was to cut back the ever encroaching Bramble from around the Hazel coppice which was planted in 2015. The Bramble up until now has helped us protect the new Hazel saplings from being browsed by Roe Deer but it has now become too extensive so the group did a great job removing some of the Bramble.

As you can see from the photo above the hazel whips eventually started to appear once we got deeper into the Bramble. The next job was to remove the tree tubes from the whips that had died, the use of the Bramble to protect the whips was pretty effective here and there weren't to many that had been browsed off and killed. It is hoped that the increased light levels afforded by the scrub clearance should give the whips an excellent growth year coming up.

 Once all of the tree tubes had be removed we started the last section of the coppice job which was to reinstate the woven hedge which serves as a barrier to keep most of the public to the paths.  In this area of the Plantation the ground flora is very good so we try to keep trampling to a minimum and Helen and Peter were rightly very proud of the job they had done with the barrier! Thank you very much once again to all the Horsham Green Gym members who attended the task. The next volunteer task is at Broadbridge Heath Bike Jumps off Byfleets Lane on Tuesday 31st January. This is a very exciting project of turning the now redundant BMX jumps into a butterfly haven. The meeting location is postcode: RH12 3PA or the OS map ref is TQ152 319

Job Done!

Our visitors have also been busy with their respective cameras this week and we have had a number of photos sent in for use on the blog. I hope you enjoy the lovely selection sent in by one observer this week of a few of the common species seen around the Reserve at this time of year. Also of note the Water Rail(s) seem to have taken up residence in the Woodpecker Hide once more so keep your eyes peeled on here for some nice photos 

 Robin

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Grey Squirrel

Owlbeech Woods - Volunteer Task

Leechpool Woods

A stunning morning greeted us as we set off early for a morning of heathland restoration with Horsham Green Gym at Owlbeech Woods. The ground was frozen solid and there was an eerie mist which clung to the trees as Sam, Judith and I headed up early to start the fire. The task today was to head to Redwood Hill Enclosure and uproot/pull the invasive Downy and Silver Birch which had been sprayed in late summer. 

Redwood Hill Enclosure - Owlbeech Woods

This morning we were bathed in sunshine as the ground began to defrost and there was a definite warmth in what the sun had to offer...spring is on its way...maybe! This mornings task was attended by nearly 30 keen volunteers which allowed us to get through a lot of the birch in the target area. It will only take small group in the near future to finish off the south-east corner of Redwood Hill Enclosure which will make a huge difference this summer. We have recently been able to get a tractor and mower into this area which has meant we can manage the area more effectively in the future. The use of mower as well as our sheep and cattle is that it focuses on one particular area more intensively whereas the livestock do a more 'all-round' job. 

Usually this type of approach would not be the ideal scenario as it leads to the habitat all being of one age a bit like a lawn and limits the biodiversity in the area. Those of you who visit the heath regularly may have seen some rather random bits of mowing particularly in this enclosure but also in Broom Heath and Middle Heath. This is an attempt by us to get a range of ages to the heather in particular but also to create some bare areas for the heathland invertebrates to thrive in by scuffing the surface with the mower. 

Before

Above you can see how effective the group were this morning; the first photo shows how the area looked as we started to uproot the birch at the beginning of the task. Some of the birch were huge, up to 15ft in height with root balls of well over 2ft in diameter but this was nothing to our band of merry men and women and they made light work of all that we could throw at them! The photo below shows how the enclosure looked just before we ended today's task. We now expect the Bracken to try and take a foothold here but that little problem is for another task later in the year!

After

It was a fantastic morning both weather-wise and productivity-wise so thank you very much to all the excellent volunteers who came on this mornings task. Also of note whilst pulling and burning the arisings we had our first Great-spotted Woodpecker of the year drumming as well as a few nice fungi. Although it felt warm enough we weren't lucky enough to see an early Red Admiral but our fingers are firmly crossed!

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.

Owlbeech Woods

Longhorn Beetle - Rhagium bifasciatum

Longhorn Beetle - Rhagium bifasciatum

Given the lovely warm weather we have been experiencing over the last week or so I was eager to get to the Middle Heath Enclosure at Owlbeech to have a look for a few invertebrates. I also wanted to do a count of the Green Tiger Beetles so I wandered up there this week. When I arrived I was surprised to see how much the water level in the top pond had dropped but soon enough I was finding a few Green Tiger Beetles when two of the stunning Longhorn Beetle Rhagium bifasciatum flew past and landed on an old pine stump.

The second of the heathland ponds which was dug by Horsham Green Gym is really starting to mature and has filled up nicely with water. The hope is that the large pond shown in previous blog posts and this smaller pond will attract plenty of insect life and eventually provide a good habitat for dragonflies as well as a drinking pool for Crossbills in the winter.

Whilst on the theme of Horsham Green Gym I must also add that they have recently taken on a large project in partnership with Horsham Town Community Project in re-vamping the Horsham Riverside Walk. As part of the project Green Gym have been installing a number of Oak benches at various points along the walk. Here is the latest of these which is on Forest Walk in Owlbeech Woods.

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.

Warnham LNR

Finally the water level has started to drop on the Reserve and the muddy margins we created in the autumn are starting to appear and look suitable for wading birds. Whilst sitting in the Tern Hide this afternoon I noticed a wader drop in to the Swan Island Reedbed. It immediately vanished though my first thoughts were Green Sandpiper but I thought it was strange I couldn't see the bird on the island. Soon enough I realised that the wader was in fact a Common Snipe which had looked pale due to the sunlight. It stayed all afternoon and allowed a few visitors to catch up with this scarce species for the Reserve. 

Herring Gull - Overgrown bill

Elsewhere on the Reserve we also had a visit from a rather unusual looking gull. The first-winter Herring Gull above has for some reason developed an overgrown upper mandible. It didn't seem to be affecting the bird in any way however and probably serves it quite well in being able to open tin cans at the tip!

In Millpond Plantation on Tuesday we had Horsham GreenGym pay us another visit to help with the woodland thinning just off the first boardwalk. Fuelled by tea, coffee and biscuits we managed to get plenty done dramatically opening up the woodland floor. Most of the bigger timber was left on site to be extracted at a later date and the brash was burnt on a very impressive fire.