Reptiles

I used to have a fear of snakes that I have only recently overcome. Thanks to walking around heathland, putting out my trail cameras, I have understood they mean little harm and are very hard to accidentally step on. I go to a young ranger group at Tilgate Park, (run by Gatwick Greenspace), and we normally go adder hunting. Earlier this week, my mum and I had a quick look in that area and we found a female adder basking. This was the first time that my mum had seen an adder in the wild.

The video is in slow motion

Yesterday we went to Ashdown Forest for a walk and I found a slow worm in a patch of heather. I was about to step on it as it was very well camouflaged. Slow worms are not snakes but legless lizards.

Sorry it is a blocky picture

Another reptile that I have recently seen a common lizard, more on that here. It is good to see reptiles and I hope to see more...

Evening rock pooling at Goring

I have been to Goring-by-sea plenty of times (see here). This time we went in the evening to go rock pooling while the tide was out. I found plenty of wildlife, including Turnstones and a few common whelks. Here are some photos:

A Common Whelk shell

We think this a Common Goby

There is no such thing as a seagull, this is a herring gull.

This turnstone was one of several

I also saw a young red fox on the way home, in broad daylight!

Crawley News picture of the week

On Saturday the 15th of August I went to Buchan to collect the trail cams (see here). After collecting the first trail camera I spotted a very small common lizard on a big pile of sticks and twigs. I had taken my camera for moments like this when I found something to photo, (deer, mushrooms, lizards, toads...), and I was lucky that one lizard was basking in the sunshine. I took a few photos before heading to get my next trail cam. When I got home I decided to enter one photo into the local newspaper's weekly photo competition.

After this morning's trip to Warnham LNR (see here) I got today's paper. I suddenly got very happy when I saw that I had won! Here is the winning image:

a common lizard on a big pile of sticks and twigs

I am very pleased that I took my camera along or I may have missed the opportunity.

A visit to Warnham

Today I went to Warnham LNR, (second time this week). I saw a little grebe quite close. After a few minutes, a kingfisher perched on the reeds just beside the little grebe!

A kingfisher perched on the reeds

I also saw six grey herons and the pair of nesting great crested grebes.

A day at Pulborough Brooks

Today I went to RSPB Pulborough Brooks, (see here for other visits), and saw many different species. These include a migrant hawker dragonfly, a yellow digger, (rangers at work), and some speckled woods. Here are some photos:

A Common Blue

A speckled wood

A common darter

A migrant hawker

 

European harvestman in the sand

It was a good day to see insects but not so good for birds.

The Kingfishers at Warnham

Today at Warnham LNR* I saw my favourite bird up close, the kingfisher. The Common kingfisher is currently on the amber list and is a protected species. There are 3,800 to 6,400 pairs in the UK, (RSPB Information 2014), and about 3 individuals at Warnham.

my favourite bird up close, the kingfisher

I think it is a male, females have red colouring under the bill.

*LNR Stands for Local Nature Reserve

Trail cam footage 15/8/15

Due to lots of rain on Thursday, today I collected both of my trail cams from Buchan. As you may know, one of the trail camera was on photo mode, (see here), so the video I have strung together is partly slide show:

The video includes fallow deer, look for the spots, and roe deer, (see here).

I have taken both trail cameras home to be cleaned so I may put the trail cams in the garden.

Trail cam footage 09/08/15

After a fair few technical problems and wildlife not showing up, I have finally managed to capture some more footage of the deer at Buchan Country Park. Unfortunately I put it on photo mode, not on video mode so I just have photos.

This view shows the woodland habitat from below

The deer are in infra-red so the pictures below are in black and white!

Deer on the move

Nosy deer

Unfortunately, I didn't put the mode back to video so next week may be in photos too.

Wildlife count: part two

It is day 18 of my Wildlife count project and already I have reached my goal of 100 species (see here)! I will, however, still be counting. I have seen quite a few rarer species, so I would like to list a few...

Essex skipper, Common toad, Siskin, Kingfisher, Blue tailed damselfly, Silver washed fritillary, Banded demoiselle, Green sandpiper, Whimbrel and Black tailed godwit.

This Essex skipper is on some fleabane

This Siskin is a male

You can see the proboscis on this fritillary

I spotted this Banded demoiselle from a hide!

Devil's Dyke

Devil's Dyke is a natural chalkland habitat where many species of butterfly thrive. It is on the South Downs quite close to Brighton. Today I have seen species of butterflies that I have never seen before, including the Adonis Blue and the Small Heath.

We also saw a Fritillary and we are not sure what it is. I think it is a Dark Green Fritillary. If you think differently, please leave a comment!

My favourite butterfly was the Dark Green Fritillary

Other species included Clouded Yellows, a Seven Spot Ladybird and a kestrel:

This kestrel is hunting

It is amazing to think that the habitat is made of tiny shells from 100 million of years ago!

Deer at Warnham

Due to technical difficulties, (uncharged batteries, faulty SD card...), my two trail cams, (see here and here), haven't filmed any deer since the 21st of July.

However, on the third of August we went to Warnham LNR (Local Nature Reserve) and there, in the forest, I found a couple of roe deer - including a stag - just sitting down, (probably enjoying the rare British sunshine).

Of course I took out my Bridge camera/ DSLR and tried to film them. Here is the footage:

Also today I saw the deer at Buchan quite close up. Such a shame that a dog scared it away.

Siskin

In the apple tree are six bird feeders. we get all sorts of birds on the feeders, blue tits, goldfinches and more. We also sometimes get oddities, coal tits, greater spotted woodpeckers, goldcrests and best of all, a siskin.

best of all, a siskin

Siskins normally visit our feeders in the winter time, this is why it was amazing to see one during the summer holidays.