The Revised Ancient Woodland Inventory for West Sussex has been launched after an extensive two-year ancient woodland survey of the county.
You can read more about the survey on the project page and download the complete survey report, including maps.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our friend and colleague Victoria Hume who carried out the survey. She will be sadly missed by our little team here at Woods Mill.
Dormice are hard to find because they are small and nocturnal, so very few people are lucky enough to see them in the wild. The best way of finding out if dormice are using a wood or hedgerow is to look for hazel nut shells that they have opened to get at the nut inside.
Dormice open these nuts while they are still green and on the tree, but the shells turn brown once they are discarded and fall to the ground. Other animals like hazel nuts too, but even so it’s often possible to tell which animal has opened the nut. Birds and squirrels usually split the shells completely in half or smash them to pieces, but small rodents (mice, voles and dormice) gnaw a neat round hole and leave characteristic toothmarks around the edge. By searching for, collecting and examining nuts we can get an idea if dormice are present at a site.
The Sussex Mammal Group are running a Sussex Great Nut Hunt as part of the National Great Nut Hunt where they would like to re-visit sites which have had previous records of dormice. This is an important way of monitoring how well dormouse populations are doing and see if they are still present to help with future monitoring and site management. If you would like to join in then please register your interest on the Great Nut Hunt website who will send you an information pack and also with the Sussex Mammal Group [email] who will provide you with a list of woods to pick from.
Fancy getting involved with a bit of butterfly recording this summer?
Then you may be interested to hear about the Big Biodiversity Butterfly Count which is taking place between 4th and 12th July:
www.sussex-butterflies.org.uk/BBBC
Download the ID and recording form to record the butterflies you see between Saturday 4 July to Sunday 12 July at a location of your choosing. This could be your garden, school grounds, a local park, downland, woodland or any other suitable habitat. Try to give the maximum numbers of each butterfly seen.
Please send your completed form to the address on the form or enter your results at: www.sussex-butterflies.org.uk/BBBC
Do you live in Brighton?
Do you have two evenings free in August? Want to help out with a bat survey?
Ideally you will have a bat detector but if not, don’t worry, we can lend you one.
What’s the survey about?
There will be a short training session on Wed 22 July in the evening at the Booth Museum for anyone who wants to take part.
This survey is a repeat of one that took place in 2007 – all previous surveyors are welcome to take part again!
If you interested please send a message to Cath Laing containing:
[ Email Cath ]
The Sussex Mammal Group is looking for volunteers to join in with the following two surveys:
If you would like to be involved your help would be greatly appreciated. You can download the survey methods/recording sheets for both surveys here on our website:
If you would like to participate in the Dormouse Nut Hunt please get in contact with Penny Green and she can supply details of the grid references and names of woods that need surveying. This will be provided as a list from which you can choose as many sites as you have time to do.
And, as always, the Longworth traps are available for use so please get in contact to book them out.
We look forward to hearing back from you soon.
To contact Penny, either send a message directly, or write or phone.
Picture: Darin Smith, Sussex Wildlife Trust
The Sussex Bat Group and Sussex Mammal Society – with some help from the lottery – are trying to find out more about bats in cities.
Bats in Brighton Training Session
Date: Sunday 29th July
Time 5pm – 10 (ish)pm
We will have a short training session indoors and then hopefully go and hear some bats.
If you are interested please send a message to Cath Laing containing your name, address, daytime and evening telephone number. Also please let Cath know if you have a bat detector.
Picture: Hugh Clark/Sussex Wildlife Trust
The Great Stag Hunt 2007 is now under way. This is the third national survey of its kind and organisers PTES hope to generate more records than ever this year. The Stag Beetle is now thought to be very rare or even extinct in many countries throughout Europe and is protected by law in the UK.
One of the ways to help conserve this charismatic creature is to keep a check on where it is found, through recording, in order to try and maintain – and increase – its population.
If you spot a stag beetle or would like to know more about identifying them, visit the Great Stag Hunt website for more information.
Picture: Stag Beetle by David Plummer, www.davidplummerimages.co.uk
The first Sussex Spider Group field visit to Lullington Heath was very successful. Undoubted highlight was the discovery of a very large female Atypus affinis by Evan Jones. Photos of the Atypus, Araneus angulatus and Platystomos albinus found on the day can be viewed on Flickr.
40+ species of spider were recorded, but there are many collected specimens yet to be identified. Other highlights included a Philodromus albidus, many Xysticus audax, Neoscona adianta, Zilla diodia, and a Cyclosa conica.
A full report is available for download.
Thanks to everyone that attended and contributed to the records for this very under recorded site, and special thanks to Evan Jones for his skill in finding the Atypus webs.
The next Sussex Spider Group field visit will be to Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve on Sat 8th September. Please contact Andy if you would like come along.
Picture: Micrommata virescens by Andy Phillips, www.flickr.com/photos/3cubes/
After a very successful recording day at Friston Forest on Saturday I would like to thank everyone who attended for coming along and contributing to what was a great day.
Record highlights of the day include a White Admiral (Limenitis camilla), an Araneus angulatus, and a Nightjar feeding at dusk. We also heard three pairs of Tawny Owl and some were lucky enough to see one pair fly across the track in front of us. Ninety species of plants were speedily recorded by Arthur Hoare, and John Luck tracked down both Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta) and Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) in every 1 km grid square in which the recording area sits. Vic Downer’s expert knowledge of Lullington Heath made for interesting comparisons with the neighbouring Friston Forest.
Lots of lovely moths turned up at the moth traps in the evening including Black Rustic, Sallow, Frosted Orange, Beautiful Carpet, Red-green Carpet and a “mystery moth” that Sam Bayley is going to investigate. The most apt moth of the evening was the Barred Hook-tip which is found in Beech woods, especially on calcareous soils and has colonised many areas where Beech is an introduction (info taken from the Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain & Ireland by Waring, Townsend and Lewington); in other words, it’s found in places exactly like Friston Forest. Thanks to Sam for bringing his moth-traps and moth enthusiasm along, and thanks to David Plummer for also bringing his moth-trap along!
We have already received some records back, and we look forward to receiving more records once people have time to sort through them. Don’t forget that there is an easy-to-use Excel spreadsheet add-in that has been specially designed for recorders to add their records to called Species Recorder.
I’m sure there will have been other exciting records for the day, so let us know what you found.
White Admiral picture © Penny and Dave Green.
Would you like to take part in the National Amphibian and Reptile Recording Scheme monitoring programmes next year? The Herpetological Conservation Trust has a register of potential NARRS participants where you can add your name and email address online, to be kept in the loop for NARRS developments. There is no commitment, and the aim is for them to build up a better picture of the numbers of potential surveyors and their geographical distribution. Please do take a minute to add your name by visiting NARRS website.