Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre

Big Biodiversity Butterfly Count

2009-06-26T15:56:39Z

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

Bat Surveyors Wanted in Brighton

2009-06-17T17:45:01Z

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?

We are trying to find out more about bats in urban areas.
We need surveyors to walk a survey route from their house and record the numbers of bats they hear. The survey itself takes about 45 minutes and needs to take place just before sunset.
You don’t have to identify individual bat species.

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:

Your name
Your address
Your daytime and evening telephone number
Do you already have a bat detector?

[ Email Cath ]

West Weald Recording Day, May 2009

2009-06-15T15:55:04Z

We brought together a keen group of twenty naturalists on May 23rd for a day of intensive surveying of different species in the West Weald Landscape Project (WWLP) area. Our efforts concentrated on two distinct sites which are the subject of new conservation work by the WWLP in the vicinity of Ebernoe and Kirdford respectively.

The enthusiasm of the naturalists resulted in long lists of new species records, spanning a great range of groups from lichens and plants through diverse types of insects to birds and reptiles. The new insects discovered proved especially interesting, including a ‘nationally notable’ black and red click beetle Ampedus elongantulus and a huge striking cranefly (or “daddy long legs”) Tanyptera atrata which represents a first record for Sussex. New records of the rare brown hairstreak and grizzled skipper butterflies also came to light.

This species information will prove invaluable in underpinning our work to advise, manage and monitor these important sites and so advance conservation on a bigger scale working in partnership with private landowners in the West Weald.

Pictures: Graeme Lyons

Burgess Hill Green Circle Network

2009-01-13T20:19:57Z

The Burgess Hill Green Circle Network, a group of volunteers dedicated to conserving and enhancing the living landscape in and around Burgess Hill, has published its latest newsletter and an events programme for 2009. Even if you don’t live near Bugess Hill, the newsletter is worth reading as a source of inspiration. It’s amazing what can be achieved with a bit of organisation and lots of passion.

Harassed by the Rattle of the Steam-Plough

2009-01-06T17:23:32Z

Recently I was looking at William Borrer’s The Birds of Sussex published in 1891 and one passage particularly struck me: he seemed to be worrying, in a 19th century context, about similar things to conservationists today. Here is the passage in full:

The many changes of the last half-century have greatly interfered with ornithology in this county as in others. The whole of Sussex is now intersected with railways, not only inland but along the coast, nearly the whole of what may be called the maritime district being traversed by a line of rails extending from Brighton to the extreme western limit of the county, the whistle of the steam-engine taking the place of the Wildfowl and the Wader. The estuaries, formerly abounding in these species, are now far more disturbed by traffic than they used to be; and much of the marshland has been brought under cultivation. The last of the grand morasses of the western division, the Amberley Wildbrook, is converted into so-called smiling meadows, re-echoing with the lowing of cattle instead of the hollow boom of the Bittern and the croak of the Heron. The Downs too, once the peaceful haunt of the Bustard and the Lapwing, or disturbed only by the shepherd and his flock, are now to a great extent broken up by cultivation, and harassed by the rattle of the steam-plough. The cliffs have in many places been scarped down, or shattered by the engineer, thus destroying the favourite resorts of many wild birds. The inland aspect of the county, too, is much changed from what it was in former times. Where are the splendid stretches of heather? the sedgy bottoms? and where are the Black Game?

Interestingly Amberley Wildbrooks seems to be in fairly good condition as grazing marsh, and one might hear the hollow boom of the bittern again when it is at Rye Harbour and elsewhere. Herons are not uncommon and the number of nesting lapwings is increasing. There also seems to be plenty of heathland, though not as much as in Borrer’s day, I am sure. However, The Crumbles, an area of vegetated shingle and scrub to the east of Eastbourne, is now a huge housing estate. It was, according to Borrer, a habitat much favoured by the Dartford warbler and well known for many other species of plant and animal. It may also be some time before we see the bustard and the black game (black grouse) in Sussex again.

Borrer also uses the term ‘ancient woodland’:

There is a small portion of the ancient woodland called Charlton Forest, situated on the north slope of the Western Downs, the only part of them which still has native timber.