Snowdrop time

Every year I feel obliged to photograph snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis), I suppose because they are among the very first flowers of the new season and have a chilly, but cheerful, elegance.

They are not thought to be a native species in the British Isles and they rarely seem to grow far away from houses, roadsides or streamsides here in East Sussex.  The first record in the wild was not until 1778, but they were known in cultivation well before that.

It has been suggested that snowdrops were the source of the magical herb called 'moly' used by Odysseus to protect him against Circe's spells and there is much of the usual folklore associated with well-known plants.

Once the flowers have faded they leaves follow quite quickly and I find it quite poignant that when spring is really getting going the snowdrop is retiring from the world for another season.

The magic pool

Yesterday we made a visit to nearby Bodiam Castle.  There has been much rain lately and a large pool of water remained in the field between the car park and the castle grounds.  This produces some interesting reflections.

I took this picture looking north with the pool in the foreground:

A few moment later, from the other side of the pool I took this picture looking south across the Rother valley:

Same stretch of water, but a different reflection.  It all depends, as they say, on your point of view.

Sun on snow

On an afternoon walk in a snowy landscape on a grey afternoon, the sun suddenly broke through the clouds and illuminated a distant field.

The frost is all over

In my ramblings about East Sussex after the recent hard frosts I have noticed that many larger ivy leaves have turned a buttery yellow as though the plant was variegated.

It reminded me of the well-known Irish jig The frost is all over and I found a splendid meditation on this in words and music here.

Hairstreaking in the Brede Valley

On Saturday, at the invitation of Butterfly Conservation's Rother Woods project, we went looking for brown hairstreak butterfly (Thecla betulae) eggs in the Lower Brede Valley, East Sussex.  The species has been occasionally recorded in this area in the past and it may simply have been overlooked as it is a difficult butterfly to find as an adult.

Neil Hulme from Butterfly Conservation (Sussex) joined the group and brought an egg on a blackthorn twig so that we all knew what to look for (see picture below).  The egg came from West Sussex and was scheduled to be returned, on its twig, after our field meeting.

The eggs are usually laid in the fork of a blackthorn twig as above and look like small, hemispherical pearls.  They remain in situ until the leaves come in spring and, once seen, are fairly easy to find if they are present at all.  There are one or two eggs of moths that can be laid in this position, but they are not of this shape.

We had a good walk round the hedges at Stonelink but did not find any eggs (early days yet) though we did see some impressive wild boar rootings and found a strong colony of the rather scarce hard shield-fern.

Brimstone moth caterpillar

At the end of our garden I have an open-ended hanging sleeve trap over an artificial water-filled tree hole.  Today, after about a week of hard frosts, I was surprised to find a small brimstone moth caterpillar inside the trap.

The brimstone moth (Opisthograptis luteolata) is a common species with several generations a year and often there are overwintering larvae, though it is difficult to see what they eat if they are very active like this one.  Normally they feed on the leaves of deciduous shrubs like hawthorn and blackthorn.

Mine keeps casting round the box and the various leaves I have provided, but does not seem to be eating any of them.  Maybe I will just let it go again rather than breed it through.

The caterpillars do, of course, look very much like thorn twigs, though in some areas they are green rather than brown.  The explanation for this dimorphism does not seem to be known, but it is not uncommon in the caterpillar world.

Coppicing for butterflies

As part of the Rother Woods Project, sponsored by Butterfly Conservation and others, coppicing has started in Killingan Wood about 200 metres north of our house.

Most of the wood is very shady since coppicing ceased many years ago and the trees, mostly hornbeam, are now what coppicers call "overstood", that is they have gone far beyond the ideal age for cutting.

The increase in sunlight reaching the ground will certainly have a beneficial effect on early-flowering woodland plants and there may also be an increase in woodland butterflies and some other invertebrates.  Most of the stools should, however, grow up again quite quickly (if the deer do not get at the new shoots) and shade will rapidly return to the woodland floor.  Hopefully there will be plenty more areas of new coppice to which the light demanding species can move.

The notice above on a tree where the path starts into the wood says the timber will be used for firewood.  This is now getting to be quite a scarce resource in South East England but it was, of course, what many of the coppices were used for in the past.  In a more natural world than our own, unless there were forest fires, trunks and branches of trees would die and fall to be colonised by a myriad of fungi and invertebrates and these, of course, would provide important food resources for birds, bats and other wildlife.  But we can't have everything and, if gas fails to arrive from Russia, I am sure many will be grateful for the short period of respite British fuel wood might be able to provide.

Anyway, being so close at hand, I will have a splendid opportunity to observe exactly what happens after this coppice restoration.

The lake at Woods Mill

I regularly visit the Sussex Wildlife Trust's reserve at their Wood's Mill headquarters near Henfield in West Sussex.  There are many pools, streams and a river here and the photograph shows the largest lake in its sombre midwinter persona.

The reserve is rich in wildlife and has, of course, been studied in detail by the staff and the many visitors with their comprehensive knowledge of Sussex wildlife.  Whether one knows anything about wildlife or not, it is a very peaceful and beautiful place, accessible to all.

Charcoal smoke

On cold mornings in the upper Brede Valley smoke from the charcoal burning kilns in Marley Lane rises in the stillness and spreads out in a thin layer over the denser portion of air that has filled the valley bottom where the frost lies.

This is a traditional industry probably done in the same place for hundreds of  years.  It stopped for a while a few years ago, but has now started again and the smoke is back.  The farthest ridge in the picture is where the Battle of Hastings was fought, Normans on the left, Anglo-Saxons on the right.

Parasol mushrooms

Today I spotted several parasol mushrooms (Macrolepiota procera) on the verge of the lane to the village.  They often appear here and have formed quite a large colony over the years.  Mid-November seems very much later that usual though.

I brought three youngish ones home and we had some excellent parasol fritters.  If fried, or used in other recipes for mushrooms, parasols tend to grow rather soft and watery, so fritters is a good way of using them - a crisp, slightly spicy outside with a soft, fungus-fragrant interior.  The sort of food that is almost impossible for a restaurant due to the fragility of the parasols and the irregularity of their appearance.

I just remove the stalk and cup the cap into eight wedges.  These are then dredged with plain flour, dipped in batter and deep fried in fat somewhat less hot fat than for potato chips.  In the picture of the fritters below, I am amused by the little mushroom-like protuberances made by batter trying to escape.

Some care has to be taken over consuming parasol mushrooms as they have several decidedly poisonous lookalikes, though this is more of a problem in mainland Europe and North America than in the UK.  Also some people may have an allergic reaction, so try a very small amount first if you are tempted.

Elder in service

I found a young elder tree (Sambucus nigra) today growing in the fork of the trunk of the wild service tree (Sorbus torminalis) just outside our house.

The elder has found sufficient nourishment and water trapped in the trifurcation of the trunk to grow well in it its first season and it may persist for some years.

The fork in the wild service is at chest height and came into being when the single stem of the young tree (which I grew from seed sown about 1974) was toppled by a bright blue weevil called Rhynchites caerulea.  These cut right round the young green shoot which topples over and usually falls to the ground.  The adult weevils lay their eggs in these fallen shoots which subsequently feed their larvae.

The following year two or three stems arise from the damaged maiden in the absence of a leading bud and this creates the fork.  As leaves and water, not to mention baby elders, gather in the fork it makes a weak point from which decay can easily get into the centre of the trunk and ultimately bring about the death of the tree.

So it goes (as Kurt Vonnegut would say).

A new Brede High Woods weblog

The purchase of most of Brede High Woods lying between Sedlescombe and Brede in East Sussex was completed by the Woodland Trust last December and there continues to be full public access to these wonderful woodlands and other habitats.

I live within easy walking distance of the woods and have been exploring them since the late 1950s, so I am very pleased that they have been secured for everyone to enjoy in perpetuity. As well as ancient woodland, the area has unimproved grassland, heath, sphagnum bog and a variety of streams and ponds, all of which goes to ensure a rich and important biodiversity.

I have worked closely with the Trust over the last couple of years and have now started a Brede High Woods weblog to alert as many people as possible to the delights of the place.

[Brede High Woods weblog]

Ferry Pool, Pagham, West Sussex

At this time of year the purple glasswort (Salicornia ramosissima) is a landscape feature on the salty mud of Ferry Pool opposite the Pagham Harbour reserve visitor centre (SZ 8558 9657).

Migrant hawker dragonflies (Aeshna mixta) were still on the wing and the female below was observed laying eggs in the bases of the reed stalks in the dykes where the water is much less salty.

Mini meadow browns (Maniola jurtina)

On a walk near Staplecross, East Sussex yesterday I noticed two small mating butterflies.  At first I thought they might be hairstreaks, then gatekeepers, but the photo below indicated that they were meadow browns, but almost half the normal size.

The one on the right is pale because its wings are tilted towards the sun.

This butterfly is normally common in our area from June to mid-August and this is the latest I have seen them, though they are known to occur as adults as late as October.

These late emergences are said to occur more frequently where there is short (and therefore warm) turf on the Downs and in similar places and several authors have noted that these late-flying butterflies are often smaller.

Apparently this species only has one generation a year, so these cannot be the offspring of earlier-flying adults.

It is curious though that both butterflies in the picture are of a similar small size and must have emerged at broadly the same time and one wonders why the idea of their being a second generation has not been considered.

Elephant hawk on Fuchsia

While inspecting a fuchsia plant in the garden today I spotted a young hawk moth caterpillar.  It was an elephant hawk, a species that often feeds on fuchsia rather than rosebay willowherb.

Soon it will change into the dark brown, eyed creature with the vaguely elephantine appearance that gives the species its name.

I am pleased to have found this as the elephant hawk adult is not the sort of moth that comes to lighted windowpanes and I don't think I have ever found caterpillars in the garden, though the moth was not infrequent years ago when I ran a light trap.

Achlorophyllous Epipactis

Some neighbours drew my attention to this strange plant growing at the entrance to a plot about 50 yards up the road from our house. It is an achlorophyllous helleborine orchid, probably the broad-leaved helleborine (Epipactis helleborine), that has developed without chlorophyll. This is something that happens from time to time in this genus and there is a good picture of an achlorophyllous violet helleborine (E. purpurata) on page 53 of David Lang's Wild Orchids of Sussex (Pomegranate Press, 2001). Other wild orchids, such as the bird's-nest orchid (Neottia nidus-avis) are always chlorophyll-free so it looks as though some Epipactis may be evolving in this direction. It is thought that, in the absence of chlorophyll, the plants depend entirely on a myorrhizal fungus for their nutrition. I will post some more pictures if the plant survives and flowers.

Dingy skipper (Erynnis tages) returns

After a gap of 11 years I have seen the dingy skipper butterfly on the wing in Brede High Woods here in East Sussex.

This is now a national Priority Species because it has been in rapid decline, so this is a good sign.

Spring banks

Two of the best wildflower banks are by the old sunken lane, now called Reservoir Lane, near Brede. It has a very rich flora, particularly in spring with plants like woodruff that are very uncommon in this area. The flowers in the close up are primrose (Primula vulgaris), early dog-violet (Viola reichenbachiana) and wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa), all ancient woodland indicators in South East England.

First butterfly of spring

One of perfect, warm, blue sky days that make one really believe winter is receding fast. At the edge of Brede High Woods, where the cold mud is at its stickiest and wettest, this peacock butterfly floated down and settled a yard or two in front of me. For me the first of the year - gorgeous.

Spring fronds

One of the freshest and subtlest signs of the rising sap are the new fronds of broad buckler fern (Dryopteris dilatata) seen here above evergreen ivy and last year's dead leaves. The delicate tracery does not stay long and turns into a rather dowdy fern later in the year. The countryside is so full of the grosser manifestations of early spring - wood anemones, primroses, daffodils - that it is easy to overlook these less strident displays. I think the fronds look good enough to eat and, apparently, the plant has been used as an analgesic, against dandruff and for gastrointestinal disturbances. Dryopteris roots have also, I gather, been used to make an alcoholic beverage called "uh" (great name) in Alaska, a practice the indigenous American Indians are said to have learnt from the Russians. As the roots are considered toxic, they might have had rather more of a buzz than they bargained for - 'uh' indeed.

Tree mosses in Killingan Wood

Two tree trunk mosses from Killingan Wood, Sedlescombe, East Sussex. The small tuft is the crisped pinchusion (Ulota crispa) and the green dreadlocks the skinny form of, I think, cypress-leaved plait-moss (Hypnum cupressiforme). It could be mammilate plait-moss (H. andoi) but this is normally golden green. Both are growing at about chest height.

Witches butter

I think this is the fungus called Exidia plana, but it might be a gross form of Bulgaria inquinans as the two species are similar. Whatever, we have always known this as 'witches butter', though it is said to be inedible despite its bramble jelly appearance. It was growing on a dead oak trunk in one of our local woods.

A spring walk in the wood

Today with my seventieth birthday fast approaching I decided I should take a bit more excercise, so I went for a walk in the wood up the road. The hawthorns and a few hornbeams are leafing, the anemones are out (though rather few this year) and the leaves on the early purple orchids are well-advanced. I took a few photos - of a liverwort new to me (but quite common), even scalewort (Radula complanata) growing on an ash trunk in round patches at chest height; I visited the spurge-laurel (Daphne laureola) which seems to be doing rather well this year. I photographed a patch of anemones, a patch of polypody fern, a toppling tree with orange Trentepohlia algae, and I found a small, battered, red plastic hedgehog deep in the litter. It reminded me strongly of 'Wilson', Tom Hanks's volleyball mascot in the film Cast Away. There is a link here. I brought my 'Wilson' home and have installed it in part of my Square Metre project. I am sure it all has a deeper meaning linked to chaos theory.

Tenby daffodils

The Tenby daffodils (Narcissus pseudonarcissus ssp. obvallaris) are flowering well in our brambly meadow this year: last year they had scarcely any flowers. I think they are the very best daffodil because of the clear yellow perfection of their flowers. Introduced long ago, they have naturalised themselves near Tenby in South Wales but, although they have been in our garden for many years and increse slowly bulb by bulb, they show no sign of seeding themselves. An alien not likely to become invasive.

Hargate Forest near Tunbridge Wells

On 20 December I walked in the frost in Hargate Forest south east of Tunbridge Wells. It is an extensive area of pine, broad-leaved wood and heath with some valley mires, streams and a gill. Well worth a visit at any time of year and free access as it belongs to the Woodland Trust.

The top picture is of a place called 'Butterfly Corner' as grizzled and dingy skippers are found here (in warmer weather).

The moss is blunt-leaved bog moss (Sphagnum palustre), very distinctive in winter due to its dark antheridia like the central boss of a flower. It is one of commonest bog-mosses in the Weald, but less and less of the wet woodland habitat it likes.

Midwinter in Brede High Wood, East Sussex

A fitting celebration of Midwinter's Day was a walk round Brede High Wood with two friends and a dog. It remains very cold and there was deep frost everywhere.

As in the carol there was plenty of holly and ivy and, at one place, we saw "the running of the deer" as half a dozen wine-grey fallow fled through the coppice. In some places there had been much turning over of the brown, fallen leaves and we thought this must have been wild boar looking for acorns where the ground was not hard frozen.

Yesterday the final document was signed and the northern part of the High Wood transferred from Southern Water to The Woodland Trust, a move that should secure a well-managed future.

Over the centuries the wood has been used to fuel the iron furnaces and gunpowder mills; it has been divided up into farms; turned into a reservoir catchment area and planted for commercial forestry. Now it will be managed as a public amenity and for its wildlife - a new career, though there is no going back to the original wildwood, especially as we are not at all sure what this was actually like.

Managing for conservation is an anthropocentric activity and there is tension between the aesthetic and the scientific approaches. It is all far less simple that the commercial and economic imperatives that determined the way in which woods like this were used in the past.

Frost on the sheep pasture

For the last week we have had heavier, deeper frosts than, it seems, for a long time and the idea that we will be having generally mild winters looks a bit shaky. The picture above is of the fields east of Sedlescombe church.

Here in Sussex this cold is brought on an easterly breeze from mainland Europe and it does make for some beautifully crisp walking days.

Today I was in Hargate Forest near Tunbridge Wells and the clear, cold air was exhilarating. Somehow I always think that these cold spells are good for invertebrates, but if there is an abundance next year I might simply be ascribing it to the wrong cause.

Holly cow!

This evening as the frost drew in again, there was a crashing and snapping in the hedge on the west of the garden. It was one of the bullocks in the next door field pushing through the hazel and thorn to browse on our green holly leaves.

Holly used to be an important fodder crop and there are still a few remaining wood pastures known as 'hollins' dotted about the British Isles, mainly in the north, though the famous holly tops on Holmestone Beach near the Kent/Sussex border may be a hollin.

George Peterken (1981) in his Woodland Conservation and Management says "Holly was once cultivated as a source of winter feed for livestock". He says further "Since wood pasture was fundamentlally a system for reconciling the existence of trees and grazing animals on the same ground, it is legitimate to regard hedges and hedgerow trees and surrounding pasture fields as a form of wood pasture."

As wood pasture is a UK HAP Priority Habitat I shall never look at our front hedge in the same way again.

Of no ecological worth?

A small piece of Sussex that has been deemed by 'ecologists' to be of no wildlife value and therefore a good place on which to build a few houses.

Well, people do have to live somewhere and I find it difficult to decide where the balance of virtue lies. I suppose I want the best of all possible worlds: people with the homes they want and need and plenty of space for wildlife. Maybe we should all become smaller - a good project for the genetic engineers. Roll on Lilliputia.

Broadwater Warren

It is July already and it warm among the heaths, pines and bogs of Broadwater Warren near Tunbridge Wells.

One afternoon I found this pine tree embraced by a silver birch: a remarkable instance of a plant's tenacity. I suppose if the pine were felled, and the birch with it, the latter might send up coppice shoots and survive, while the pine would not.

Later I explored the peaty pools near Broadwater Bridge. Black and stagnant with bright green borders of sphagnum moss and areas of tussock sedge (the plant in the picture), they give a feel of what the Weald woodlands might have been like in the past.

Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) in flower

The flowering of the may is, to some pagans, a signal that Beltane has arrived, that summer has started. I like this as starting summer at Midsummer on 21 June seems rather odd.

So I offer you the hawthorn flowers photographed on May Day, 1 May, in Brickwall Deer Park, East Sussex, England.

Wild cherry flowers (Prunus avium)

The wild cherries are flowering with particular magnificence this year in the Sussex countryside. They seem especially fine probably because it has been warm and sunny and there has been little rain or wind to shatter the blossom.

Their flowering gives the best of excuses to post A E Housman's poem:

LOVELIEST of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.

Tawny mining bee (Andrena fulva)

Today I was sitting in the sunshine in our garden in East Sussex when I noticed a bee visiting the flowers of wood spurge (Euphorbia amygdaloides): a striking contrast between lime green and auburn.

With its bright orange top and black underside it is easily determined as a tawny mining bee, a species I have not seen in the garden before, though it is common enough in England. Sometimes known as the 'lawn bee', the female digs holes like small volcanoes in short grass areas for her brood.

Bear's breeches (Acanthus mollis) in Hastings

In Victoria Road in the Ore area of Hastings, East Sussex, I came across this splendid plant of bear's breeches (Acanthus mollis).

The plant appeared to be self-sown and is clearly in abundant health.

Bear's breeches is a Mediterranean plant whose leaves, or that of Acanthus spinosa, are often considered to source of the acanthus leaf designs on architecture and furniture. Although an alien - it looks like an alien too - it is naturalised in parts of the West Country and judging by vigour of the plant above it might be about to start doing well in Sussex.

Why the plant is called 'bear's breech' I have been unable to discover: others may be able to enlighten me.