Sussex
Scrapbook ~ Wildlife walks throughout the year
Saturday 4th June 2011
Billingshurst - Pulborough via the
Wey
South Path
~ 9 miles
Gill's recuperation is
going very well, so her first walk of the season needed to be a reasonably flat
one that would dish up all of the fantastic, Sussex springtime wildlife that she's sorely missed
over the past couple of months.
Starting from Billingshurst Station with screeching Swifts above (her
favourite), this swelteringly-hot walk (made up of quick flits between shady
spots) along the beautiful
Wey & Arun
Canal served up a springtime smorgasbord that returned the colour to her
cheeks and the beaming smile to her face.
Fledglings were everywhere; roblets, wrenicles, titlets, finchibles, thrushypegs,
blackychugs and pecker-pips (all real scientific names, you can check if you
like!) seemed to be peeping, squeaking and wobbling about everywhere. A couple
of Cuckoo were calling from afar and eventually we got the view of one we were
after. We heard some
Little Owl
squeaks but couldn't pinpoint the source and we missed the even tinier
squeaks of a tiny shrew which was seen scampering into the undergrowth beside a bridge.
To further highlight that the season of new life touches all environments, we
even sighted a striped young
Pike (Esox lucius) lurking behind the flood lock at Orfold like a
hidden tiger.
Some of the water meadows are now being cut for hay, but the huge hedgerows and
intricate waterways are lush and full of life.
Eggs of all types are being laid on every surface...
... and the insects are taking over!
Young Pike. Lurking with intent!
A very scared looking Dove nesting in a barn. It wasn't us, we kept a good
distance away.
These hiking monks were two of the very
few people we saw all day.
Take the time to read
the
countryside code for yourself and please stick to it at all times.