Saturday 14th
June 2008
Balcombe - Staplefield - Slough Green - Cuckfield - Wivelsfield Station
15 miles
GSI (Gill's sneeze index) 6/10
***
Getting to Staplefield
early to do our
BBS survey was problematic today and we finally got started at
9am. Not bad seeing as we had to get a train and then walk 3 miles to get there,
but we had hoped to arrive much earlier.
We recorded a lot of adult
nuthatches along our two transects, and most of these
were accompanied by 2 or 3 young ones all begging for food. In previous years we
have only recorded one or two
Bullfinches during our survey. This year we only
found one and that was only evidenced by its melancholy
song. Unfortunately we also found a dead female in the road.
After our survey was complete we wandered southwards with the intent of getting
to Cuckfield for a tea flavoured beverage and another look at the view of the
Downs from the churchyard. On the way, at Sidnye Farm, we had to make a bit of a
detour due to a group of over-inquisitive bulls in a field. Gill was not at all
happy about walking through them and so we had to find a new route around the
field. Maybe Gill was right, as they seemed to be a group of teenage males and
they were getting a bit excited. If in doubt, steer clear of 5 tonnes of
charging, angry beef, that's what I say! Besides, if we hadn't gone that way, we
wouldn't have found a group of Penny Buns growing under an oak.
The walk from Cuckfield to Wivelsfield takes in wide field boundaries and woods
all of which are deep in lush, green, grasses, flowers, dog roses and ferns. The
collaboration of recent night-time rains with hot sunny days has brought about
ideal growing conditions, which must be appreciated by all of the local farmers,
most of whom seem to be growing wheat. The European Commission has reduced the
amount of
set-aside land in England by half, from 500,000 hectares to 250,000
hectares. At the same time, wheat prices are at an all-time high. It is not
surprising then to find that many of our walks in Sussex are now taking us
through many fields of this crop. The obvious bad side to this change of land
use is that native flowers and animals will suffer from loss of habitat.
A freshly killed but uneaten Common Shrew (Sorex araneus).
Perhaps we disturbed the assassin.
The end of our BBS survey is marked by this lake.
Today it produced buzzard, kestrel and green and
great spotted woodpeckers.
A group of about 8 Boletus edulus, aka Penny Buns, Ceps or Porcini mushrooms.
Edible and delicious but we didn't disturb them.
Red-legged partridge
A Kestrel looking for shrews perhaps
.JPG)
Cuckfield Church