Sussex Scrapbook
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Nature walks in Sussex throughout the year
Saturday 30th May 2009
Lewes - Southease - Firle Beacon - Bostal Hill - Alciston - Ripe - Glyndebourne
- Lewes
23 miles
Even though I was
breaking in yet another pair of new boots (the last pair broke after only 3
months), it seemed an ideal time to do a long, hard, strenuous walk that would
cover a variety of habitats and take in some of our favourite Sussex haunts.
Well, yes it was, but we hadn't counted on the heat. What a scorcher, there
wasn't a cloud in sight all day and we dived eagerly into the shade whenever
possible. What were in sight though were thousands of Painted Lady
butterflies. Whichever direction we looked in we could see them, all the day
long. The
mass migration from Morocco, the largest in living memory, has amazed most
of Europe, has totally overrun England and has now reached Northern Scotland.
Anyway, we got down to
Rodmell, a place where you always seem to see something good, and were
walking along the raised bank of the river, when a
Stoat sprang out of the grass just ahead of us. It bounded down the bank,
its black-tipped tail flicking in and out of sight in the tall grass, came into
full view as it crossed a small pathway and then stopped as it reached the cover
of a reedbed. Before it disappeared for good it turned round, sat up on its hind
legs (showing us its pale belly) and stared at us for several seconds with great
interest. Eventually, it decided that as a prey species we were probably a bit
too large to tackle, so off it scampered, no doubt to cause merry mayhem amongst
the reeds.
As if all that wasn't enough we had a juvenile Hobby fly about us on Lewes
Brooks; we watched a Goldcrest and a pair of Spotted Flycatchers collecting
nesting material in Ripe churchyard; we were entertained by the duet of sheep
and Marsh Frogs and also by the rather more musical outpourings of a
Nightingale. In the last section of the walk as we climbed up to Cliffe Hill, we
heard Cuckoo, Yellowhammer and Tawny Owl and the day ended with a blood-red sun
setting in a still cloudless sky.
Forty species of bird today, with the air almost chock-full of feathers at all
times - what a pity then that Gill had forgotten to pack her binoculars!
Southease church is currently getting new wooden tiles on its steeple.
The woodpeckers seem to love them!
Early Purple orchid
Mount Caburn from up near Firle
Beacon
Alciston Church
Broad-bodied Chaser
Clouded yellow Butterfly
Gill contemplates some Common
Spotted Orchids
Some desperately needed shade found just below Bostal Hill.
The remains of
Laughton Place, most of its surrounding moat is still intact.
The stream that feeds the moat.
Ripe church
A blood-red sunset as we approach Glyndebourne