Another glorious April day. Since it was Sunday I took my longest lockdown walk so far; I am very privileged to have the South Downs start at the end of my street. The cleared wood either side of the path up to the top, was busy with singing birds, particularly Wrens.
On Willingdon Hill the rough fields were very busy with Skylark, and I caught glimpse of one of the local Green Woodpeckers. There were flowering Musk Thistle, Scarlet Pimpernel and White Campion. St Mark's or Hawthorn Fly was everywhere. The long walk down to Friston offered fantastic views, and I disturbed a seemingly endless sequence of Small Coppers that were basking on the path.
Cutting across Butchershole Bottom, I entered Friston Forest, which had lots of white butterflies along its margin. I climbed up Friston Hill and re-entered the Beech wood. There were a few patches of native Bluebells, one with several pink specimens. I had a fancy to search Middle Brow, which my map identified as a patch of scrub rather than forest. This was probably the case 20 years ago, but what I found was thick young woodland, with no clearings.
As I sat down to rest I noticed swarms of Green Longhorn or Fairy Moths in the top of a Sycamore. Hundreds of these iridescent insects with enormously long antennae would land in clusters, then take to the air in a whirl. Navigating out of the wood, I walked through magnificent stands of young Beech trees, straight like pillars.
Heading for home I walked a good length of the ride along the eastern edge of the forest. More Small Coppers were common along the track, and they were joined by at least three Wall Browns, some of whom decided on ill-advised chases of the smaller, but more pugnacious Coppers. I was delighted to spot my first Odonata species of the year, a Hairy Dragonfly, which was a lifetime first.
After nearly a fortnight of being quite shy, today the Common Whitethroats became very bold, and one seemed to be openly singing every few hundred meters.
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