Beachy Head

 Marvellous patches of Gound Ivy

100 Acre Wood, Ashdown Forest

Gorse in full flower.

Some of the magnificent Beech trees in the wood.

Honey Bees

 An old, well used lane

Ancient Sweet Chestnut, Duddleswell

 

Chelwood Vachery, Ashdown Forest

It took some finding, but eventually we found our way to the ruined garden, in a valley below Chelwood Vachary called Edward's Place. Several dams in the valley have formed a series of ponds, and there is a dramatic stone Bridge.

 

PignutPignut

Asian Skunk Cabbage, an invasive species.

Wood Sorrel

One of the pools form by the many dams built in the valley.

Beech

Pheasant
 

Small Bloody-nosed Beetle, Whitbread Hollow

 

Germinating Mistletoe, Hill Road

 We kept the sprig of Christmas Mistletoe in the garden for several months. The seeds went black and my wife then stuck some onto our Apple trees. There was much excitement when some of the seeds started to germinate.

The green hypocotyl is forming a disc, which means the bark is suitable. This holdfast will penetrate and connect with the xylem of the Apple tree. It will take several years before leaves start to grow.

Angle Shades, Hill Road

We found a newly- emerged adult Angle Shades and watched it pump out its wings.

A drop of hemolymph is visible, just where the darker edge of the long wing meets the paler edge of the shorter one.

Fully inflated wings.

Splash Point, Seaford

Distant Sandwich Terns, feeding off the beach.

Herring Gulls

The remarkable Kittiwake colony at Splash Point, Seaford is gearing up. Dozens of Kittiwakes were on the water, with only a few pairs on the cliffs.

Cormorant

High and Over

 

Bluebells, Bramble Grove

Within 20 years, peak-flowering for Bluebells seems to have shifted by at least three weeks. It used to fall around Mayday. I cannot remember seeing Blackthorn and Bluebells at their peak together before.

Being carefully watched by a Great Spotted Woodpecker, this pair of Jackdaw were busy preparing their nest in this hole.

Speckled Wood. We also saw five Orange-tips.

Green Long-horn moth

Nuthatches seemed to be constantly calling