A walk in the woods at Stopham!

Forgive me for being so slow with this post, but my PC has been very ill with a virus, and I have only just managed to get it sorted out!

On April 6th Linda, Josie and I (with Linda's 2 lovely dogs) went for a lovely stroll on the downs at Stopham.

We started off from a farm track up on the Downs behind Stopham church 

The lichen was just wonderful, this old fence post was covered! 

We saw the delicate and beautiful Wood sorrel 

 and Wild daffodils

The lichens were very plentiful, and many were on fallen branches in the wake of storm Katie

This is a spore capsule from a moss plant, an everyday thing beautiful in macro! 

It was quite steep, and very mossy

As you can see the dogs had a great time!

We came across a fallen larch tree  (another Katie victim)

This is the female flower, or 'Larch rose'

and this is the male flower, just an untidy ball of stamens 

The views were amazing 

even the Bluebells were beginning to show 

Moschatal or town hall clock 

Opposite-leaved yellow saxifrage 

Moth trapping begins!

Some lovely spring moths to enjoy

  One of the first moths to arrive in the spring is the Common quaker  (Orthosia cerasi). 

This is a very typical pale brown specimen, although some specimens can be much more grey in colour

 This moth The Satellite( Eupsilia transversa) overwinters as an adult and can be found from late autumn right round to early spring

 Another common visitor to the trap is the Hebrew character (Orthosia gothica) ,which  can be very variable in colour as you can see from the photograph below. 

 This lovely moth is the Oak beauty (Biston strataria), a close relative of the Peppered moth (Biston betularia)  and always a welcome spring visitor.

Finally the Light-brown apple moth (Epiphyas postvittana) a common micro moth that can be found flying most of the year.

Strange sightings.........
Over the last few days I have noticed several would be spring flowers already in bloom, and it is still only the very beginning of January!

Walking on the Downs at Kithurst Hill on December 28th I found both

 Red campion 

 and bramble in flower

and the following day, I also found Blackthorn in flower

It will be interesting to see what other unseasonal offerings we get as the season continues!