After going on a Wildlife Walk with the Sussex Wildlife Trust around their project in the Pevensey Levels, I have begun to look more closely at what wildlife is living on and visiting us at Catsfield Christmas Tree Farm. There is a lot to write about.
Notable this September were several species of bats visiting from our neighbouring woodland for their evening hunts – I have a detector now but need an expert to make sure identifications. Even though the pond (widened ditch) is still dried out – we are happy for more rain please – there are still plenty Dragonflies cruising to and fro around Watermill Stream that flows through the farm.
In flower around the Christmas Trees among other weeds is Common Fleabane or Wild Marigold Pulicaria dysenterica which is attracting all manner of flying insects including the beautiful Clouded Yellow butterfly colias croceus fluttering by, never stopping for the camera.
But the star of the month goes to the gentle bees, occupying a cross-section of the carpark plantation. I think they are the solitary Ivy Mining Bees Colletes hederae nesting in the exposed clay earth in between the Christmas Trees. They are in flight from September to November, and I was delighted to see new excavations of their tunnels after a particularly rainy night on a sunny steamy morning.
