It was time to start checking for Golden-ringed Dragonfly exuviae this week in Brede High Wood, and yesterday I was lucky to find two females in the final stages of emergence and still clinging to their exuvia.
This female took her maiden flight shortly after this picture was taken.
Always plenty to find in the woodland clearings and along the tracks and paths, butterfly highlights yesterday included at least 4 Dingy Skipper, 5 Brimstone and Common Blue. Several Broad-bodied Chaser were found hunting insects and Large Red Damselflies were present in good numbers around the bridge near Holmans Meadow, Slow Worm, Grass Snake and the day flying moth Mother Shipton were also found there.
A pair of Dingy Skipper, female bottom right.
The most likely culprit for this handywork is the Great Spotted Woodpecker. It does look as if the woodpeckers are trying to create a totem pole. Although I can’t tell what it is yet.
This standing dead tree trunk shows why it is important not to over manage the woodland and cut down every dead tree. Dead trees like this are clearly made use of by birds and insects alike. It might not be aesthetically pleasing to us to see them as we walk by, but they are necessary evils. The Woodland Trust at Brede High Wood are aware of this and that is why they leave trees like this standing if they are not a danger. Once you come across a tree like this, it is always fun to take a look as you pass by to see if there are any woodpeckers on it. There is a sizeable mound of chippings on the ground in front of the tree. Enough for a few hamster cages perhaps.
During a Woodland Trust Landscape Archaeological walk yesterday: Chiffchaff, 4 Buzzards, c2000 Woodpigeons + Stock Doves, 2 Hawfinches. See more on RXbirdwalks.
The Woodland Trust has this autumn undertaken an ambitious programme of habitat creation, aimed at opening up areas for the development of nationally-rare lowland heath. This has been achieved by the clearance of secondary woodland, felling post-war conifer plantations and removing birch scrub both situated on land which had been agricultural until the construction of Powdermill Reservoir in 1930.
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…not the history of kings and battles but that of everyday labour in the Wealden forest told in banks and ditches, was the history illuminated by Dr Nicola Banister, landscape archaeologist, in a walk at the Woodland Trust’s Brede High Woods on Saturday.
This map from c1800 shows that today’s forest was at that time a mosaic of woods and farmland.
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