November 2023

No focus on climate change facts today, just a bit of natural history observation. Autumn is running late this year as we enjoy calm conditions and temperatures in the mid 20’s during the 1st 3rd of October. However, days are getting noticeably shorter as the Northern hemisphere of planet Earth spins away from the sun towards the shortest day solstice on December 22nd at 03:27 h. life adapts with migration and hibernation.

I went walking on the South Downs yesterday. It was a beautiful day with sheep grazing peacefully and Sussex Red cattle mostly lying down chewing the cud. There were flocks of several dozen skylarks hovering and calling to each other and generally ‘larking about’ with the joy of a warm bright day. Similarly, there were even larger flocks of meadow pipits doing similar things making their characteristic seep calls as they bounced around on the wing like a flock of very large gnats. Other notable birds were a red kite being mobbed by a carrion crow, and also a kestrel hovering statically as it watched for a vole or some other prey.

There is a dew pond near Ditchling Beacon, probably built hundreds of years ago by the shepherds of old, to maintain a supply of drinking water on the top of the chalk South Downs. Because chalk is porous, surface water is rare on chalk hills. However, for thousands of years, Sussex shepherds have grazed sheep up there. So, to provide water for humans and animals, the people dug these bowls, often in a natural depression in the chalk, with a diameter ranging from 15 to 30 metres. They lined the ponds with chalk ground down with the hooves of oxen that pulled a wide wheeled cart to smooth out the lumps. They often lined the pond base with Weald clay, and soot to deter earthworms from burrowing though and causing leaks, and straw to prevent the lining from cracking under the sun before the pond filled with water. Any moisture in the atmosphere would then fall in, or condense on the pond to eventually fill it. This should provide constant fresh water for a large community of animals and plants. I have even found rare and unusual fairy shrimps in the above mentioned dew pond, these are one of the most unusual species of animal known. They actually love living in ponds polluted with animal excrement and have the ability to live almost forever!

No focus on climate change facts today, just a bit of natural history observation. Autumn is running late this year as we enjoy calm conditions and temperatures in the mid 20’s during the 1st 3rd of October. However, days are getting noticeably shorter as the Northern hemisphere of planet Earth spins away from the sun towards the shortest day solstice on December 22nd at 03:27 h. life adapts with migration and hibernation.

I went walking on the South Downs yesterday. It was a beautiful day with sheep grazing peacefully and Sussex Red cattle mostly lying down chewing the cud. There were flocks of several dozen skylarks hovering and calling to each other and generally ‘larking about’ with the joy of a warm bright day. Similarly, there were even larger flocks of meadow pipits doing similar things making their characteristic seep calls as they bounced around on the wing like a flock of very large gnats. Other notable birds were a red kite being mobbed by a carrion crow, and also a kestrel hovering statically as it watched for a vole or some other prey.

There is a dew pond near Ditchling Beacon, probably built hundreds of years ago by the shepherds of old, to maintain a supply of drinking water on the top of the chalk South Downs. Because chalk is porous, surface water is rare on chalk hills. However, for thousands of years, Sussex shepherds have grazed sheep up there. So, to provide water for humans and animals, the people dug these bowls, often in a natural depression in the chalk, with a diameter ranging from 15 to 30 metres. They lined the ponds with chalk ground down with the hooves of oxen that pulled a wide wheeled cart to smooth out the lumps. They often lined the pond base with Weald clay, and soot to deter earthworms from burrowing though and causing leaks, and straw to prevent the lining from cracking under the sun before the pond filled with water. Any moisture in the atmosphere would then fall in, or condense on the pond to eventually fill it. This should provide constant fresh water for a large community of animals and plants. I have even found rare and unusual fairy shrimps in the above mentioned dew pond, these are one of the most unusual species of animal known. They actually love living in ponds polluted with animal excrement and have the ability to live almost forever!