Looking at Birch trees on the Firehills yesterday in the hope of finding a Parent Bug yielded a different shieldbug, the Forest Bug, also known as the Red-legged Shieldbug. I have recorded this one before but not in the Country Park and this is only the second record that I can find for the Country Park either on iRecord or the NBN Atlas, so a worthwhile find. This is not yet an adult but in it’s final instar stage.
Hawthorn blossom can now be seen all over the Country Park and a good place to see it is in the Quarry.
Also in the Quarry can be seen a carpet of Sheep’s Sorrel in bloom where we cut the gorse near the large rock.
Right now is a very good time to visit Brakey Bank. There are Bluebells, Red Campion, Greater Stitchwort and Yellow Archangel all out in flower. To coincide like this does not happen every year, so is well worth a look. There is some Lesser Celandine just hanging on as well. Highlight for me this morning was finding 2 White Campion plants just by the footpath. I do not recall seeing it there before.
I think that everyone that I met yesterday was agreed that it was not much of a day, so it was quite a surprise for the sun to make an appearance late in the afternoon and we were treated to the unusual sight of a rainbow on the Firehills. Shortly, along came the Coastguard helicopter and my fellow dog walkers speculated that they must be out looking for the pot of gold!
This website would like to wish all our visitors and fellow users of Hastings Country Park a Happy Christmas and much enjoyment of the Country Park’s natural resources in the New Year.
With the days getting shorter at the moment, an afternoon walk can end with a dramatic sunset. There have been a number of quite photogenic ones recently and here are a couple of those taken from the Firehills.
Well last Friday, yes it was, a Grey Dagger in fact. As an adult moth I would have struggled to identify it as it is extremely similar to the Dark Dagger and I would have most likely got it wrong. Fortunately the caterpillars are easier and I have to say more interesting with their bright colours. The adult moth’s flight season is in June, so this caterpillar has hatched from this years eggs and will overwinter in it’s pupal state (chrysalis) to emerge as an adult next year. Of all places it was making it’s way down Coastguard Lane! Not sure if this is a first for the Country Park but the NBN Atlas shows well over 15,000 records for this species but none in the Country Park.
Having become used to the sight of Stonechat on the Firehills, I nearly missed this one, the very similar looking Whinchat that has come to the coast ready for it’s autumn migration to spend the winter in Africa. Many other species of birds will also be seen arriving around now at the Country Park, embarking on similar journeys.
I first spotted this fungus probably about a couple of weeks ago, just emerging from the bark of a dead birch in the “Plantation”. It was just a white sphere then but has now developed into something that I have been able to identify. A “bracket” fungus which has no stem (stipe) and whose spores come out of tiny pores (see bottom photo) unlike mushrooms where they come from gills under the cap. A lot of other fungi appearing at the moment particularly on the cleared areas of the Firehills, so more to follow on this subject.
Having recently recorded some of the common and easily recognisable fungi that I have found in the Country Park, I came across this in the “Plantation”, the wood to the east of the Firehills. Using the key in a book I recently acquired I was able to get an identification quite quickly, much easier than looking at page after page of photos on the internet. It is Oudemansiella mucida and has the common name of Porcelain fungus which is rather apt. The dark spots are not part of the fungus but just little specks that have landed on the caps.
Hastings Country Park N R CONSERVATION GROUP 