Brede High Woods Walk

Pett Nats had an outing on Saturday to Brede High Woods.  This woodland has a mixture of habitats, chief of which are heathland and woodland and the number of species we recorded makes it a bit of a biodiversity hotspot.  At one point Lynne stepped towards the long grass in an open area and was amazed by the number of insects suddenly jumping and flying around.

Most of the bird life was detected by identifying calls - great tits, blackcaps, long-tailed tits, and thrushes to name a few.  The nightingales that we thought we heard on the recce for the walk decided not to turn up for the main event.

There is a huge range of plant life in Brede High Woods - everything from hornbeam and chestnut coppice to the smallest plants like milkwort and speedwell.  The photos below show a good sample of what we saw on a very enjoyable stroll around this fascinating patch of nature.

Pale St. John's Wort

Meadow Brown - seen on the recce, only Speckled Wood and Red Admiral were seen on the walk proper.

Yellow-legged Solitary Bee - Andrena sp.

Common Blue Damselfly - seen on the recce.
Normally Brede High Woods has plenty of dragonflies
and they were about but none posed for photos.

Heath Speedwell - a pretty heathland species much in evidence.

Skullcap - Scutellaria galericulata

Green-legged Sawfly - Tenthredo mesomela seen on the recce

Hoverfly - Syrphus torvus

Common Milkwort - Polygala vulgaris

Silver-ground Carpet Moth - Xanthorhoe montanata

Scorpion Fly - Panorpa communis One of several similar species.
Note the scorpion-like end of his abdomen.

Tree Bumblebee - Bombus hypnorum

Enoplognatha ovata A common spider.
We saw both male and female on the same twig but the female didn't pose

Greater Bird's-foot Trefoil - Lotus pedunculatus.
Sadly not yet in flower.

Common Spotted-orchid -
Dactylorhiza fuchsii

Hoverfly - Eristalis pertinax

Micro-moth Nettle Tap - Anthophila fabriciana

Bee mimic hoverfly - Criorhina floccosa

Micro-moth Yellow-barred Long-horn - Nemophora degeerella

Hybrid Larch (probably)

Meadow Grasshopper - Chorthippus parallelus

Roesel's Bush-cricket - Metrioptera roeselii

not a Speckled Bush-cricket as I first thought

Malachite Beetle - Malachius bipustulatus

Common Green Grasshopper - Omocestus viridulus

Smooth Tare - Vicia tetrasperma

Swollen-thighed Beetle - Oedemera nobilis
Only the male has swollen thighs (probably for show)

Froghopper - Cercopis vulnerata

Robber Fly - Empis tessellata
These flies are usually predators of smaller flies, but this one
with his long proboscis is also partial to a bit of bramble nectar.