Plumpton Wildlife & Habitat Group has
a new website at http://plumptonwildlifegroup.weebly.com
Please visit the site for information
about all our projects, events and work projects and wildlife sightings in
the parish - and to tell us your wildlife news.
Jubilee Wildflower Meadow
We officially launched the Plumpton Jubilee Wildflower Meadow on Monday 4 June at the Jubilee Village Fair. The meadow is being created on the King George V Playing Fields, on the slope leading down to the stream at the northern end. We are working with Glyn Wells to introduce a mowing regime that will enable the flowers to seed and spread.
 Plumpton Wildlife & Habitat Group had its own stand at the fair, where we gave away leaflets on making your garden wildlife-friendly and creating a mini wildflower meadow, and sold bee-friendly plants to raise funds. We also asked people to sponsor an orchid for the meadow, which proved very popular.
NEWS! Out now! The report of our survey of Plumpton's wildlife habitats, edited by Jacqui Hutson and fully illustrated with photos and maps. The booklet is available FREE from Plumpton Green village shop and the station, but if you make a donation (we suggest a minimum of £1.00) it will help cover the costs of the next survey. Download the Booklet as a pdf:
Download our January Newsletter:
Search for the Brown Hairstreak
On the chilly but bright afternoon of 7 December, fifteen people (not all
Plumpton residents) accompanied Michael Blencowe's hunt for the eggs of the
brown hairstreak butterfly in the hedges to the west of Plumpton Station.
Michael explained how the butterflies spend their time high in the canopy
where they feed on the honeydew secreted by aphids. This behaviour means
that they are seen rarely but the female descends to lay her eggs on
blackthorn in late summer. She is very choosy, laying single eggs in the
forks of young twigs quite low down and in positions where the warmth of the
sun will be sufficient for caterpillar development in the following spring.
Unfortunately the twigs she selects are very often the suckers that grow
outside the hedge line and are the ones that fall victim to the flail
machines in the autumn. Landowners could really help the conservation of
this butterfly by cutting back blackthorn suckers on a rotational basis,
leaving some sections uncut every year and sparing at least some of the next
generation of butterflies. The brown hairstreak is a species restricted to
southern England and Plumpton is its easternmost recorded location in
Sussex. We found seven eggs.
 The Great Egg Hunt Photo courtesy of Ian Seccombe
Brown Hairstreak Egg Photo courtesy of Ian Seccombe
SHLAA and housing development
Public consultation opens in August. For the PWHG report please go to Surveys Station As part of the Station Partnership Scheme we
have created two wildflower areas. Sparrow boxes have now been installed using funding received from ACorP. The area was cut during the first week of September when the Toadflax had set seed. There will be two further cuttings over the winter. Trout Sea Trout spawned on stretches that the Sussex Ouse Conservation Society (SOCS) worked on last summer. One is on the Bevern near Novington Lane and the other is on the Plumpton Mill stream. Spawning sea trout, Bevern
Stream - Jon Wood (30/12/10)
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The following people very kindly sponsored an orchid.
Irene Homer Sue Bromage Judith and Ian Miller Gill Biss Evelyn Botterel Julie Russell Jean Eagle Tony Everett Frank Bex Sally Everett Mike Allen Annemarie Allen Peter Baker Liz Halliday Julia Hadden Rosalie Sinclair-Smith Jean Walker Ruth Cartwright Carol Turner and two anonymous sponsors.
Thank you all. The funds will be used to add to the wildflower species in the meadow.
Plumpton’s wildlife habitats - A Survey Edited by Jacqui Hutson A major triumph this year was the publication of the wildlife habitat survey that the group carried out in 2004, prior to the formal launch of PW&HG. The fully illustrated booklet reports the findings of our fieldwork to survey the varied habitats of the parish and the kinds of flora likely to be found within its boundaries. The booklet was funded with a grant from the newly formed South Downs National Park Authority. Dormouse survey We now have the first official record of dormice for Plumpton! A nest was found Slime mould
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