Nature Notes: May 2025

SPRING IN FULL SWING!

Highlights of April: Sunshine, warmth and the explosion of vibrant wild flowers, buds, leaves, butterflies, bees and hoverflies in our fields and hedgerows; soft fine drifting mizzle mid-month, releasing the lush fragrance of our bluebell and anemone woods; a pair of Pied Flycatchers darting for insects; wild 'white' violets at the top of Clapgate Lane; a barrel-rolling buzzard in a stunning, aerobatic mating display; a tawny mining bee chasing off a red-tailed bumble bee investigating his nest hole; the sweet song of a returning nightingale and the joyous swoop of swallows and house martins; blessings of blackthorn blossom like bridal confetti; drifts of numerous wiggling tadpoles in the furnace lakes swimming through the reflections of trees in the water, as if dancing through clouds; caterpillars launching at the end of the month.

Lowlights: finding a dead female blackbird not far from her nest; birds struggling to find 'mud' from the hard ground to build with - crows and jackdaws flying off with solid chunks of clay from the sun-baked mound of churchyard earth to somehow incorporate into their twiggy piles; the return of biting insects at dawn; the RSPB's 2025 Big Garden Birdwatch revealing the lowest number of starlings ever recorded; a marble cat on the roof of the Rowfold barn at the entrance to a starling nest, stopping an agitated parent from darting under the eaves to feed her young.

Key messages: Be extra vigilant with your pets this crucial nesting month - estimates suggest cats kill between 40 and 70 million birds annually in the UK and Robin and Dunnock nests are particularly vulnerable as they tend to be nearer the ground.

When out and about be mindful of ground-nesting birds and new-born fawns in long grass and keep your dogs close by and controlled, if they're off leads.

What to look for/listen to this month: Swift arrivals, perhaps en route to or from one of their favourite roosts in the spire of St Mary's Church, Billingshurst; tree pipits; the call of a cuckoo; cockchafers (May Bugs); mating hedgehogs; yellow dung flies; hawkmoths.

What you're more likely to see/hear: frothy hedgerows of cow parsley and pignut dotted with campion, meadow buttercups, clover and cowslips; discarded eggshells; edible elderflower heads, dandelions, garlic mustard, nettles, common sorrel and wild garlic.

What you can do to help:

1) Connect with nature through the symphony of birdsong at dawn.

2) This 'No Mow May', let's follow other villages and stop mowing our road verges and other open spaces (in addition to our lawns), enabling wildflowers and long grass, to boost biodiversity.

3) Take part in #TeamBat #TeamNewt National Day on 24th May dedicated to bringing together grassroots planning & environmental campaigns to support each other.