I went to school in Brighton for two years back in the late 70s and have had a soft spot for the place ever since. Now, half a century on, our son and his wife have moved to Hove and are loving it too. We went to visit them this week and stayed a few nights in an apartment close to Hove seafront.

On our first evening there, we walked east along the seafront to the end of Brighton’s Palace Pier. The essence of the seafront and of Palace Pier itself has remained largely unchanged in the intervening fifty years. The West Pier, however, was looking rather sorry for itself:

The West Pier opened in 1866 and a concert hall was then added in 1916. The pier reached its peak popularity around this time, with two million visitors between 1918 and 1919. However, visitor numbers then started declining and its owners could not no longer meet its maintenance costs. They eventually filed for bankruptcy in 1965 and the pier was closed to the public because of safety concerns in 1975. When I was living in Brighton a couple of years later, it was on sale for a mere £100, so long as you could then guarantee to spend the million pounds or so that was required to repair it. Sadly, this never happened and parts of the pier began to fall into the sea. Two major fires in 2003, thought to be arson, led to it being declared beyond repair:

There is now a golden spiral art installation on the seafront made out of twenty-four cast-iron columns salvaged from the ruined pier:

As we stood on the Palace Pier and looked towards the West Pier, the sun was going down at the end of the day:

And the seafront was alive with young people

Throughout the winter Brighton is famous for its starling murmuration where the birds dance in the sky before settling down to spend the night underneath both piers. By now these birds will have left for their breeding grounds but Dave and I still inspected with interest the pilings where they will be roosting again this autumn:

Jonny took a photo of the Brighton starling murmuration around the Palace Pier back in November:

We were on Hove seafront on the next evening of our stay and there was another amazing sunset:

Brighton is also famous for being the last outpost for elm trees in the UK. In 1967 Dutch Elm disease came to Britain on some infected elm timber from North America. It’s a micro fungal disease carried by the elm bark beetle which feeds on the wood beneath the bark, spreading the disease as it moves from tree to tree. As a result of the arrival of this disease, twenty-five million elms were felled nationwide in an unsuccessful attempt to stop it.

Brighton, however, took a different approach. They pruned out infected branches at the first sight of infection, set bait traps for elm bark beetles at the city limits and dug trenches between neighbouring trees to prevent the disease passing across by root contact. This, together with the natural physical barrier of the treeless South Downs to the north, the English Channel to the south, a prevailing southwesterly wind across sea rather than land and an early warning helpline has helped Brighton keep much of its elm population.

Other than in Brighton, only around 1,000 mature elm trees survive in Britain. Brighton, however still has around 17,000 of them, many planted in Georgian and Victorian times when the city became a fashionable seaside resort. The trees grow well on the chalky soil and in the salty sea air. They weren’t quite in leaf for our visit this week but, once we got our eye in for what the bark looked like, we were pleased to spot elm trees all over the place. It is a sad fact that we had never properly seen mature elms before.

The Preston Twins were a pair of English elm trees (Ulmus minor ‘Atinia’) planted about 1613 in Preston Park in Brighton that were believed to be the oldest and largest English Elms in the world. However, in the summer of 2018 the eastern twin tragically became infected by Dutch elm disease although it didn’t show any symptoms until summer 2019 by which time the disease had spread to the roots. A trench was immediately dug between the two twins to sever any connecting roots in an attempt to save the other tree and the eastern twin was then cut down.

Now, though, the eastern twin has returned, once more standing next to its remaining twin. The artist Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva removed and burned the diseased bark and then preserved the wood beneath, turning it into a sculpture called The Gilded Elm to raise awareness of Dutch elm disease.

The Knepp Estate is a 3,500 acre pioneering rewilding project lying twenty-five kilometres to the north of Brighton. After years of losing money trying to grow arable crops and keep a diary herd on the heavy clay soil, the decision was made in 2000 to stop farming altogether. Instead, roaming herds of longhorn cattle, Exmoor ponies, Tamworth pigs and deer shape the land and the results have been pretty spectacular as wildlife has returned to recolonise the land in droves.

Enormous increases in numbers of critically endangered nightingales, turtle doves and purple emperor butterflies are often quoted as their most notable successes, but there is also so much more to celebrate.

On one of the days we were in Hove, we drove up to Knepp to walk some of the footpaths around the estate.

Looking out over the rewildling project:

Old English longhorn cattle create diverse habitats on the land through their grazing, browsing and churning of the soil:

Thorny scrub patches act as natural cages, protecting tree seedlings from being eaten by the herbivores:

Six raised tree platforms around the estate allow visitors far-reaching views over the land. I am very envious of all their many beautiful oak trees:

This second tree platform looked out over the River Adur that runs through the estate:

In recent years beavers have been reintroduced onto the River Adur, creating further habitat types and increasing biodiversity. Since 2016 white storks, once a breeding bird in Britain, are also being reintroduced. The storks first bred there in 2020 and the colony has been growing rapidly with 53 chicks fledging in 2024.

Some of the original reintroduced storks came from Warsaw zoo where injured wild birds are recuperated. Although they can now fly, they can’t fly well enough to migrate and they remain at Knepp over the winter. On our visit this week the migrating birds are yet to return for the summer, but we still saw four storks:

We also spotted a man-made stork nest on the roof of one of the estate cottages. It looks like this one hasn’t been used yet though:

Using my telephoto lens I got distant photos of the two treehouses that you can stay in on the estate:

This was of particular interest to us because the treehouse on the right is where our son Jonty proposed to his girlfriend, now his wife, Ellie. Touchingly, he was so nervous as he prepared to propose that he tripped over and fell on his face.

Although we ourselves would never choose to live in a city, I can completely see why Jonny and Hayley love Hove so much. It is a vibrant place with some beautiful architecture and many lovely shops, cafes and restaurants.

There is always a lot going on such as the men’s cold-water dipping group that Jonny attends and took Dave along to this week. The men meet on a Sunday morning at Hove beach for sea swimming, connection, and peer support and Dave found the whole experience very uplifting:

I think Dave’s arty photo taken from the Palace Pier as the sun went down is a suitable choice with which to finish this week:

We fitted quite a lot into our few days at Brighton and Hove but there is much more still to do, and we are looking forward to getting to know the city better over the coming years.

Tawny owls are early breeders and possible nest sites are checked out as early as October and November. Eggs are usually laid in March, followed by hatching and owlets appearing in April. We may still be having bouts of some pretty wintery weather at the moment but I am fairly confident that a pair of tawny owls are already nesting in one of the boxes in the wood this year.

Back in 2022 it was this same box that delivered us our finest wildlife moment when the Johns ringed two tawny owl chicks that were being reared in there:

Although we didn’t have the trail camera in a great position, we did get some photos of the chicks in the days following the ringing as they became more adventurous, perching on branches around the box:

About a week after the Johns ringed the chicks, the adult owls were photographed luring the young to fledge by perching nearby with food:

And then it was all over – the chicks left the box and were not seen again. Four years on and there has been no record sent to the BTO (who organise the British ringing scheme) of those ringed tawnies so we don’t know the next chapter in their stories. Hopefully they are now happily raising their own young somewhere.

Since that successful fledging in 2022, each spring there seemed to be a battle between the owls and the squirrels to see who could claim supremacy and nest in the box. Sadly the squirrels always won out, although stock doves also raised two broods in there last year after the squirrels had left.

But this year the owls have once more gained possession of the box. Food is being brought in but, still in mid March, this must surely be for the adult that is sitting on eggs rather than to feed young:

In fact, every night a lot of mice are arriving at the box:

We have just swapped the camera at this box over and are only now getting better photos. The previous camera was registering a lot of owl action but the camera was full of water and quality was not great

There is a shallow pool made out of a painters tray in the same clearing as the box, and the owls have been frequently coming down to that, both at night and by day:

We will be following the progress of these owls with much interest over the coming weeks.

Last year a clump of frogspawn was laid in a new pond dug in the marjoram clearing. This must have been the first spawn in the wood for many, many years since there are no signs of there ever having been a pond before. However, the few weeks following the laying of the spawn last year were very dry, the water level got very low and a grass snake also took up residence. As a result, I don’t believe that a single tadpole survived to emerge from the water as a frog.

This year, although our woodland neighbour reported that spawn had arrived in her wood some time ago, our pond remained resolutely empty of any amphibian activity. Then, last week, I saw on the camera that a single male frog had arrived and was staging a solitary vigil for a female. He was on his own in there for several nights:

When we next visited the wood, it was fantastic to see that his persistence had paid off and a female had indeed arrived for him. A clump of spawn was now nestling in amongst the weed:

Should we have another dry spring this year, I will certainly ensure that the water level in this pond is kept topped up this time to give these little things the best possible chance.

Sparrowhawks come to this same pond daily to have a bath:

An unknown mustelid has visited the wood several times this week although never showing its face. Polecat, feral ferret or a hybrid between the two? We do not know.

But rabbits will probably make up 60% of this predator’s diet:

Woodcock haven’t been seen on the cameras recently and have now probably left on their long journey back to their breeding grounds. Redwings are still here though:

Strong winds overnight on Thursday brought a tree crashing down across one of the clearings as a dramatic reminder to us not to visit the wood in high winds:

Across in the meadows, a fox with the beginnings of mange is now coming to the nightly peanuts and, looking at her tummy, I would say that she is pregnant:

It is some time since I last treated our resident foxes for mange, but I have now swung into action once more. This is not only to try to cure this pregnant vixen, but also to protect the other foxes living here with her:

There is still a month to go before any badger cubs that may be underground are allowed up so that we can get a look at them. Meanwhile the adults are going about their daily business:

And this is a funny photo I think:

We found this common shrew under a reptile sampling square. What a lovely shiny nose it has:

It is larger and greyer than the pygmy shrews that we often find in the dormice boxes in the wood.

Although kestrels are primarily after field voles, they will also eat a shrew particularly when vole numbers are low:

On 15th April 2015, Dave, the dog and I visited Iffley Meadows beside the Thames at Oxford. This is a famous April spectacle where thousands of snake’s-head fritillaries grow wild in the wet water meadows there:

We had actually visited on the day of the annual count by the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) – there had been 85,000 of these amazing plants counted the previous year:

Snake’s-head fritillaries also grow well in Walmer Castle grounds near our meadows in Kent, although these have been planted:

Even though it was not a sunny day, early bumblebees, Bombus pratorum, were working their way from flower to flower. They disappear right up into the flower and emerge with yellow pollen all over their backs:

We found several pine ladybirds, Exochomus quadripustulatus, on apple trees in the kitchen garden. Here one is with a 7-spot ladybird to show the size difference:

A pair of mating pine ladybirds with their distinctive red commas:

The rookery in the grounds has become very active at this time of year and large numbers of noisy rooks are returning there at dusk:

Elsewhere in the gardens is this statue of the Roman God Mercury:

One of the participants of this week’s wildlife tour noticed that Mercury has hibernating harlequin ladybirds tucked around the back of his neck:

And we were amused to see that this wasn’t the only place he had ladybirds:

And on that disturbing note I will finish for today. We are really enjoying spring as she gradually unfurls herself and I am hoping to get better photos of the nesting owls for next time.

Last week we stayed in a cottage on Curry Farm in east Essex, a 65 acre private nature reserve near Bradwell-on-Sea on the Blackwater Estuary.

To my mind, Essex is a much underestimated county – this part in the east has lots of rivers and estuaries, and is really very rural with a lot of wildlife to be seen.

Stephen Dewick and his wife Jean live at Curry farm today but it was Stephen’s late father who bought the farm back in 1932 and apples and then cereals were grown there until the early 1990s. Now, however, the land is totally given over to wildlife conservation. Stephen, like his father before him, has been extremely interested in macro moths his entire life and, incredibly, a moth trap has been run at Curry Farm on an almost nightly basis since 1946!

But it’s not any old moth trap because it is apparently the largest in the country. It is a purpose built building with soil banked up around its sides to keep it cool and a light on the roof to bring the moths in:

The light has a 400 watt high-UV bulb:

Moths are drawn to the light and fall into a large funnel around it, leading down into the room below:

Every day of our stay we went into the moth trap with Stephen to inspect the day’s catch, while he told us about the interesting moths he has caught at Curry Farm over the years. Even though it is still only early March, he is already getting a lot of moths and I cannot imagine what it will be like in there over the summer. Rather than counting and logging every moth, though, each day he records which macro moths are new for the year as well as always being on the look out for any rarities.

In 1951 one such rarity to the UK was first recorded at Curry Farm by his father and the moth was named after him – the Dewick’s Plusia moth. Until recently this moth has been a very rare immigrant to this country but has now almost certainly started breeding here. Recorded sightings of this moth have surged since 2018 in southern and eastern counties. Who knows, perhaps I will find one on my trap at home this summer:

One sunny morning of our stay we spent time exploring the reserve. Stephen is kept pretty busy because he manages it all entirely on his own:

The nearby Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall is one of the oldest, largely intact churches in England and is still in regular use:

Just beyond St Peter-on-the-Wall, there is the Bradwell shell bank, now a 30 acre nature reserve where apparently little tern and ringed plover breed:

As we walked along the shell bank, we were amazed to see such huge numbers of dark-bellied brent geese feeding on the winter wheat in some poor farmer’s field:

The reason we were in Essex was to go on two separate Naturetrek birding days. The first of these was in the Heybridge Basin, near Maldon. Unfortunately it was a foggy day which wasn’t great for looking at birds, but at least it was calm and dry:

Although the fog remained the entire time, we spent a gentle day strolling along the estuary in a small group of interesting people, with our expert guide Neil showing us many more birds than we would otherwise have noticed:

On the second Naturetrek day trip we met Neil again at the RSPB Wallasea reserve. This is a brand new and really interesting reserve and one that we will definitely return to whenever we are in the area. Between 2011 and 2015, over 3 million tonnes of spoil from London’s newly dug Crossrail tunnels were transported to Essex to create the reserve. This earth was used to raise the low-lying land, construct new sea defenses, and create a 740-hectare habitat of lagoons, mudflats, and salt marshes

By lunchtime we had already built up a list of sixty bird species that had been spotted. We’d had good views of a hen harrier and this photo below is of a greater scaup and a red breasted merganser – both birds that I have very rarely seen:

When Dave was a boy living in north Devon in the early 1970s, a little egret turned up on the nearby estuary resulting in a major bird twitch that he can still remember clearly. Little egrets were only occasional vagrants in the UK until the 1980s but now it is estimated that there are 2,500 breeding pairs here:

Similarly, when Dave and I started getting properly interested in birds about twenty years ago, the Mediterranean gull was still quite a notable and exciting bird. At Wallasea, however, there are now whole islands full of them:

Brown hares are plentiful along the coastal areas of Essex and we enjoyed seeing them throughout our stay there, although rarely managing a photo. Here are three having a little rest from their chasing around and boxing at Wallasea:

Unfortunately it started raining soon after lunch, scuppering our chances of seeing the short-eared owls and barn owls that are regular on the reserve.

We had a really good few days in Essex. It isn’t so very far away from us here in Kent and, such is the lure of the walk-in moth trap, that we have now booked to stay there again for a few nights this summer.

How many moths will be in this trap each morning when we revisit Curry Farm in August?