Rosemary Staples on Levin Down
April 2002
Vi’lets, luverly vi’lets!
Despite
everything they are popping up all over Levin Down. The weather has been
foul, the rabbits have eaten everything in sight and still our luverly
vi’Iets are there, bless ‘em! Blue ones, white ones, mauve ones, smelly
ones and non-smelly ones. Who cares? Just to see their delicate little
faces gives me such a lift. And don’t we need a lift: earlier in the
month we had a few days that could have been Spring, then what happens?
The blackthorn starts to flower and BANG, back to Winter again. I know
it happens every year, but it always takes me by surprise.
On March 7th, which was one
of those nice days I was talking about, we saw on Levin Down a lovely
Comma butterfly AND two adders basking in the sun. Now that was a real
surprise, to see them so early. I used to be terrified of snakes, not
that one had ever done me any harm, but it was just the idea of them,
imagining that they would be cold and slimy. But I was persuaded to pick
up a Slowworm and it was not slimy at all, just warm and dry and
wriggly. Anyway, I am not saying I would pick up an Adder; no fear! But
I do now like to have a good look whenever I see one. They are so
beautifully marked, and I know that as long as I keep my distance I am
safe; in fact they quickly glide away as soon as they detect my
presence. Can’t blame them, I suppose. Adders do have a bad press, I
know, but fact is in the last 125 years there have been only 95 human
deaths from Adder bites in the whole of Europe, 14 of those in Britain.
(I have to confess here that we have just got a PC and I am becoming
addicted to finding things out on the Internet).
There are masses of tiny Cowslip plants pushing their way up on the top meadow on the East side of the hill. Incidentally, the meadow has been mowed with this wonderful machine that cuts the scrub, chews it up finely, then spits it out in large heaps around the edge of the area. Apparently it is necessary to clear the cuttings, because if they were left on the ground they will compost down and enrich the soil, and if you want downland flowers the soil needs to be impoverished. So there!
The Junipers and the Yews seem to be at war with each other. The Sussex Wildlife Trust volunteers have been thinning the Yews on the South slope, as they shade the Junipers which are a bit dodgy in places. The hounds tongue is starting to come up all around the rabbit warren again, and the Hawthorn and Privet are budding up. The Green Woodpeckers are yaffling, and we have seen flocks of Long tailed Tits twittering away in the bushes, no doubt deciding where to set up home this year, and who with.
I hope
that April brings some proper Spring weather, then you can all get out
and about on Levin Down and see for yourselves what I am seeing.
The
Sussex Wildlife Trust is always
looking for more volunteers for their conservation work as well as new
members. So anyone interested in any way please ring them at Woods
Mill
Tel. 01273 492630