The Devil's Dyke | Sussex | National Trust and Newtimber Hill Saddlescombe Farm and Newtimber Hill | National Trust are adjacent to each other, lying just north of Brighton in the South Downs National Park. In the Summer they can be reached on the Brighton and Hove 77 bus, from the centre of Brighton (weekends only except from 12 June to 29 August 2023 when the bus runs daily) 77 - Devil's Dyke-Brighton Pier | Brighton & Hove Buses
The photographs are in the chorological order of my walk (10.45 - 15.30)
All sections of text in italics are quotations, sources sited.
All identifications are provisional; if you note a mistake in identification please feel free to tell me, or if you want to contact me about any aspect of this blog, email me at simeon[underscore]elliott[at]gmail[dot]com.
Devil's Dyke
Sycamore Coppice/Plantation
A "love heart" obscured two liverworts and a lichen: Radula complanata, Metzgeria furcata and Phlyctis argena, on Sycamore.
On the top of the Dyke, south to north
Wall, Lasiommata megera
Cruciata laevipes, Smooth Bedstraw
Buzzard, Buteo buteo
Meadow Pippit, Anthus pratensis
Linnet, Linaria cannabina. Red List
Kidney Vetch, Anthyllis vulneraria. The only caterpillar plant of the Small Blue Butterfly; both chalk specialists.
Sheep's Sorrel, Rumex acetosella
Another Wall, Lasiommata megera
Common Vetch, Vicia sativa
Bird's-foot Trefoil, aka "Egg and Bacon", Lotus corniculatus. It’s the main food plant for a wide range of butterflies. These include the Common blue Polyommatus icarus, Dingy skipper Erynnis tages, Clouded yellow Colias croceus, Green Hairstreak Callophrys rubi, Wood white Leptidea sinapis, and Silver-studded blue Plebejus argus. Bird’s-foot Trefoil: An Excellent Plant - Lizzie Harper
Burnet sp, Poterium sp.
Germander Speedwell, Veronica chmaedrys
Common Milkwort, Polygala vulgaris chalk specialist. Substantial decline in distribution since the 1960s, including in Sussex Weald as a result of loss of grassland & heath
Windblown Pendulate Oak, Quercus robur; on the top of the Devil's Dyke
Epiphytes on this Pendulate oak, Quercus robur,
Xanthoria parientina
Flavoparmelia soredians
Parmontrema perlatum
Frullania dilatata, Dilated Scalewort
Possibly, Ulota phyllantha, Frizzled Pincushion
Melanelixia subauifera
Common Twayblades, Neottia ovata. In line with Orchis anthropophora, the Man Orchid, I propose an additional, post StrangerThings, vernacular name for Neottia ovata: the Demogorgon Orchid.
Brimstone, Gonepteryx rhamni
Into the woods; the ancient woodland at the north of the Devils's Dyke
Lesser Celandine, Ficaria verna
Common Dodder, Cuscuta epithymum
Funarria hygrometrica, BonfireMoss, growing on area of chalk grassland with charcoal from burnt wood, on the path that descends through the wood at the north of characteristic of old bonfire sites Funaria hygrometrica - British Bryological Society
Jay, Garrulus glandarius. In the woods, with oaks, to the north-east of Devil's Dyke. It's good for our oak woods that Jays haven't got perfect spatial memory for the acorns they bury.
Wild garlic, Allium ursinum
Forked veilwort, Metzgeria furcata on an Oak
Possibly Leskea poycarpa, Many-fruited Leskea
Worn Peacock Aglais io; probably a butterfly that overwintered in a dormant state
Silene dioica, Red Campion, growing on/with Thamnobryum alopercurum, Fox-tail Feather-Moss (?), on dead oak (?) trunk. I see S. dioica in woods a lot, but not seen it growing on moss/dead wood before.
Heart's tongue Fern, Asplenium scolpendrium
Walking along the bottom of the Dyke
Small Heath, Coenonympha pamphilus
Male Common Blue, Polyommatus icarus
Green Hairstreak, Callophrys rubi
Common Heath Moth, Ematurga atomaria
Dingy Skipper, Erynnis tages
Tyme-leaved Sandwort, Arenaria serphyllifolia
Hound's Tongue,Cynoglossum officinale
Small Heath, Coenonympha pamphilus
Newtimber Hill
Common Sorrel, Rumex acetosa
A Pendulate Oak, Quercus robur, leaf from 2022
Dingy Skipper, Erynnis tages
Another Dingy Skipper
White Dead Nettle, Lamium album
Water Crowfoot, Ranunculus aquatilis in the pond at Sedlescombe Farm
Germander Speedwell,Veronica chamaedrys
Male Taleporia tubulosa moth on gorse
Common Milkwort, Polygala vulgaris
Bottom of Devil's Dyke, with Newtimber Hill in the background
