At its best?

The reserve is, perhaps, visually at its best just now.  The early dog-violets (Viola reichenbachiana) are like a patch of pale mauve-blue mist and contrast well with the rising stalks of Mrs Robb's spurge (Euphorbia amygdaloides robbiae).

Most of the dead leaves seem to have settled back into a flattish carpet and the grass is rising fresh and green through those in front of the limestone rock.

The nipplewort (Lapsana communis) is spreading its basal leaves and makes an attractive contrasting feature.  It is not the sort of plant that would be recommended for ornamental gardens but, like many wild things, it has a special grace, needs no attention and seems to be proof against the depredations of slug and caterpillar.  The leaves, apparently, can be used as salad or cooked like spinach and there was a time when it was cultivated for this purpose.  I prefer to leave mine to grow unmolested.

As it is spring I did a vascular plant audit of the reserve and, to date, 28 species have bee recorded in this small area.

First flowers of the year

Two flowers are properly out now, the spurge known as Mrs Robb's bonnet (Euphorbia amygdaloides subsp. robbiae) and the native early dog-violet (Viola reichenbachiana).    

The violet can be distinguished not only by its early flowering, but from the paler, more mauve tinged blossoms with a dark spur behind.

The violet is a British native and both were introduced to the reserve some years back, but persist happily and without asking too many questions.

Why The Satellite?

A noctuid moth turned up on the kitchen window yesterday that was identified (after some difficulty) as a satellite (Eupsilia transversa).

The English name comes from the small spot on each forewing which has usually two satellite spots beside it.  In this close up picture one satellite is quite clear, but the other, to the south west of the orange main spot, is very faint.

The moth is quite common in the British Isles and overwinters as an adult.

Spurge wood

The sudden heavy fall of snow has highlighted the young spurge plants that came up last year.  They are an exotic species that has appeared around the garden for many years and, when they flower, I shall have to make a concerted effort to work out their identity.  Clearly, their leaves are quite efficient at shedding snow.

Early moths

Two moths have appeared in KWR so far this year - a male winter moth and, yesterday, a cow-parsnip flat-body (Agonopterix heracliana), a species I have not come across before that must have been tempted out of hibernation in the mild weather that followed an extremely cold spell.  It is, however, a common species, though there are few records on the Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre's database.

Fallen leaves & feathered thorns

Many leaves have blown into the Kitchen Window Reserve over the last several weeks and I have decided to leave them and watch their progress and the effect they have on other plants.

Although we have had a couple of frosts, the large and rather beautiful feathered thorn moths (Colotois pennaria) have been quite common over several week period with one or two appearing regularly on the lighted windowpanes.

Hoverflies & corn-salads

Some good things on a rare sunny day.  Two hoverflies were feeding on ivy blossom: the drone fly (Eristalis tenax) and the much scarcer common bog hoverfly (Sericomyia silentis) pictured below.

I also noted the first mine, in a bramble leaf, of the golden pigmy moth (Stigmella aurella).

On the flora front I have decisively determined the corn-salad plants that continue to flower into the autumn.  They are all keel-fruited corn-salad (Valerianella carinata), a relatively scarce species and not, perhaps, one that would have been expected.

In examining the seeds under the microscope, I noticed that many had been broken into via a jagged hole on one side and the kernel eaten.  Perhaps a small beetle - I must try and find the culprits.