Elsewhere in Sussex

 This morning's walk wasn't exactly local but it is good to ditch the routine sometimes.

Obviously most of the plants are different from the Forest, but we were out for a walk rather than looking at the botany (in a former life I was a chalk grassland surveyor for English Nature, the Government body for Nature Conservation.) 

 It is a lovely time of year for looking at hedgerows though, with bright red haws on the Hawthorne and the fluffy seed heads of Old Man's Beard (probably better to call this Clematis vitalba but I always loved the name Traveller's Joy)

There were several colonies of Common blue butterflies, nicely colour-coordinated with the blue sky and the sloes but at the end of the walk the hedgerows were coated with the webs of Brown tail moth caterpillars. These caterpillars have hairs which can be highly irritating if you touch them and in some places they are considered to be a Public Health issue.  The infested hedgerow certainly didn't look as healthy as the others.

On a brighter note, we will take away much more positive memories of the day, like this fox moth caterpillar in the morning sun!