WILDLIFE DIARY AND NEWS FOR NOV 13 - 19 (WEEK 46 OF 2017) Sun 19th November A cycle ride to Gunner Point finds Nottingham Catchfly in flower and increases my November flower count to 119. Another bright day with a light north west wind saw me riding west to Gunner Point at the entrance to Langstone Harbour, passing more newly flowering Cow Parsley in at least eight places but with little expectation of finding anything new for my month list. Nearing Gunner Point I thought it might be worth checking out an area at the start of the Sand Dunes which has a good variety of flowers in the spring and to my great surprise it had a single plant of Common Centaury with a good head of flowers, albeit closed as the warm sun had not yet reached them. Pressing on round the corner of the Golf Course to the bench where I normally stop for refreshment I parked my bike and walked to the small gorse-covered hillock where I had seen Nottingham Catchfly re-flowering on Oct 9 and to my astonishment one plant still had fresh flowers. Back on the bench for my sandwich break I watched a small speedboat keeping pace with a low-flying helicopter and then winching someone up from the boat - presumably a practice for the RNLI and aircrew as the Helicopter did not dash of towards a hospital with the 'recued person'. Nothing new seen on the way home but when I got back I checked to see if any of the plants seen this morning, and which I assumed were already on my November list, were in fact recorded on it and I found three which had been missed - Common Ragwort, Large Bindweed, and Red Hot Poker - bringing the total to 119. Sat 18th November (Link to previous day’s entry) My round-the-island cycle ride finds just five new flowers First Mistle Thrush song in a Mistletoe rich orchard Reeve's Pheasant seen in Devon. Friday Nov 17 was a great day to be out, with warm sunshine all day and only a light wind from the north. While having my breakfast I enjoyed the sight of a Red Admiral butterfly perched just outside my window, enjoying full sunlight and sheltered from the north wind. When I got on my bike and started up the old Billy Trail I was fearing that I would not find any new plants but I did find two before I reached the Oysterbeds - one was Scentless Mayweed, the other Self Heal. At the Oysterbeds I was hoping for a very early Dog Violet in the large patch of leaves around the gate into the field immediately north of the 'viewing mound' above the pools but had no success there though a little further north, opposite the northern exit from Oysterbeds area, I did find Greater Knapweed still in flower, and beside the track connecting the Billy Line to the carpark just south of Langstone Bridge, I had a real surprise in finding one plant of Wild Clary still flowering. As I left that carpark and was about to cross the busy Havant Road I saw a plant of Hedgerow Cranesbill in fresh flower to give me five new plants for this month and a November total of 115 species. Entering Northney village I found the big field south of the road had been ploughed, eliminating any chance of finding any of the arable weeds (such as Green Nightshade) which grow there, and North Common had no new plants but the old holiday camp boating pool, with it being high tide, had a full selection of Brent, ducks, and a Redshank roost. Nothing more on the ride home, but I was encouraged to see that John Goodspeed had found Cowslips flowering on Portsdown this week and Brian Fellows had found Hemlock Water-Dropwort flowering in Emsworth Two blog entries which caught my eye on the internet this week concerned a report of a Reeve's Pheasant seen in Devon and early Mistle Thrush song heard in an old,abandoned orchard in East Sussex where the trees are liberally covered with Mistletoe growth. The Pheasant has magnificent plumage with six-foot long tail feathers and is protected under our laws so that if any trigger-happy Pheasant shooter kills one he can be subject to a heavy fine, unlike the Chinese who have reduced the numbers in the bird's homeland to numbers similar to what can be found here in England. See a picture and read about the bird (not forgetting to click on the link in it to "the history of the pheasant" in the second paragraph) in an article from 'The Field' magazine which you can read here. The report of Mistle Thrush song comes from Cliff Dean (based in the Winchelsea/Pett area around Rye Bay). His latest blog entry (for Nov 17) is worth reading in full, and clicking on his link to 'Rat & Sparrow Clubs' which operated in the First World War to offer an inducement to destroy the Rats and Sparrows which diminished our food supplies. The link is to Cliff Dean's account of this Deserted Orchard Tue 14th November (Link to previous day’s entry) The first Celandine in flower and four other additions to my November flower list Portugese Man-of-War Jellyfish washed up on North Devon shore Young Herring Gulls stealing from shopping trolleys in Brighton I had not intended to go flower hunting today but I had to deliver a note to a friend in Bound Lane so despite the gloomy afternoon I got my bike out and rode there. In Bound Lane I have in past years found early Celandine flowers in a roadside ditch and today a close look revealed a single flower among a cluster of Celandine leaves in the bottom of this ditch - probably the earliest of my life! Encouraged by this find I cycled on towards Sinah Common but en route I spotted a single plant of White Comfrey with unseasonable flowers before reaching the Pale Toadflax site near the Inn on the Beach where at least three plants still had flowers. Returning to the Ferry Road I continued west as far as the Golf Club entrance road, passing a lone White Campion flower (an addition to my list) and specimens of both Winter Heliotrope and Cow Parsley (which I have already seen in November). Coming home via Sinah Lane and Park Road I stopped near the old West Town station to check a regular site for Perennial Wall Rocket and hidden among the mass of dead plant material I found a new plant of this species with many fresh flowers, bringing my November species total to 109. Among today's news on the internet was a report of more than 50 Portugese Man-of-War Jellyfish being washed up on the North Devon shore near the mouth of the River Taw flowing out from Barnstable. The report included a photo which you can see here. Another unseasonal report came from Chichester Harbour where a pair of Little Grebes was found nesting some four months after the normal end of their breeding season. Less unexpected was news from the Brighton area of this year's young Herring Gulls having learnt to steal from shopping trolleys in supermarket carparks - is this a sign that they have severed their connection with the sea and now have a round the year source of food? Mon 13th November (Link to previous day’s entry) Will the Sweet Chestnut Tree save humanity from succumbing to bacterial infection as our current antibiotics become ineffective? Most people are now aware that overuse of normal antibiotics has allowed the bacteria against which they are used to increasingly develop immunity to them, leaving our doctors powerless to save our lives when we are infected. However it seems that there is still hope that the ancient Romans will come to our rescue by their introduction of the Sweet Chestut tree into Britain. That is clearly nonsense but watching the Countryfile programme on TV yesterday I became aware that the leaves of Sweet Chestnut trees contain chemical elements that do not kill the bacteria but 'disarm' them. If you read the article to which I will provide a link you will know as much as I do about this so have a look at this document. For more about the Sweet Chestnut tree here is a page on it from the Ancient Tree Forum website, clearly written before its use against MRSA was widely known. To see this page use this link.. Returning to normality I have just read of a fresh Meadow Brown butterfly being seen at Mill Hill (Shoreham) on Nov 10 bringing the number of butterfly species seen flying in November this year to 13. Also seen this month has been the Hummingbird Hawkmoth (3 reports) and 5 Dragonfly species. Wildlife diary and news for Nov 6 - 12 (Week 45 of 2017) (Skip to previous week) Sun 12th November (Link to previous day’s entry) At least three Brent families with young seen locally Recent increases in numbers of Black-Necked and Great Crested Grebes in our coastal waters Grey Herons mating at Langstone, an Italian Sparrow in Devon, and more on the unprecedented influx of Hawfinches. Sightings of juvenile Brent are at last being reported but in very small numbers suggesting they have had a very poor breeding season. The first report I saw was of a family with three young at Church Norton on Nov 6, reported on the Selsey Blog.