Tuesday 1 August 2017

Weekend in Arundel

Spent the weekend in Arundel camping with the family and visiting the Castle and the Wildfowl and Wetlands centre. Amazing traditional aristocratic management of the whole area by the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk- keen conservationists and green space managers whose control of the area, including the local farmland is a world leading example of modern development, nature-friendly landscape management and successful containment of modern threats- stunning area. Benevolent aristocracy at its best (Previous posts here ). 

Here's a few pics with provisional ids (please feel free to comment on ids): 

River Arun looking over towards Arundel Cathedral, Castle and Town 
Some kind of Ant-lion/ Caddis at the moth trap at the camp site
Water Forget-me-not and Marsh Mint at the wetland centre
Wild Angelica at the wetland centre
Yellow Loosestrife at the wetland centre 
Vervain at the Wetland Centre (NO! It's Marsh Valerian-cheers Steve!) 
Marsh Mallow growing on the banks of the River Arun 
Fern- a moth lifer. Caught it in the camping site. Only a few moths in the cool conditions including a few Rosy Footmans.
Grey-pine Carpet
Buzzards and Raven over the wetland centre 
Jackdaw sun bathing at the wetland centre
Orinoco Goose (South America) and Radjah Shelduck in background (Australia)- the wildfowl collection at the WWT centre- a handy place to learn a few global species 
Jousting at the Castle !
The Camping Set-up- extended the operation to include a 3 man tent. Now got a complete mobile natural history exploration unit, complete with chemical toilet facilities and off grid electricity and gas. Planning on doing some foreign trips and also some UK trips, hopefully into some new areas and recording into recording schemes such as I-record and E-bird. 
View over the boat trip wetland at Arundel wetland centre 
View over Arundel wetland centre to South Downs in back ground 
Arundel Castle and Stately Home and a few pics of the gardens below with some strong conservation/ biodiversity themes  


Wildflower and planting for pollinators in the Castle gardens 
Holly and Jacob 
Jacob- hopefully even at this young age he is taking in all the good nature vibes and growing strong and happy 

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