Exploring the Lewes Downs

The August weather has certainly taken a turn for the worse but I had chosen the right day for our annual hike to Caburn via Saxon Down and Oxteddle Bottom. The sun was shining as we walked across our Southerham reserve and it wasn't long before we came across my target species for the day - the hornet robberfly. This impressive insect is a rarity in Britain but can be encountered on our reserve where our grazing cattle (or more specifically, their dung) assist its life-cycle. I've written an article about this incredible beast in this month's Viva Lewes. The flower-rich meadows of Southerham were alive with crickets and grasshoppers - a real wall of sound. At the top of Caburn I gave a brief history of the landscape before we headed into Caburn Bottom where the hillsides held a fantastic display of chalk grassland flowers.