Kilwood Nature Reserve

Wasp Spider spinning a web around an unfortunate Meadow Grasshopper.

Great to return to East Creech and the wonderful DWT Kilwood Nature Reserve. Located at the edge of the chalk ridge that runs through the Isle of Purbeck the reserve backs onto Norden Heath and was formerly used as an area of coppiced woodland.

Wasp Spider with a characteristic zig-zag weaved through its web.
Horses grazing within Kilwood Nature Reserve.

Actually felt a bit sorry for these two Horses. With the rough area of pasture looking like it hadn’t seen a drop of rain for months they appeared to be really hungry. Fortunately we found a few clumps of grass behind an area that had been fenced off to prevent deer browsing.

Lichen growing in the woodland.
Yet more Lichen, always a good indicator of air quality and the age of a woodland.
Common Toad found amongst the pine needles coating the woodland floor.

I can’t remember ever having seeing such a brown or warty looking toad before. Certainly quite different to the ones we find up north.

Grayling Butterfly nectaring close to the boundary with Norden Heath.
Wired to a Hazel with the hole facing inwards – defintely not your average Bird box.

It would have been great to have seen a Dormouse but mid August with the temperature in the low 80’s is probably about as far as we could get from ideal conditions. One day ……….

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.