After a beautiful bank holiday weekend in the sunshine, the weather has been a little bit miserable this week. It’s certainly not the June we were wishing for! Hopefully it will brighten up throughout the month and we’ll be treated to a delicious English summer – that means at least one day a week with no rain…For some of our farm wildlife, the rain is always a pleasant treat! We found this handsome toad on the steps of our visitor centre, looking a little bemused and covered in cobwebs (where had he been lurking?!). Fortunately we moved him before he was squashed by dog paws or visitor shoes, and he now lives in the wildflower bank among the comfrey flowers.
The swallows have now returned to their nests in the eaves of the roundhouse roof; if you look very closely into the darkness you can see them flitting in and out in search of insects. They certainly don’t seem to mind the smoke! We are also on the lookout for our family of stoats, who last year we watched carrying their kits across the site in search of a new den. We managed to get this photo of one mid-leap!
The swallows have now returned to their nests in the eaves of the roundhouse roof; if you look very closely into the darkness you can see them flitting in and out in search of insects. They certainly don’t seem to mind the smoke! We are also on the lookout for our family of stoats, who last year we watched carrying their kits across the site in search of a new den. We managed to get this photo of one mid-leap!
Elsewhere, the site is always filled with the songs of yellowhammers and wrens, and the cackle of woodpeckers as they dip across the downland. We have lots of great events over the next few months, so why not join us and bring prehistory to life amidst the beautiful scenery of the South Downs? Have a look at our events here.