Sunday 1 September 2013

Kithurst, Chantry and Cissbury

Adonis Blue, Lysandra bellargus
On Saturday I visited Kithurst Hill and Chantry Hill. There were Clouded Yellows at both places and Silver-spotted Skippers at Chantry. A pair of Red Kites drifted over Kithurst. Today I climbed Cissbury Ring and found six Adonis Blues in excellent condition, a Wall and spotted Clouded Yellows six times. A 'Fairey Swordfish II' flew over on the way to the Shoreham Air Show.
view from Chantry Hill
hoverfly
Red Kite, Milvus milvus
Silver-spotted Skipper, Hesperia comma
Small Heath, Coenonympha pamphilus
Wall, Lasiommata megera
Cissbury Ring:
Adonis Blue, Lysandra bellargus


Adonis Blue, Lysandra bellargus
Agrimony, Agrimonia eupatoria
Bracket fungus
view from Cissbury Ring
Common Blue, Polyommatus icarus
Common Blue, Polyommatus icarus
very old female Common Blue
Common Grass-veneer, Agriphila tristella
Common Grass-veneer, Agriphila tristella
Common Grass-veneer, Agriphila tristella
Gatekeeper, Pyronia tithonus with Red Mite, Trombidium breei
Kestrel, Falco tinnunculus
Lebia chlorocephala
Meadow Brown, Maniola jurtina
Meadow Brown, Maniola jurtina
Fairey Swordfish II
Fairey Swordfish II with torpedo
Thanks to Neil Hulme for the id of the plane.
  This Swordfish was built in 1943 and served on North Atlantic convoy duty with 836 Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm and starred in the film 'Sink the Bismark'. (info http://bit.ly/18zd7Jz)
  The Swordfish was nicknamed Stringbag, a reference to a housewife's string shopping bag, in which things of any shape could be carried.
  A Swordfish torpedo strike from HMS Ark Royal damaged the rudders of the German battleship Bismarck, preventing it from escaping to France. The planes were too slow for the fire-control predictors of the German gunners, whose shells exploded in front of the aircraft. Some Swordfish flew so low that most of the Bismarck's flak weapons were unable to depress enough to hit them. 
Small Heath, Coenonympha pamphilus
showing part of the upperside of the forewing
Small Skipper, Thymelicus sylvestris
Small Tortoiseshell, Aglais urticae
Small White, Pieris rapae
Lesser Treble-bar, Aplocera efformata
Wall, Lasiommata megera

2 comments:

  1. Hi Colin,
    The biplane looks like a Fairey Swordfish. I believe these outdated kites were responsible for knocking the rudder off the Bismarck, leading to its ultimate demise.
    BWs, Neil

    ReplyDelete
  2. thanks Neil, I have added info about it above.

    ReplyDelete

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