Too hot for me and Mimi, so a paddle in Costers Brook

[Nice65]

Went down to the brook today, nice clean water rises from a chalk spring a couple of miles south and flows north to join the Rother at Midhurst. It’s so cold it hurts, I waded a bit far up a bit with nettled banks and no beaches and had to pull myself up on a branch to get my feet out for a minute.

Lovely spot, always deserted and tranquil.

 

[Toddy]

What a beautiful place a bit of paradise.

Thank you for sharing

M

 

[Billy-o]

 

[SoldierPalmer]

looks like a nice spot. I love fishing little waters like this for small trout.

 

[Nice65]

looks like a nice spot. I love fishing little waters like this for small trout.

No fish in it unfortunately. There used to be a trout fishery where it springs a little bit south in Cocking, it flows down through Bex Mill, and not far beyond where the pictures were taken it becomes an ex sand quarry consisting of a series on massive scars on the landscape full of water. The sand quarry is being backfilled and the area apparently becoming a nature reserve. I’m sure it was a perfectly wonderful nature reserve many years ago before the extraction of sand, but there you go.

I’ll see if I can drop a pin on Google maps and post it.

 

[Nice65]

Dropped pin

https://goo.gl/maps/JszZ2gAX7Tex4Amx8

Zoom in and you can follow the brook to Cocking to the south. The fishery isn’t there anymore, at least I don’t think it is. I’d like to do an upstream walk, but god it’s cold in that water. Always fancied a sneaky hammock camp up there one night, but never have got round to it.

Dunford House is an interesting place too, built by Richard Cobden, a fighter for peace and free trade, who’s efforts saw the abolition of The Corn Laws (the levying of taxes on foreign wheat to protect landowners and increase the price of bread).

Richard Cobden - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Nice65]

Another splash about for us both today. Loads of these Damsel flies about, I thought I’d got some good video of blue and brown ones zipping about but the video wasn’t running. They seemed to be quite matey, the browns and the blues, anyone know if they’re M/F or the other way round?

Still, this pic came out ok. For an iPhone 12 Mini anyway.

EDIT: It’s lost a lot of colour from my photo album to here, I tried the unedited original, but the forum software or whatever has taken the vibrancy from the vivid blue.

 

[Billy-o]

We have these black winged damsels here. https://toronto-wildlife.com/Insects/Damselflies/Broad_winged/damselfly_broad_winged.html

The pics don't capture how black they are in flight. Light just falls into them The black-bodied ones look very cool.

 

[Nice65]

We have these black winged damsels here. https://toronto-wildlife.com/Insects/Damselflies/Broad_winged/damselfly_broad_winged.html

The pics don't capture how black they are in flight. Light just falls into them The black-bodied ones look very cool.

I like those, Ebony Jewelwing is a great name.

The blue ones are incredibly vivid too, they’re like super high definition insects. They also have a lovely name, Beautiful Demoiselle. Cheers, you prompted me to look them up, the brown ones are indeed the females. Not a single one about there today, though it was later in the day than yesterday.

Beautiful Demoiselle - British Dragonfly Society

Species Profile for the Beautiful Demoiselle damselfly

british-dragonflies.org.uk

 

[Nice65]

looks like a nice spot. I love fishing little waters like this for small trout.

Complete turnaround on the fish situation. I met a couple of young lads there today with little fly rods and said I’d never seen a fish. One of them said they’d had about 20 brown trout out of there one afternoon and it’s a prolific stream.

Bloody well hidden, I’ve been visiting there for years.

Little frog, these are everywhere. This guy was hopping through dusty dry grass so I saved him a long dry hop and put him in the water.

 

[SoldierPalmer]

It’s amazing where trout can get to and be found. I used to carry out fish surveys and some of the places you would find then were unbelievable. I’ve even found them in ditches at the edge of fields.