September 2026 Update

If you want 2 gloriously happy minutes then watch this upbeat, make-you-smile video of the visit to Aspect by the Year 7 pupils from The Gatwick School.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/67a1f2_c57741bb0d604ea4b32e15d334e937ef/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

The Gatwick School Year 7 pupils visit for a memorable 'Night Under the Stars'.

As you can see, the pupils had a wonderful time learning about nature, climate change and biodiversity. It was also just their second week in the new term at their new ‘big’ school (Year 7 being the first year of senior school) so this visit provided a great opportunity for the children to bond with each other.

My favourite bit was the last-minute decision to invite the children to write messages to their future Year 13 selves. We put these messages in a time-capsule which we buried next to the ceremonial tree that their head teacher, Mr. Marillat, planted to mark the end of the 2-day event.

At night the fairy lights in the marquee area came on to create a magical communal space

I also want to thank The Aspect Foundation, the tent supplier Decathlon and Banstead Preparatory School (BPS) for providing support and equipment. It was definitely a team effort!

The other key event from September has been the sighting of a Polecat.  This is indescribably exciting! I had positioned the camera along a path I had recently cut through some brambles. It was a bit of an experiment to see what animals would use the path. (Answer: every woodland animal now uses the path like it is the M25 — badgers, deer, squirrels and, most exciting of all, the Polecat!)

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/67a1f2_adad51e746434c3aa6c105e167022c00/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Watch it all the way through. The Polecat appears for a second or two at the beginning, dips into the brambles for a few seconds, and then reappears and, as if following Hollywood direction, gazes into the camera.

Polecats are mustelids (like stoats, weasels and badgers) and are distinctive by that bandit pattern on their faces (the white and black stripes). This is what makes them different to the invasive American Mink (see last month’s blog). They are incredibly elusive and were declared vermin during the reign of Elizabeth I (hence a vagabond was often called a 'polecat'). They tend to eat rodents, frogs, birds and snakes and can grow to about 0.5 m in length.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/67a1f2_504fc3698b7f447181223ac8446f1762/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

This video gives some sense of the size of the polecat. This badger is only slightly bigger.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/67a1f2_024176cd3e684821b27d74bcbbd0c84e/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

At the other end of the mustelid family is the tiny weasel, the UK’s smallest carnivore, at about 15 cm long.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/67a1f2_e5a19f01ee7743fc8f33473e44e6a7ca/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

For size comparison here are two finches dancing/courting in the same location as the weasel.

Other highlights from this month include:

This caterpillar for the Pale Tussock Moth. Not rare, but very distinctive.

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Two young deer, male and female, in our grassland area.

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Here is our lovely neighbour, Andy Marsh, felling one of the hornbeams as part of our plan to open up a gladed area. I love his victory punch at the end of the slow-motion video!

Here we are with a team of Sussex Wildlife Volunteers at the end of a day of tree planting. One of the things we planted was a Willow Tree Bird Hide. It will take a few years to become established, but will be spectacular when complete.

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Here is a family of three Woodmice nesting in a Dormouse box. I was checking to see if we had any Dormice and found this little family.

For those of you who followed the news last month from the bat-trapping, you may be interested in this article. It describes research being undertaken by the University of Sussex on Bluetooth tags that can be attached to bats to track how far they fly. The researcher is Anni, one of the bat handlers who worked with us last year on our bat-trapping nights.

Finally, on Sat Oct 31^st, we will be hosting a small fire/BBQ in our orchard for all our friends, neighbours, volunteers. We will start early, around 4:30 PM, with s’mores and other treats suitable for young children, and will run on into the evening. If you want to join please let me know by messaging me direct on piers.clark@aspectnaturereserve.com.