I’m contributing to the Great Spring Watch – and looking out for first sightings of: – oak leaves (17 April 2015) – hawthorn blossom – 7 spot ladybirds (12 April 2015) – orange tip butterfly – swallows (although I haven’t ever seen them here).
My spring indicators list for Sydenham Hill woods would include:
– first bumblebee seen
– first wood anemone flowering
– first chiffchaff heard (28 March 2015)
– first tawny mining bee burrow seen (I saw my first actual bee on 24 April 2015 but LWT report seeing first burrow on 12 Feb 2015)
– first bluebell flowering
– first swift flying over wood
and thinking about some more…
London Wildlife Trust report for Spring 2015 was as follows:
On the 19th November a wasp and a grasshopper were observed, and the
following day a volunteer fungi training session yielded hairy curtain crust, giant
puffball, birch polypore, oysterling, jelly ear, King Alfred’s cakes, hen-ofthe-woods,
coral spot, trooping and clouded funnels, artists bracket, purple
jellydisc, dog vomit fungus, common bonnet, turkey tail, the deceiver,
sulphur tuft, candlesnuff and cobalt crust. On the 26th a field blewit was found
on Cox’s Walk as well as a hedgehog skin, and on the 27th a scarce umber
moth was found on the bark of an oak tree. A mistle thrush was singing on the
1st December. During our Winter Bird walk on the 6th a flock of redwing were
the highlight whilst lesser black backed gull, woodpigeon, ring necked
parakeet, great spotted woodpecker, robin, blackbird, goldcrest, long tailed
tit, coal tit, blue tit, great tit, nuthatch, wren, jay, magpie, crow, grey squirrel
and brown rat were seen. A peregrine falcon was perched on the church spire
at the bottom of Cox’s Walk, mobbed by a pair of herring gull before eventually
flying off toward the Horniman Nature Trail. Volunteers saw two firecrest on 11th
and again on the 14th. A great spotted woodpecker was hammering on the 12th. Redwing were again present on the 17th. On the 19th a northern long-tailed tit
was reported on Bird Guides, and again on the 20th, 21st, 22nd, 26th and 27th but
none could be officially confirmed as the subspecies Aegithalos caudatus
caudatus. Firecrest was seen again on 14th January 2015, a flock of goldfinch
passing through later. A bat hibernation survey on 21st recorded a pipistrelle bat
in the Crescent Wood tunnel. Peacock butterflies were found at the Lewisham
end of the tunnel as well as several herald moth. Redwing were spotted later that
day. Song thrush could be heard singing from the 21st January. A mistle thrush
was heard singing on the 8th February. Our second bat hibernation survey
recorded no bats but peacock, herald moth and a hibernating bee-mimic
hoverfly were recorded. Mining bees had been excavating nest holes by the 12th
February.