Author Archives: Amanda Tuke
12th July 2020 – which one’s the butterfly bush?
The Butterfly Bush (Buddleja davidii) is in flower on the side of the rail trackbed. The strong sweet scent and pink lilac mini-trumpet flowers with an orange eye are usually a big attraction for butterflies but not here. I watch for ten minutes or so and there are no visitors. A man walking past with […]
7th July 2020 – a sky pond
I look up at the sound of a Jay chucketing. In an Ash tree on the edge of a sky pond, a well-grown fledgling is insisting it’s still hungry and its parent delivers. Raindrops hurtle down to me. It’s disorientating but astonishing. We take drops of water falling out of the sky for granted. Knowing […]
Guest blog for London Wildlife Trust – 30 days wild part 2
And an account of another wonderful visit here
Horsey Island Reserve, article published today in Devon Life
I’m really pleased with the look of my article in Devon Life published today… This was a difficult commission to meet because my plan to visit the reserve was scuppered by lock-down… Luckily I managed to find some incredibly generous local resident experts, Martin Batt, Mary Breeds and Paul Madgett, who know the site very […]
30 days wild – 30th and final site. Chapel Bank, Croydon
I’ve been incredibly lucky with the weather for my 29 visits so far. So it’s ironic that for today, the 30th one, it’s drizzling. That suits me fine for what I’m hoping to see today at this site which is a combination of chalk grassland and woodland. As I pick my way through the wet […]
30 days wild – 29. Three Corner Wood, Croydon
At the far end of Hutchinson’s Bank is a triangular chalky woodland. I walk over moss and into a clearing where White Bryony and Wild Strawberry scramble through the Dog’s Mercury across the mossy floor.
30 days wild – 28. Farm Bog, Merton
So a small number of the green spaces I’ve visited have been closed. There’s a different challenge with Farm Bog on Wimbledon Common – it’s very difficult to find. I resort to trying out a number of small paths which go south from Robin Hood ride and seem to be going in the direction of […]
30 days wild – 27. Hillcrest Wood, Lewisham
Hillcrest Wood is on the other side of Sydenham Hill ridge from Sydenham Hill Wood and is where the the old rail line to the Crystal Palace emerges from the tunnel. This small but precious green space narrowly escaped development in 2018 when Lewisham Council in the from of Lewisham Homes withdrew a planning application […]
Guest blog for London Wildlife Trust – 30 days wild part 1
Delighted that LWT have accepted my guest blog and, even better, have turned me into an Ox-eye daisy. https://www.wildlondon.org.uk/blog/amanda-tuke/30-green-places-30-days-wild
30 days wild – 26. Sydenham Hill Wood, Southwark
I’m back to my local patch for number 26 and it’s the perfect time to enjoy the deep pink spikes of Rosebay Willowherb flowering alongside the old railway bed. This feels appropriate as I see it so often growing along rail tracks in this part of London. A nickname for this flower is Bombweed as […]
The Urban Naturalist 