Category Wild Pavements – urban nature adventures
6th September 2002 – How galling…
Each year it feels like the oaks are slow to get growing but then everything speeds up. Leaf growth, herbivores, predation all ramp up throughout the growing season until by the start of September the leaves are looking tired and in some cases well galled. These Cherry Galls, the work of a wasp Cynips quercusfolii, […]
23rd August 2020 – there’s a sprite in the garden…
I’m not sure what it is that makes me look up from the laptop and out the front window but when I do I see a blurry movement which immediately catches my attention. There’s something pinging around out there around the frothy Red Valerian flower spikes. A sprite like this one has visited us at […]
9th August 2020 – the Big Butterfly Count
It’s the final day of the Big Butterfly Count. I haven’t been involved with citizen science projects before as they always sounded like hard work but it’s quite extraordinary how relaxing it has been contributing to this one. The task is to simply notice and record butterflies and moths for 15 minutes, so much like […]
19th July 2020 – with a hop and a skip
The wood is teeming with people again but the clearing is thankfully tranquil. I touch a Hops (or is it Hop?) leaf within a tangly clump of Brambles and Traveller’s Joy. The leaf is slightly tacky – is that how this plant fights its way through its competitors? A Large Skipper lands on a nearby […]
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 […]
Guest blog for London Wildlife Trust – 30 days wild part 2
And an account of another wonderful visit here
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 […]
The Urban Naturalist 