12/8 - 21/8/10 - a 'catch-up' miscellany

12/8 - circa 140 Starlings congregating at the top of an electricity pylon south of Crayford Way and east of Crayford town centre.

13/8 - baby Common Lizard and several Dock Squash Bugs, Grasmere allotment site, Barnehurst

14/8 - after a 'subconcious glimpse' the other day, I confirmed that there was at least one, possibly two Caper Spurge (Euphorbia lathyris) trackside at the east end of Eltham's 'up' platform

Also this Treacle Mustard (my first identification / record of it) was near the junction of Ufford St and Boundary Row in Southwark (picture above)

The number of moths at the window of my home has been poor this year, but there was a Brimstone Moth tonight

15/8 - there was a 2" body length Common Toad on my compost heap at Grasmere allotments, and two Common Blue butterflies resting head downward in the grass stems by the pond there

16/8 - I was pleased to see that Catmint (Nepeta cataria) has hung on in an unpromising spot by the petrol station in Long Lane, Bexleyheath, with a strongly-flowering specimen (below) in evidence. I have raised a few plants from seed I collected here last year, but Thrip grazing has rather spoilt the appearance of the surface of the leaves of this and various other Labiates I'm growing.

An unusual denizen of a crack in the pavement was this Corn (Maize) plant (below) found outside a house in Chapel Road, Bexleyheath.

There was a Goats-beard in the grounds of St. Martin's church on Erith Rd, which looks like it will flower late after presumably having been mown down earlier in the season.

There was a Common Darter and a Speckled Wood along the south margin of Bursted Wood.

18/8 - several Common Frogs active in the back garden in this cooler weather. There was a Field Mouse in one of the compost bins.

20/8 - a party of Long-tailed Tits in the back garden Juniper.

I have checked some flowerheads of Prickly Lettuce - which is frequent in some places locally - for larvae of the Small Ranunculus Moth without success. Today I weeded a specimen out of a pot of Skullcap (it had grown up out of sight behind some horticultural fleece), and it was only after I'd pulled it up that I noticed a few small caterpillars around the buds, which appear to be of this species .....

The Butterfly Conservation website says this:

'Formerly a relatively common species in the south-east, it had become extinct by the early part of the 20th century. In the last few years, however, it has become re-established in a small area of Kent and Essex, around the Thames, where it is now frequently recorded, especially around allotments.The larvae feed on the flowers and seeds of various wild and cultivated lettuce (Lactuca spp.).'

In the evening I was doing some long-overdue work on my rather small and overgrown pond. 3 Robins got very friendly, two rather blotchy ones especially so, coming within a foot of my face as I leant down at one point. The third, with a proper red breast, was less bold. The blotchy birds I'd seen several times before, though I thought there was only one. In any case they seem far too trusing given the local feline presence, and one is already carrying an injury to its head.

17/8/09: Barnehurst BAP priority species

Three national Biodiversity Action plan priority species today.

Grasmere allotment site:

Insects: Several Gatekeepers, 1 x male Common Blue, 30+ Dock Squash Bugs on the Rhubarb patch and 1 x Common Darter Dragonfly - my first of the year.

4 Common Lizards (BAP priority species) on my Dad's plot - 1 adult and 3 small 'baby' animals. One of the latter was basking on one of the tyres I salvaged from rubbish dumped over the boundary fence by irresponsible neighbouring home-owners. The other 3 were basking on bits of rubble, again 'recycled' from material found on site. One of these babies had already lost the whole of its tail. It would be interesting to know what it is that predates the lizards here.

My Barnehurst Garden - 2 more BAP priority species:

I was delighted to find 2 Slow Worms together under one of my dry-vegetation-covered-with-black-plastic piles, specially constructed to attract and allow easy examination of this species.

In addition, the first Common Toad seen here for quite some time was in the garden, a 3" body length individual being found after dark in my new greenhouse .

13/8/09: Barnehurst Golf Course/Mayplace Rd East/Perry St

There were recently emerged baby Common Toads in my brother's garden on Mayplace Rd East, near Crayford Manor House. Toads had bred in his pond this year, although it isn't especially large. Amphibians larvae had benefitted fron a fault with the filter, which had emptied the pond and killed the larger fish.

A plant of Common Calamint was spotted growing out from under a hedge at the entrance to the Manor House lodge, my third record of it in Barnehurst.

Earlier, I had seen a Comma butterfly on Barnehurst Golf Course. There was a Holly Blue and a Painted Lady along the Perry St perimeter.

An unidentified Hawker Dragonfly species was repeatedly checking out the Hawthorn hedge along the northern margin of the site. There was a good show of Bird's-foot Trefoil flowers along the base of the hedge by the path on the south-facing side.

About 20 House Sparrows flew out of a bramble thicket down behind Taunton Close.

A couple of Black Knapweed growing in shadier positions were still in flower. Others in full sun had gone to seed. A new record for me on this site was a couple of Spindle shrubs in a 'clearing' behind the line of Field Maple down towards Old Manor Way. It wasn't clear whether these were planted or not. A 2' 6" specimen appeared to be self-sown.

I had also gone, for the first time, along the footpath to the east of Perry St, by Perry St Farm, that leads to Ashurst Close. The most noteworthy things were some 20 Common St. John's Wort, several Crow Garlic (Allium vineale) and 5 White Campion.

18/6/09: Here be Dragons ... and Toads

Common Lizards and Common Toads, both now UK Biodiversity Action Plan Priority Species because of a worrying decline in numbers, occur on the Grasmere Rd. allotment site in Barnehurst. Both were seen there today. The site was once an orchard and has remnant heathland vegetation, including Pedunculate Oak, Silver Birch, Gorse, Broom and Bracken. A third UK BAP species, the Slow Worm, is found in my garden less than 100 metres away, but I have never found one on the allotments, despite searching suitable in places.

Yeah, we know you're watching us - we're watching you too

Here a pair of Common Lizards (Zootoca (Lacerta) vivipara) enjoy some habitat enhancement in the form of an old tyre, part-buried in the ground, with a 'bolt-hole' / possible hibernation facility excavated underneath at the rear, and bits of broken brick and rubble - also found on site - and a clump of grass put in the middle.

Last autumn I found four lizards on this tyre at once. Tyres are known to be lizard 'magnets' because they warm up quickly and retain some heat so are ideal for basking/raising body temperature, especially in cooler and changeable weather.

Here's a closer view of one of them - not pin-sharp because my mobile phone cam has trouble knowing exactly where to focus in this sort of shot.

Surrounding gardens are unlikely to provide suitable lizard habitat, so it's likely this is an 'island' population that has survived here since the site became hemmed in by houses in around 1933.

And here's a two inch body length young toad. A couple of larger ones were seen recently. Numbers are never high here, but specimens keep turning up, so there must be a breeding pond not too far away. There isn't one on the site.


Juvenile Common Toad (Bufo bufo)

Other amphibian species here are the Common Frog and Smooth Newt. The latter has bred in a pond made from an old bath.