3/10/10: From Lesser Calamint to a riot of red Apples

Lesnes Abbey Conservation Volunteer (LACV) work today.

Great to see such a fabulous show of Lesser Calamint (Clinopodium calamintha syn. Calamintha nepeta) flower at its only know site in London, near the ruined Abbey.

Lesser Calamint, at Lesnes Abbey. Second, close-up shot, shows it next to fellow Labiate Black Horehound (Ballota nigra).

In the mud round the lower of the Abbey ponds were several Trifid Bur-marigold and some Celery-leaved Crowfoot (Ranunculus sceleratus). The alien water fern Azolla, present last year, appears to have died out, maybe because of the hard winter, the subsequent drought, silt clearance or some combination of these.

After some pond-clearance work with LACV members up in the woods themselves, I made my way to the 'sea wall' at Crossness, via Belvedere railway station, during which time the weather improved somewhat. Unusually, there was only one Shelduck in sight and few Mallard, but lots of Gadwall. An unidentified Hawker Dragonfly whizzed past.

There was an Asparagus plant by the Incinerator. Towards Erith, by the fence at Dee Dee removals, a previously unnoticed Apple tree (pictured below) now stood out with its massive crop of small (27mm diameter) red fruits, looking just like cherries when viewed from above.

Further east, and past the pinkish-flowered Rosa rugosa previously noted on the upper 'shore' below the sea wall, I spotted a white-flowered specimen in the same habitat, though with only one bloom that was by now 'going over'.

In Erith, Annual Nettle (Urtica urens) was still present along the fence line around the former Riverside Swimming Baths site.

13/7/10: Brookweed and Little Grebe amongst new records on Thames Road Wetland

More recording either side of some Cray Riverkeepers work.

On the way down to the Cray an adult Asparagus Beetle was seen on Asparagus in Eversley Avenue, and larvae on Parkside Rd.

A clump of Tansy was noted on the 'rough' off Perry St. roundabout, in the Thames Rd/Gascoyne Drive section, a new record for me here.

22 Starlings were seen on roofs on Barnes Cray Rd.

Dace and Chubb were seen in the River Cray by Footpath 106. Amongst the marginal plants recorded were Branched Bur-reed (Sparganium erectum), Reed Sweet Grass and Reed Canary Grass in flower.

Insects about along FP106 and By-way 105 included a couple of Red Admiral, Gatekeepers, Banded Demoiselles, lots of Blue-tailed Damselflies and also a Large Red Damselfly ovipositing.

Next stop was the Thames Road Wetland (TRW). On the western section of the Sewer Embankment was a Black Knapweed, which I don't recall seeing here before (but I may be wrong - I'm way behind on spreadsheeting my records to make them quickly accessible ..... ). There were Cinnabar Moth caterpillars on Common Ragwort. A Large White Butterfly was seen further along, and 2 adult and 2 juvenile Goldfinches flew onto a shrub.

Black Knapweed and Common Ragwort on the Sewer Embankment by the TRW

The TRW is glimpsed over a clump of the uncommon plant Dittander (Lepidium latifolium), a mass of which were pouring forth their frothy white flowers along the Sewer Embankment

Looking out over the Thames Road Wetland, birds on the 'lake' (the deeper, open water at the eastern end of the flooded area west of the Wansunt) were 2 adult and a couple of juvenile Coot and a new record for me on the site of Little Grebe (Dabchick), of which there were 2 adults and 3 small young.

A couple of the mildew-feeding 22-spot Ladybird species down in the TRW 'bowl' were also a new record here.

At one point I was trying to get close to a flying Dragonfly, in order to get an ID, when it was grabbed from among the Reedmace by a House Sparrow which disappeared into the Thames Rd shrub beds with it.

From this side of the site I was able to pick out 4 Gadwall somewhat hidden on a small grassy 'island'.

Wild Mignonette (Reseda lutea) was in flower on the flat, dry, ground up next to the Thames Rd fence.

Next I checked out that part of the site to the east of the River Wansunt. There were a few Purple Loosestrife in flower here, some Gypsywort and 8 Celery-leaved Crowfoot (Ranunculus sceleratus) in flower in the damp margins of the drying pool.

Dittander is now down in the bowl proper, on a corner of the easternmost pool, next to Branched Bur-reed which only seems to be at this end of the site so far, and is a new record for the 'bowl'.

Branched Bur-reed in flower on the TRW

A further new record for the site was a single Greek Dock which, oddly, was growing in the water.

A Goat's-Rue was also found down in the bowl.


The pool on the eastern fringe of the flooded area, east of the Wansunt, is shallow, its winter extent shown by the thin Rushes in the picture above

In the drying, but still quite damp mud here (with water pooling in old horse hoof-prints), yet another new site record was obtained in the shape of 15 flowering plants of Brookweed (Samolus valerandi). This is a member of the Primula family and has small, white flowers, with notched petals. This is the first time I've come across this species anywhere. It is reported to now have a rather restricted distribution in the UK, so this is a good find.

Brookweed (Samolus valerandi) on the TRW - a species completely new to me

26/4/10 Gravel Hill, Hall Place and south of the Dartford Loop Line

A male Chaffinch was seen at the Erith Rd edge of Bursted Wood.

Some Brooms were in flower on the south-facing railway embankment just west of the Erith Rd bridge over the railway line.

A Red-tailed Bumblebee was the only insect around a strip of flowering Berberis darwinii at the junction of Highland Rd and Albion Rd, Bexleyheath.

A rather wayward pair of Mallard came down on a grass verge in Rossland Close, at the junction with Gravel Hill.

A Green Woodpecker was feeding along the shrub line at the top of the hill at Hall Place North (the parkland on the east side of Gravel Hill). At the bottom of the hill, near Bourne Rd, Thyme-leaved Speedwell - just coming into flower - was intermingled with Germander Speedwell. There was also some Slender Speedwell nearby.

In the newish shrub beds at the south east corner of the extended Hall Place car park parallel to Bourne Rd, there were 12 Common Fumitory growing up through the bark mulch, and not quite in flower yet. As far as I have been able to determine so far, this is a very infrequent plant, in the east of the Borough at any rate. No way were they going to overwhelm or inhibit the shrub planting, but it wasn't long before someone weeded them all out anyway...... A typicallly unintelligent, unimaginative and inflexible approach to vegetation management.

An attempt has been made to 'soften' the appalling car park recently built by the east side of the walled garden, and running right down to the river, with a couple of bits of ditch and an over-densely planted jumble of shrubs, full of natives, but some of them not indigenous to the local area. Is the assumption that half of them will die off?

Apart from the litter that had inevitably been blown - or thrown - into the ditches, and left there, there was a Grey Wagtail in one of them (and a Pied Wagtail on the roof of a building in the walled garden). Also several Celery-leaved Crowfoot just above the rather low water line. Here also, presumably brought in on the tyres of digging machinery, was a single plant of Shining Cranesbill (Geranium lucidum), my first record of it in Bexley, indeed in London south of the Thames.

Finds in the scrubby area (called The Old Orchard on one map I have) that is immediatly south of the railway opposite Hall Place, and on the east side of the A2, included the following (I haven't been here since I was a teenager in the 70s. My recollection - I have photos somewhere - is that is was then much more open, and people used to dig a Victorian (?) rubbish tip there for old bottles):

Rabbits
Dunnock
Long-tailed Tit
Pink-flowered, purplish-leaved Cherry (derived from garden cultivar)
Gorse
Broom
Marjoram
Hemlock
Ground Ivy
Hop