5/9/10: Barnet botanising - checking out Colindale captures (un)Common Calamint

An LNHS meeting in Colindale, London Borough of Barnet, led by BMNH botanist Mark Spencer.

Mark is leading on the new Flora of London project (the last ran from 1966 to 1976), and the purpose of the visit was to get more records from a poorly-studied area that is within his own recording patch.

There was quite a big turnout, and by doing my usual thing of hanging off the back and side of the main group I found quite a few of the more interesting things that might otherwise have been missed including Stone Parsley (Sison amomum), Slender Trefoil (Trifolium micranthum) and Common Stork's-bill. Also Water Soldier (though this latter will have been put in the pond in Rushgrove Park deliberately). There was what I felt to be a disproportionate amount of interest the Swine Cress (Coronopus squamatus) I discovered hidden under some overhanging branches here - but apparently it's infrequent in north London.

Mark himself was excited by the Common Calamint (Clinopodium ascendens) I spotted in a front lawn on Colindeep Rd., because he says it's very uncommon in this part of London that was Middlesex, and various members started taking photos of it (luckily the residents didn't come out to ask what on earth was going on ....).

Later I went up to Edgware and Burnt Oak on my own and found a young Milk Thistle outside Burnt Oak Library in what appeared to be recently (re-)sown grass and a Wall Rue fern (Asplenium ruta-muraria) in the Watling Rd. railway bridge brickwork (pictures below).



There was a Little Egret in the Silk Stream near the Colindeep Road bridge, and a Long-winged Conehead cricket in Rushgrove Park.

4 and 5/9/09: Through the train window - Barnehurst to Hove

Two trips from Barnehurst to Hove (via London Bridge), only the outward legs in daylight. The following is a snapshot of some of the lineside plants identifiable from the train windows.

A Pyracantha noted on the bank between the overground lines and Underground depot at New Cross, and another between the running lines just south of Horley station.

Rather strangely, there was a strip of Common Reed at the *top* of a low cutting just south of New Cross Gate station.

Some Gorse just before Honor Oak Park.

Patch of Silver Birch and a couple of Gorse near Selhurst Depot.

Lots of Clematis vitalba north of Reedham. lots of Ash south of Reedham and on to Salfords.

Tall Horsetails just south of Three Bridges, and a few Heather in flower a little further on. Lots of Silver Birch kicking in south of this station.

Several Broom a bit north of Hayward's Heath, with Hemp Agrimony just south of the station (one plant of this seen earlier at Horley).

Common Toadflax and Ox-eye Daisy around Wivelsfield.

Big patch of Hemp Agrimony south of Burgess Hill.

Several Purple Toadflax just north of Hassocks station, also one Gorse, and a couple of Pine saplings in the ballast immediatly south of the station. More Hemp Agrimony further to the south of it - plus further stands a little north of Preston Park.

Some Red Valerian just outside Brighton station on the west side.

Hove: 4 Black Nightshade at the foot of a street tree near the station. Corydalis lutea and Ivy-leaved Toadflax in front gardens on Norton Rd. Wall Rue (Asplenium ruta-muraria) in the wall of St. Andrews Church, Church Rd., and Common Mallow and Ground Ivy in the churchyard.

26/7/09: Lesnes miscellany - purple haze imminent

More action on the heathland section with the Lesnes Abbey Conservation Volunteers, including an outdoor AGM. Apparently Bexley Council have not been very forthcoming about their Management Plan, if indeed there is one.

In the garden by the information centre there was a Small White butterfly, two Large Whites, one Peacock and two Painted Ladies.

I recognised Wall Rue (Asplenium ruta-muraria) on the ruined Abbey walls, as this is very common on walls in Bristol (but not around Bexley). A fellow volunteer identified the other, more prolific, fern here as Black Spleenwort.

Up at the work site the Heather was coming into flower, and will look good generating a purple haze over the next few weeks.

Heather in flower, Lesnes Abbey woods

An unusually low-flying Purple Hairstreak settled briefly on a leaf, and there was a solitary male Common Blue.

The son of one of the volunteers found a dead Common Shrew (a species I have to admit I've never seen before), and a few inches away a Vole or young Wood Mouse, down one of the nearby paths. Neither showed signs of obvious injury and it occurred to me later that they may have been dropped out of an owl's nest.

Later on, I saw a Holly Blue in 'Byway 7' (Leather Bottle Lane), now effectively a rear alleyway behind Elstree Gardens, bordering the north side of the wood east of the Abbey. There were also around 20 plants of Greater Celandine here.