Footballers in Hempstead Meadow Nature Reserve and Fields

It been a busy and rather stressful week and I've seen squeezing my #30DaysWild encounters into little bits of time, here and there.

Day 11 Visiting a Local Nature Reserve

As it has been such a tiring week, I left celebrations of the Queen's 90th Birthday and the anxious wait for England's first game in Euro 2016 to others.  Instead, Mum and I visited Hempstead Meadow Nature Reserve, which is run by Uckfield Town Council. 

I love the way this reserve is snuggled into the bottom of the town, between Waitrose and the station. When I travel on the train, I often look over it to see what's happening.

Sea of Hemlock Water Dropwort

At this time of year, it is dominated by a sea of white flowers and the gentle hum of pollinators. 

One of many Honey Bees on the Hemlock Water Dropwort

The flowers are Hemlock Water Dropwort and many of the insects pollinating it are Honey Bees.  As we walked along the boardwalk, a small mammal ran up the bank into the bushes. I think it was a vole of some sort - as its size was between that of a rat and a mouse, it was 'blunt' and its tail wasn't very long.

Greater Tussock Sedge.

Dotted around the reserve are ancient-looking Greater Tussock Sedges.  In winter and spring, these sedges raised on pedestals of their own old growth, stand proud. Now they are submerged in the wildflowers.

Flag Irises, sedge and other flowers.

In one of the clearer areas of water I spotted whirligig beetles, pond skaters and a little fish - probably a Stickleback. Once past 'Stickleback Bridge' the vegetation begins to change with more-and-more grasses mixed with buttercups, brambles, geraniums and other wild flowers.

Train going into Uckfield Station.

We rested on a seat for a while and our local train tiptoed into the station.  There was birdsong all around us - including a Chiff-chaff. Several people passed on their way to or from the town.

Sketch of view along path. The gate leads to Waitrose car park.

I spent a few minutes sketching the scene and then wandered round the meadow.  I saw damselflies with dark wings, probably Beautiful Demoselles - a male and a female.

Meadow Cranesbill.

Common Blue.

The meadow was full of insect life. As well as bees there were butterflies, Swollen-Thighed Beatles and - I think - a bright red Cardinal Beetle that was a little too quick for me.

Watching the Bees and Hoverflies.

On the way back, I paused at Stickleback Bridge to watch the Bees and Hoverflies that were settling on the flowers.

The Footballer (NOT!) - Hoverfly.

CORRECTION: I've just been told that this is Parhelophilus sp NOT Helophilus pendulus, which is the one known as The Footballer.

As England's Euro 2016 campaign opens today, it is apt that one of the Hoverflies I saw appears to be wearing a striped jersey, like a footballer.  After we left the nature reserve, it was a pleasure to see families playing and relaxing in Hempstead Fields. Some little ones were enjoying the new equipment at the top. One group was first persuaded to try the big slide by their parents and then couldn't be torn away from it. Sweetest of all was a tiny footballer who, far from being a boy in his favourite team's kit was a little girl in a pink dress with flowers on her shoes.  Maybe one day, we'll see her playing for England.

Oh - and while I was writing this - the Red Arrows flew over. Happy Birthday Your Majesty!

#30DaysWild - Paying Attention

After the excitement of the Garden Bioblitz, it's back to squeezing my #30DaysWild into bits and pieces of time.  Having guiltily stolen time last week, I feel more entitled to spend time this week. It is only a few minutes here-and-there and helps steady my mind and so I can really focus on what I need to do.

These days, there is much talk about mindfulness (paying attention to the present moment and your sensations) and its mental health benefits. With these #30DaysWild moments, I am doing something similar - taking a tiny amount of time out to focus on something and my own reactions to it. Then I return to my daily tasks with a fresher mind.

Day 6 - Patterns in a fern


Sunlit Fern in our Uckfield Garden

Another busy day. Grabbed a couple of minutes away from the laptop and found sunlit ferns - I was fascinated by the way the sunlight picks out the patterns in the leaves.

I spent some of the evening identifying members of the 'awkward squad' from the Garden BioBlitz.

Day 7 - Wine and orchids

Tickerage sparkling wine and birdsong.

Between the end of the working day and going to an Uckfield Neighbourhood Plan meeting, I took my drink outside. I was serenaded by birdsong whilst enjoying locally produced wine. Truly a moment to savour.

Spotted Orchids on the way into town.

On the way to the meeting, I knelt amongst the wildflowers at the roadside and marvelled at the intricate patterns on the tiny orchid flowers. As an aside - a big thank you to East Sussex council for not mowing these down.

Day 8 - Busy bees

Tree Bumble Bee on ceonothus

After getting the newspaper first thing, I watched bees hard doing their work before getting on with mine. A definite fellow feeling there.

Honey Bee.

Day 9 - A little Alchemist

Water drops on Alchemilla Mollis.

Alchemists used drops of water, which they believed to be very pure, from the leaves of this plant. Hence its name, Alchemilla Mollis.



Buttercups rescued from the mower.

Mid-afternoon we got a call saying the man with the mower was coming to deal with our grass. I shot out and picked buttercups.

As well as looking at my own wildlife, I have been dipping into the #30DaysWild Twitter stream. Because others have kindly helped me with identification, I am trying to pay it back by helping others identify their bugs and flowers.  There are more #30DaysWild blogs at the Wildlife Trusts' MyWildLife page.

30 Days Wild - Day 20 - Where are all my Hoverflies?

Day 20 was about trying to track down some insect life, specifically hoverflies.

Saturday, 20 June

This morning, I had an online conversation, in the Facebook group UK Hoverflies about how few hoverflies we have been seeing recently. Until today, I had been assuming it was just me seeing so few of these insects. So I decided to keep my eyes peeled for insect life throughout the day.

Ichneumon Wasp

First thing, when I went to get the newspaper, I saw a gangly black and yellow creature in the wild flower patch I mentioned at the end of yesterday's post. I just managed to snap a rather iffy photo with my phone - I though it was a field digger wasp.  However, a verifier on iRecord kindly pointed out that it was an  Ichneumon wasp - possibly Ambylytes.

On the way back from the town, I went through the Hempstead Fields nature reserve. 

Hemlock water dropwort - alive with honey bees.

The reserve was full of hemlock water dropwort, which was alive with honey bees. For a while, I followed a small tortoiseshell butterfly. It looked very fresh and bright but, encumbered by shopping, I couldn't get a photo. Butterfly 1 : Wendy 0.

Back at home, I had some clearing up to do in the garden and looked out for insects. There was one early and a few white-tailed bumblebees. There were also 3 honeybees on the borage. I had another look round and found a distinctive black and yellow sawfly on a rose bush.

Sawfly - probably Allantus cingulatus

Finally, I found some hoverflies. There were four of the wonderfully named marmalade hoverflies stationed round the garden and a Syrphus ribesii.

Syrphus ribesii

Otherwise the insects I saw were too tiny or too fast to photograph. The last creature I found was a hawthorn shield bug, which fell into my hand while I was tidying our hop and refused to let go when I was trying to put it back where I found it.

Hawthorn shield bug.

Oh, and earlier on, I bought this bee house when I was shopping . The green token went in the East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service section. These were the people who took in an injured wood pigeon from our garden.

So, not a huge number of insects but a fair amount of fun and interest.