Churchyard Plant Survey - End of April

This weekend, I was back in Holy Cross Churchyard. At the beginning of April, Helen of the Sussex Botanical Recording Society, got me going. This time I was back - and needed to be able to identify the plants on my own. 

Ferns and flowers by the smartly painted door.

The instructions for the Churchyard Survey recommend ...

Three visits per year in Spring, mid and late summer would be ideal for ... plant recording.

I've decided to add in another visit, four weeks after my first, to see some of the plants that Helen pointed out, before I forgot too much.  At the beginning of the month we saw bluebells just beginning to flower. Now both the English and Spanish varieties are in full bloom.

Honeybee on Spanish Bluebell (possibly hybrid) - notice the bluish pollen

English Bluebells showing creamy-coloured pollen.

There are some lovely clumps of English bluebells (‎Hyacinthoides non-scripta) alongside some touching modern-day memorials along the East Wall.

English Bluebells by touching wall memorials.

Slightly nearer the church, a gravestone from the late 1700s reminded me just how old the Holy Cross churchyard is.

E.B. 1765 and J. B. 1779.

The Caring For God's Acre website - A2 Caring for Grassland tells us:

Apart from grave digging, the grassland will have been relatively undisturbed, re-seeding naturally for hundreds if not thousands of years. ...

A benefit of this continuity of management over a very long time is a diversity of beautiful grasses and flowers and associated animals, some of which may now be uncommon or rare in Britain.

A tiny (6mm) Red-Girdled Mining Bee on Germander Speedwell.

Have you ever wondered what pollinates the tiny flowers in the grass? For this Germander Speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys), the answer is tiny bees. While I was photographing the plant, a bee landed on the sapphire-blue flowers. Thanks to Ryan Clark and Stuart Roberts of the UK Bees, Wasps and Ants Facebook group, I now know that this is a Red-Girdled Mining Bee (Andrena labiata). My Field Guide to Bees, by Steven Falk, says that  this little pollinator lives in unimproved grasslands, feeds on  Germander Speedwell and Forget-me-nots, nests in short or sparse vegetation and is "scarce".

It seems that the old turf of Holy Cross church is just the place for this little bee. It has escaped the fertilizers and weedkillers intended to "improve" grass but end up driving out wildflowers and the pollinators that depend on them.

Of course I was in the churchyard to find more plants that I could add to my list. I was able to identify about 10 more ranging from a humble Common Chickweed to Ash Trees that make up part of the hedge.

Large Red Damsel Fly - only about an inch long!

The hedge is a valuable habitat too. While looking for more plants, I found a damsel fly, who had found sanctuary from the cold wind, amongst its leaves.

Black Bryony

Black Bryony has sprung up very rapidly. On our first visit there were only old stems and one, shrivelled fruit. 4 weeks later the stems are carrying the shiny, exotic-looking, leaves up round railings and other supports. Soon, the dainty white flowers will open.

Pellitory-by-the-Wall.

A little plant growing in the wall had me stumped. Fortunately, Mum came to the rescue by telling me that it is Pellitory-by-the-Wall (Parietaria Judaica).

Pellitory-by-the-wall - tiny female flowers

Pellitory-by-the-Wall has miniature, wind-pollinated flowers. The plant that I found has female flowers. I wonder if there is a male somewhere nearby?

Blackbird - making it clear to a rival who owns this patch.

My couple of hours searching for plants had flown by. As I was completing my survey, a glossy male Blackbird was fending off another, whose presence was clearly unwelcome. The brown female, was nearby and there may well be a nest. I left and hoped that the intruding Blackbird had the good sense to do likewise.

Garden Bio Blitz 2016

It's the first weekend of June and it's time to record as many species as I can for the Garden BioBlitz.  I really needed to go into town on Saturday morning and fine weather was forecast for Sunday, so my 24 hours ran from 2:15pm on Saturday to the same time on Sunday. 

Because I have just started doing the WildLifeTrust's #30DaysWild, this has been a very wild-life intensive few days.  Although I had a pleasant visit to a buttercup field in Birmingham, I was disappointed that the bluetits that nested in the box on the side of the house had gone before I came back to Uckfield.

BioBlitzing our garden - A lovely Sunday morning.

Before I started, I set myself some objectives:

• To record more species than I saw last year (127)
• To pay more attention to ground-level minibeasts and get a centipede onto my list.
• To detect a bat with the detector I got for Christmas.

Blackbird sunbathing.

My first BioBlitz sighting for 2016 was a pair of blackbirds sunning themselves. The female was on the grass and the male had spread himself out along one of the branches of our conifer.

Germander Speedwell in an uncultivated corner.

I did a quick round of the whole garden, ticking off flowers from my 2015 list. I hadn't particularly noticed during the year but we have had some casualties, probably due to our own tidying, which is 'assisted' by a visiting fallow deer.  On the other hand, I have recorded two self-sown trees, beech and rowen, for the first time.

Common Carder Bee feeding on Iris Sibirica

After this, I started looking at the minibeasts, particularly pollinators, that land on the flowers and leaves in the garden. I found myself fascinated by a Common Carder Bee feeding on an Iris Sibirica, its weight opening and closing the flower as it climbed in and out of its petals.

Western Yellow Centipede (Stigmatogaster subterranean)

It was only about 5pm when the light started dropping. It was time to find a centipede. I dug around in the "ready-to-use" compost from our heap and found a wriggling orange ribbon. I flicked it into a little pot, figured out which end was the head, took a photo and returned it to its home. 

After setting up beetle traps,  it was time to go indoors and start processing results.  by the end of the evening, I had identified 102 species had about 15 photos of unidentified creatures.

The Bushnell 'traps' a fox while I sleep off the day's efforts.

At 9:45pm I was outside again, bat detector in hand. I always get stupidly excited when detecting - waiting for those click-slap-click noises that herald the arrival of a bat. I waited and waited. Then just before 10pm, few weak squelchy clicks. My excitement mounted as I tried to pinpoint the direction. The clicks got stronger and louder and - there it was! A Common Pipistrelle, fluttering in the gloom - the perfect end to the first few hours of my Garden BioBlitz. It was time to leave the garden to the creatures of the night.

Beetle trap with Nebria Brevicallis in pot.

Sunday morning was bright and, having slept like a log, started a little later than I intended so I missed the early shift. I focussed my efforts at ground level and found black beetles in my beetle traps, slugs under paving slabs, and woodlice under garden ornaments.

Swollen-Thighed Beetle

Some beetles live a sunnier life. Amongst our flowers, I found several shiny green Swollen-Thighed Beetles. Whilst searching, I could hear the "dee-dee-dee" of bluetits calling each other. I kept looking up but, frustratingly, didn't see anything in our thick trees.

Hawthorn Shieldbug rocking 80's-style shoulder pads.

As I searched round shrubs and trees in the garden, I found three different species of shield bugs. The Hawthorn Shieldbug's block colours and pointed shoulders always remind me of the daft fashions we wore in the eighties. I tried shaking the trees but only the tiniest of insects came down.

Baby blue tit well disguised in the dappled light and birch leaves.

I was in the last stages, just mopping up the last few wild plants, when I heard "dee-dee-dee" and saw a flicker of movement in our birch trees. There was an adult bird finding insects where the clumsy human had failed and then ... two little balls of fluff emerged to be fed. I'm assuming that this is our bird box family and I was delighted to see them.

I've managed to meet my objectives having:

• identified 131 species with more to come - however finding them took more effort this year
• used beetle traps and dug around in the compost heap to find ground-level creatures including an implausibly long centipede
• detected and watched a bat.

There are more details about the results in Garden BioBlitz 2016 - What did I find out?

I've also enjoyed a day "playing in the garden" - making beetle traps and dipping ponds. I exchanged photos and IDs with others across the country who were BioBlitzing their own gardens or taking part in #30DaysWild. I've learnt to identify some more of the creatures with whom I share the garden and greeted some who I thought had left without saying goodbye.  Quite simply, a lovely way to spend 24 hours in June.

There are plenty more #30DaysWild blogs at MyWildLife.

Hempstead Meadow in May

An unexpected bonus of today's visit to the dentist was a walk through the Uckfield Town Council owned Hempstead Meadows Local Nature Reserve. I didn't have to go out of my way or take much time. I just swung through Waitrose car park and walked though to the Hempstead Lane playing fields.

Jack-by-the-hedge growing on the railway embankment.

As if to emphasise how close this little oasis of nature is to my normal working life, a London-bound train left just as I was walking through the reserve. It was partly screened by ash trees that were just starting to come into leaf and its emerald green Southern Rail livery contrasted with the fresh yellow greens of the surrounding spring foliage. Even so close to the train, I could see Jack-in-the-hedge, cuckoo flower, forget-me-nots and wild garlic.

Spring blossom.

There are so many other flowers to see now. Tiny jewel-like germander speedwell flowers vied for my attention with startling white greater stitchwort. The last of the king cups were fading out but there were plenty of buttercups and, I think, lesser spearwort, coming. The more subtle tones of ground ivy and crosswort added to the rich tapestry.

As I admired a clump of cuckoo flower growing in the stream, I noticed pond skaters and whirligig beetles on the water surface. Above birds flitted and twittered amongst the branches.

Wild garlic by the notice board, near Hempstead Lane playing fields.

The Uckfield news tells us that plans are afoot to tackle the pretty but thuggish Himalayan Balsam. A notice on the board says:

Task days will be held every Saturday morning in June,

from 9am to 1pm

If you want to help, you can come along to one of the task days and do as much or as little as you can. Meet at 9am Waitrose car park entrance to the reserve.

Full training will be given.

You can also support the Nature Reserve by coming along to the Advisory Committee's AGM on Thursday 6th June from 7.30pm, in the Green Room, Uckfield Civic Centre.

I hope to get along to some of the task days. It should be good fun and will help preserve the variety of damp-loving wild flowers by removing some of the Balsam.