Blog Archives: Bug & Botany Walks

#WildEssex: review of 2022

Britain's Wildlife, Bug & Botany Walks, WildEssex

At the start of 2022, ‘with a little help from our friends’ (you know who you are!), we rebranded our nature and wildlife activities as #WildEssex, with the banners above and below, and even tee-shirts!

So from these aspects alone, it has been an interesting year, a time of change and innovation. As always, wildlife walks have been our mainstay, with one or two in most months, apart from the late summer period when first it was simply too hot to meet safely out in the open, and then when my mobility was severely impaired by a femoral nerve problem. Blogs of all our regular walks are available – just filter these blogs for ‘WildEssex’ and all will appear, or pick and choose them from the drop-down List of Blogs.

Those walks we did do were of course a mixed bunch. As always, several were around Wivenhoe, though we have started branching out further afield around Brightlingsea, Mistley, Wrabness and Harwich, trying so far as possible to make them convenient for those who wish to travel by public transport.

In response to increasing numbers booking, we ran several of the walks twice in quick succession, itself a challenge when one was warm and sunny, the other being cold, damp and windy (April in Cockaynes Reserve comes to mind). Indeed weather is always a concern, and never more so than at Wrabness in May, the first time we have tried a four-hour walk. And for all but 15 minutes of those four hours it rained, sometimes heavily (see below)! And then of course there was the October fungus foray in Wivenhoe Park when preceding drought meant there were almost none to be found. Such is life and the lot of wildlife guides!

Another innovation was planning the walks around food and drink. Mistley (February and June) benefitted from the zero-waste (but serious quality!) coffee kiosk outside Mistley Station, our June charity walk around Alresford made a welcome stop for a drink at The Pointer, and around Brightlingsea East End in July, we went the whole hog and ended up with a delicious lunch at The Rosebud. We intend this model to feature in future years!

And on the a similar theme, we also ran our first multi-day, overnight-stay event, at Burnham-on-Crouch. During two half-day and one full-day walks, we explored thoroughly around Burnham, and across on the ferry to Wallasea Island, all interspersed with two excellent evening meals, one in our hotel, the other in The Ship Inn, and (for some of the group at least) two comfortable nights in the historic waterside Ye Olde White Harte Hotel. Again, we hope to arrange similar elsewhere in Essex this coming year.

So much for the food and drink, but what of the wildlife? Well, as always it was rich, varied and often surprising, such as an unexpected flock of Pyramidal Orchids at Brightlingsea.

And it is far from only the commonplace things we find. Also at Brightlingsea, the very large, gold-ringed black weevil Liparus coronatus showed itself to us in July – the only other times we have seen this scarce insect anywhere have been two previous occasions within a radius of less than a kilometre.

Our Burnham awaydays produced a bracket fungus on Sea-buckthorn, Fomitoporia hippophaeicola, for which the National Biodiversity Network maps show no previous records in Essex.

And September at Harwich we came upon a new locality for the nationally scarce Dune Villa fly, while Wivenhoe Park in October gave us a new gall, a very recent arrival in these parts, the cowrie gall of Neuroterus saliens on Turkey Oaks.

What else? WildEssex entered the modern era with a Facebook presence (Wild Essex – Bringing Nature To You) and a WhatsApp group to keep in regular touch, in addition to our website and Twitter. We started running free monthly Zunday Zoom talks in the winter months, all of which have been recorded and are available on request to anyone who wants to watch them (thus far, Summer by the Stour Estuary, Coastal Plants, the Magic of Mushrooms and Review of 2022).

Jude has relaunched her free monthly newsletter to very positive comments, and there have also been several bespoke walks on request (Wivenhoe Wood in April, a symphony in blue, was particularly memorable) together with talks now taking off after the enforced break of Covid19. Although sadly fewer this year as people are once again looking abroad for wildlife travel, we have provided walks for Naturetrek, both locally and further afield, including Hockley Woods and even Somerset.

We have continued to work closely with Beth Chatto Gardens, advising staff (and, by extension, visitors) on wildlife and sustainability, with a monthly staff newsletter, moth trapping and survey work on the show-gardens designed to demonstrate the mantra of ‘right plant, right place’ at nearby Chattowood. And begun to work with Great Bentley Parish Council in trying to improve the second largest village green in the country for wildlife, among other engagement with local authorities, particularly Wivenhoe Town Council.

All that, and then the writing, with three big book projects which should come to fruition in 2023 and several other pieces, including book reviews (see specific blogs on these – Reviews and Books – now posted…).

A busy year, not without its frustrations, but plenty of fun and excitement. And as we generally do, we have been pleased to make charitable donations. Buglife, our regular charity of choice, saving the little things that run the planet has been sent £400; Essex Wildlife Trust, owners of some of the sites we visit, £50; and the Ukrainian appeal, trying to mitigate the effects of the war crimes being committed over there, £120. All very deserving causes, and we wish it could be more.

So here’s to 2023, with a full programme being planned, starting with our traditional New Year’s Day Wild Flower Hunt. Thanks everyone for your support!

#WildEssexWalks: The Naze and Walton Backwaters

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Our annual exploration of the shore at Walton-on-the-Naze was as enjoyable as ever and we thank the group for getting as excited about the geology and shells as us! Some interesting finds included a piece of fossilised whale bone, a 50 million year old shark’s tooth, and several left-hand coiling whelks Neptunia contraria, fascinating as most gastropods coil in a dextral way.

Modern shells were to be found too, including the attractive Piddocks, or Angel’s wings, which bore vertically in the soft London Clay, making perfectly round holes as they do so.

We were lucky with the weather: although dull it was dry, a welcome contrast to the very heavy rains of the previous few days.  This year we also offered an afternoon walk, atop the cliffs, to check out the wildlife away from the shore as well as the expansive sea views.

The whole area, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, is one of the finest geological sites in Britain, comprising layers of London Clay topped by Red Crag. The stunning redness of the Crag due to oxidisation of the sand and shell layer laid down over 3 million years ago when Walton was, as now, at the edge of the sea, just prior to it being engulfed in the turmoil of the last Ice Age.

Recent landslips were apparent. A combination of rainwater downwards, lubrication of the clay surface, and storm wave pressures make the whole area vulnerable – although exciting for geologists and fossil-hunters, nevertheless is extremely worrying for the buildings atop the cliffs, for example the famous Naze Tower, a 300 year old landmark built by Trinity House for navigational purposes, which year by year inches its way to the cliff edge (although now slowed by the creation of the Crag Walk).

Immersed in beach-combing as we were, we occasionally raised our eyes seawards to admire the bird-life. Many Dark-bellied Brent Geese were seen and heard, maybe 400 in total, all recently arrived from Siberia, with in amongst them a couple of Pale-bellied individuals. The Essex Coast is a vitally important place for Brent Geese and a fifth of the world’s population use our shores for winter feeding.

Other shorebirds included Grey Plovers, Turnstones and Redshanks, while in the cliff scrub Robins ‘ticked’ (probably  Scandinavian migrants), families of Long -tailed Tits and a Cetti’s Warbler or two, in atypically subdued song.

After a restorative lunch we spent the afternoon ambling around the grassy areas atop the cliffs, and walking the seawall. We were struck by the amount of vegetation in flower – Narrow-leaved Ragwort (new arrival in these parts from South Africa), Sea Mayweed and Yarrow were easy to spot.

Less surprising, but very welcome to insects, was lots of Gorse in full flower (it is said to flower when ‘kissing is in season’ ie all the year round!). Its beautiful coconut scent and bright yellow flowers a real tonic on a dull winter’s afternoon.

The Sea Hog’s Fennel was a point of conversation – lots of these have been deliberately planted at the Naze, and for a specific purpose: it is an Ark population outside the reach of rising sea levels, for the moment at least. A very rare plant itself, it is the only food plant of an even rarer moth, the Fisher’s Estuarine Moth (shown below although not seen on the day!), which was first discovered in the area by Ben Fisher, a friend of ours and by chance also of one of our group.

As always, there is so much to discover in nature once you get your eye in.  An as-yet-unidentified (but interesting-looking) small bug on the fencing by the seawall, Spangle Galls on oak leaves, Witches’ Brooms (also a gall, but caused by a fungus) on  Silver Birch, plus some rather attractive grassland fungi and hedges laden with the fruits of the season. Autumn is really penetrating into the depths of winter this year!

Hopefully everyone enjoyed their time on the Naze, a place definitely worth returning to throughout the year as the seasons change.

So that’s about it for walks with WILD ESSEX for ’22. Still on our agenda is a free Zunday Zoom session on Sunday 11th December (see our next newsletter for the link) and then we hope to kick off next year with our annual Wild Flower Hunt on 1st Jan.  Thanks to everyone who has joined us this year for events.

 

#WildEssexWalks: autumn in Wivenhoe Park

Britain's Wildlife, Bug & Botany Walks, WildEssex, WildWivenhoe

When the day dawned for our annual Fungi walk at the Uni, we were slightly less than optimistic….the rain was beating down on our velux windows, and we knew from a recce a couple of days previously that the fungi were not going to be at their best this year, no doubt due to the long, hot, dry summer and subsequent lack of rain.

However, we need not have worried!  Our fantastic group of friends old and new cared not about the weather (no such thing as wrong weather, only wrong clothes) and still enjoyed a couple of hours in Wivenhoe Park, happy to learn about the trees/galls/leaves and history of the park as well as searching for fungi.

The trees never fail to delight at this wonderful place – specimen trees from all continents of the world, selected for the parkland when Wivenhoe House was first built in the 1750s and added to ever since then – plus many natives including Pedunculate Oaks, Beech and Silver Birch, including a few specimen oaks which probably predate the Park and Hall by half a millennium.

The vast quantity of acorns on the ground was noticeable, this year having been a ‘mast’ year, when the trees put lots of energy into producing fruit, a mechanism to ensure survival of the species by periodically swamping all the seed eaters such as Jays. (Rather overkill as it only takes one acorn to replace a tree!). However, it is an interesting phenomenon, and one that is happening more frequently (three times in the past four years when just a short few years ago, once a decade was more expected), due to the climate chaos encircling us all: the venerable trees are crying out for help, sensing perhaps a premature end as droughts and other stresses make them vulnerable to disease.

A Tree Trail has been put together to take in some of the best examples in the Park, well worth a look…University of Essex Tree Trail – Walking Route in Colchester, Colchester – Visit Colchester. Here are just a couple of the trees – Cork Oaks brought back from the Peninsular Wars by the Park’s owner Major General Rebow, and a couple of Swamp Cypresses growing in the lake, and using snorkel roots to breathe.

But once again, weather conspired against us: the lack of any frost in October means that the sometimes vibrant autumn colours have simply not developed. Compare these two pictures of the leaves of North American Red Oaks in Wivenhoe Park – first in 2019, and then this year, on almost the same date: from autumnal fire to subdued embers…

As expected the fungi were not great (no Fly Agarics this year for example), but other favourites were discovered including Parasols, Beefsteak, Chicken of the Woods and Birch Bracket, as well as lots of ‘LBJs’  (Little Brown Jobs!). Here are a few photos of what we did find:

Galls are a particular interest of ours, and we were pleased to have discovered a couple of days ago Neuroterus saliens,  a rarely seen gall on Turkey Oak. Discovered in UK only in 2006 it has spread in the south east, although we think our record is the first for this part of Essex (probably just that nobody has looked for it, as all Turkey Oaks we saw were covered in it).

Oak trees are particularly blessed/cursed with galls, over 50 different types can be found on these species, though galls, caused by a variety of minute wasps/mites/flies etc do not generally damage their hosts. But again it was noticeable just how few spangle-galls there were: these are normally very obvious at this time of year – once again the suspicion has to be that the freakish weather of 2022 is to blame. Weather that may be responsible for other anomalous sites on a dreary day at the very end of October, Chicory in flower and a welcome beacon of colour.

For those interested in finding out more about which fungi are edible (some are, and delicious, whilst others are deadly poisonous), we would recommend a book coming out early in the New Year Edible Fungi of Britain and Northern Europe | Princeton University Press.  We have had a minor role copy-editing it, and so we know just how beautiful – and useful – it is. We are also hosting a free zoom session ‘The Magic of Mushrooms’ on Sunday 6th November at 7pm.  If you would like the link contact jmgibson1959@btinternet.com.

Thanks to all who braved the weather today, and hope you all enjoyed as much as we did.

 

 

 

#WildEssex on Tour: Burnham and the River Crouch

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A first for #WildEssex – a few days away to a place far enough away to make it seem like a holiday, but not too far, with the necessities – both good wildlife and pleasant pubs 😊.  What more could we have wanted?  Well, Chris’ leg being in better shape may have speeded up the whole thing, but actually a slow pace with frequent opportunities to stop, look and listen fitted perfectly with the whole ethos of Wild Essex. The weather played ball, our group of ladies gelled brilliantly and made the whole experience a lot of fun. So thank you all!

Burnham-on-Crouch is a pretty place with maritime running through all its veins. Some of us resided in one of the ancient waterside pubs, Ye Olde White Harte, complete with lots of beams and quirkiness. Others chose to set up camp together ‘The Camper Van Three’ in their delightful touring vans.  The weather was pretty kind to us – one evening having the best sunset ever (even by Wivenhoe standards)…

… and that on the second evening was almost as impressive!

The ever-changing tides gave us constantly shifting views of the River Crouch – both for the birdlife and for the yachts and other boats moored along the riverside and at the yacht harbour.

Our amblings took us both east and west from Burnham and on the final morning we took a short but very enjoyable boat trip over to Wallasea island, now an RSPB reserve fashioned out of Crossrail spoil on top of a low-lying island previously used for intensive agriculture.

The birdlife here was somewhat disappointing, although we know that come the wintertime it will be teeming with birdlife. We were hoping to spend a whole day there but that was thwarted by the ferry not running the day we had planned; as it happened, the lack of a ferry was serendipitous given the dearth of birds.

On other days, Riverside Park, part of which is a brownfield site (so important for invertebrate life especially) and a de facto Nature Reserve, provided us with lots to admire, and we were impressed with Burnham Wick Farm, a working farm which strives to promote and help wildlife along with their daily raison d’etre of growing food.

During Chris’ ‘Sit-down Sessions’ we had the chance to think about and discuss tides and the moon; the importance of oysters, both in the past and now trying to restore Native Oyster stocks; the conflicts about how best to use our land – food, solar power, wind power, wild spaces, housing? – plus a lot else besides.

So what did we actually see?  We have compiled a list (see here Burnham lists)…., but some of the highlights included:

PLANTS – Sea Buckthorn with its cacophony of Starlings, the berries of the plant now sometimes used in superfood cooking (as an interested passer-by told us) which we tasted but were not particularly impressed with; Sea Aster in all its forms on the marshes; the ‘menagerie’ of plants, Bristly Ox-tongue, Common Fleabane, Goat’s Rue, Slender Hare’s-ear, Buck’s-horn Plantain, Autumn Hawkbit, Dogwood and more; many other fruiting species, often abundantly, including Buckthorn and Holm Oak; whole swards of Strawberry Clover and Narrow-leaved Bird’s-foot-trefoil; plus the beautiful Common Reed, its leaves showing the Devil’s teeth marks – and one of the few plants you can actually identify from the sound it makes in the breeze – known as ‘psithurisim ‘  (thanks Annie!).

INVERTEBRATES – Garden Spider, an amazingly bright Clouded Yellow butterfly, burnet moth cocoons, plus Ivy Bees homing in on the abundant Ivy flowers, Long-winged Cone-head, Forest Bug and Parent Bugs in a variety of colourways.

BIRDS – shore birds including Little Egret, Black Tailed Godwits and Ringed Plovers, Sandwich Terns, gulls and Cormorants; woodland species including several kinds of tit, Meadow Pipits and Swallows migrating through, noisy Cettis Warblers plus overhead Buzzard, Marsh Harrier and Kestrel.

OTHER wildlife delights included fungi (the bracket fungus on Sea Buckthorn proved to be Fomitiporia hippophaeicola, with no previous Essex records shown on the National Biodiversity Network map) and lichens, galls, a Harbour Seal bobbing about, a Brown Hare, a Harvest Mouse nest and various kinds of poo!

So all in all, although things didn’t go entirely to our original plan, we had a great time and really hoping we can organise another Wild Essex On Tour trip next year. Please let us know if you would be interested in being kept in touch about this.

#WildEssexWalks: Harwich Foreshore and Beach

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Lovely sunshine greeted us when we all assembled on Harwich Halfpenny Pier this morning.  This was the first time we had organised an outing to Harwich and hope that everyone enjoyed as much as we did.

We wandered from the Halfpenny Pier, via the sandy beach near the New Bell pub, right along the foreshore as far as the Low Lighthouse. From then on we followed the promenade as far as the Banksy spraycation (?) mural at Stone Point, where Harwich turns into Dovercourt.

So what did we see?

Birdlife – Sandwich Terns ( including one being harried by a Herring Gull), Little Egret, Turnstones, Oystercatchers and the ubiquitous gulls.

Plants – some specialities of coastal areas, most of which are very uncommon given that their habitat is restricted to a thin sliver where the sea meets the land: Sea Rocket, Rock Samphire, Prickly Saltwort, Sea Holly, Sea Spurge and more…

… along with the rather less welcome invasive Japanese Rose, starting to colonise the low dunes.

Insects – not many, just the occasional butterfly and Meadow Grasshopper, but also a rather interesting (and rare) fly – Dune Villa.

Products of the Sea – shells were discussed, with particular reference to Oysters, from former abundance to severe decline, but now hope in the form of the Essex Native Oyster Restoration Inititative; and fossils, especially sharks’ teeth. One of our group found one in the morning, but later in the day we (plus Chris’ family over from Germany) spent some time looking and each found one. So worth looking for next time you visit Harwich beach.  Lots of seaweeds but these will be a topic of a future walk.

Geology – the Harwich Stone Band (not a pop group), which defines Harwich as the only natural rocky shore in Essex. The band formed from an ash layer from volcanoes 50 million years ago which settled in that area and became compacted to form a layer of rock.

Other life – the tail of a Common Lizard seen disappearing into the undergrowth and these two in their rather groovy new tee shirts!

#WildEssex Walks: Brightlingsea East End

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Thanks to our lovely group of nature fans for joining us on our walk at the East End of Brightlingsea. The weather was pretty perfect – fairly warm with just a bit of breeze to stop us overheating, and things just got better and better as we discovered wildlife along the way, including a surprise find at the end of the walk, and finishing off with a welcome pub lunch.

Having met at Hurst Green (we are reliably informed by a local friend that Hurst is an ancient word meaning ‘triangle’), we followed the quiet road down towards the estuary, taking in the views of the saltmarshes After a short walk along a section of seawall, we spent the last hour in the ‘plantation’ area searching out insects. A chance encounter with a dog walker alerted us to a large patch of orchids in the next field, which we duly checked out (having successfully negotiated the rather steep steps and board-walk) and weren’t disappointed!

So what did we find?  Too many things to mention for a complete list, but in summary:

Insects

Several species of Lepidoptera – Red Admirals, Green Veined Whites, Ringlets, Essex Skippers, Meadow Browns, Small Tortoiseshells and Peacocks (the latter in their larval stage – big fat caterpillars 😊).  Other larvae included Cinnabars on Ragwort, along with one flying adult.

Beetles – ‘thick thighs’, Two-spotted Malachites, 14-spot and Harlequin Ladybirds, evidence of Bark-beetle in the form of wonderful ‘aboriginal art’ on a dead Elm trunk…

… plus a large weevil Liparus coronatus with gold ring and blotches (rescued from certain crushing in the road in my hankie then released nearby): this is Nationally Scarce and something we have only seen twice before, and only within a kilometre of this very spot.

Bugs – Woundwort Shieldbug, Dock Bugs plus a few tiny weeny Green Shield-bugs in an early nymphal stage.

Flies – a few attractive hoverflies, including this Helophilus pendulus, plus a very small fly which liked one of our group and stayed with her for a while – it would seem to be, we think, a tiny example of a Slender-striped Robberfly.

Not many bees were encountered, but in the same insect group we found evidence of the ZigZag Sawfly on Elm, with larva munching.  These are so fascinating and new to the area only a couple of years ago!

Birds

Lots of second-brood singing including Whitethroats, Reed Warblers, Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs, Greenfinches and Blackbirds, while a Little Egret flew over at one stage.

Plants

Some of the many we admired included Teasel, Chicory, Woody Nightshade, Salsify and two Bindweed Species (Large and Hedge) on opposite sides of the track for comparison….

The trees in the plantation were predominantly native and included Aspen, rustling tremulously in the light breeze…

The sea wall produced Sea Beet and Crow Garlic with patches of Sea Wormwood, and Common Sea-lavender coming into flower on the marshes…

And of course, not forgetting the Pyramidal Orchids, dozens of spikes just about at their peak of flowering.

Something new for ‘Wild Essex’ walks, was a pub lunch to finish off proceedings. This was a very sociable end to an enjoyable morning – at least we found it so – and we hope everyone else did too! 😊 Thanks to the Rosebud for their friendly service and good food and beer.

Hope that you will all be able to join us on another event in the not-too-distant future.

#WildEssex bug-hunt in St Mary’s Churchyard, Wivenhoe

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A wonderful morning with a group of enthusiastic children discovering the bugs and beasties in St Mary’s churchyard, Wivenhoe. Such a joy to see their faces light up with each find! Thank you to the church for organising, parents and grandparents for accompanying them and most of all the children themselves.

Here is just a selection of what we found…

And on top of that, there were the galls. On the Walnut tree, famously planted from part of the tree in the garden of The Greyhound that was felled by the 1987 ‘hurricane’ two types of mite gall were very obvious: the common blister gall of Aceria erineus…

… and the much smaller, redder pustule gall of Aceria tristriata. This is rather special – the map on the National Biodiversity Network website shows just 12 locations in the whole country where it has been recorded. That is certainly an underestimate, as we have subsequently found at least two further ‘new’ locations in the past year, but clearly it is uncommon, and therefore part of the biodiversity of the churchyard to be treasured.

The value of churchyards cannot be overstated. Enclaves of the near-forgotten countryside of our past, a refuge for wildlife as well as for the soul, especially when the wildlife is actively encouraged in by the retention of long grass and flowers to feed the insects all summer long. And inspiration for those who will come after us, those for whom we must do our level best, to ensure their world is still a world worth living in.

#WildEssex charity walk to Alresford and Cockaynes Reserve

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Thank you to you all for joining us today on our inaugural Charity Picnic in aid of our chosen charity Buglife.  The weather played ball – not too hot/cold/wet/windy – but a nice combination of all.  Perfect walking and chatting weather in fact.

From the beautiful Wivenhoe estuary we walked up to Alresford Old Church, where we sat and ate our picnic lunches.   A pit stop at The Pointer followed, then stroll back to Wivenhoe via Cockaynes Reserve.

Not too many words about what we saw: suffice to say plenty of birds…

… lots of flowers…

… and of course an array of insects and other invertebrates, as befits our charitable donation. The little things that help the world go round!

We are grateful to you all for the donations – £110 raised – and to Emily especially for manning the ‘rubbish bag’ for collecting unsavoury objects en route.

#WildEssex – Furze Hill, Mistley

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A gorgeous day blessed our walk at Mistley today.  What contrast to our Wrabness trip a month before!

Several of us ( including the special co-leader, Eleanor) arrived by train and immediately tucked into a good coffee and cake from the Zero Waste van-man at Mistley Station. When all were assembled we set off through Edme works (with that distinctive malty smell permeating the air), under the railway line and into the first of our varied habitats – a field used sometimes to graze cattle, but today was just full of Meadow Buttercups  and other wild flowers, such as new-sprung Hogweed flowers round the margins and fungi sprouting on the sites of now long-gone cowpats.

And of course there was also the grasses, many species in fresh flower, and both diverse and beautiful as shown by this Cock’s-foot and Yorkshire-fog.

A Small Tortoiseshell skipped between buttercups, and the big old parkland trees held both Jackdaws and Rooks, whose cawing rose to a crescendo as a Raven swept in (no doubt on the lookout for an easy chick meal) – a dramatic addition to the Essex skyscape over the past five years.

At the foot of Furze Hill, the local springs that led to the 18th century marketing of Mistley Thorn as a spa town coagulate into a streamline fringed with massive Alder trees, harbouring singing Wrens, Blackcaps and a Song Thrush. The leaves were covered in the small galls of the microscopic mite Eriophyes laevis.

A pleasant walk along a leafy lane ensued (welcome shade!) – many wayside and woodland flowers to be admired, from blue Alkanet and Germander Speedwell, to yellow Wood Avens and white Cow Parsley (going over) and Ground Elder (freshly out), along with many Nettles supporting a myriad of insect life.

After a short walk through a woodland clearing we arrived on to the rec ground where we divided into two groups. Eleanor and Granny went to spend a happy hour on the swings whilst the more ‘grown-up? 😊’ ones enjoyed a walk through the woodland, admiring the natural beauty, in particular the ancient trees.

Of these Old Knobbley was, of course, the star attraction.  According to a rather lovely book by Morag Embleton ‘Old Knobbley the Oak Tree’, it is some 1000 years old and has seen a lot of changes!  Chris’  blogs have more information too Furze Hill, Mistley: home to the Ancients | Chris Gibson Wildlife and #BringingNatureToYou : branching out to Furze Hill, Mistley | Chris Gibson Wildlife.

Then where Brambles were bursting into flower, another natural resource was being exploited to the full by Honeybees, bumblebees, Red Admirals and many others, including late-instar nymphs of Red-legged Shield bug Speckled Woods and numerous Gold-barred Longhorn Moths sunning themselves on the leaves.

We completed our session with a stroll over the recreation field itself, which in places has avoided too-regular mowings and been allowed to grow.  Lots of Birds-foot-trefoil (a favourite of bees and Common Blue butterflies) was blooming, together with Lesser Stitchwort, Common Cat’s-ear, Mouse-eared Hawkweed and Sheep’s Sorrel, indicating the sandy nature of the soil. A briskish walk up School Lane back to the station brought the morning to a close.

As always the pleasure was ours, and we hope that everyone enjoyed the experience.  Some of the group continued into Manningtree for a lunch, and we carried on to Harwich to spend the afternoon on the beach.

Looking forward to seeing you all before long, and just to finish with a final mention to be sure to check yourselves for ticks after a countryside walk these days.  Ticks – advice on protection, prevention and removal | Scouts

 

#WildEssex Walks: Wrabness and the Stour Estuary

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Rain, rain and more rain…a feature of our half day walk around beautiful spots of Wrabness, but hopefully not the only memory to be taken away😊 . Our thanks to everyone for their perseverance….’it may brighten up later’….but despite the less-than-perfect conditions we still got a flavour of this relatively unspoilt area, and we hope that it was worth getting a bit damp for!

The morning got off to a mixed start – slight issues with the car-parking payment facilities but the prospect of a coffee and use of a loo in the little community shop more than made up for any initial annoyances. We covered quite a distance over the four hours, our first port of call being the House for Essex, the whacky but very interesting Grayson Perry creation.  If you get the chance, do try to visit this on a sunny day, when the whole exterior seems to shine and glow. And to our eyes at least a very fitting addition to the newly-designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Next, East Grove was a pleasant little diversion from the main route – a perfect little woodland boasting many plants, including Butcher’s Broom, Bugle, Greater Stitchwort and of course Bluebells aplenty.

The juxtaposition of tidal mud and ancient woodland is exceptionally rare in Essex, and the smell of the estuary was a feast for the nose!

 

Peering out from the trees, we could see a couple of hundred Dark-bellied Brent Geese on the shoreline. The icon of the Essex coast in winter (we are home to a fifth of the world’s population), the Stour is one of its renowned departure points for its return migration…

…and sure enough, a chorus of burbling, and off they went. Next stop the Taimyr Peninsula? Or at least a staging post in the Baltic.

Walking along the seawall we were able to admire many other shore birds: Shelducks, Oystercatchers, Little Egrets and  more. The quiet conditions (hardly any people on foot and a welcome lack of light aircraft overhead which seem to enjoy being noisy), and the damp, still air made Bird Listening (as opposed to Watching) an important part of the day. Farmland birds were in full voice, including Skylarks, Whitethroats and Lesser Whitethroats, with more distant Cuckoo, Nightingale and Yellowhammer.

Along this stretch we found virtually the only insects of any note – St Mark’s Flies.  These dangly-legged beasties emerge at roughly the same time as our hirundine visitors, providing food for them after their long flights from Africa. Among the big boys was a smaller, more colourful species, Downland Bibio.

An innocuous field of peas turned out to have a fascinating story – these have been bred to be leafless, the leaflets now being just tendrils which twirl around each other allowing the plants to huddle together, as protection from wind and heavy rains etc. Something we were having to come to terms with ourselves! And some of the Oak trees along the cliff-edge were already laden with galls, even on the leaves which must have burst only a week ago. One or two had huge numbers of large Oak-apples, on one of which we found a micro-hyperparasite, a tiny, long-tailed wasp, presumably a parasite of the gall-causer, itself a tiny wasp!

Next part of the route was along the beach.  Of interest was the geology – the cliffs (SSSI) showing ‘ash layers’ in among the London clay… visible evidence of when these parts were covered in ash from volcanic activity in Caledonia many millions of years ago.  The rocks – part of the Harwich Stone Band (forerunner of the Rolling Stones??) – from which local VIP buildings such as Colchester Castle have been partially constructed – were all around, to be admired, and some adorned with festoons of seaweed. This beach and a similar one at Harwich are the only natural rocky shores between north Norfolk and north Kent.

Rocks and fallen trees  provided a kind of make-your-bum-wet perch on which to eat lunch, though some sensible people in our group found a nice dry boat under tree canopy to eat theirs!  The conditions weren’t really conducive to leisurely beach-combing, but a few shells of interest were found, including Portuguese Oysters (a rampant non-native, potentially squeezing out our local native variety), Slipper Limpets, Cockles in a variety of attractive colours and a Shore Crab’s carapace. Another highlight of the shore walk was seeing the Sand Martins’ nests in the sandy banks – one of only three natural martin nesting sites in Essex.

Onward and up the bank onto the footpath we wended our way into the Essex Wildlife Nature reserve.  By now the wet weather was starting to really take its toll. The rain soaking up from my feet was meeting that dripping down from my coat, and we began to think we should call it a day a bit earlier than originally planned.  This meant missing out the Woodland Burial Site, but perhaps next time! The Nature Reserve – an important site, luckily rescued from development proposals – really does need visiting in the warm (see our evening visit last year, when conditions were perfect…  Wrabness Nature Reserve on a summer’s evening | Chris Gibson Wildlife ). Today there was no insect life whatsoever, but a few plants were worth a mention – Field Horsetail (diminutive relative of the giants from which our coal was laid down, eons ago), White Ramping Fumitory, Spotted Medick and Cowslip – and the many funnel-web spider webs, liberally laced with mercurial droplets…

The birds were not performing as we had hoped. Not a peep from the local Nightingales nor the Corn Buntings. But one important memory that we must take back from the nature reserve was the purring sound of the Turtle Doves…sadly such a rare thing to hear these days, due to merciless hunting in certain Mediterranean countries and the lack of suitable habitat (all they can find are agricultural wastelands ravaged by pesticides and totally lacking the seeds of ‘weeds’) for those that do manage to make it.  But here at least they can find sanctuary.

At this point our group began to separate – some heading for an earlier train, whilst others of us wandered at a more leisurely pace back to the station.  A little stop at the church (unfortunately not open to allow a sit down!), was worth a few minutes of our time, if only to see Annie inside the bell-cage.  Apparently the church tower collapsed in the 17th century, when the bell was ‘caged’, and seemingly that is where it will stay for evermore. And further along the road, we encountered the second of The Twelve Days of Christmas birds – Partridges (Red-legged varieties) which were enjoying the pea-fields.

Again thanks to everyone who stuck with us, and hope that we can repeat this, in more favourable conditions another year.  Writing this, having been home an hour or so, the sun is shining and we can’t help thinking ‘if only….’…

#WildEssex Walks: Cockaynes Reserve in spring

Britain's Wildlife, Bug & Botany Walks, WildEssex, WildWivenhoe

As often when we offer two dates for a walk, the weather is vastly different each day.  This was definitely the case with our little forays to Cockaynes for this month’s Wild Essex events. Monday was blowy and cold, whilst on Tuesday the sun shone, and the wind had dropped.  (Sorry Keith!).

This report covers some of the highlights that we saw, heard and smelled over both days. As to be expected, the warmer conditions on Tuesday brought out more of our insect friends. In line with the calendar (how do they know?) a St Mark’s Fly was seen, slightly askew with one wing out and the other not.  Possibly it had just emerged and not fully ‘filled out’. St Mark’s Day is 25th April! The following day we witnessed two ‘in cop’ doing what they need to do in the few days that they are alive as adults.

A little Pine Ladybird was busying itself keeping warm on a woodland leaf, and we found some Brown Tail moth caterpillars, new escapees from their conspicuous nest-webs. Their body hairs contain an unpleasant irritant and so contact should be avoided.  The only birds that can eat them are Cuckoos which have specially designed digestive processes to cope.

Famous and important residents to this site are the ‘Bunny Bees’ (Colletes cunicularis) which make holes in the sandy banks on the reserve. These are rare and it is always a pleasure to see that they are still enjoying living near us in Wivenhoe. And a host of other solitary bees were out and about in the sun including this ‘mini-miner’:

Evidence of other insect life was found, without seeing the critters themselves – leaf miner moths which lay their eggs between the surfaces of leaves and the larvae eat and grow, making patterns in leaves as they go, before emerging when fully fed, and also little cases of micro moths which were easy to spot on the rushes.

An Acorn Weevil showed its snout within the unfurling wings of an aquiline Bracken, and a tiny Dyseriocrania subpurpurella micromoth nestled into a Cow Parsley umbel. The warmer sunshine brought out butterflies on Tuesday, including Speckled Woods, Orange Tips, Large Whites and a Peacock.

We were privileged to hear lots of bird song in the couple of hours, and this varied day-to-day too.  We caught the dulcet tones of numerous Mediterranean Gulls (did I say dulcet?  – more like a posh squawk!)  – numbers in this area at the moment are at an all-time-high.  Add to that Chiffchaffs, Song Thrushes with their three-song call,  angry Cetti’s Warblers, rhythmic Reed Warblers, liquid Blackcaps, the increasingly rare Willow Warbler, Robins, Great Tits, Wrens, a bit-of-bread-and-no- cheese Yellowhammer, Linnet (below), Goldfinches and the odd snatch of Nightingale song, but sadly we did not witness its full and beautiful melodious warble.

Happily there was plenty of plant life to enjoy on both days.  This whole area was once woodland, and fortunately after the gravel extraction programme in the 80s, it was not merely filled in, capped with clay and turned over to agriculture, but was allowed to remain and rewild, giving us the reserve we know and love today. Working parties do great stuff in keeping some of the scrub under control to allow the important (and unusual in Essex) stands of Heather to thrive. These would soon be crowded out if Silver Birch and other trees were allowed to take hold.  Other interesting flora included Gorse at its peak, Town Hall Clock,  Opposite Leaved Golden Saxifrage, Thyme-leaved Speedwell, Wavy Bittercress, Greater Stitchwort, Ground Ivy and Heath Woodrush…

…and of course Bluebells, albeit a little worryingly with quite a few hybrids with Spanish Bluebell, paler, less delicate and of lower value to native pollinators.

Fungi are always fascinating, and we were delighted to find examples of King Alfred’s Cakes and a Mazegill bracket fungus.

As always we enjoyed the company of our groups – always willing to listen to Chris’ stories and ask questions and generally join in.  Thank you all!  Look forward to another walk with you before too long. Some of you asked about our fantastic close-up binoculars: they are Pentax Papilio II 8.5 x 21. We would recommend them thoroughly, and it is just a pity we are not on commission, given the number of pairs that have been bought by our ‘bug and botters’ over the past four years!

#WildEssex Walks: Alresford Old Church to the creek

Britain's Wildlife, Bug & Botany Walks, WildEssex, WildWivenhoe

Thank you all for coming along to our walk today.  The weather was absolutely perfect – bright sun, blue sky with a gentle breeze to keep us all cool.

Gorse, that most important of plants for early pollinators, was out in profusion, and we make no apologies for starting this little blog with blue (sky) and yellow (gorse)– nature’s reflection of the Ukraine flag – a tiny, though heartfelt, show of solidarity with those suffering untold pain and misery in ‘civilized’ Europe.

This month’s event was the first time we have taken our group on this particular route, and was more of a lengthy walk than we sometimes do. Starting at the old, ruined church of St Peter we wended our way through lanes, down steps and across stepping stones until we reached the trail from Wivenhoe.  This path was once the railway line (Crab and Winkle line) which ran to Brightlingsea pre-Beeching. It is now a popular walkway, with good visual and actual access to the estuary.

The church is an interesting structure; destroyed by fire in 1971, it has acquired a beauty which only old ruins can and the churchyard itself has (at least in other years and we are hopeful for this) been managed for wildlife with areas unmown and allowed to do their own thing, although at the moment with little else showing other than (planted) Wild Daffodils. Among the grassland there are of course lots of those fascinating structures, lichens, on gravestones (see Chris’ gallery of ‘Lichenscapes’ Lichenscapes | Chris Gibson Wildlife).

So what did we see?  We had billed this event as seeing ‘first signs of Spring’ and we were certainly rewarded with lots of early Spring flowers, each an important source of energy for early emerging insects. Lesser Celandines, Greater Stitchworts, Red Dead-nettles and Common Stork’s-bills, not to mention a few (surprisingly early) Bluebells, were decorating the hedgebanks and field margins.

 

Blackthorn and Cherry-plum were in flower (the latter by now almost over), many of these shrubs buzzing with flies and bees making good use of their stores of food, and those biological pest-controllers par excellence, the ladybirds, were spotted here and there.  Who needs nasty poison sprays to keep aphids at bay when these beautiful little jewels will do the job for you?

Although not a Spring species, King Alfred’s Cakes, a hard, globular fungus was found on a dead Ash tree overhanging the path.

Those flying wonders-of-nature, butterflies, were out and about. How on earth caterpillars get transformed into these works of flying art is a mystery to science. We saw Peacocks, Commas and Small Tortoiseshells, but no sign of any Brimstones, although they are on the wing at the moment. And always a delight (to us if not to the bees their larvae parasitize), Bee-flies were just starting to emerge…

Birdsong filled the air; we heard numerous Skylarks, Blue and Great Tits, Robins, Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and many others whilst strolling down to the estuary. The shore birds are beginning to leave our coastline now, the few still remaining included Black-tailed Godwits, Curlews, Shelducks, Teals and Brent Geese we enjoyed watching going about their daily lives of probing mud for scrummy little worms or nibbling on vegetation, all the while keeping their collective eyes open for real or perceived threats.  Lots were disturbed by a Little Egret which landed among them (perhaps looking too much like a Marsh Harrier),although in reality the female Sparrowhawk which flew over at the same time was more of the threat at least to the smaller birds.

The last leg of the ramble was up Ford Lane, ascending from sea-level to the peak of the Essex Alps, where Cow Parsley in very early flower gave a final taste of spring, a last boost to carry us through the cooler conditions forecast for the week to come.