Blog Archives: WildEssex

The Wild Side of Essex: Midsummer at the Naze and Colne Estuary

Britain's Wildlife, Cockaynes Reserve, WildEssex, WildWivenhoe

Midsummer week saw two Wild Side of Essex day walks for Naturetrek. The weather, as hoped, was good, albeit very breezy for the Naze and somewhat too hot for the Colne Estuary.

Being exposed and windy, it felt almost autumnal at the Naze, albeit without the migrating birds. Except that is for a flurry of Swifts, around twenty in all, that came in off the sea mid-morning, which could conceivably have been the vanguard of the July exodus. Otherwise it was summer all the way, with singing Common and Lesser Whitethroats, Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs and Cetti’s Warblers, almost all keeping stubbornly out of sight rather than exposing themselves to the teeth of the wind.

On the clifftop grassland and scrub, Sea Hog’s-fennel was just coming into flower, and in sheltered locations Large White butterflies were in huge numbers, perhaps indicating recent immigration. Other butterflies included a few Meadow Browns, Commas, Small and Essex Skippers and a Holly Blue.

The drought of the past months meant there were rather few flowers although Corky-fruited Water-dropwort, Tufted Vetch, Slender Thistle and Field Bindweed tried hard, and indeed were being much visited by insects, especially Thick-thighed Beetles.

Other insects that attracted our attention were a Yellow-and-Black Longhorn beetle; lots of Ladybirds, especially 7-spots and Harlequins; and Dock and Box Bugs.

A Lackey caterpillar, initially hiding in the foliage, proceeded to give a virtuoso performance, first crawling right out to the end of a shoot, and then back again when it realised there was nowhere else to go.

We also found a picture-winged fly Xyphosia miliaria on its larval foodplant Creeping Thistle; surprisingly this seems to be only thinly scattered across north Essex despite the ubiquity of its host.

With the clifftop copse giving some shelter, we looked out to sea for a while. No seabirds, just wind farms, ports, shipping and a sea fort…

Heading out onto the beach and saltmarsh, we passed Tamarisk in full flower, towards dune plants that included Frosted Orache, Prickly Saltwort and Marram…

… with Common Sea-lavender, Golden Samphire, Sea-purslane and Perennial Glasswort on the marsh.

The only waterbirds were feeding Oystercatchers and a Little Egret among the Black-headed Gulls, a flyover Cormorant and a lone young male Eider that seems to have foregone the opportunity of a summer break back at the Farne Islands.

The strandline produced all manner of shells from Oysters to Slipper-Limpets and Piddocks to Whelks.

Rounding the corner, the tide having receded, we found the focus of the return walk: geology. 50 million year old London Clay, variably topped with 3 million year-old Red Crag and more recent windblown loess, all telling tales of antiquity.

Pyritised wood and iron-stained Crag shells on the beach provided the mementos of the day:

And then the influence of geology on modern day wildlife, a new, clean landslip face with as many, maybe more, Sand Martin holes as I have ever seen there. We had been seeing the birds all day, together with House Martins and Swallows, but here there was a twitter of activity, including first-brood nestlings about to make the big leap.

Colt’s-foot leaves covered the unstable slopes, while a new site record for me on one of the spring-lines was Hemlock Water-dropwort , a rather uncommon plant in north Essex. And heading back to the car park, Narrow-leaved Ragwort and a fragrant flourish to finish, Wild Privet.

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Four days later for the Colne Estuary at Wivenhoe, it was much less breezy, very sunny, and extremely humid following the band of heavy rain that swept over us just a overnight. Thank goodness the heights of the Essex Alps caught the breeze during the hotter parts of the day!

Starting around the sea wall of Ferry Marsh, Reed Warblers were in song and the local speciality Dittander (duly tasted!) in full flower. Other plants like Salsify and Bristly Ox-tongue were attracting pollinators such as the hoverfly Scaeva pyrastri, with Thick-thighed Beetles in the Field Bindweed.

 

There were ladybirds everywhere, mostly 7-spot and Harlequin, in larval, pupal and adult states, together with a selection of other insects such as the bug Deraeocoris ruber.

A purple glow suffused the saltmarshes as Common Sea-lavender was coming into bloom, and newly sprung Marsh Samphire was no doubt a succulent treat for the grazing Canada Geese.

Then along Wivenhoe waterfront, a palimpsest of maritime activity past and present, with Swifts, House Martins and House Sparrows all in evidence, and rare plants occupying the cracks in block-paving: Jersey Cudweed and Four-leaved Allseed.

Beyond the flood barrier, the estuary widens rapidly among more natural surroundings. Barrier Marsh had singing Common Whitethroats, Linnets and Reed Buntings, a Cuckoo calling from across the river, with a few flypast Emperor and Brown Hawker dragonflies. On the mudflats there were a few Oystercatchers and Black-headed Gulls, including the first of this season’s fledged young, as Common Terns flew over, returning to the gravel pit breeding sites after fishing in the estuary.

The sea wall had flowering Strawberry Clover and Crow Garlic, the seaward side also with Shrubby Seablite and Golden Samphire, while Meadow Brown, Large White and Painted Lady butterflies skipped around.

Grange Wood is a near-unique (in the Essex context) ancient wood/tidal water interface, the shady conditions harbouring singing Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and Song Thrushes, roaming families of Long-tailed Tits. Taking the opportunity to cool down and rehydrate, it gave us chance for a leisurely look at Herb Robert, Wood Sage and Stinging Nettles, many bearing the galls of the gall-midge Dasineura urticae, another species that is largely absent (or under-recorded?) from most of Essex, including the Tendring Peninsula…

From there it was up on to the Essex Alps, with some magnificent boundary Oaks, parched sandy fields with Common Ragwort in profusion (although very few Cinnabar caterpillars), and both Buzzards and a Red Kite overhead.

Along Cutthroat Lane, passing some magnificent clumps of Butchers’-broom, Brimstone, Ringlet and Gatekeeper butterflies  were added to the day’s list before we reached Cockaynes Reserve, a remarkable example of life after gravel extraction. And not surprisingly, very droughty indeed.

Field Maple in fruit mingled with the mushroom-scented sprays of Sweet Chestnut flowers, and a myriad of solitary bees and wasps jostled for space among the flowering Common Centaury.

And all wrapped up with a stroll along the crest, catching what breeze we could, with views over the estuary as far as the open sea, and Small Coppers and Lesser Calamint (the iconic plant of the Essex Alps) at our feet completed two days full of all kinds of everything, the Wild Side of Essex at its best.

The Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens: Midsummer madness!

Beth Chatto Gardens, Britain's Wildlife, WildEssex, WildWivenhoe

It was the day before Midsummer for the June Wildside Walks, just coming up to the peak time for insect activity. But the weather may have different ideas – a couple of months with almost no rain are starting to parch the landscape and if this continues, it may be that the high summer peak is lesser than we would hope for, especially given the busy, buzzy days we have had recently.

But for now, the floral riches are ready and waiting…

Especially in hot weather much activity centres on the ponds, and here there were four species of damselfly…

…and a couple of dragonflies: Emperors, always on the go and typically impossible to photograph, and Four-spotted Chasers, real posers and justifying the four pictures here!

On the Lysimachia round the ponds, there was a sawfly larva with a distinctive black mark on its head. This turned out to be Monostegia abdominalis, the only sawfly that feeds on this genus: although probably overlooked and under-recorded, there appear to be no previous records from Essex on the NBN Atlas. Sawflies suffer from under-recording a lot, especially as there are few good identification resources. Take Iris Sawfly, all over our waterside irises this year and very obvious, that is shown from just three spots in Essex on the NBN Atlas, a wonderful resource but only as good as the data that are provided to it!

Of course some sawflies are rather better known, especially the larvae of Solomon’s-seal Sawflies that are making their mark on our plants (our badge of honour!). And right at the moment there is a huge emergence of what may be Turnip Sawfly adults although they don’t seem to be associated with their customary food plant family, Brassicaceae.

Butterflies are rarely numerous in the ‘June gap’, but their diversity is increasing slowly. A Painted Lady pointed to recent immigration, newly emerged Brimstones, Small Tortoiseshells and Commas were on the wing, while both Large and Small Skippers, Common Blues, Meadow Browns and Purple Hairstreaks set the scene for July.

True bugs included a showy Hawthorn Shieldbug, together with large numbers of the recently arrived species Closterotomus trivialis in both its colour forms. First found in the UK in London in 2009, by 2020 it had reached our garden.

A selection of the beetles on show included a fine, warningly coloured Wasp Beetle, many metallic green Thick-thighed Beetles and (rather less welcome) a Vine Weevil…  And it seems that ladybirds have been breeding well this summer, to judge from the number of larvae, including those of Harlequin and 14-spot Ladybirds.

There were a few Common Scorpionflies flittering among the leaves in search of insect prey…

… and plenty of hoverflies, waspy ones such as Syrphus ribesii and Eristalis arbustorum and less marked species like Xylota segnis and a Cheilosia.

Moving on to the Hymenoptera (bees, wasps and ants), of course Honeybees were everywhere. One has to wonder how many other bees there would be if what are essentially livestock were not taking such a large proportion of our flowers’ resources. But  one didn’t make it: it was only when I looked at the image later that I noticed it was covered in flies, and at third glance that it was dead in the jaws of a White Crab-spider.

It is wonderful to hear the buzz of bumblebees again after the Silent Summers of the last two years. As always, Buff-tailed and White-tailed were most numerous (but with many more of the latter than last year), while Early Bumblebee and Vestal Cuckoo-bee (a species that lays its eggs in other bees’ nests) were also performing.

Solitary bees too. Whereas bumblebees and Honeybees store collected pollen in the saddlebags on their hind legs, others use the hairs under their abdomen, like this leafcutter Megachile on Cistus, and the mason bees on white Galactites.

Mining bees are also very important pollinators, but very had to identify: the ones here may be Andrena minutula, bicolor and flavipes.

Solitary digger wasps didn’t want to be left out of the picture either. These generally feed insects, especially caterpillars, to their developing young, but the adults require nectar: Cerceris rybyensis and Ectemnius continuus were foraging from the nectar-glands of  Euphorbia.

Campanula latifolia was a particular focus of pollinator activity. I was photographing (probably) a Gwynne’s Mining-bee deep in the flowers, but again only on examining the photos on the computer did I realise that it had been photobombed by something even more interesting: a Campanula Carpenter Bee, a first for the garden, and only rather thinly scattered across the county.

And our bee hotels were simply buzzing with life! It was an absolute delight to be immersed in so many insects in every part of the Gardens.

Depending on the weather, this summer could go either way from here. If drought persists, the promise of early summer may fizzle out, but if rain comes (within reason) we could be in for a bumper few months. And there are certainly the flowers coming along to help support such an abundance:

The next couple of Wildside Walks are planned for 18th July. If you are interested in joining me, please book through these links – 11am and 12am. And if moths are something you would like to know more about, there’s our Moth Morning the following day…

Midsummer moths in the Beth Chatto Gardens 2025

Beth Chatto Gardens, Britain's Wildlife, WildEssex, WildWivenhoe

Hopes were high for a bumper haul on the night before the solstice, with the nighttime temperature falling no lower than 19 degrees. And as we opened the trap it was clear that our group was in for a great time…

Everyone’s favourites of course are the hawkmoths. The colour was provided by fifteen Elephant Hawks and half a dozen Small Elephants, and the awe-inspiring size (and weight) by the single Privet Hawk. This took a liking to Jude, and a few seconds after she released it safely into a bush five metres away, it flew straight back, landed on her shorts, and stayed there for an hour. Must have known it was safe from an over-attentive Robin!

 

Cinnabars, Rosy Footmen and a couple of Brimstone Moths contributed to the wonderful kaleidoscope of colour …

… while Burnished Brass, Buff Tip and Buff Arches added metallic reflections, incredible camouflage and intricate designs.

And just a few others to show the huge range of colour and form, and their wonderful names: Peppered Moth, Clouded Border, Scorched Wing, Angle Shades, Treble Brown-spot, Small Waved Umber, Lackey, Beautiful Hook-tip and Common Emerald:

Apart from moths that normally live in the surrounding vegetation, it is also possible to catch species from afar whose migrations may bring them from far-flung corners of the continent. The L-album Wainscot and Delicate are both examples of moths that until recently were considered to be exclusively migrants to the British Isles, but may now have developed breeding populations. So whether the ones we caught were migrants or residents we shall never know.

Even smaller moths are interesting. Some of the smaller macromoths included Green Pug, Short-cloaked Moth and Festoon, the latter a scarce south-eastern species associated with ancient woodland and veteran trees.

Micromoths often slip under the radar because of their size, or are ignored because they are difficult or impossible to identify without killing them first, something we would never do. But some are as large or larger than the smaller macromoths, like the European Corn-borer, Archips podana and the aptly named Beautiful Chinamark. The latter is not only a new record for the garden, it is only thinly scattered through Essex and one of the few moth species whose caterpillars live underwater, feeding on our water plants.

Many micros though are smaller, and arguably less distinctive, though some like Argyresthia brockeella, only 5mm long, can only be described as spectacular. And then we get to the smallest of all, a minuscule 2.5mm long, the leaf-miners whose tiny caterpillars feed between the upper and lower surfaces of a leaf. There are many of them: this one is Ectoedemia subbimaculella whose larvae feed in oak leaves.

As well as moths, the trap also attracts other night-flying insects. These included water beetles and caddisflies, aquatic insects perhaps misinterpreting the light as moonglow reflecting of a pond, together with an Orange Ladybird, a mildew-feeding species that I had not previously found in the Gardens.

In total we recorded 100 species of moth (31 micros and 69 macros) with an estimated haul of  some 400 individual moths, the best such event we have run here in the past four years. The full list can be found at this link: bc-moths-june-25

All that and the chance to spend a little time taking in the beauty and tranquility of the garden before the gates are opened.

And never fear, after the group dispersed to enjoy the gardens’ delights more fully, we set about releasing the moths safely into vegetation, away from the attentions of a very inquisitive Robin, and another chance to spread the magic of moths among unsuspecting garden visitors!

If you are interested in joining one of these mornings, the next is on 19th July (booking at Marvellous Moth Morning – Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens) and keep an eye on the Beth Chatto website for future events next year.

 

#WildEssexWalks: Harwich and Landguard Point

Britain's Wildlife, Bug & Botany Walks, Travel by Rail, WildEssex

Phew! That was a hot one: midsummer, crystal blue skies, fierce sunlight, tempered only by a little welcome sea breeze by and on the water around Harwich and Felixstowe Dock. Our first port of call was Harwich Beach, an interesting area of low sand dunes, rich in specialised, often drought-tolerant plants.

The first small stretch of beach featured White Ramping-fumitory and Sea Beet, alongside fleshy Sea Sandwort, waxy-leaved Lyme Grass and tightly rolled but flowering Marram.

Moving around the corner to the larger beach, we were among Dittander (tasting of horseradish) and Rock Samphire (with more than a hint of diesel); Sea Holly and Sea Spurge; Red Valerian (in both red and pink forms) and Japanese Rose. The latter is hated by many, given that it can be invasive and overwhelming on sand, but this patch has barely  grown since I first saw it three decades ago. Bees love it, and so do I: the most intense rose scent you could ever imagine!

With views across to Landguard in Suffolk, shells on the beach were many and varied, including Portuguese Oysters, Common and Slipper Limpets, Periwinkles and Cockles. Then above the town Swifts were screaming, and on the grassy Mallow-covered banks, several Meadow Browns and a couple of Painted Ladies, probably newly emerged rather than newly arrived, given their pristine plumage.

Back through Harwich, past the many historical sites, and the geological display of ice-transported boulders dredged from the channel when it was last deepened; and also Jersey Cudweed, once an extreme rarity but now an expected colonist of block paving.

To Ha’penny Pier where most boarded the foot ferry to Felixstowe, a 15-minute crossing on flat calm seas, ideal opportunity to see the port and its shipping relatively close up. It is a remarkably complex bulk operation, but it does beg the question ‘how much of the stuff in those boxes do we actually need?’. Fast fashion has a lot to answer for…

A beach landing at Landguard led straight to the Viewpoint Café and a very pleasant lunch, before we headed out for another hour on foot around Landguard Point, taking a large loop around the perimeter of Landguard Fort, a strategic defensive establishment protecting the harbour over the past few centuries.

But for us it was the shingle flora that was the attraction, including Yellow Horned-poppy, Sea Kale and Viper’s-bugloss on the more bare shingle…

…Biting and White Stonecrops, along with Rest-harrow, in areas with greater vegetation cover (albeit heavily Rabbit-grazed)…

… and maritime scrub, incorporating Wild Privet (scenting the air alluringly and extravagantly), Tamarisk and Duke-of-Argyll’s Tea-tree, in flower and fruit.

Aside from the plants there were plenty of Linnets bouncing and twittering around the scrub, noisy packs of unruly teenage Starlings. Jude’s sharp eyes located the nemesis of some unfortunate caterpillar, covered in the eruptant pupae of a parasitic wasp, and in a final flourish, we found a Treble-bar moth, not surprisingly perhaps given the abundance of its St John’s-wort food plant on the peninsula.

And so it was back home once more on the ferry, and for most of us a very welcome drink in The Alma! This is likely to be our last WildEssex walk for a few months: thanks to those who have joined us today and earlier in the year. we went out on a high – and we WILL be back!

The Wild Side of Essex: Hockley Woods

Britain's Wildlife, WildEssex

The largest contiguous ancient woodland block in East Anglia, Hockley Woods sit astride the ‘southern Essex Alps’, a ridge of London Clay capped with sands and gravels, and have become a traditional fixture for Naturetrek day walks at this time of year, searching especially for one of our rarest butterflies, the Heath Fritillary. This year, I spent a couple of hours the previous day there with friends and this blog is an amalgam of the two days.

I am always worried by this trip. Given the butterflies have a short flying season of only three weeks or so, and that they can start as early as mid-May and as late as mid-June, there is no date that can guarantee sightings. Having said that I have never failed, but this year’s warm, droughty spring has brought things on a little early, so the fritillaries were numerous, but perhaps a little past their peak emergence date.

A very hot and humid spell meant that insects in general were more flighty than sometimes, but the number of insects was very noticeable. From the constant hum of Honeybees visiting Bramble flowers to the mini-swarms of flittering, feeding and flirting wood sprites, bioabundance was a joy to witness, especially given the relative dearth of insect life over the past couple of summers. Nature can bounce back quickly when conditions are right!

One reason why this site is so important for Heath Fritillary is the abundance of its larval food plant Common Cow-wheat in the coppices and rides. But apart from this, there were relatively few other plants in flower, the spring flush having now faded. Hedge Woundwort, Bush Vetch, Slender St. John’s-wort and Wood Avens were just a few of the relatively sparse flowers used to demonstrate some of the more distinctive plant families.

Thank goodness for the Bramble! Lining every ride-side and filling every gap in the leaf canopy, Bramble flowers were bursting forth and feeding all manner of insects, with bumblebees and Honeybees, and hoverfly and longhorn-beetle mimics of the stingers:

There was also a scattering of Common Figworts, with their beautiful if sombre flowers, and most showing signs of the associated Figwort Weevil – adults, spherical cocoons, slug-like larvae, and the grazed leaves.

Large Wood Ants’ nests are a real feature of the wood: it is unwise to stand too still for too long! The ants are everywhere, heaving, hauling and searching, as well as tending and milking the blackfly colonies on many a dock shoot. And one of the specialities of this wood, Four-spotted Leaf-beetle, a myrmicophilous species, inhabiting the ants’ nests, and known in Essex only from one other wood apart from the Hockley complex.

Oak (two species, plus hybrids), Hornbeam and Sweet Chestnut form the bulk of the woodland cover, but there are plenty of other species, some characteristic of spring-lines (Wild Cherry and Aspen), others very much restricted to ancient woodland site (Wild Service-tree, Woodland Hawthorn). And some with their own specialist leaf-feeders and gall-causers.

Deeper in the shade of the trees, birds were singing, especially Stock Doves, Blackcaps, Wrens, Chiffchaffs and Robins, calling Treecreepers, Nuthatches and Buzzards, and noisy bands of fledgling Great, Blue and Long-tailed Tits. Following spring drought, there were few fungi in evidence, but blue-stained wood infected by Chlorociboria aeruginascens was still to be found.

At the other end of the light/shade spectrum, a walk along the woodland edge produced singing Skylarks over the arable fields. Ox-eye Daisies were flowering and Salsify fruiting in the field margins, here a trues sense of place looking down from the lofty heights, over Southend, and across the Thames to the North Downs.

A selection of other insects from the walks included the bugs Closterotomus trivialis (a relative newcomer to the UK, first found only 15 years ago), Bracken Planthopper (despite the abundance of its foodplant, only four other recorded sites in south Essex), Common Damsel-bug and Red-legged Shield-bug.

And much more!

Despite us being in the depths of the ‘June Gap’, there were a few other butterflies around, including small numbers of Holly Blue, Speckled Wood, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Comma, Small Tortoiseshell and Meadow Brown…

… but it was the fantastic fritillaries that stole the show: the primary reason for our visit and the main memory we shall take away from it. Hats off to Rochford District Council for striking such a good balance between human recreation and nature!

Warley Place: a nature reserve like no other

Britain's Wildlife, WildEssex

During a full career working in nature conservation in Essex, I was privileged to visit most of  the best (and worst!) bits of the county multiple times. But there is one nature reserve I managed to get to only once, Warley Place, near Brentwood. I was there maybe 30 years ago, specifically to see the drifts of Wild Daffodils.

But at the end of April, the prospect of a radio interview took me back to Brentwood. And so I leapt at the chance to see Warley Place once gain, albeit in rather dull and cool conditions.

The daffodils were all but over, but botanically it was just lovely. Not surprising, given the history of the site as the former home and garden of the noted Victorian plantswoman, Ellen Wilmott.

 

From an early age Miss Wilmott set about transforming the garden, introducing traditional features such as hothouse and a walled garden, as well as more ambitious land-shaping like the Alpine gorge, created on a natural slope with r‏ocks imported from Yorkshire.

Ellen died in 1934, almost penniless as she had spent her inherited wealth on creating and maintaining this and other gardens.  Over the 20th century the house and garden fell into disrepair; it was taken over by the Essex Wildlife Trust in 1977, and since then the garden has been managed for wildlife.

Much of the decaying building and hard landscaping remain, as do probably some of the original plantings, though sadly not Ellen’s treasured filmy ferns for which she provided a specially constructed cave.

But it is nature rewinding itself, covering the scars of the last century that left a lasting impression on me. Along of course with the sheets of Bluebell and Wild Garlic, the views over to central London, and the peace and quiet, apart from birdsong. And sadly, the intrusive road traffic noise …

A curse of our times, though who am I to judge? I drove there, and then through Brentwood High Street (a revelation to me which made me think we should pay a visit some time) and to the Phoenix FM studio. The interview is linked below for any who want to listen, about me, my life and career, my work with Beth Chatto Gardens, my new book and my involvement with the campaign to save Wivenhoe Old King George Oak. The interview begins around 25 minutes into the show…

Earth Day Special! INTERVIEW: Dr Chris Gibson

Eleanor’s best photos – Meanwhile Garden & Wivenhoe

Britain's Wildlife, Eleanor's photos, Travel by Rail, WildEssex, WildWivenhoe

It’s been another lovely couple of days with Granny and Papa. We went on the train to Colchester to find bugs and other creatures in the Meanwhile Garden. There were big caterpillars and lots of bees and beetles in the flowers.

In Wivenhoe I took some pictures of insects on Hollyhocks and Daisy, and other flowers and leaves.

 

And my favourite Poppies…every year I love looking at these. Papa loves the picture at the bottom so much that he wishes he had taken it! I hope you love it too!

The Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens: Wildside Walks start up again…

Beth Chatto Gardens, Britain's Wildlife, WildEssex, WildWivenhoe

It was a pleasure to recommence my Beth Chatto Gardens wildlife walks for visitors a few days ago. The sun was shining, and at least when sheltered from the chill north-easterly breeze, the garden was buzzing with both people and insects!

Perhaps the greatest insect activity was around the ponds, with marginal vegetation full of resting Alderflies, flittering Small Chinamark moths (moths with uniquely aquatic larvae), a couple of dashing Broad-bodied Chaser dragonflies and everywhere, damselflies: resting, flying and mating. There are now three species on the wing, Large Red, Blue-tailed and Azure Damselflies, leaving their exuviae – the empty nymphal shells – on the leaves of marginal plants like Bogbean.

Overwintering butterflies are all but over, with only a female Brimstone and a couple of  Red Admirals seen during the morning. But spring emergers, like Holly Blues, Orange Tips, Green-veined Whites and Speckled Woods put on a good show…

… and there were several Green Hairstreaks among the pondside foliage, some by now looking very battered, although others in full iridescent green glory. A Painted Lady haunted the Reservoir Garden, perhaps presaging a good immigration year for them, and in the same area a vibrant, fresh male Common Blue ushered in a shard of summer.

During the daytime, it is possible to see both day-flying moths and night-flyers that have been disturbed from their place of shelter. The latter group was represented by a Water Ermine, almost pure white, a scarce moth in Essex found in wetland habitats especially in the north-eastern coastal fringes. And lovely day-flyer was a Small Yellow Underwing, more widespread inland in grassy places, but always a delight to see. Both are new species for the gardens, I believe… just a pity that both avoided being photographed!

No such problem with the caterpillars though, here a single Brown-tail, Mullein Moth on the Verbascum and seemingly everywhere on Euonymus, festoons of silk and associated defoliation from Spindle Ermine larvae. It looks dramatic, but the Spindle bushes will likely not be killed, and the moth may not reappear next year…

 

And looking at the few remaining Spindle leaves, I was pleased to find a new gall for the garden, a leaf-roll made by Spindle Leaf-edge Mites Stenacis euonymi. Not only new for the garden, but according to the National Biodiversity Network Atlas distribution map, scarce in the county with the only other Essex records coming from Hatfield Forest in the far west. As so often though, this might reflect under-recording rather than genuine rarity.

So much to see at every turn. A bunch of bugs (Cinnamon, Hairy Shield-, Green Shield- and Dock Bugs, plus the plant bug Harpocera thoracica)…

… the first nymphal Dark Bush-crickets I have seen this summer…

… a couple of soldier-beetles, Cantharis rustica and C. livida …

… and much, much more.

And finally, a trio of interesting  sawflies, a group of wasps without a ‘wasp-waist’ that have caterpillars that munch leaves. At rest on Iris leaves, there were Iris Sawflies, parents of the larvae that will be eating a raggedy hole in the leaf-blades in a month or two. The second, with a distinct black mark on its forewings, might well be the Dark Birch Fusehorn Arge fuscipes, a black species recorded at only 22 sites nationally. And then there was the red-tinged Tenthredo (probably T. colon, though some are very hard to tell apart). This was eating an Alderfly, interesting behaviour indeed: I had no idea they were predatory, joining our army of friends maintaining balance in the garden. I am used to seeing related species in showy flowers, but it seems that some at least may not be taking nectar as I assumed: they may equally be lying in wait for other insects to arrive. I learn something new every time I visit. And again, this seems not to be a common species (the NBN map shows no Essex localities), although the under-recording caveat certainly applies here.

This summer is already shaping up to be a good one for garden wildlife, with insects more obvious than the same time last year, although we could do with some rain before an intense drought sets in!

On top of all this, Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and Robins were in full song, together with single Greenfinch, Goldcrest and Cetti’s Warbler, the latter being the first time I have ever heard the species around our garden. The new records keep on coming in!

The next couple of Wildlife Walks are planned for 20th June. If you are interested in joining me, please book through these links – 11am and 12am. And if moths are something you would like to know more about, there’s our Moth Morning the following day…

Eleanor’s photos – Wivenhoe waterfront and Colchester

Eleanor's photos, Travel by Rail, WildEssex, WildWivenhoe

Granddaughter Eleanor’s photos have featured before in these blogs – see here, here and here – and rightly so. But this is the first one of hers exclusively. No captions or commentary, just enjoy Wivenhoe waterfront, Colchester St Botolph’s and Castle Park in the sun, as seen through the eyes of an inquisitive seven-year-old. Indulgent maybe, but I am a very #ProudPapa!

The Wild Side of Essex: the Colne Valley and Chalkney Wood at Bluebell time

Britain's Wildlife, WildEssex

This summer I am launching a new series of ‘Wild Side of Essex’ day walks for Naturetrek, and at the end of April, we had the first walk from Chappel. Commendably, one client arrived by train! This walk is a round walk, taking all day, going up the valley and back along the hilltops, and it certainly felt as though we had had a good walk, at least in part to the very warm, sunny weather.

Starting with historic buildings and the church topped with a typical north Essex wood-clad steeple, there was a range of interesting plants around the churchyard wall: Greater Celandine, Red Valerian, Goat’s-beard and Salsify, mostly non-native garden escapes but all attracting insect attention.

Especially productive in this respect was Green Alkanet, with many a Dark-edged Beefly taking the nectar:

Walking up the valley, past trees filled with Mistletoe, we took every opportunity to look at the River Colne, its clear, flowing waters filled with aquatic vegetation and shoals of Rudd, the banks with last year’s Small Teasel heads and the first few Large Red Damselflies.

And along the length, a series of former mills to tap the energy of the flowing waters, each home to Grey Wagtails, with Canada and Greylag Geese and a Little Egret in the more open stretches, while a couple of Red Kites and at least four territorial pairs of Buzzards circled overhead.

While the valley meadows are not especially diverse, they do have plenty of Dandelions, food for bees, hoverflies and butterflies such as Orange Tip and Green-veined White, and the wetter patches have stands of several sedge species as well as Cuckooflower.

The hedgerows crossing the open landscape are really quite impressive, especially with Hawthorn now coming into bloom. Common and Lesser Whitethroats sang from the thicker hedges, while a Mistle Thrush strutted around. At least four males of the latter were heard singing from the wood and copses on the flanks of the valley.

 

Large, old trees in the valley provided all sorts of interest. A dead Ash was covered in woodpecker workings and sprouted colonies of King Alfred’s Cakes, while a living but hollow Willow buzzed to the sound a wild Honeybee nest, and many of the low-hanging Oaks featured smart new rosy Oak Apple galls.

 

And then there was Chalkney Wood, an absolute delight. Rescued from being choked to death by planted conifers some thirty years ago when the Forestry Commission was persuaded to remove the planted tress ahead of their scheduled rotation. Now one would never know, as regrowth of the old coppice stools and natural regeneration has all but eradicated any sign of this unseemly blip in the history of an ancient wood: it even has many of the indicator plants of age, like Bugle, Town-hall-clock and Yellow Pimpernel.

In fact it is probably 20 years since I was last there at this time of year, and to say my gob was smacked would be an understatement: especially in the eastern half of the wood, a sea of Bluebells, studded with Wild Garlic, the still air allowing the build up of such a sweet fragrance, a feast for all the senses..

Returning along the tops, catching a welcome breeze given the ferocity of the sun, there were a few wet springs, featuring Giant Horsetails and Stinging Nettles, the latter often adorned with Hairy Shield-bugs and Cinnamon Bugs.

The last stage of the circuit took us along a series of lanes, almost holloways, with botanically-rich hedgebanks, featuring a varied palette of Primrose, Red Campion, Greater Stitchwort, Germander Speedwell, Wild Arum and Star-of-Bethlehem, and several Speckled Woods in the dappled shade.

And in a final flourish we rounded the last bend and emerged from the trees to be faced with one of the Seven Wonders of Essex, the mid-19th century marvel that is Chappel Viaduct, some 6 million bricks forming 32 spans that rise to 23m. And still support passenger trains to this day! In the lowering light, the shadows and vistas were simply lovely, as much a part of the psyche of old Essex as the Bluebells of Chalkney Wood.

 

 

The Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens: …and they’re off!

Beth Chatto Gardens, Britain's Wildlife, WildEssex, WildWivenhoe

Three weeks since I last managed to get to the Beth Chatto Gardens. And three weeks at this time of year is a very long time. Especially after some lovely sunny weather, interspersed with cool easterlies and a couple of decent showers, Spring has been comprehensively erased from the scene, with just the late species tulips and anemones in the Gravel Garden hanging on.

So many flowers now coming into their own, almost all providing nectar and/or pollen to feed our insects, the garden is simply stunning…

And the fresh green leaves are both basking spots for warming up and food for the next generation of some: it was an emergence day for Solomon’s Seal Sawflies… but despite last summer’s defoliation, the plants have sprung anew. A lesson for all who might be tempted to turn to the poison sprays. Another sign of our approach to gardening with wildlife in mind is the number of Song Thrushes we have, two or three pairs where give years ago there were none, testament to our avoidance of molluscicides.

For no apparent reason, one individual plant was the focus of bug biodiversity today: a single Helleborus argutifolius was home to half a dozen Green Shield-bugs, two Hairy Shield-bugs and a Rhopalus subrufus scentless plant pug (named to reflect the fact that the related shield bugs aka stink bugs, often emit smelly defensive chemicals.) None of these were noticed elsewhere, and none have known dependencies on this plant, so why it was such a star is one of those delightful mysteries of nature.

In an hour round the garden, there were six species of butterfly, here Large and Green-veined Whites, along with Brimstone, Orange Tip. Peacock and Speckled Wood. Sadly no Green Hairstreaks – my favourite butterfly – often quite abundant from now until mid May, though they have been reported by the gardeners over the last ten days.

And in another sign that summer is icumen in, today saw my first local damselflies of the season, as always Large Red Damselflies, resting on the pondside foliage having just emerged from their aquatic nymphal life.

The starting gun of summer has been fired, and that will be reinforced over the forecast heatwave in the next few days. Do come and see what our garden can offer:  plants, wildlife, tea and cake! All my events are listed here Beth Chatto Gardens – activities and events | Chris Gibson Wildlife, including this coming Bank Holiday weekend. Exceptionally, the garden is open both Sunday and Monday, and among the many special activities planned, on Sunday you can find me in the Nursery at 11am, 1pm and 3pm talking about ‘Gardening for Wildlife’.

Reduced price entry tickets are available online: Entrance – Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens

 

#WildWivenhoeWalks: botanical highlights along the sea-wall from Wivenhoe – saltmarsh, grazing marsh and block paving!

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

A lovely walk was had by our group on a dull and rather chilly morning along the sea wall of Barrier Marsh, downstream of Wivenhoe in late April.

Quite unintentionally, the theme of Native/Non-native developed as we looked at various plants in flower along our route.  Hard to avoid at this time of year is Alexanders, a robust plant which is not a native, though a long-term inhabitant, brought here by the Romans (being fully edible), and is rather contentious, being thought of as a thug by some.  The current climate suits it well and it now flowers from March, just at the time when our insects are waking and need sustenance.  Our ‘native’ plants are often not in flower so early in the year, but our insects are up and going earlier and earlier due to the collapse of our climate, with our mild winters and so need this plant to survive. On sunny days particularly it is alive with insects of all sorts – not so today given the cool wind.

Cow Parsley, once thought of as the harbinger of a richness of summer beasties, was only just coming into flower …. too late for the modern first flush of insects.

So the discussion had begun – does it matter if a plant is ‘native’ or is an introduction?  The answer is an emphatic No!! – if a plant can provide for our pollinators when they need pollen/nectar then, with just a few exceptions, they should be welcomed. Other non-natives that certainly pay for their keep in our countryside included Three-cornered Leek and Large Mediterranean Spurge.

As we walked we looked at various plants, starting with English Scurvygrass, the first inkling of summer and autumn saltmarsh shades.

Along the sea wall there were plenty of buttercups, all showing the downturned sepals characteristic of Bulbous Buttercup and very few others, although the photo shows a potential pitfall – those on the left are fresher flowers and the sepals have yet to turn down…

Not in flower, but readily identifiable by the ‘scrunch and sniff’ test was Sea Wormwood, on the seaward face of the sea wall, bearing the scent of absinthe, apparently. So, one in the eye for the apps there!

The block paving around the Barrier also produced a fascinating variety of small, white flowered crucifers (Brassicaceae), all very similar in flower but easily differentiated by their seed pods: long and cylindrical (Thale Cress); short, fat and heart-shaped with a septum at right angles to the plane of flattening (Shepherd’s Purse); and short and oval, with a septum along the plane of flattening (Common Whitlow-grass)…

And finally, a real surprise. While we have found Cornsalad sporadically as a colonist of block paving hereabouts, we found lots today, sheets of it, more than we have ever seen before:

An excursion down into Barrier Marsh was interesting from the historical point of view (the path, ‘The Chase’, originally belonged to the otherwise landlocked Elmstead Market and was their access to the water for trading purposes). Also the many, many anthills are fascinating  – much more numerous and larger on one side of the path than on the other, the disparity due to the side nearest Wivenhoe being commissioned as agricultural land during the war and used to grow vegetables – so their numbers only began building since the 1940s as opposed to 400+ years ago on the other side.  The anthills weren’t really flowering at their best just yet – each is a microcosm with its own community of tiny flowers which are aided by the warmth and well-drained soil produced by the activities of the ant colony below and will certainly be worth a look after the forecast heatwave next week.

However, one of the nationally scarce plants of that marsh, Divided Sedge, was in full flower, forming very dense swards, and led naturally to a discussion about the differences between grasses, sedges and rushes, and then the diversity of flower structures in the grasses, an important part of their identification, as covered in Chris’s new book…

As usual Jude was on the lookout for insects.  Not a huge amount on the wing given the cool conditions, but a couple of interesting beetles were discovered.  Neon-striped Tortoise-beetles were on Sea Beet next to their holes, a regular spot to find them, from now for the next month, but a beastie we have never found elsewhere in the area. And on the same plant, a couple of 24-spot Ladybirds, next to some ‘grazings’ – maybe they’d had their dinner first to get the strength for their subsequent activity!

And a couple of things with very different ways of not being eaten: the caterpillars of Brown-tail moth, largely protected by irritant hairs, and a micromoth Notocelia cynosbatella, basically a bird-dropping!

While we don’t focus especially on birds, treating them on a par with all other wonders of nature, they certainly made their presence known, with singing Cetti’s Warblers, Whitethroats, Lesser Whitethroats, single fairly distant Nightingale and Cuckoo, and a swooping Swallow. So all in all, a very varied couple of hours, and as usual we would like to thank everyone who joined us for our amble for their interest and involvement.

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By way of a prologue, to reinforce what we wrote above about the enduring value of Alexanders to early insects, it is worth going back fewer than 24 hours, when we walked from Colchester to Wivenhoe along the trail. The weather could hardly have been more different: calm, sunny and really rather warm. And the Alexanders was buzzing with all manner of insects. Most obviously it was the St Mark’s Flies, emerging a day before their appointed date, all dangly legs and carrying their loads of pollen in their abundant hairs.

There were also numerous nomad wasps zipping around, together with a more stately Box Bug, our first of the year. And an Alderfly hiding under one of the leaves.

And then the specials. Firstly, the grass bug Stenodema calcarata: although not rare locally, we don’t see this with any regularity. And then the Plain-winged Spring Bee-grabber Myopa testacea, again not uncommon nationally but it would appear with only two previous records in north-east Essex.

Alexanders is truly a bedrock of biodiversity!