Coney Hall to Spring Park

Dappled sunlight on the path through the woods of Spring Park
29 July 2011.

On Friday there was a walk through some local fields and woods.

There were ten of us, including Stephen Tickner from Bromley, who led the walk. The job titles in the Countryside Service have all been changed during their reorganisation, and Stephen is a Principal Countryside Development Officer.

This walk was planned by Ewa Prokop, who has left, but Stephen did a good job of showing us round. There are still a few of Ewa's walks to come; the events planned in the current leaflet run up to the end of September.

We started at Coney Hall recreation ground and walked past St. John's Church and over the fields. It was hazy, but warm, and the countryside was pleasant and green. We paused at some hedgerows to look at the flowers and insect life. Some of the fields were set to grass, one was full of ripening wheat. At the bottom of the slope we crossed a busy road, called locally the Mad Mile, and went up to Spring Park's pond.

Plant life at the edge of the wood by the pond in Spring Park.
29 July 2011.

It is fenced off and surrounded by tall and scrubby wildflowers, and backs against the wood. I looked for damselflies and dragonflies, but saw only one dragonfly that disappeared up into the trees before I could get close to it. However, there were quite a few Gatekeeper butterflies around.

The second photo shows a typical slice of the plant life between the pond and the wood. You could find something like this anywhere in England. Included here are grasses, some with seed heads; white clover in the foreground; ripening blackberries and many bramble leaves; dock leaves; and some Creeping Thistles, one of which is flowering. To some, this might look like a patch of weeds, but these are all useful plants in their context. A Gatekeeper butterfly is basking on a dock leaf.

During the walk, as well as Gatekeepers, we saw a couple of Meadow Browns, some large and small Whites, and in the woods, a pair of Speckled Browns flying round and round each other, then away into the trees. Not very many for such a warm day, but it was good to see them.

We walked up the slope, through the woodland along abroad main pathway, and then back to the start point.