Roadside Flowers, March 2013

Some roadside flowers in Hayes on 28 March 2013.

In the countryside this year is getting off to a very slow start.  In theory I could start my butterfly transects now, but the chance of the temperature reaching 13 degrees (17 degrees if it's not sunny) is minimal.  But in the suburbs, quite a lot is happening in places that people rarely look.

I walked around my block and photographed plants flowering on the roadside verges.  In this composite picture there are (clockwise from top left:)

Oregon Grape - a garden escape.  Lesser Celandine, a woodland plant.  Greater Periwinkle, another garden escape.  Green Alkanet.  Dog's Mercury, another woodland plant.  Common Chickweed.  Groundsel.  Common Field Speedwell.  Red Dead-nettle.  Dandelion.  A cherry shrub (this is a bit of a cheat; it was probably planted to help make up a hedgerow, but still, it's in flower and I know its close relations are flowering now in the wild.)  Daisy.  And Shepherd's Purse.

The Lesser Celandine and Dog's Mercury are growing near trees.  Perhaps there was woodland here before the houses were built.

A Lone Hellebore

Corsican Hellebore, Helleborus argutifolius, at Hayes Station, Kent.  26 March 2013.

I spotted this plant yesterday while going for a train.  It's in the waste ground on the far side of the railway track at Hayes Station.   The track on this side, and fencing on the other, prevent access, so I walked round today with a  long lens to get a good photo.

At first I thought it was a Green Hellebore, Helleborus viridis, a native species which is often found as a garden escape.  But Green Hellebore's flowers don't have that whitish colour on the outer surface, and while the leaves are toothed, they don't have the spiky look that these do.

There is nothing helpful in Francis Rose's "The Wild Flower Key," which is a standard field guide, but that doesn't include everything you might find.  For that you have to turn to Stace's "New Flora of the British Isles,"  3rd edition, which includes many hybrids and garden escapes.  That's where I found the Corsican Hellebore, with a matching description. "Introduced (...) Grown in gardens, rarely naturalised in marginal habitats." 

But there might be other cultivated varieties not even in Stace.  There is one in my garden that I once confidently identified as H. niger which I now think is actually a horticultural variety. So I checked photos on line - reasonably convincing - and put a photo on iSpot.  I got some agreements straight away, and I am now happy that H. argutifolius is a correct identification.

In this position it can't have been planted on purpose.  It's just one stem, so it will be interesting to see if it survives and spreads.  I don't think it can really be counted as "naturalised" unless it does.

Blackthorn Again

Blackthorn flowering in a hedge on Bourne Way, Hayes.  16 March 2013.

I have been spending most of my recent computer time on the Orpington Field Club website.  But meanwhile, even though this flower has been on my blog before, it's such a great sign of spring that I can't resist it.

You can tell from the house behind that this is a garden hedge, and behind me is the main road.  I do like countryside hedges in suburbia.

Tree Felling on Hayes Common

Felled Beech on Hayes Common, 3 March 2013.

One of the management jobs on the local commons is to make sure that none of the trees bordering the paths are likely to fall on visitors, or drop limbs onto them.  Today I saw evidence that the rangers had been at work.

This was a large Beech, and I could see why it had been felled.  A fungus infestation had weakened its heart considerably.  You can see that the two main trunks have fallen apart during the felling, most likely because of this weakening.

Felled Beech on Hayes Common, 3 March 2013.

This closeup shows the punky, diseased heartwood next to the remaining strong and healthy wood, and the difference is evident.  The dark line at the border shows the tree's defences at work, too late!

Felled Oak on Hayes Common, 3 March 2013.

Further on I saw this recently felled Oak.  This was more of a puzzle.  I can't see any obvious weakening, but there is that blue stain.  It is on both sides of the cut, so can't be an attempt to poison the stump.  It must have been introduced to find something out about the tree, and if I ever find out what has been going on here, I will add a note!

Scarlet Elfcups

Sarcoscypha austriaca (Scarlet Elfcup).  Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, 27 February 2013.

Irene Palmer offered to show me a flood of these charming fungi at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, for which I offer my thanks.  They are a pretty sight when there are few flowers about, and Irene is expert at putting together good material for a photo.

They grow on fallen deadwood which stays wet enough to become mossy.  You can't normally see this, but they have a small stalk which gives them a goblet shape.

Sarcoscypha austriaca (Scarlet Elfcup).  Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, 27 February 2013.

This was taken by lifting the branch and photographing the parts that normally never see the light. 

The same day I saw these, I received an email saying they were also out in Jubilee Country Park, and indeed I found half a dozen patches there on the 28th.  As they were a little past their best, I am not showing any photos of those specimens here.  But it's good to see them popping up in different places.

Herald and Twenty-plume

This is the entrance to a set of caves which might once have been a sandstone mine. They were definitely used as an air-raid shelter in the second world war.  Now, they are in someone's back garden!  I want one of these.

We looked around as part of a bat survey.  This time, we didn't find any bats here, but there were a couple of overwintering moths. 

Herald, Scoliopteryx libatrix.  Chipstead Caves, 24 February 2013.

Quite a few insects overwinter in caves, and the Herald is rather spectacular.  Last year was not very good for moths, so perhaps we were lucky to find this one.  There was only one other, and that was dead and mouldy.

There were smaller moths as well, two specimens of the interesting Twenty-plume Moth:

Twenty-plume Moth, Alucita hexadactyla.  Chipstead Caves, 24 February 2013.

Its wings are not continuous planes, but consist of 24 plumes covered with backwards-pointing hairs.  These were both alive and healthy.

It was good to see some summer moths in the middle of winter!

To The Batcave!

Actually, more than one bat cave.  I was with a small group doing a bat survey.  You need a bat conservator's license for this, so I was lucky to be invited along.  This is one of a small group of caves at Combe Bank.  I am carefully not saying exactly where they are, and the GPS on the photos isn't accurate either, as there was no signal inside the caves.

I was not allowed to photograph the bats, even without a flash.  Apparently you need a license for that too .. but we did see several.  Some Natterer's, a Daubenton's and a Long-eared, tucked right into tiny crevices with just noses, wingtips and ears showing.  We also saw some cave spiders, which don't need a license ...

Cave Spider, perhaps Meta merianae, at Combe Bank on 24 February 2013.

I actually have some better record shots than this, but this one, taken by torchlight, is the most atmospheric.  And quite tricky to take, with torch in one hand and large camera in the other.

There was also a beetle, some mosquitos, some woodlice and lots of Ichneumon Wasps, probably Ambyletes species, but so far unidentified.

Unidentified Ichneumon Wasp at Combe Bank, 24 February 2013.

There are several similar species and this doesn't quite match any in my rather limited insect book.

There were several of these; they are the spiders' egg-cases, well wrapped in silk and hanging by a thread from the roof of the cave.

Cave spider egg sac.  Probably Meta merianae.  Combe Bank, 24 February 2013.

And this was just one site - though there are several small caves here.  It was a very interesting day!