We had hopes it might be straightforward to determine

whether these are Rosa canina or Rosa rugosa (seen on the Erith Southern Marsh).  It's not, so we need to think again:

A Wild Flower Walk in the City of London and Beyond

After watching at St Mary Abchurch we decided to do a Wild Flower Walk bead the Thames, between London Bridge and Tower Bridge: mainly because we were hoping the see the Hemlock Water Dropwort, that grows just downstream of the old Billingsgate Fish Market, in flower; which we did.

In the event, we joined the Thames Path behind St Magnus-the-Martyr and left the Path upon arriving at the Tower of London, when we turned to walk up to the Trinity Garden (the LB of Tower Hamlets) and thence to the Tower Gateway' DLR Station.

We saw fifty or so species, including:

Buck's-Horn Plantain

Common Bramble

Common Mallow

Common Mouse-Ear

Creeping Buttercup

Dock sp. (unidentified)

Groundsel

Hemlock Water Dropwort viz.

Herb Robert

Ivy-Leaved Toadflax

Jersey Cudweed

Knotted Clover viz.

Lesser Trefoil

Lesser Swinecress

Pearlwort

Pellitory-of-the-Wall

Pineapleweed

Red Dead-Nettle

Spotted Medick

Spotted Spurge (in front of the old Fish Market) viz.

Spring Beauty viz.

Water Bent

and White Clover 

Some more Forget-me-Nots

We have a bit of a thing about Forget-me-Nots at the moment: finding some beside the Footpath running between Church Manorway (Erith) and the Thames Path viz.

and then some on the Thames ' Foreshore as we walked along the Thames Path towards Erith viz.

Changing Forget-me-Nots in the (old) Erith Cemetery

 The ones with the (tiny) yellow and blue flowers. The first time we have knowingly seen them:

Also seen; although we were really looking just for the Forget-me-Nots: 

Black Medick

Common Mouse-Ear

Common Stork's Bill

Daisy 

Dove's-Foot Crane's-Bill

Field Wood-Rush

Germander Speedwell

Meadow Foxtail

Mouse-Ear Hawkweed

and Sheep's-Sorrel

Where have all the Insects gone?

It was pretty much apparent last year that insect numbers seem to be falling. And this year? During a visit yesterday to the New Woolwich Cemetery via the East Wickham Open Space, we saw hardly any Insects! In the East Wickham Open Space we saw a few Craneflies, including these possible Nephrotoma Flavescens:

but precious little else. 

And it was the same in the Cemetery and surrounding area although we did see a trio of Hoverflies viz.

.

Wild Flowers seen in the new Woolwich Cemetery included:

Meadow Buttercup

Sow-Thistle

Common Field-Speedwell

Dandelion

Groundsel

Black Medick

Common Stork's-Bill

Sheep's-Sorrel

White Stonecrop

Ribwort Plantain

Common Ragwort

White Comfrey

Common Fumitory

Buck's-Horn Plantain

Annual Meadow Grass

Cleavers

Dove's-Foot Crane's-Bill

Round-Leaved Crane's-Bill 

Meadow Foxtail

Forget-me-Not (probably Early)

Common Vetch

Grape Hyacinth

Cock's-Foot

Mouse-Ear Hawkweed

and Green Alkanet

We also spotted a seemingly thriving population of Spring Beauty in a corner of the nearby Old Woolwich Cemetery viz.

  

Not a Mint Moth but a Small Yellow Underwing Moth on Bostall Heath!

What we thought to be our first Mint Moth of the year turned out to be a Small Yellow Underwing Moth:

Apparently fairly unusual so we submitted the sighting to iRecord (it has been accepted) 

Wild Flower &c. species seen included:

Hedge Mustard

Buck's-Horn Plantain

Dove's-Foot Crane's-Bill

Sticky Mouse-Ear

Red Dead-Nettle

Shepherd's-Purse (aka Fairy Purses)

Dandelion

Common Chickweed

Herb Robert

Gorse

Round-Leaved Crane's-Bill

Groundsel

Sow-Thistle

Sheep's-Sorrel

Spotted Medick

Broad-Leaved Dock

Forget-me-Not

Caper Spurge

Garlic Mustard

Ivy-Leaved Speedwell

Cut-Leaved Crane's-Bill

Common Vetch

Alexanders

Coral Spurge

Ribwort Plantain

Wood Sage

Balkan Spurge

Green Alkanet

Wild Garlic

Meadow Foxtail

Annual Meadow Grass

Bush Vetch

Cow Parsley

Sowbread

Creeping Thistle

and Meadow Buttercup

 

We are up and away with (Dark-Edged) Bee-Fly sightings

We hadn't intended to submit any Bee-Fly records to iRecord his year since it can get quite fiddly (and if we are to be honest, tedious) supplying individual Grid References. But we decided to lump all sightings for 2023 together (when appropriate) with the qualification that sightings are, 'within or adjacent to the Grid Reference' and this has been accepted.

Sightings to date:

27 March 2023: seventeen (17) Bee-Flies on the Erith Southern Marsh and on/beside the Footpath running between the Crossness Nature Reserve and Bazalgette Way

30 March 2023: one (1) Bee-Fly on Bostall Heath (the Royal Borough of Greenwich) viz. 

3 April 2023: fifty-one (51) Bee-Flies on the Erith Southern Marsh and on/beside the Footpath running between the Crossness Nature Reserve and Bazalgette Way

3 April 2023: one (1) Bee-Fly in Southmere Park viz.

4 April 2023: six (6) Bee-Flies in the Plumstead Cemetery (the Royal Borough of Greenwich) viz.

4 April 2023: six (6) Bee-Flies on Bostall Heath (the Royal Borough of Greenwich) viz.

5 April 2023: seventeen (17) Bee-Flies in the Grounds of St John the Baptist, Erith viz.

7 April 2023: fifteen (15) Bee-Flies on the Erith Southern Marsh and on/beside the Footpath running between the Crossness Nature Reserve and Bazalgette Way (not submitted to iRecord to avoid duplication) viz.

8 April 2023: one (1) Bee-Fly on the verge beside Lodge Hill

8 April 2023: two (2) Bee-Flies on a verge close to Crayford Railway Station

8 April 2023: eighteen (18) Bee-Flies in Braeburn Park

9 April 2023: seven (7) Bee-Flies on/beside the Footpath running between the Crossness Nature Reserve and Bazalgette Way (not submitted to iRecord to avoid duplication) 

11 April 2023: one (1) Bee-Fly on Bostall Heath (the Royal Borough of Greenwich)

13 April 2023: six (6) Bee-Flies on the Crossnesss Nature Reserve viz. 

13 April 2023: sixteen (16) Bee-Flies on the Erith Southern Marsh and on/beside the Footpath running between the Crossness Nature Reserve and Bazalgette Way (not submitted to iRecord to avoid duplication) viz.

15 April 2023: one (1) Bee-Fly in Green Park, the City of Westminster, Central London viz.

17 April 2023: seven (7) Bee-Flies on the Crossness Nature Reserve and surrounding area and the Erith Southern Marsh

19 April 2023: two (2) Bee-Flies in Lesnes Abbey Park

24 April 2023: five (5) Bee-Flies on Bostall Heath (the Royal Borough of Greenwich)

25 April 2023: eight (8) Bee-Flies on the Erith Southern Marsh

30 April 2023: one (1) Bee-Fly in Greenhithe, Kent 

4 May 2023: one (1) Bee-Fly in the Garden (at Home)

9 May 2023: one (1) Bee-Fly on Bostall Heath (the RB of Greenwich)

Some Garden (at Home) Sightings

Some Garden (at Home) sightings during 2023:

Andrena fulva (Tawny Mining Bee) viz.

Andrena haemorrhoa viz.

Bombus pascuorum (Common Carder Bee): the second picture shows much smaller 'worker' viz.

Bombyilius major (Dark-Edged Bee-Fly) viz. 

Holly Blue Butterfly

Myathropa florea viz. 

Osmia bicornis viz. 

Tachina fera (Fly) viz.

Pochards in the Small Pool beside Church Manorway, Erith

For reasons unknown, we always hoped to see Tufted Ducks in the Pool: rather than the usual Coots, Little Grebes, Mallards and Moorhens.

Sitting on the bus travelling between Edith and Abbey Wood Station we spotted what we thought to be Tufted Ducks as we passed the Pool: it being visible from the Road. We got off the bus for a look: not Tufted Ducks but Pochards. Five of them: three male and two female:

Additionally a number of Coots, young and old, were present. A couple of Grey Wagtails (our first of the year) with, we assumed, hungry mouths to feed, were whooshing and swooshing, looking for insects. Reed Warblers (again, our first of the year: we glimpsed a couple) were warbling and we heard a single Cetti's Warbler. 

A Sycamore Tree growing on the Erith Southern Marsh

We have never really paid much attention to trees: perhaps it's time we started? We read that Sycamore flowers are good for Bees and we assume other little Critters. So we will keep an eye on this one which should be flowering soon:

Female Ladybirds are bigger than male Ladybirds

We hadn't really given it much, if any, thought, but it would certainly seem to be the case:

And we have recently read that female Nursery Web Spiders are larger than the males. We have seen some super-chunky individuals which we have assumed to be female and some much smaller ones which we have assumed to be male.