Wild Flowers seen in St Paul's Churchyard, the City of London (TQ3281)

Included:

Annual Meadow-Grass
Black Medick (see below)
Buck's-Horn Plantain viz.

Cock's-Foot

Common Field-Speedwell

Common Mouse-Ear viz.

Common Ragwort (unlikely to flower due to mowing regime)
Creeping Buttercup viz.

Daisy
Dandelion viz.

Greater Plantain
Groundsel

Hart's-Tongue Fern
Jersey Cudweed (see below)

Petty Spurge

Red Dead-Nettle
Sow-Thistle

Thyme-Leaved Speedwell viz.

Wall Speedwell
White Clover viz. 

and Yarrow (unlikely to flower due to mowing regime)

Jersey Cudweed and Black Medick viz. 

Some Wild Flowers on Bostall Heath

We spent about 60 minutes on the small section (in TQ4777) where Longleigh Lane meets Brampton Road viz.

Wild Flowers &c. seen included:

Buck's-Horn Plantain viz. 

Clustered Clover (don't remember seeing it on the Heath before: no recent records apparently, so have submitted the record to the Kent Botanical Recording Group) viz.

Common Chickweed

English Oak

Fairy-Purses (aka Shepherd's-Purse) 

Foxglove viz.

Beaked Hawksbeard

Hedge Mustard viz.

Herb Robert

Hop Trefoil viz.

Red Dead-Nettle

Ribwort Plantain viz. 

Soft Brome viz.

Spotted Medick

and Wall Barley

Wild Flowers seen flowering in the Plumstead Cemetery during a short visit

We didn't venture too far: just a hundred yards or so, if that:

Black Medick viz.

Bulbous Buttercup

Common Field-Speedwell

Common Mouse-Ear viz.

Common Vetch viz.

Daisy viz.

Dandelion

Dove's-Foot Crane's-Bill

Early Forget-me-Not viz.

Germander Speedwell viz.

Mouse-Ear Hawkweed 

Oxeye Daisy

Red Clover

Ribwort Plantain
Meadow Foxtail viz.

Spotted Medick

and Sweet Vernal-Grass

(Dark-Edged) Bee-Fly sightings for 2024

All Sightings are submitted to iRecord: see ... https://dipterists.org.uk/bee-fly-watch ...

26 March 2024: one (1) Bee-Fly on Bostall Heath

30 March 2024: one (1) Bee-Fly in the Upper Belvedere area

6 April 2024: sixteen (16) Bee-Flies on the Crossness Nature Reserve and surrounding area, including this one...

7 April 2024: seven (7) Bee-Flies on the Crossness Nature Reserve and surrounding area

12 April 2024: one (1) Bee-Fly on Bostall Heath

13 April 2024: four (4) Bee-Flies on the Erith Southern Marsh 

13 April 2024: one (1) Bee-Fly beside the Ridgeway in the Thamesmead/Belvedere area

13 April 2024: two (2) Bee-Flies in Lesnes Abbey Park

13 April 2024: eight (8) Bee-Flies on the Crossness Nature Reserve and surrounding area

18 April 2024: three (3) Bee-Flies on Bostall Heath

21 April 2024: one (1) Bee-Fly beside the Ridgeway in the Thamesmead/Belvedere area

29 April 2024: three (3) Bee-Flies on Bostall Heath

4 May 2024: two (2) Bee-Flies on Bostall Heath

5 May 2024: two (2) Bee-Flies on Bostall Heath

8 May 2024: two (2) Bee-Flies on Bostall Heath: including this one...

Wild Flowers on Bostall Heath seen during a short visit included

Annual Meadow Grass

Balkan Spurge

Bluebell

Broad-Leaved Dock

Broom

Bush Vetch

Cleavers

Common Chickweed

Common Mallow

Common Mouse-Ear

Common Vetch

Coral Spurge

Cow Parsley

Cut-Leaved Crane's-Bill

Daisy

Dandelion

Dove's-Foot Crane's-Bill

Fairy-Purses aka Shepherd's-Purse

Field Forget-me-Not

Foxglove

Garlic Mustard

Gorse

Green Alkanet

Hedge Mustard

Herb Robert

Honesty

Mugwort

Ox-Eye Daisy

Red Dead-Nettle

Ribwort Plantain

Round-Leaved Crane's-Bill

Sheep's-Sorrel viz.

Shining Crane's-Bill

Sowbread

Spear Thsitle 

Sticky Mouse-Ear

and Wood Sage

Whilst visiting two horses of our acquaintance yesterday in Kent, we looked for Wild Flowers around the Duck Pond and saw:

Annual Meadow-Grass

Daisy
Buttercup (Bulbous)

Buttercup (Meadow)

Common Field-Speedwell
Common Ragwort
Cow Parsley
Dandelion
Dove's-Foot Crane's-Bill
Early Forget-me-Not
Groundsel
Red Dead-Nettle
Spotted Medick
Sticky Mouse-Ear
Thale Cress

Wall Speedwell
and White Dead-Nettle

Additionally, we spotted this Hoverfly (Eupeodes sp.) visiting a Dandelion:

To the New Woolwich Cemetery via the East Wickham Open Space

In the New Woolwich Cemetery, we saw our first Small White Butterfly of the year and a possible Green-Veined White Butterfly. Also a Common Carder (Ginger-Bonce) Bee visiting Green Alkanet viz.

Plant species seen flowering in the Cemetery included:

Comfrey (either Common or White)

Common Field-Speedwell

Common Stork's-Bill

Daisy

Dandelion
Field Wood-Rush

Green Alkanet

Meadow Foxtail

Red Dead-Nettle

and Sweet Vernal Grass viz.

In the nearby Old Woolwich Cemetery there was lots of Spring Beauty: not yet flowering.

And on the East Wickham Open Space, there were a few Hairy-Footed Flower-Bees visiting Red Dead-Nettle and we saw our first Buttercups of the year including this Bulbous Buttercup viz. sepals turned down:

Did I visit the C17? Updated...

I have been Church Watching in the City of London with The Friends of the City Churches, for getting on for two years now: a favourite Church, if I have one, is St Martin-within-Ludgate. It was there I first came across the (wood) carving of William Emmett, on a door-case. Sadly, the carving has been ruined by coats of varnish and stain: probably by the Victorians.

The Church was rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1666: but survived World War II, essentially unscathed. Much of the furniture &c. is C17. 

I became better acquainted with Emmett's work in St Mary Abchurch: he carved the Font Cover, the Royal (Stuart) Arms, a Lion and a Unicorn. This is the Lion: 

Super impressive. 

 
As such I have developed an admiration for him but certainly wasn't expecting what was going to happen during my last stint watching at St Martin-within-Ludgate.

Sitting on a pew, I closed my eyes for no particular reason and saw a man working in the area where the door-case is: he was dressed in a voluminous white shirt and a light brown waistcoat type arrangement. The inside of the Church was chaotic: rubble and stone everywhere. Looking outside, Ludgate Hill was crowded with people and carts: the road was a brown colour. Then back to reality: if there is such a thing. So: did I see the Church being rebuilt during the late-C17? And Emmett working on this door-case? 

Or what? The scene was and still is, extremely vivid.  

Update: was speaking to someone yesterday who knows the City' Churches very well and who saw a ghostly Bishop in St Mary Abchurch, a while ago.

Additional Update: the experience has been reported to the 'Society for Psychical Research'.

Wild Flowers seen flowering locally during December 2023, January 2024 and February 2024 (the Winter)

Although we won't be participating in the Wildflower Society', Winter Plant Hunt, we have decided to record Wild Flowers seen in flower locally, as a matter of general curiosity. So here goes (individual species will only be included once viz. in the month they were first seen):

December 2023:

Annual Mercury

Bristly Oxtongue

Campion (a pink version)

Common Chickweed

Daisy viz.

Dandelion

Golden Samphire

Groundsel

Hawkweed Oxtongue

Ivy-Leaved Toadflax

Jersey Cudweed

Narrow-Leaved Ragwort 

Oxford Ragwort

Red Dead-Nettle

Scentless Mayweed

Shepherd's-Purse

Sow-Thistle

White Dead-Nettle

and Yarrow

January 2024:

Hazel (catkins)

Lesser Celandine

and Sweet Violet

February 2024:

Alexanders

Coltsfoot viz.

Common Field Speedwell

Common Fumitory

Common Whitlowgrass viz.

Early Dog-Violet

Goat Willow (aka Pussy Willow) viz. 

Grape Hyacinth

Green Alkanet

Hairy Bitter-Cress

Ivy-Leaved Speedwell

Primrose

Rue-Leaved Saxifrage viz.

Three-Cornered Garlic/Leek

White Ramping-Fumitory viz.

and Wild Daffodil (Lesnes Abbey Woods)

Resulting in a total of thirty-eight (38) species.

Wild Flowers in flower on 1 January 2024

We aren't submitting anything for the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI), New Year Plant Hunt: but wild flowers in flower seen locally on 1 January 2024 included:

Daisy viz.

Groundsel viz.

Red Dead-Nettle

Shepherd's (aka Fairies) Purse viz.

and Yarrow viz.

Birds: Our 2023 'Year' List

Our 2023 Species' Year List (including where first seen):

Avocet (Thames' Foreshore, Erith)

Bar-Tailed Godwit (Thames' Foreshore, Thamesmead)

Barn Owl (Crossness Nature Reserve)

Blackbird (Crossness Nature Reserve)

Black-Headed Gull (Thames' Foreshore, Erith)

Black-Tailed Godwit (Thames' Foreshore, Erith)

Blue Tit (Garden, at Home)

Buzzard (over the Crossness Nature Reserve)

Canada Goose (Southmere Lake)

Carrion Crow (Grounds of St John the Baptist, Erith)

Cetti's Warbler (Crossness Nature Reserve)

Chiffchaff (beside the Thames Path, Belvedere)

Common Gull (Thames' Foreshore, Erith)

Common Sandpiper (beside the Outfall, the Crossness Sewage Works) viz.

Common Snipe (Crossness Nature Reserve)

Coot (Southmere Lake)

Curlew (Thames Foreshore, Belvedere) viz.

Dunlin (Thames' Foreshore, Thamesmead) viz.

Dunnock (beside the Thames Path, Belvedere)

Egyptian Goose (Thames' Foreshore, Erith)

Feral Pigeon (Garden, at Home)  

Gadwall (Southmere Lake)

Garganey (Thames' Foreshore, Belvedere) viz.

Goldfinch (Quadrant area) 

Great Black-Backed Gull (Thames' Foreshore, Erith)

Great Crested Grebe (Southmere Lake)

Great Spotted Woodpecker (beside Corinthian Manorway)

Great Tit (beside the Thames Path, Thamesmead)

Green Woodpecker (Crossness Nature Reserve)

Grey Heron (Heronry, off Templar Drive, Thamesmead) viz.

Greylag Goose (the Crossness Nature Reserve)

Grey Wagtail (the Pool beside Church Manorway, Erith) viz.

Herring Gull (Green Park)

House Marten (Greenhithe, Kent)

House Sparrow (Garden, at Home)

Jackdaw (Betsham, Kent) viz.

Kestrel (the Crossness Nature Reserve) viz.

Lapwing (Southern Erith Marsh)

Lesser Black-Backed Gull (Thames' Foreshore, Belvedere)

Linnet (beside the Thames Path, Erith) viz.

Little Grebe (Southmere Lake) viz.

Long-Tailed Tit (Heronry, off Templar Drive, Thamesmead) 

Magpie (Grounds of St John the Baptist, Erith)

Mallard (Thames' Foreshore, Erith) viz.

Marsh Harrier (over the Crossness Nature Reserve)

Mediterranean Gull (Thames' Foreshore, Erith) viz.

Mistile Thrush (Grounds at Hall Place)

Moorhen (Thames' Foreshore, Erith)

Mute Swan (Southmere Lake)

Oystercatcher (Thames' Foreshore, Erith)

Peregrine Falcon (on the side of the Waste Incinerator, Belvedere) viz.

Pied Wagtail (Thames' Foreshore, Erith)

Pochard (Southmere Lake) viz.

Redshank (Thames' Foreshore, Erith)\

Redstart (Crossness Nature Reserve)

Red-Legged Partridge (Betsham, Kent) viz.

Redwing (beside Corinthian Manorway)

Reed Bunting (Crossness Nature Reserve)

Reed Warbler (in the reeds beside the Pool in Church Manorway)

Ring-Necked Parakeet (beside the Thames Path, Erith)

Ringed Plover (Thames' Foreshore, Belvedere) viz.

Robin (beside New Road)

Rock Pipit (Thames' Foreshore, Erith)

Ruddy Shelduck (Thames' Forsehore, Thamesmead)

Ruff (beside the Outfall, the Crossness Sewage Works) viz.

Sand Martin (Southwold, Suffolk)

Shelduck (Thames' Foreshore, Erith)

Shoveler (the Outfall, the Crossness Sewage Works)

Song Thrush (beside Corinthian Manorway)

Starling (Southmere Park)

Stonechat (the Crossness Nature Reserve) viz.

Swallow (Betsham, Kent) viz.

Teal (Thames' Foreshore, Erith)

Tufted Duck (Southmere Lake)

Wheatear (Crossness Nature Reserve)

Wigeon (the Outfall, the Crossness Sewage Works)

Wood Pigeon (Garden, at Home)

and Wren (South Kensington Underground Railway Station)