More from Cranford Park

The weather was much cooler today, but there were still some sunny spells on my short visit to Cranford Park.

 

I saw five Red Kites during my visit, including these two soaring the thermals together.....

 

and six Common Buzzards were seen....

 

including this very pale one below....

 

and another one that was right overhead...

 

 

I found more fungi in the woods. A new years growth of Turkey Tails was just visible through the undergrowth...

 

 

The solitary Stinkhorn didn't look that much different from yesterday, but you could definitely smell it more after last nights rain....

 

and more Stagshorn had appeared near to the ones I found yesterday...

 

and you can tell autumn is finally here as the holly berries have started to turn colour.....

 

 

In the Headland area you can still hear the occasional cricket or grasshopper. However finding one is quite difficult now the long grass has changed colour and is starting to flatten down.

 Spot the Grasshopper below.....

 

 

I think it's a Lesser Marsh but identification will be near on impossible without a photo of the whole of the critter.

 

Right nearby was this tiny bright green gem.....

 

It's a Short-winged Conehead, a species of bush cricket. It was less than 2cm in length, if you don't include the extra long antennae that are twice as long as the body.

This particular one hasn't yet reached adult form yet......

 

also lurking in the long dry grasses was this Robber Fly looking for it's next meal......

 

 

On the flowering Ivy by the M4 wall I saw another Ivy Bee but couldn't get a photo. There were also three Red Admirals and plenty of hoverflies including this monster Hornet mimic, Volucella zonaria...

 

 

Around the orchard the Common Darters were still plentiful but I only found one happy to pose for a photo today....

 

A very short visit inbetween shopping and other chores, but a nice one all the same, and it was lovely to see my old friends Paul and Sheila too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two new patch ticks at Cranford Park

Despite it only being a short visit to Cranford Park yesterday, I came home quite excited and looking forward to writing up my blog because I had two new patch ticks. Unfortunately my home internet decided to crash, so I am now writing this on a Sunday morning from the comfort of the local Weatherspoons, The Botwell, and would like to say big thanks to the helpful staff who had my new wifi account up and running in minutes.

 

So back to yesterday, the butterfly transect walk really showed the season is slowing down despite the temperature being in the 20's and the sun shining for most of my visit.

 

Yesterdays tally:

1 Green-veined White

4 Red Admiral

6 Speckled Wood

Just 11 butterflies of 3 species.

 

 

 

 

It's that time of year again when I get distracted by various fungi popping up everywhere.

The Stagshorn is spreading nicely, with another small clump found....

 

 

I think the one below is one of the Bolete species, but don't quote me on that. It was the size of my hand and light purple brown....

The Dead Mans Fingers have really spread well this year. I've now found six old logs that have this fungus on them, compared to last year when I only found two.....

 



 

 

I found my first Coral fungus of the year yesterday. Normally I find this edging one of the woodland paths, but this fine clump was growing up a pile of stacked logs.....

 

But my find of the day, and a first for me at Cranford Park, was this stonking Stinkhorn.

The fungi starts off as an almost buried grey white coloured 'egg'. When the conditions are right a spongy white shaft erupts. The top of the shaft is covered in slime where the spores are and the fungus often smells quite putrid. The smell is to attract flies, which land on the slime then take off with the spores stuck to their feet. The flies will then go somewhere else, therefore spreading the spores and the Stinkhorn naturally reproduces.......

 

 

My other patch tick today was the discovery that Cranford Park has Ivy Bees visiting. As the name suggests they only feed on flowering ivy, and are only seen between September to mid November. I have never seen Ivy Bees at Cranford Park before, so this is very exciting for me. This species of mining bee nests in loose soil on the ground. The Ivy Bee is harmless, and very rarely stings - in fact to get stung by an Ivy Bee you would have to pick up a female (the males don't sting at all) and physically squeeze the bee. Despite all the patches of flowering ivy at the park at the moment, I only found the Ivy Bee on one short section by the M4 wall. This stunning bee, with its furry thorax and stripy body, was only first recorded in the UK in 2001 so each year records are asked to be noted on the BWARS website (link here to the mapping project). I have added my records and will now be looking to see if I can spot a ground nest nearby......

 

 

I also found a new gall today. I've seen these before but never really registered what they are. They are Silk Button Galls and only found on the underside of English Oak leaves....

 

 

Yesterdays weather was dry, with good bursts of sunshine but a little windy. Hence the Common Darters were mainly found resting on the ground....

 

 

or as in yesterdays case, perched atop the wooden posts surrounding the orchard.....

 

Several species of hoverfly were around but the most prolific was the Myathropa florea, one of the most instantly recognised hover due to the 'batman' symbol on its thorax.....

 

 

As I was leaving I checked the green metal gates for any more Harlequin ladybirds and found one larva, one pupa and three recently emerged adults. Their season is not yet over....

 

 

Very chuffed with the two new patch ticks - the Stinkhorn and the Ivy Bee - and wondering what other surprises Cranford Park has before the year is out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunny Sunday at Cranford Park

After yesterdays horrible weather, today was blue skies with not a wisp of cloud in the sky.

 

I'm glad I picked today to do my weekly butterfly transect. Numbers and species are slowly going down each week, but that is only to be expected. What I also expected was to see the large numbers of one particular species, the stunning Red Admiral....

 

 

Their upper wings are striking and attractive, but it's their underwing that often takes my breath away. It's almost like a stained glass window....

 

This is one of our butterflies whose numbers fluctuate each year due to how many migrate here from Europe. There is normally one major influx from late May to early June, and the females arrive already mated. It's those offspring that we then see in late summer and autumn like now. The food plant of the caterpillar is the common nettle, therefore their numbers here are good. When the buddleia finally go over, you'll find these butterflies in the orchard feeding on fallen apples. In early November, these stunning butterflies will begin to southerly migrate back towards the continent.

 

I had eleven Red Admirals on just one still flowering buddleia this morning, with another resting on the neighbouring brambles. That's the most number I've seen in the past four weeks.

 

So the total tally for todays butterfly transect was a total of 25 butterflies of four species...

12 Red Admiral

3 Green-veined White

1 Comma

10 Speckled Wood

 

After I had completed the transect I went back to Cranford Woods to check on some known fungi sites. I wasn't disappointed at one of them and was delighted to find my first tiny Yellow Stagshorn starting to appear....

 

 

and the Dead Mans Fingers found a few weeks ago are still growing and swelling...

 

and there were promises of new crops of fungi popping up over most of the old moss logs. Not sure on this variety yet, but does look a little like one of the sulphurs...

 

On the woodland edge I spotted a Kestrel....

 

 

and along one of the paths I was really chuffed to find a 7-spot Ladybird, a very welcome change from all the Harlequins that I've been finding over the last few weeks....

 

 

There were a few Hoverfly species around but this monster was the most prolific....

The Hornet mimic - Volucella zonaria....

 

Dock bugs were also abundant too, and I know I post loads of photos of these critters in my blog posts, but there's just something about them I like...

 

Next weekend the Stable block at Cranford Park will be open as part of the London Open House Weekend and I'll be volunteering in there on Sunday. The Secret Garden will also be open for visitors, and on the Sunday there will be the usual motorcycles on display courtesy of the Christian Motorcyclists Association. St Dunstans church will also be open and BBQ and refreshments available.