Noticing Nature at the Rec

08/05/2025

This week is Hedgehog Awareness Week. Hedgehogs have been voted the British public’s favourite native animal. But unfortunately they’re in trouble and numbers have been declining. To find out how you can help our hedgehogs please check out our notice board (beside the tennis courts) or go to the website of The British Hedgehog Preservation Society.
They need our help

07/05/2025

This is wild garlic or ramsons (Allium ursinum). We planted a few bulbs last year, at the back of the tennis court, and we hope they will spread year on year. It is related to cultivated garlic and all parts of the plant are edible

07/05/2025

Cherries starting to form on the native Wild Cherry (Prunus avium). They will grow larger and ripen to a red colour, but they are generally too sour for human taste, and are better left for the birds

07/05/2025

The Horse Chestnuts (Aesculus hippocastanum) are in full flower now. One reason for the name is the scar that remains on the twig after the leaf has fallen. It looks like an inverted horse shoe, complete with nail holes.

22/04/2025

So common that it hardly gets a second glance and yet the flowers and seed heads are absolutely exquisite! The Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is a really important source of nectar for pollinators (Taken early April 2025)

20/04/2025

A bank of Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens), a vigorous perennial that originates from SW Europe, but has become naturalised here. Red dye can be made from its roots and the name alkanet comes from the Arabic word for henna

20/04/2025

Mess or mansion? It very much depends on your perspective. To an insect or other small creature these are definitely a Des Res. Log and brush piles are invaluable to wildlife, so if you’re the neat and tidy sort, please avert your eyes and think of the little critters that call this home!
PS You could always create something like this in your own garden, tucked away in a shady corner…..beetles and bugs will surely thank you!

19/04/2025

19/04/2025

I’m pleased that the bluebells (Hyacinthoides non- scripta) we planted in the pocket woodland, have come up this year. They’re still quite small and rather swamped by the grass, but I hope they will establish and spread
Our native bluebell is more delicate than the Spanish bluebell and has a drooping head. The Spanish bluebell was introduced by the Victorians, but has since escaped into the wild. Unfortunately it will outcompete the native bluebell and does also hybridise with it. The UK is thought to be home to over half the total population of common bluebells

18/04/2025

These show the pupae of a leaf-mining fly Chromatomyia atricornis. The larvae of this species burrow their way through the leaf tissue and pupate at the end of the tunnel. These were occurring on a Common sowthistle (Sonchus oleraceus). (Taken early April 2025)

17/04/2025

A Dark-edged bee fly (Bombylius major). A bee mimic with an impressively long proboscis (tongue). The female skilfully
flicks her eggs at the entrance to the nests of solitary mining bees, and the larvae then parasitise the grubs of its host (photo taken early April 25)

05/04/2025

These are the newly emerged leaves and flowers of what I think is the Wild Plum (Prunus domestica). It’s growing in the play area and this photo was taken by Denise on 23rd March 2025