News & Events – Wildlife Walks

Belfairs – November 2022

A last walk with Frances who is retiring from running our Nature Walks group after 10 years. So many enjoyable walks and a delight to learn from Frances who is so knowledgeable. Thank you Frances and very good to end with this walk in Belfairs and spotting the Magpie Inkcap fungus.

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Canvey Wick – July 2021

Ichneumon was (possibly Ambyteles armatorius)

Panataloon bee male (Dasypoda hirtipes) — 20210728--DSCF9526

Pantaloon bee female (Dasypoda hirtipes)

Gunners Park – June 2021

20210626--DSC36328 — Cinnabar moth (Canvey Wick)

Brown-banded carder (bumble) bee (Bombus humilis) (Canvey Wick)

Silvery leafcutter bee female (Megachile leachella) (Canvey Wick)

Privet hawk moth (malformed) (Private garden)

Common carder (bumble) bee (Bombus pascuorum)

Southern cuckoo (bumble) bee male (Bombus vestalis) — 20210623--DSC35635

Four-barred knapweed gall fly (Urophora quadrifasciata)

(Please note that although lockdown photographs are grouped into months, some will have been taken earlier, they are generally grouped as month when sent out to members.)

Lockdown Photos – January 2021

Lockdown Photos – December 2020

When you invite a friend to share a bath with you - 1

When you invite a friend to share a bath with you - 4

When you invite a friend to share a bath with you - 2

When you invite a friend to share a bath with you - 3

Great tits and goldfinches on the feeder

Pied wagtail
... probably won't see in the garden but quite often spotted in the street, car parks and parks.

Lockdown Photos – November 2020

Think this is a female Common blue damselfly

Mistletoe on poplar tree in Doggets Park, Rochford

Metellina orb spider with a its Chalcid wasp prey

Little Egrets waiting on the marsh for the tide to go down2

Black Tailed Godwit, with a curlew behind ( hard to recognise without their beaks)

Lapwings, also known as peewits and officially Green Plover

Lockdown Photos – October 2020

The Mute Swan cygnets are now taking short flights and doing a lot of wing flapping as they gain their strength. They'll soon be departing (probably to the estuary for the winter).
The cygnets in Southchurch Park have been exercising too. — Mute Swan
The Mute Swan cygnets are now taking short flights and doing a lot of wing flapping as they gain their strength. They'll soon be departing (probably to the estuary for the winter). The cygnets in Southchurch Park have been exercising too.

Wall (brown) butterfly (m)
Richard says - First I have ever seen (In fact never even heard of it until this summer!).

Male common carder bee (Bombus pascuorum)

Red tailed bumble bee
Male Bombus lapidarius (Red tailed bumble bee). Females do not have the yellow hair on thorax

Shrill carder (bumble) bee
Bombus sylvarum or Shrill carder (bumble) bee. A local speciality – nationally endangered

Colletes halophilus (Sea aster bee)
A cousin of the Ivy bee

Lockdown Photos – September 2020

A Wall butterfly by Graham,
Seen in Gunners Park. This is a coastal species, it is in decline and Graham hasn’t seen one for several years so it is a welcome sight.

Mistletoe
A ball of mistletoe on a tree in Canvey Road - photo from Laura

snail trail
Sent by Laura, a strange snail trail. Any ideas on what it was doing?

Black tailed Godwits
A large group of Black tailed Godwits on the lagoon on Two Tree Island. These arrived in August in summer plumage, with very striking chestnut breasts. A few still have traces of this but most are now in the less showy winter plumage we are used to. Photo by Marion Collins.

Hogweed
Seed head of Hogweed on Leigh Marshes - photo from Marion Collins.

Cistogaster globosa
Interesting Tachinid fly

(Appropriately named) Turnip sawfly (Athalia rosea).
Judging from torn wings, it looks like it’s been caught by a bird! — Turnip sawfly
(Appropriately named) Turnip sawfly (Athalia rosea). Judging from torn wings, it looks like it’s been caught by a bird!

Red tailed bumble bee
Bombus lapidarius queen (Red tailed bumble bee). Richard's favourite .... don’t think it liked the camera quite so close – leg raised in warning...

Willow emerald damselflies
Mating pair of Willow emerald damselflies (Picture has been rotated 90 degrees to right to allow landscape presentation)

Hoverfly Heliophilus pendulus (The footballer)

Nursery web spider looking for lunch.
Frankly I was disappointed that the hoverfly (Sphaerophoria sp) flew away!

A fly
What species? Never got around to identifying this one!

Buff tailed bumblebee
Fresh Bombus terrestris queen (Buff tailed bumblebee). Feeding up on buddleia before hibernation.

crab spider
Very small/young female crab spider (Misumena vatia) on buddleia (so its body about 1mm! I Only saw it because it was swinging in the breeze).

Lockdown Photos – August 2020

A Volucella Zonaria,
Photographed by Iris in Leigh Churchyard. This is a very large hoverfly mimic of a hornet

A red tailed bumblebee
The sea Holly is very extensive in Shoebury East beach, and when we visited, early evening in the sun, it was covered with bees and flies.

Grasshopper
On the sea holly at East Beach, Shoebury

A parasitic wasp, Gasteruption Jaculator.
The very long ovipositor is used to lay eggs in the nests of solitary bees and wasps, when they hatch the larva eats the original inmate and any stored food.

Wood Mouse
A young wood mouse checking out the food tray

Squirrel
Is Sybil the squirrel after the fat balls, or is she going to eat a pink rose this time?

Silver-washed fritillary
This slightly tatty Silver Washed Fritillary was photographed by Kathy Greenwood in the Nature Reserve. I was with her on the walk and this was the first one I have seen. It is a striking sight, quite large, about the size of a Brimstone. It feeds on the nectar of brambles, we saw it in a sunny glade with a lot of blackberries.The caterpillar food plant is listed as dog violets.

Gatekeeper
An unusual head-on view of a Gatekeeper

Bumblebee & Lavatera
A bumblebee approaching the Lavatera

Wildlife Pond
During lockdown Graham has completely rebuilt his wildlife pond to make it larger and deeper. Still got some way to go but it is coming on...

Emperor moth caterpillar
A photo from David Lewin taken on a walk to Hadleigh Castle. Bramble and Blackthorn are among its food plants, these are widespread in the area.

Honesty seed heads
Showing the pennies in the purse. When used in display the outer two discs are removed to show the shiny inner skin, the money is gone too.

Corncockle
These need to be sown again every year, I think these little ‘vases’ will eventually split and spread the seeds. Like poppies the seeds need to start in bare ground

Seed heads of Musk mallow.
Seed-head of Common mallow are similar but not so showy. This musk mallow has been introduced into St Clements churchyard and is now well established. It does grow wild locally and I have seen it in the Roach valley.

Strawberry clover
From a verge in Leigh, mostly still flowering but Centre right a couple of the strawberry like seed heads that give it the name. It is found in coastal areas and is widespread round here but seems to be listed as a threatened plant. We have seen it in Southchurch Park and on verges.

Lockdown Photos – July 2020

White Admiral
A rare butterfly. It can be seen in parts of Belfairs Woods and in Dodds Grove. The food plant of caterpillars is honeysuckle

Spindle Ermine Moths Mating
Spindle is what they feed on.

Purple Toadflax
This plant is very popular with bees and insects, and turns up of its own accord in many gardens. Common Toadflax is yellow and usually found in fields and verges. Another widely seen flower is Ivy Leaved Toadflax - which does have very small ivy shaped leaves and usually grows on walls.

Painted Cockoo or Nomad Bee (Nomada Fucata)

Ringlets Mating
From the plot on the allotment

Male Osmia Caerulescens - Blue Mason Bee
Quite small but it was resting outside my bee hotel

Male Dasypoda Hirtipes - Pantaloon Bee
The female has huge ‘scopa’ – hairs on its rear legs. Not seen one yet this year

German wasp - Vespula Germanica - worker
Scraping wood from my trellis to enlarge its nest. A queen, presumably from the same nest, also used this as a source. They are easy to snap when they are doing this.

Lockdown Photos

No walks during lockdown but instead the group have been sharing photographs taken whilst out exercising or in their garden. Where members have not themselves been able to identify the plant/creature then Frances has come to the rescue and has been sharing her wide knowledge of fauna and flora. In those few cases when Frances has been unsure she has thrown it open to everyone to research and work out what it is we are looking at. The pictures shared can be seen below:

22nd January 2020

It was a cold and misty walk today across Two Tree Island. We started off from the car park just over the bridge along the rather muddy paths toward the estuary. As we hit the coastline we were greeted with some wonderfully smooth water and a rather ethereal scene. Not a great deal of wildlife although several species of estuary birds, including many gulls (including one gull with early plummage showing it was indeed a black headed gull), curlew, avocet, black tailed godwit, oystercatcher, egret, lapwing, shoveller duck, red shank, knot, turnstone, teal, robin, dunlin, plover along with the always present woodpigeon. And on the way back to the car park, we heard a buzzing that had heads turning and looking – it was a model aircraft being flown by a member of Southend Radio Controlled Flying Club!

A few pictures by David and Richard shown below.

Rainham Marshes – 29th September 2019

It was decided that Rainham Marshes was too far for a usual monthly Wildlife Walk. So Frances arranged for those interested to join an RSPB walk around the Marshes on a Sunday when more time was available. Members of the group set off from Leigh around 9:00am heading towards Rainham; with the torrential downpour of rain en-route they were all wondering what they had let themselves in for. The windscreen wipers were set on super fast speed and even then struggled to give a clear view, car speed had to be reduced to avoid aquaplaning and if the weather was not enough to deter all but the hardiest, the Highways Authority had completely shut the A13 to traffic. A longer route had to be taken but just as we reached around a quarter of a mile from the Marshes, the weather eased up and a tiny section of blue sky was spotted.

So we parked, met a couple more members of the group in the RSPB Visitors Centre, along with a few RSPB members and after a quick coffee set off around the circular walk. Wet weather gear seemed to be the order of the day but we were extremely fortunate that the rain held off until we had managed to complete the walk some 2.5 hours later and return the the Visitor’s Centre for a snack and another cuppa.

An interesting walk with lots of birds spotted. In total as a group we managed to spot some 41 different species comprising Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Shelduck, Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard, Shoveler, Pheasant, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Little Grebe, Marsh Harrier, Buzzard, Moorhen, Coot, Avocet, Curlew, Lapwing, Ruff, Black-headed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Kingfisher, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Swallow, House Martin, Cetti’s Warbler (well only heard these not seen), Starling, Robin, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Goldfinch, Linnet.

On top of the birds we also saw, and certainly heard, a number of marsh frogs despite water levels being quite low.

A few photos from the trip below:

Rainham Marshes - Sept 2019
Sparrows on the feeders near Visitor's Centre

West Wood – September 2019

The group set off across John Burrow’s Park out of the Park and right onto Falbro Crescent and then left along Hedge Lane and into West Wood. A pleasant dry day for a short walk around these ancient woods. If we didn’t know a Hornbeam tree before we started we certainly knew by the end as they were very abundant in these woods. We also found the huge beech tree which is a far less common species in these parts. We were hoping to see lots of ivy bees but the damp air probably keep them indoors and feet up. A most enjoyable walk and thanks to Frances for her knowledge and guidance.

Shoebury East Beach – July 2019

A red hot day but six members of the group managed a walk around Shoebury East beach and were treated to some beautiful sea holly, followed by a refreshing cold drink or ice cream!

Ammophila sabulosa (or Red Banded Sand Wasp)
Found in northern Europe, the wasp is notable for the mass provisioning behaviour of the females, hunting caterpillars mainly on sunny days, paralysing them with a sting, and burying them in a burrow with a single egg.

Alexanders Plant - apparently edible and early pepper used by Romans.
Also known as horse parsley, alisanders and smyrnium. Botanical Name: Smyrnium Olusatrum

Sea Holly (Eryngium maritimum)
In Elizabethan times in England, these plants were believed to be a strong aphrodisiac.

Sea Holly
sea holly or seaside eryngo, is a species of Eryngium in the plant family Apiaceae and native to most European coastlines

Sea Holly
It resembles a plume thistle in that its flower is burr-shaped, but the flowers are metallic blue rather than mauve. Although widespread, it is considered endangered in many areas, such as Germany where its occurrence has been greatly reduced throughout and has become locally extinct in several districts.

Sea Bindweed
The morning glory Calystegia soldanella is a species of bindweed known by various common names such as seashore false bindweed, shore bindweed, shore convolvulus and beach morning glory. It is a perennial vine which grows in beach sand and other coastal habitats in temperate regions across the world. It is also known as 'The Prince's Flower' after Prince Charles Edward Stuart who sowed it on the Island of Eriskay, Scotland, when he landed there in 1745 to lead the Jacobite rising.

Sea Holly and Wild Fennel
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is a flowering plant species in the carrot family.

Buff tailed bumblebee on sea holly
Bombus terrestris

Shoebury Park – June 2019

We visited a real gem of a park this month, not as well known as many parks in Southend but full of wonderful wildlife. The Council have allowed parts of the park to grow more wild which has led to a wider diversity of wildlife. Well worth a visit. A few photos taken by Diana, Trevor and David are included below: