Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve

Flower garden at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve
with the visitor centre in the background. 14 August 2011.

On Sunday I drove down to Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve for a moth morning, when a moth trap would be emptied and its contents tallied.

This is another place I had never been to. I will post some moth photos later, when I have gone through them properly. But this place was not set up for moths. It is essentially a series of lakes and seems to be mostly designed for bird watchers.

The lakes were formed by digging for gravel and sand. Now there are water birds, with permanent hides placed here and there around the banks. I am not a bird person, but it is quite beautiful. The paths are lined with interesting plant life and some care has been taken to encourage all sorts of inhabitants, as you can see from the wall of blocks with holes for solitary bees.

Bird ringing group showing us a bullfinch.
Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, 14 August 2011.

The flower garden near the visitor centre is also very attractive, with a good mix of garden and wild species. Even at 7:30 am it was full of insects; bumblebees, damselflies, hoverflies and fly flies. before our start time, and after the moths were decanted, I wandered around the area, and there may be more photos from that later, too.

A bird ringing exercise was going on just opposite the visitor centre. A small group had a collection of bags, each containing a small bird; I didn't find out how they had been collected, but what came out when they put in their hands was a surprise each time. I saw a dunnock and a bullfinch being brought out and examined.

The birds were handled firmly and gently and with great confidence. They didn't seem to be worried at all, which I certainly would be in similar circumstances!

These photos were all taken with an Ixus 100.

Bee wall with homes for solitary bees, opposite the visitor centre at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve.  14 August 2011.

One of the lakes, with Purple Loosestrife.  Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, 14 August 2011.

Norman Park and Hayes

Another visitor enjoying the wild flowers in Norman Park
next to the River Ravensbourne. 12 August 2011.

This was another local walk with Bromley Countryside Services. It was planned by Ewa Prokop before she left; Jenny Price, who has survived the recent cutbacks, led it.

You can pick out Ewa's walks from each of Bromley's six-month programmes and see that she aimed to cover as much of the borough as possible, following pathways and walking through green spaces. This one started quite close to the town of Bromley.

The river Ravensbourne runs through Norman Park. It is never much more than a stream and here. the river itself it very far from impressive, but its path is beautiful. It used to follow a concreted channel, but has now been brought back to a near-natural state. Trees have been planted. The ground around it has been scraped and allowed to regrow natural wildflowers; though it is quite likely that the grass cutters have brought seeds in from elsewhere. Those blue flowers are chicory, which grows in profusion here now, just as it does in Jubilee Country Park, who use its flower as their logo.

Crossing a field in the direction of Barnet Wood.
Walk led by Jenny Price (right) on 12 August 2011.

Most of the park is close-cropped grass and is used for sports, fairs and fireworks, so the contrast is startling.

The walk passed by Scrogginhall Wood, with its old pollarded oak trees, then the lake of a trout farm, where we saw some damselflies, and on across Hayes Street Farm.

Through fields and past woodland, and it ended on a local road, from where most of the group made their way back along a main road. Jenny's transport was back in the car park where we started .. but this was a local walk for me so I followed another route which led me home.

These photos were taken with my Ixus 100. It was an overcast day, so the colours look a little dull, but it was warm and pleasant for the walk.

A pair of Common Blue damselflies, Enallagma cyathigrum, in tandem on an oak shoot by the trout farm
on Hayes Street Farm.  12 August 2011.

High Elms Walk

Stragglers in the Conservation Field.  Monday 1 August 2011.

On Monday the Friends of BEECHE and Friends of Jubilee Country Park joined for a walk around the High Elms estate and part if the immediate neighbourhood.

This was a gentle ramble, with occasional stops for some historical information. Of course, some of the group were more interested in the natural history, with which High Elms is very well supplied.

This first photo shows two people with a tendency to stop and examine everything more closely. (One of them left the group later and headed off towards another excellent meadow.) The Conservation Field is beautiful, and well worth taking some time to traverse. At this season it is full of the light blue flowers of Field Scabious, loved by butterflies, day-flying moths and smartly striped hoverflies.

Gravestone of Levi Boswell, the Gypsy Chief.
Monday 1 August 2011.

Though actually, we started off by walking up to Farnborough, through its graveyard where the second photo shows the grave of one Levi Boswell, Chief Gypsy, and his wife and a son. There is quite a lot about him on line; sometimes as King of the Gypsies. Then, back down the hill, through the Conservation Field, across to Cuckoo Wood, through Orchid Bank and back to the car park.

One of us was learning butterflies, with the object of taking part in the regular butterfly transects in Jubilee Country Park, and luckily for her we saw quite a few to learn on; Speckled Woods, Meadow Browns, Gatekeepers, Large Whites, a Common Blue and a Holly Blue, a Brimstone, a Red Admiral, and a Fritillary that we think was a Dark Green. The Fritillaries are not at all easy to tell apart.

And I was back later on for a bat walk, where an interested group saw a great show of Pipistrelles and Serotines. No photos of the bats, though!

Riddlesdown Quarry

Riddlesdown Quarry from within the security fence, 2 July 2011.

It's not one of my local commons, but it was recommended, so I booked for the summer flower and butterfly walk to Riddlesdown Quarry on July 2nd. It's a City of London common like West Wickham Common and Spring Park, which I visit often as they are within walking distance of my house, but I had never been to Riddlesdown before. The warden there is Matt Johnson, and he led the walk with the assistance of one Frances, a local volunteer, who knew the quarry and its flora in detail.

Both the common and the quarry are spectacular. First, a long straight path through open grassland, thought to be on the route of a Roman road. Excavation is needed to confirm this. Grassland, and some trees and scrub off to the sides; the common is being actively managed to increase the open grassland. The wildflowers were profuse. I saw several which were new to me, or if I had seen them before I didn't know at the time what they were. Vervain, Dropwort, Tufted Vetch, Rest Harrow. Spear Thistle and Welted Thistle. The Mignonette looked very much like the garden plant of the same name that I remember from my childhood.

Long-headed poppy, Papaver dubium subspecies dubium,
in Riddlesdown Quarry. 2 July 2011.

Some plants that I did know grew here in great numbers. We followed a track that verged away from the Roman road and saw hundreds of Pyramidal Orchids, by the path and under a tree. Then we walked up a slope and came to the top of the quarry.

The common is open to all, but the quarry is surrounded by a tall metal security fence, and there are two locked gates to get through before reaching the edge of the excavation. It is a spectacular sight. Geologists would love it. Until 1996 it belonged to Blue Circle, a company that sold cement, but they had not taken chalk for some while before that.

There were a few butterflies around on the grass plateau outside, but when we went in we were suddenly surrounded by them; Meadow Browns, Ringlets, Marbled Whites and some Skippers, fluttering around, disturbed by our passing. And there were more plants, different again. Some were vivid, with strong colours, like the Everlasting Pea and the Long-Headed Poppy; others had clear pastel shades like Centaury and Restharrow.

Kidney Vetch, the food of the caterpillar of the scarce Small Blue butterfly, was all around, but we did not see the butterfly, though it is known to live here. Hop Trefoil, Eyebright, Rosebay Willowherb, many plants with beautiful and evocative names. And I discovered from one of the walkers that Bird's-Foot Trefoil, sometimes called eggs-and-bacon here, is called "old women's teeth" in Sweden.

Hop trefoil, Trifolium campestre, in Riddlesdown Quarry. 2 July 2011.

I thought I might see some of the day-flying Burnet moths, as those teeth are what the caterpillars eat. But no, though there are said to be plenty of them. I did see a Cinnabar, another brightly coloured day-flier, whose caterpillars eat only Ragwort. One of the group pointed out a Peregrine Falcon, rather larger but a lot further away, circling around the trees at the top of the quarry.

The path winds down into the centre of the quarry, where we looked around for a while, and then back up and home again. The walk was advertised as three hours. We started off at 10 a.m. and got back to the car park at 1:30 p.m. It did not seem a long time. There is only one chance each summer to visit the quarry, and I will definitely book early next year.

This was a good chance to try out my new camera, a Canon EOD 60D, and all the closeup photos were taken with that and my 100mm macro lens. The wide view of the quarry, and the view of the group, were taken with my little Canon Ixus 100. As usual, these photos show only a tiny fraction of the good things there were to be seen.

Matt Johnson addressing the group at the top of Riddlesdown quarry. 2 July 2011.

One of the group remembered when that table was new; it was quite flat then.

Common centaury, Centaureum erythraea, in Riddlesdown Quarry. 2 July 2011.

Cinnabar moth, Tyria jacobaeae, in Riddlesdown Quarry. 2 July 2011.

Round-leaved wintergreen, Pyrola rotundifolia, in Riddlesdown Quarry. 2 July 2011.

Wolf spider hunting under the grass, carrying her young on her back, in the meadow above Riddlesdown quarry.
2 July 2011.

These spiders are quick-moving hunters and they don't hang around and pose for the camera. I have seen lots of wolf spiders this summer, but I have very few photos.

Marmalade hoverfly, Episyrphus balteatus, on a small scabious, Scabiosa columbaria,
on Riddlesdown Common.  2 July 2011.

Downe Bank

Horse and foal near Downe.  25 June 2011.

The Orpington Field Club met in the middle of Downe. It's full of reminders of Charles Darwin. Interestingly, there is a memorial sundial on the wall of the church where his children and servants are buried. I was browsing around the churchyard when I was met by Irene Palmer and her husband John. Irene is a Darwin enthusiast and was leading our walk to Downe Bank.

Downe Bank is in the middle of a beautiful area of countryside between Downe and Cudham, on the bank of Cudham Valley. It's a nature reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and part of it is open to the public.  We walked down to Orchis Bank and over the next couple of hours moved slowly along and back.

The walk was planned to look at the flora, but I always photograph any invertebrates and any other things of interest that will hold still long enough. This horse and foal were in a field on the path from Downe.

Bee orchid, Ophrys apifera, on Orchis Bank, showing pollinia.
25 June 2011.

We went into the area labelled as Orchis Bank, Darwin's name for one of the areas he studied. Naturally, there was a focus on orchids, and even though the weather this year has not encouraged them, there were plenty of common spotted orchids and common twayblades, with pyramidals scattered among them. Several bee orchids were spotted, and later on, some fragrant orchids. But these showy specimens were only the tip of a wealth of plant life.

I was interested to see a lush black bryony, climbing an ash sapling, which had a shoot with dark purple leaves. I wonder if that is a somatic variation or a true reproducible variety. Other shoots of the same plant looked quite normal.

As usual, the group spread out and straggled. I was often at the back, taking photographs. I saw a few Helix pomatia, the large edible snails that were introduced by the Romans. They were sheltering in small hollows which seemed to be just their size. They did not seem to want to emerge from their shells.

Weevil, Apoderus coryli, on my hand, on Orchis Bank.
25 June 2011.

The open area was full of yellow flowers, one of the many local species that resemble dandelions. It is interesting that all the local meadows seem to have one of these species predominent. Often it's cat's-ear, but in this case it was the rough hawkbit, Leontodon hispidus. There were also many specimens of hairy St. John's wort, which added to the general yellowness. Marmalade hoverflies were everywhere, often sitting on the yellow flowers and letting me get close up with the camera.

The line of people wound along the narrow path, singly and in groups, turned round at the end and moved back lower down the hill. A few returned the way they came, and others went on and back a different way. I went along to the track on the lower path and climbed the gate into Musk Orchid Bank, which I had visited once before on Ewa Prokop's primrose walk.

Back in March, the grass was short and primroses stood up above it. Now all the plants stood tall. I saw several marbled white butterflies flitting about, but I didn't want to chase them until they settled because it would have meant trampling down all the plant life. The one I came across that was already settled had lost a piece from both hind wings; perhaps it had a close encounter with a bird and was lucky to get away.

I was following the hint of a track that might have been made by a fox, or by one person going unseen ahead of me. There were a few large skippers and I also saw one large field scabious, its light blue flowers standing above all the rest.

Wandering along Orchis Bank.  The yellow flowers are mostly rough hawkbit, Leontodon hispidus. 25 June 2011.

 

Ringlet butterfly, Aphantopus hyperantus, basking on Orchis Bank.  25 June 2011.

Marmalade hoverfly, Episyrphus balteatus, on hairy St. John's wort, Hypericum hirsutum, on Orchis Bank.  25 June 2011.

Fragrant orchid, Gymnadenia conopsia, on Orchis Bank.  25 June 2011.

Marbled white butterfly, Melanargia galathea, missing some pieces of wing, on Musk Orchid Bank.  25 June 2011.

Florets of field scabious, Knautia arvensis, on Musk Orchid Bank.  25 June 2011.

Large skipper, Ochlodes venatus, male, feeding on selfheal, Prunella vulgaris, on Musk Orchid Bank.  25 June 2011.

All the photos in this post were taken with a Canon EOS 450D and an EF 100mm macro lens. For the closeups I used a ring flash.

If this was interesting, you might like to see Irene Palmer's web presentation on Downe Bank: Darwin's 'Entangled Bank' at Downe, A Warden's Tale.

Ups and Downs

An inquisitive Dexter cow near Biggin Hill.  21 June 2011.

That was Ewa Prokop's name for the walk she led on Tuesday. Ewa always looked for quirky names for her walks, and they were always energetic strides across the beautiful countryside of Bromley. This time the walk started at Pratt's Bottom and crossed three of Bromley's valleys, on the edge of the North Downs. 

Previous walks planned by Ewa had covered parts of this route, but the whole feel of the countryside was different at this time of year. More and different wildflowers were prominent in the meadows and fields. Also, I have learned a lot over the past few months, some of if from Ewa, and the more you know, the more you see.

This was Ewa's last walk for Bromley Countryside Services. A third of Bromley's rangers are losing their jobs in the current series of cutbacks. All the jobs are being redefined, and it is likely that there will be fewer of these walks and less support for the "friends" groups which care for their local country parks, commons and woods. Of the six rangers I have met, three will be retiring or will become redundant, and I wish them well.  They are people with vast knowledge of their areas and a real feel for conservation, and their loss cannot be good for Bromley's countryside.

So, I arrived early at Pratt's Bottom village green; very neat, very middle-class. Yes, I think the name is funny too. I got a couple of close-up photos before the others arrived — just two walkers and Ewa — and we set off uphill along a bridleway.

Flowers of male white bryony, Bryonia dioica. 21 June 2011.

Ewa was telling us about the countryside we passed through, and pointing out interesting plants and places where she had worked with volunteers to lay new hedgerows. We saw grasses like the drooping wood melick that lined the shady path; coppiced hazels; flowering black horehound (which Ewa knew as stinking horehound) and hedge woundwort, musk mallow and hedge bedstraw. There were butterflies; meadow brown, ringlet, large skipper.

We passed by Charmwood Farm and the gated end of a long, lime-lined track and came to an unnamed valley. At first sight this seemed to be just grassland, but there were many other plants hidden among the stalks. We saw the yellow flowers of black medick and St. John's wort, and as we climbed the far side some wild basil, a patch of wild thyme, and yes, some pyramidal orchids.

This was the same valley I photographed on 25th January for my first entry in this blog. That was one of Ewa's walks too, though she had not been able to come out that day and Jenny Price led it.

Then, some more woods and fields. The wind blew, cooling us down nicely. A day-flying moth, a white ermine, landed on one of us and promptly died, a very strange occurrence. Then we walked through the churchyard at Cudham and down into Cudham valley, another beautiful place. We came through this valley on Ewa's primrose walk in March. The solitary tree in the background of the photo of meadow cranesbill, fourth from the bottom below, is the same one that appears in the second photo down in that earlier post, and there are also photos showing Bottom Barn Farm in both posts.

Pyramidal orchid, Anacamptis pyramidalis, in a Bromley Valley. 21 June 2011.

In this valley the purple flowers of common knapweed and the white-and-yellow of ox-eye daisies were prominent in the long grass. Marbled white butterflies flew across the path.

This time we walked straight across the valley and up the hill through the ancient woods of Twenty Acre Shaw. That was quite a steep climb, and my ears popped at the top. On the far side, the last valley on our walk was less salubrious. It was small where we crossed it, more of a dip than a valley, and at the bottom our path led through a yard surrounded by ramshackle buildings with corrugated iron roofs and a skip full of rubbish.

Now we were approaching Biggin Hill. There was one slight mishap when we started to walk through someone's garden; the stile was thirty yards away, hidden in a hedge. We passed a field containing a miniature cow, a Dexter.  Soon we were at the edge of suburbia and the end of the walk. Luckily for us, Ewa gave us a lift back to our cars at the starting point.

As we neared the village green it started to rain.  Good timing.  Then we shook hands and said goodbye to Ewa for the last time.

Pratt's Bottom Village Green.  21 June 2011.

Ewa pointing out hedge bedstraw, Galium mollugo, on a farm near Pratt's Bottom.  21 June 2011.

An old beech tree, Fagus sylvatica,  in the woods east of Cudham.  21 June 2011.

Ancient yew tree, Taxus baccata, in Cudham churchyard.  21 June 2011.

Meadow cranesbill, Geranium pratense, in Cudham Valley.  21 June 2011.

Cudham valley and Bottom Barn Farm with common knapweed and ox-eye daisy.  21 June 2011.

Climbing the steps in Twenty Acre Shaw on the side of Cudham Valley.  21 June 2011.

The group having just emerged from someone's garden, east of Biggin Hill.  The actual stile is just behind me.
21 June 2011.

Keston Grasslands

Greater yellow rattle, Rhinanthus angustifolius.
Ravensbourne meadow, 15 June 2011.

Even though I had taken part in a study of Keston's meadows quite recently, I was pleased to see them again. Judy John of the BCS led the walk once again. She knows this common very well, especially its botany.

This time we started at a different spot, by Keston Ponds, and looked at some of the acid grassland nearby before moving across the heath, past Keston Bog, and on to the dry and wet Ravensbourne meadows. Naturally I don't want to repeat what I have already covered, so here are some highlights from this trip.

On the dry grassland where Juncus squarrosus grows, on a poor soil made up of Blackheath gravel, I saw a little butterfly, like a meadow brown but smaller, identified by Judy as a small heath. It was very mobile (kept flying off when I got close) and I only got a partial photo of it, but enough to confirm the identification. It was good to see this; the species is in decline.

We had a closer look at the area around the bog than I took last time. Part of it is still full of white fluffy cottongrass. The small yellow flowers of tormentil were scattered around, and Judy says we should soon see bog asphodel. There were several rushes and sedges; Judy pointed out one new to the bog, Carex demissa, common yellow sedge.

The front of a slowworm, Anguis fragilis, and some cast skin.
Ravensbourne meadow, 15 June 2011

The bog had suffered after Darwin's time from a misplaced attempt to protect it from trampling and depradation by allowing trees to grow up around it, to conceal it. But bog plants such as sundew need light, which was shaded out; a low nutrient environment, ruined by leaf litter; and plenty of water, which was being sucked up by the trees; so the bog fell into a poor state.

Recently, the nearest trees have been removed, and the leaf litter on the sides of the small depression has been scraped off. The old flora are coming back. There are still no sundews, but now that the wet ground surface is exposed again there are other good things, like the sedge mentioned above. But given our generally drier climate, it might never return to being a true valley bog as Darwin saw it.

In the meadows we looked under two of the small corrugated iron shelters and saw several slowworms — many more than we saw on the reptile walk in May. One of the shelters also had a busy ant's nest. The other contained some cast skin, shown in this photo. It's a cropped corner of a rather dark image, and not very clear; I didn't spot this slowworm until I looked at the photo on my computer.

Walking through the woods between the meadows, Judy pointed out specimens of broad buckler fern and male fern by the path. In the wet meadows were the purple flowers of marsh thistles. To one side, a statuesque Italian black poplar tree, not in the best of health.

An Italian black poplar to one side of a meadow. 15 June 2011.

One of the dry meadows had some patches of greater yellow rattle, probably brought in on the machinery used to cut the grass, as we know happened with the corky-fruited water dropwort that came from Jubilee Country Park. On one of the wet meadows, someone had recently camped overnight and had a camp fire, potentially eradicating the black sedge that Judy had been so pleased to find two weeks ago. It takes a lot of work to keep this common in shape and gradually improve it, and it's not always a forward progression.

Back at the ponds, Judy said goodbye and a few of us went off towards the upper car park. At this point I was thinking: Well, I've got some quite interesting photos, but nothing really special. Then a damselfly landed on Sally's arm. I think it was an emerald damselfly, but it's not quite like any of the illustrations in my books, and I will amend this if I am proved wrong. A little further on, we saw where some of the yellow water lilies had been pulled up by someone. One of the flowers was near the bank, floating free in the water. At last, a chance to test whether they really do smell of alcohol! And indeed they do, quite strongly, justifying their alternative common name of brandybottle. The flower was big and fleshy, and the stem was bulky and weak.

Loosely attached to the side of this flower was the exuvium of a damselfly or dragonfly, the empty skin which it had moulted when emerging as an adult. You really can't go far on this common without seeing interesting things, if you watch out for them. Also interesting was a group of people fishing illegally — these ponds are part of the river Ravensbourne, and it was still the close season for coarse river fishing until the end of the day (15th June). Other groups of fishermen by the middle pond were merely reconnoitring and waiting out the day.

Judy John pointing out a sedge new to Keston Bog, Carex demissa, the common yellow sedge.
Keston Bog, 15 June 2011.

Damselfly, possibly an emerald, Lestes sponsa. Keston middle pond, 15 June 2011.

Flower of yellow water lily, Nuphar lutea, aka brandybottle, with damselfly or dragonfly exuvium.
Keston upper pond, 15 June 2011.

Flower of yellow water lily, Nuphar lutea, aka brandybottle, with damselfly or dragonfly exuvium.
Keston upper pond, 15 June 2011.

Fishing out of season. The statutory coarse fish close season applies between 15 March and 15 June inclusive.
This is Keston upper pond, part of the Ravensbourne river, on 15 June 2011.

All the photos in this post were taken with my little Ixus 100 camera.

Spring At Keston

The group starting to spread out on Keston Common, 28 May 2011.

This was a morning looking around Keston Common and the Ravensbourne meadows with the Orpington Field Club. It was led by Ishpi Blatchley, accompanied by Judy John of the BCS, whose area this is.

It was not a ramble, nor even really a walk, but a sort of slightly mobile study of the local plants and wildlife. The first photo was taken just outside the car park, and you can see the group already splitting up. Most of the time there were two groups with a few pairs and individuals moving around and between the groups.

It was a chilly and mostly overcast day, but there were occasional sunny breaks and we actually saw a lot more than I had expected. After the recent dry weather, some of the plants were desiccated or stunted, but that didn't affect the wet meadows or the bog. There are some very reliable springs in this area.

Crustose lichen on an oak tree, Keston Common, 28 May 2011.
Identified by Ishpi Blatchley as probably Lecanora chlarotera.

Even the dry area we started in had lots of interest. Sheep's sorrel and cat's-ear were flowering, and a few ox-eye daisies. There were lichens and mosses, grasses, and several vetches.

The second photo is a small patch of crustose lichen on an oak trunk. To the naked eye it could be a stain from a bird dropping, but closer examination shows the apothecia, reproductive bodies looking like craters with white rims.

The flowers had the same beetle population which I have seen elsewhere recently; lots of bright green Oedemera nobilis, browner Oedemera lurida, and Malachius bipustulatus, green with two red dots at the end of its wing cases.

The white flowers of hairy tare. Keston Common, 28 May 2011.

Among the vetches were the pink flowers of some grass vetchlings, which were abundant last weekend at Darrick Wood, and some clumps of hairy tare, with small white flowers, identifiable by its pods which contain two seeds each.

The experts spent some time combing the ground around Keston's war memorial. I was looking around the back of the hedge, where some common cow wheat and herb robert were flowering. In the dry area by the road were some stunted cat's-ears and some mouse-ear hawkweed growing next to each other. The hawkweed has dandelion-like flowers, but of a lighter, fresher yellow. Ishpi, who is a lichen expert, was pleased by the excellent specimens of Parmelia saxatilis on the back of an old wooden seat.

We moved on to the Ravensbourne wet meadows. These were quite lovely, full of meadow buttercups. Around the edges and in the wetter areas were some real treats. Straight ahead of us was a patch of ragged robins, the same patch I photographed on a reptile walk two weeks ago, against a backdrop of hoary willowherb. Judy was anxiously searching for some black sedge, which used to be there; she found some a little way away. Along the edge here one of the predominant plants was water horsetail, just the fruiting bodies on the end of long green stems, looking very prehistoric.

Fruiting body of water horsetail, Equisetum fluviatile.
On a wet Ravensbourne Meadow.  28 May 2011.

We saw several flies and micromoths; a couple of Cantharids, carnivorous soldier beetles; a grasshopper; and a vivid froghopper, the red and black patterned Cercopis vulnerata.

Other meadow edges were quite different. To one side were large and showy clumps of wild yellow iris. This area of meadow also had wild angelica, woody nightshade, brooklime and the buttercup-like lesser spearwort.

Coming back through the woods we heard wren and blackcap song, and saw a goldcrest actually hovering among low branches after insects, almost like a hummingbird, most unusual behaviour and surely not energy-efficient.

Some of the group split off to examine the bog and the rest of us went to look at the ponds to see if there were any dragonflies or damselflies. We only saw one thing, but it was interesting; a damselfly that had recently emerged and had not yet taken its full mature state. The experts thought it was most likely a red-eyed damsefly, known to inhabit that area of the pond. It was on the flower of a water hawthorn.

Walking back towards the car park we saw some clumps of heath rush, scarce in this part of the country.

Some more images:

Identifying and recording common knapweed, Centauria nigra. Keston common, 28 May 2011.

Parmelia saxatilis on a roadside seat.  Keston, 28 May 2011.
The greenish lichen on the right of the main patch is Flavoparmelia caperata.

Flower of Herb Robert, Geranium robertianum, behind Keston war memorial. 28 May 2011.
A white flowered variety; they are usually more or less pink.

Common cow wheat, Melampyrum pratense, flowering on the edge of Keston Common. 28 May 2011.

Brooklime, Veronica beccabunga, on a wet Ravensbourne Meadow. 28 May 2011.

A clump of yellow iris, Iris pseudacorus, on a wet Ravensbourne Meadow. 28 May 2011.

A flower of the yellow iris, Iris pseudacorus, on a wet Ravensbourne Meadow. 28 May 2011.

Cantharis pellucida, a soldier beetle, in a wet Ravensbourne Meadow.  28 May 2011.

Insect eggs, probably a moth, on the underside of a willow leaf by the middle Keston pond.  28 May 2011.

Recently emerged damselfly, thought to be a red-eyed damselfly, on a water hawthorn on the upper Keston pond.
28 May 2011.  This was taken at full zoom and cropped, so is at about the limit of distance for my Ixus 100.

Heath rush, Juncus squarrosus, near Keston Ponds.  28 May 2011.