On a lovely afternoon I parked up at The Swan at West Peckham, ready to walk downhill towards Hazel Wood. My secondary interest was going to be the footpaths sheltered by high hedges on both sides which in the past have proved to be sun-traps for insects. In the pub car-park I recognised a chap walking past whom I knew from his previous involvement in running Platt Junior Cricket Club when Simon had started there nearly a decade ago. So Monty and I joined forces with Peter and his Patterdale Terrier "Pickle", and I only took a few photos all day. The dogs got a good deal of exercise though!
The sun-trap effect worked very well and the ivy flowers in particular attracted hosts of insects, Diptera, Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera (a very nice Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta). Amongst these were median wasps and the marmalade hoverfly, Episyrphus balteatus.
The only photos I took however were of a nicely coloured female hoverfly, Myathropa florea, which is fairly easily recognised by the whitish cross-bars across the dark dorsal surface of the thorax. Its so nice to have at least one hoverfly that one can be reasonably certain of when first spotted with the naked eye!
As usual Hazel Wood itself was very still and with little sign of animal life. Its an interesting wood botanically, with a lot of old hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) coppice under oak (Quercus robur), a good traditionally managed mix for high value wood products before the introduction of mass Sweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa) coppice by the Victorians.
I did take one more photo later on, of a common darter dragonfly, Sympetrum stratiolatum, that was resting up in the sun on the sheltered lee of Hazel Wood.
We and the dogs explored the area thoroughly, the pathways, the wood, the hedgerows, the fields of field lettuce, the irrigation reservoirs - for lettuce over by Vines Farm and for Strawberries up by West Peckham (a grey heron, Ardea cinerea, settled on the West Peckham one) and agreed to try a joint walk again, to see how the dogs get on together. Its very good for Monty to socialise with other dogs on an extended timescale, so we'll see how it all goes!
The sun-trap effect worked very well and the ivy flowers in particular attracted hosts of insects, Diptera, Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera (a very nice Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta). Amongst these were median wasps and the marmalade hoverfly, Episyrphus balteatus.
The only photos I took however were of a nicely coloured female hoverfly, Myathropa florea, which is fairly easily recognised by the whitish cross-bars across the dark dorsal surface of the thorax. Its so nice to have at least one hoverfly that one can be reasonably certain of when first spotted with the naked eye!
I did take one more photo later on, of a common darter dragonfly, Sympetrum stratiolatum, that was resting up in the sun on the sheltered lee of Hazel Wood.
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