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led by Jeff Duckett Botanist at the Natural History Museum. This guided botanical tour of Queen’s Wood will focus on the diversity of fruits and seeds and their dispersal mechanisms.
Meet 2.00pm at the Lodge off Muswell Hill Road
|
Elder berries - photo Michael Johns
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ALSO FOR YOUR DIARIES:
Sunday 20 October: Queen’s Wood Fungi: A walk with Sylvia Starshine to learn and appreciate their beauty and impact on the forest system.
Meet 2.00pm at the Lodge
Sunday 2 November : Moselle River walk: Did you know that the Moselle, a corruption of Mossy Well as in Muswell Hill, rises in Queen’s Wood before flowing down to the River Lea? Lucy and Sarah will lead a walk to tell us about it.
Meet 2.00pm at the Lodge
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Honey fungus - photo Michael Johns
River Moselle - photo Michael Johns
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BUGS IN THE WOOD
In June Dan Hackett led a Bug walk in the wood. This is what he said about it:
“We set off from the meet-up by the Lodge Cafe. The sun was shining and the weather warm so we hoped to see a range of insects and other invertebrates on the move in the lower branches of the trees. The first available bush was a hazel. There we encountered two sorts of ladybird and the larger one was encouraged to bleed yellow blood which is their defence mechanism. It also makes them poisonous which is advertised by their bright colour. The next insect we came across was a holly blue butterfly which was initially caught but escaped whilst trying to transfer it to a container to view it, butterfingers! A few small, probably immature, spiders of various colours, including green, were also swept up in my robust net.
We soon moved on and next examined a holly leaf with a blister mine in it caused by a small fly Phytomyza ilicis. If you are very small, living between the upper and lower surface of the leaf is possible!
We stopped to see tadpoles wriggling in the top pond. Hopefully more rain was on the way because they needed a bit more time to develop into froglets. Sunlit foliage beside the pond was swept and there in the net was a large caddis fly which unfortunately escaped pretty smartly. It had no doubt spent its larval stage in its case constructed from twigs in the pond. But the other find was a looper moth caterpillar which would have to be reared to adulthood to identify. It impressed us by its slow but steady inching along. Scientifically it is called a Geometer, which translates as earth measurer. In America they appropriately call them inchworms.
We also swept an immature earwig which looks like a termite with tail end pinchers. They are in fact related to termites. About this time we had several young oak bush crickets in the net, which impressed us by their bright lemon green colour with a yellow stripe down the back and antennae at least four times as long as the body. I pointed out that this species drums on a leaf to attract attention rather than singing by stridulation as other crickets do.
We found a partly debarked oak tree and in the bark there were the characteristic D-shaped emergence holes of the Two Spotted Oak Borer that has become common in the last couple of decades. Alas, the beetle itself was somewhere else that day.
The nettles nearby, despite being in fairly good light, had very little insect activity apparent on them. Usually there are lots of aphids and hover fly larvae, predatory bugs, ladybirds to be seen in such places. And of course five species of butterfly larvae can be found on nettles, if you are lucky.
The party broke up shortly after an hour was up, with various other places to go, but grateful to be shown and told about some of the smaller forms of life to be seen in the wood.“
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|
Other insects seen in the wood
Large red damselfly - photo Jeff Duckett
|
Devil's coach horse - photo Janine Young
|
|
|
Recent storms and high winds have brought down branches and the occasional tree in the wood. While these can open up opportunities for regeneration, due to the increased light, they can also cause problems. Two large trees have fallen on the ancient boundary bank with their roots breaking into the soil and making an ideal playground for tree climbing. We will have to consider how to preserve the bank without blocking a lovely opportunity to enjoy the wood. Other parts of the bank are also getting eroded due to increased footfall.
|
Medieval bank - photo Mike Hacker
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|
A healthy wood has three layers - canopy, understorey and ground flora. In QW canopy trees are oak, hornbeam, ash and large hollies. The understory is elder, hawthorn, birch, rowan, and the ground flora, which grows in open areas, is diverse and well documented on our website. Recent flowering plants noted include yellow small balsam and lesser burdock round the Frogpool. The burdock has bristly fruits which cling to animals and this spreads the seeds. In sunny areas three different types of pink willow herb grow taking advantage of any bare soil. We also have one group of the sanicle plant which has medicinal properties and one area where orchids – broad leave helleborines - grow. The latter has inconspicuous white flowers and grows in a protected shady spot. This year we noted about 12 plants so far.
|
|
Lesser burdock
|
Yellow small balsam.
|
|
|
Coppicing in recent years has certainly helped the diversity of plants of the ground flora as well as providing a healthy habitat for birdlife. Our recently commissioned Bird Survey – due to be released soon – will, we hope, show a healthy population of breeding birds.
|
|
|
MEMBERSHIP
Welcome to the many new members who have joined over the summer and thank you to everyone who has given such generous donations.
|
|
Giant Jenga - photo Alison Watson
|
Spider's web - photo Janine Young
|
|
|
Our annual FFD was a big success. Hard to tell numbers but there were enthusiastic takers for the spider’s web, hidden in the trees, the jungle sounds, music, crafts and fun things to do with queues at times for some of the activities. We were delighted to welcome families from a wider area than last year.
|
|
|
led by Jeff Duckett Botanist at the Natural History Museum. This guided botanical tour of Queen’s Wood will focus on the diversity of fruits and seeds and their dispersal mechanisms.
Meet 2.00pm at the Lodge off Muswell Hill Road
|
Elder berries - photo Michael Johns
|
|
ALSO FOR YOUR DIARIES:
Sunday 20 October: Queen’s Wood Fungi: A walk with Sylvia Starshine to learn and appreciate their beauty and impact on the forest system.
Meet 2.00pm at the Lodge
Sunday 2 November : Moselle River walk: Did you know that the Moselle, a corruption of Mossy Well as in Muswell Hill, rises in Queen’s Wood before flowing down to the River Lea? Lucy and Sarah will lead a walk to tell us about it.
Meet 2.00pm at the Lodge
|
Honey fungus - photo Michael Johns
River Moselle - photo Michael Johns
|
|
BUGS IN THE WOOD
In June Dan Hackett led a Bug walk in the wood. This is what he said about it:
“We set off from the meet-up by the Lodge Cafe. The sun was shining and the weather warm so we hoped to see a range of insects and other invertebrates on the move in the lower branches of the trees. The first available bush was a hazel. There we encountered two sorts of ladybird and the larger one was encouraged to bleed yellow blood which is their defence mechanism. It also makes them poisonous which is advertised by their bright colour. The next insect we came across was a holly blue butterfly which was initially caught but escaped whilst trying to transfer it to a container to view it, butterfingers! A few small, probably immature, spiders of various colours, including green, were also swept up in my robust net.
We soon moved on and next examined a holly leaf with a blister mine in it caused by a small fly Phytomyza ilicis. If you are very small, living between the upper and lower surface of the leaf is possible!
We stopped to see tadpoles wriggling in the top pond. Hopefully more rain was on the way because they needed a bit more time to develop into froglets. Sunlit foliage beside the pond was swept and there in the net was a large caddis fly which unfortunately escaped pretty smartly. It had no doubt spent its larval stage in its case constructed from twigs in the pond. But the other find was a looper moth caterpillar which would have to be reared to adulthood to identify. It impressed us by its slow but steady inching along. Scientifically it is called a Geometer, which translates as earth measurer. In America they appropriately call them inchworms.
We also swept an immature earwig which looks like a termite with tail end pinchers. They are in fact related to termites. About this time we had several young oak bush crickets in the net, which impressed us by their bright lemon green colour with a yellow stripe down the back and antennae at least four times as long as the body. I pointed out that this species drums on a leaf to attract attention rather than singing by stridulation as other crickets do.
We found a partly debarked oak tree and in the bark there were the characteristic D-shaped emergence holes of the Two Spotted Oak Borer that has become common in the last couple of decades. Alas, the beetle itself was somewhere else that day.
The nettles nearby, despite being in fairly good light, had very little insect activity apparent on them. Usually there are lots of aphids and hover fly larvae, predatory bugs, ladybirds to be seen in such places. And of course five species of butterfly larvae can be found on nettles, if you are lucky.
The party broke up shortly after an hour was up, with various other places to go, but grateful to be shown and told about some of the smaller forms of life to be seen in the wood.“
|
|
Other insects seen in the wood
Large red damselfly - photo Jeff Duckett
|
Devil's coach horse - photo Janine Young
|
|
|
Recent storms and high winds have brought down branches and the occasional tree in the wood. While these can open up opportunities for regeneration, due to the increased light, they can also cause problems. Two large trees have fallen on the ancient boundary bank with their roots breaking into the soil and making an ideal playground for tree climbing. We will have to consider how to preserve the bank without blocking a lovely opportunity to enjoy the wood. Other parts of the bank are also getting eroded due to increased footfall.
|
Medieval bank - photo Mike Hacker
|
|
A healthy wood has three layers - canopy, understorey and ground flora. In QW canopy trees are oak, hornbeam, ash and large hollies. The understory is elder, hawthorn, birch, rowan, and the ground flora, which grows in open areas, is diverse and well documented on our website. Recent flowering plants noted include yellow small balsam and lesser burdock round the Frogpool. The burdock has bristly fruits which cling to animals and this spreads the seeds. In sunny areas three different types of pink willow herb grow taking advantage of any bare soil. We also have one group of the sanicle plant which has medicinal properties and one area where orchids – broad leave helleborines - grow. The latter has inconspicuous white flowers and grows in a protected shady spot. This year we noted about 12 plants so far.
|
|
Lesser burdock
|
Yellow small balsam.
|
|
|
Coppicing in recent years has certainly helped the diversity of plants of the ground flora as well as providing a healthy habitat for birdlife. Our recently commissioned Bird Survey – due to be released soon – will, we hope, show a healthy population of breeding birds.
|
|
|
MEMBERSHIP
Welcome to the many new members who have joined over the summer and thank you to everyone who has given such generous donations.
|
|
Giant Jenga - photo Alison Watson
|
Spider's web - photo Janine Young
|
|
|
Our annual FFD was a big success. Hard to tell numbers but there were enthusiastic takers for the spider’s web, hidden in the trees, the jungle sounds, music, crafts and fun things to do with queues at times for some of the activities. We were delighted to welcome families from a wider area than last year.
|
|
|
|
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