Eastern Fields

On Wednesday afternoon I had a walk over the railway line and along to Eastern Fields Playing Fields.



Partly closely mown it also has trees, a long hedgerow, a small stream and areas that are not mown to allow for young trees to grow.


Scarlet Pimpernel - one of my favourite wild flowers but, like poppies, so erratic in its seeding. Like the poppy it seems to need disturbed soil and if the soil is undisturbed the seeds lie dormant for many years.


A Cinnabar Moth caterpillar on Ragwort.




I took lots of photos of a Speckled Bush Cricket.


I found a bug that I've never recorded before - Macrosteles variatus.


There were lots of galls of the mite Eriophyes tiliae on the Large-leaved Limes.


Galls on the Oaks included Knopper Galls of the gall wasp Andricus quercuscalcis.




The hedgerow included Blackthorn (Sloes); Hawthorn; Hips and Blackberries.


Marsh Ragwort.



One of the common trees was Italian Alder.


A hoverfly (Eristalis arbustorum) on Yarrow.


A Bumble Bee species on a thistle.



These are Heath Snails (Helicella italia). Helen's Mollusc book also allowed me to identify this morning's one in the garden - I think it has turned out to be a Hairy Snail (Trichia hispida).