A short walk in London

Bloomfield Garden

A small community garden by the canal, looked after by a local school and Plant Environment.

Standing in the place, open the portal and a guide walks it with you, about 10 minutes, spoken aloud. The facts it rests on are here.

3 spots in walking order, about 10 minutes. All of them have something to ask this week.

Three short stops, in any order. Every stop is something you can find from the paths.

Spot 1

The flower beds

Wherever something is still in flower.

Spot the stripes that are only pretending to sting

Stand by the flowers for a minute and watch what lands on them.

What is visiting the flowers?

Bees, round and fuzzy: Bees work the late flowers hard in September, stocking up before the cold.
Slim striped insects that hover in place: Those are likely hoverflies. They wear a wasp's stripes but carry no sting.
Both kinds: Then you are watching the trick work. The fly borrows the look of something that stings.
Nothing landed while I watched: Insects need warmth to fly. On a cool or cloudy moment the flowers can go quiet for a while.

A hoverfly can hang perfectly still in the air, then dart sideways. Bees rarely hold that still.

This is a clue rather than a certain identification. Some hoverflies look very like bees up close.

Hoverflies have one pair of wings and bees have two, and a hoverfly's huge eyes nearly meet on top of its head. It has no sting, so its stripes are a warning it cannot back up. Many hoverfly young eat aphids, so gardeners count them as friends.

Common in London in these weeks, though not recorded at this exact spot.

Spot 2

The seed heads

Any flower that has finished and turned brown on its stem.

Catch the seed heads before the birds empty them

Look for a flower that has finished and turned brown on its stem. Bend close without picking it. Look into the middle, where the petals used to be, and see what is left there now.

What do you find on the seed head?

Seeds still packed in: Not ripe yet, or not found yet. Birds come back for these as autumn goes on.
Mostly empty: Something got there first. Wind, birds and small mammals all take seed heads apart.
A bird or insect on it: That is the point of leaving them. A finished flower is food and shelter.
I could not find any seed heads: Some gardens cut flowers back as they finish, so there is nothing left standing to find.

Gardeners who leave seed heads standing are feeding the garden through the winter.

This is a clue rather than a certain answer. You cannot always tell who emptied a seed head.

Hollow stems left standing give insects somewhere to spend the winter. Goldfinches pick seeds from teasels and thistles, and their thin beaks are made for it. Many gardeners now wait until spring to cut the old stems down, so the garden keeps its winter food.

Common in London in these weeks, though not recorded at this exact spot.

Spot 3

The round webs

Hedges, fences and the gaps between tall plants.

Spot the round webs that are everywhere now

Look along hedges, fences and between tall plants. Move your head until the light is behind the web, and the silk will show up. When you find one, follow the threads to the spider.

Where is the spider?

Right in the middle of the web: Waiting at the centre, head down, feeling for the web to shake.
Hiding at the edge: It is still on duty. A signal thread runs from the web to its hiding place.
I found a web but no spider: It may be close by in a curled leaf. Or the web is old and has been left.
I could not find a round web: Webs are easiest to see early in the day, when dew or low light catches the silk.

Garden spiders reach full size by September. That is why their webs suddenly seem to be everywhere.

This is a clue rather than a certain identification. Several kinds of spider build round webs.

A garden spider has a pale cross on its back, and many eat their old web before building again. Most hatched in spring and will lay their eggs this autumn. The eggs wait through the winter and hatch when the weather warms.

Common in London in these weeks, though not recorded at this exact spot.

Rewyld asks you one of these where you already are. Open Rewyld

Where this comes from

Garden and stewardship details from Plant Environment's case for support and Edward Wilson Primary's letter of support (Cited, not reproduced)

Each question was written to a naturalist review, and the ones that could not be stood behind at this site were cut rather than softened. Every question asks you to look, never to pick or to touch.