Joseph Beale

What a legend.

😲

It's so important for insects when other flowers have succumbed to the drought!

Excellent stuff, James!

Save Swanscombe Marshes ~ Vision for Swanscombe Peninsula

It may also be useful to see the value to the local community via the Vision here. What a treasure of a breathing space so close to London! So pleased Natural England recognised its value, and the ill-conceived theme park never went ahead.
www.buglife.org.uk/campaigns/sa...

Conservation charities step into set the record straight after PM wrongly claims spiders stopped 15,000 home development Kent Wildlife Trust has refuted claims made by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer regarding the impact of conservation efforts on housing development in Ebbsfleet.

Anyhoo, it seems unfair for us to pick just a sample of the varied and exceptional wildlife at Swanscombe SSSI. Below is a refutation of the inaccurate political claims being made about the site:
www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/news/conserv...

Lovely images of some of Swanscombe's rich wildlife! Such a shame Nightingale and Grasshopper Warbler are Red-listed Birds of Conservation Concern in Britain, and Marsh Harrier Amber-listed, Man Orchid is Nationally Scarce; Distinguished Jumping Spider is Nationally Rare. www.bto.org/sites/defaul...

Do you mean the site recolonised by nature that's now home to an extraordinary range of wildlife - from Nightingales, Grasshopper Warblers and Marsh Harriers to butterflies and rare orchids (and, yes, rare spiders too)? The one now a SSSI and much valued by the local community as a green space?

Irreplaceable habitats are on the line. This is the reality if an unamended Part 3 of the Bill passes.

It must not.

YouTube video by Dusty Gedge My first Lesser-spotted woodpecker nest in 20 Years – in Italy! 🪵🔭🪶

Found me a lesser-spotted #woodpeckers nest in last week. 1st in 23 yr used to nest around here i#blackheath #greenwich #lewisham - why not anymore? Mix of joy/sadness This 1 is for @joebeale.bsky.social
youtu.be/W8zSOszVqCg
#birds #nature #wildlife #UrbanNature #urbanwildlife

'ambient' haha!

Great and informative video, Dusty! I had a look the next day but didn't see it there. Walls do seem to be on the rebound a bit. I'm seeing them around Kent and the Thames Estuary more then before, so there's just possibly a chance we might see others around Blackheath!

Close up of a Least Black Arches moth - a small but attractive moth, finely patterned in black and white

A Least Black Arches moth - a small but attractive moth, finely patterned with chevrons and wavy lines in black and white

There's a fair chance of finding something interesting if you look at insects - like this Least Black Arches moth. Few Greenwich records, but it has increased nationally. Blackheath this a.m: a Yellow Wagtail paused on migration to catch insects amongst Dandelions. A benefit of less intense mowing!

A fluffy-faced Centre-barred Sallow moth with what appears to be a slightly alarmed look on its face.

Well here's #mothfaceFriday. A Centre-barred Sallow looking a bit socially uncomfortable.

YouTube video by Dusty Gedge Amazing Butterfly Discovery Right on the Wall!

A Wall on a Wall - had a #butterfly discovery a few days ago on #blackheath this video goes into detail about said butterfly and its population collapse in London +shout 4 g8 book link in reply#SE #england 4 @joebeale.bsky.social @garrypogson.bsky.social @katemidd.bsky.social
youtu.be/fIIDLeYczkw

I agree- they are wonderful! BTW saw my first Swifts of the year from the Marathon start area this morning.

I had a brief look this afternoon, saw the wall but not the Wall. But it (and others??) could still be around the grassland and scrub in the area.

Fabulous find, Dusty!

Thanks!

Apparently #mothfaceFriday is a thing. Well here's one (Elephant Hawk) from Greenwich last summer.

A Bee-fly hovers as it sips nectar from a Celandine flower.

The Dark-edged Bee-flies are back Ted. #Greenwich today.

Skylark!

My first Comma and first Brimstone of 2025, about 10 yards apart, at Vanbrugh Pits, Greenwich thurs lunchtime. Several years now the same bramble patch has yielded my first comma of the year @joebeale.bsky.social @dustygedge.bsky.social

If you live in #lewisham #deptford #blackheath #greenwich or anywhere else #selondon a little video ad for a talk I will be doing locally on #nature #wildlife #birds #greenroofs and #greencities as a local #geezer @joebeale.bsky.social @dohertyta.bsky.social @katemidd.bsky.social

The pale blue flowers of Harebell, with grass in the foreground and branbles behind.

A pink flowerhead of Bedstraw Broomrape, amongst grass.

Creeping, red-green stems of Mossy Stonecrop, growing amongst stones and isolated grasses.

Old Park in Canterbury is a superb area of acid grassland with a flora including Harebell, Bedstraw (or Clove-scented) Broomrape & Mossy Stonecrop, & loads of Nightingales. The MoD owns it and has put it up for sale. Join the campaign to save this extraordinary site canterburyoldpark.org.uk

So excited to see this in print🥳

Congratulations Leslie for a very comprehensive guide on London's butterfly species👏

From species distributions to conservation efforts, if you want to ID butterfly species or conserve them, then this is the guide for you🦋📖

www.naturebureau.co.uk/the-butterfl...

A lovely male tufted duck photographed at Hampstead Heath in January. It is floating in a greenish pond, and is mainly black with white on the side of his abdomen. His head is black with some purple irridescence, his beak is grey and his eye yellow. He is facing to the right.

Hello Bluesky! We've just joined and are looking forward to meeting likeminded societies and people!
The LNHS is a local natural history society concerned with recording the wildlife of London, covering a 20-mile radius from St. Paul's Cathedral. #UKWildlife #LondonWildlife

Swanscombe Peninsula outcome showcases the power of your dedicated campaigning “The RSPB is delighted that Swanscombe Peninsula has been saved for wildlife - it is an amazing Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), alive with birds, wildflowers

Good news for Swanscombe SSSI's exceptional wildlife, and for the local community! Swanscombe - a site rich in natural wonders, from orchids to Nightingales - has been under threat for years from an ill-conceived theme park. Also nice to see my photo in use 🙂
community.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/b/rs...

Volunteers managing some Gorse at Vanbrugh Pits, Greenwich, to start the process of regrowth, to maintain a dynamic mix of heights and ages of scrub. This allows wildflowers and grasses to grow in the temporary clearing before the Gorse grows back.

Volunteers pushing the bramble line back to help maintain the rough grassland and create some sunny open spots for invertebrates at Vanbrugh Pits, Greenwich.

A great bunch of people, those who were still there at the end of the volunteer session! Thanks to our volunteers we are keeping the habitat dynamic where possible, allowing a varied mix of vegetation types, open spaces, dense scrub and regrowth. This helps to maximise the value for invertebrates and to prevent the habitat becoming uniform.

Small Copper butterfly is one of the many insects that benefits from habitat work at Vanbrugh Pits (this photo was taken not far away in a previous summer, and is for illustrative purposes here). They are small orange and black butterflies that are resident at Vanbrugh Pits. They lay eggs on Sheep's Sorrel, which grows amongst the Gorse stumps before it regrows. They feed at ragwort and other flowers, which also appreciate sunny clearings that result from the habitat work. We look forward to seeing them again in May.

Thanks very much to the Vanbrugh Volunteers who helped with a bit of habitat management in #Greenwich on Sunday. It's to maintain a dynamic mix of habitats of varying structure, openness, and stages of growth, to maximise the benefit to wildlife. We also cleared a fair bit of litter!

VIDEO: Buglife are among conservation groups welcoming news the company behind plans for a theme park on the Swanscombe peninsula has gone into liquidation #kmfmnews