Roofs & Rambles

A new Green Roof Breeding Bird Species was discovered last week, whilst we doing a green roof tour in Essex. With the delegates from our workshop series enjoying the lovely ‘Land Rover’ wildflower green roof, John Little uncovered a clutch of hatched eggs.Nestling beneath a thick growth of dried vegetation, the light brown eggs could only be those a Red-legged Partridge.  Though I have seen this species on a roof before no one has ever encountered a nest. I suspect they nest on big green roofs like the one at Rolls Royce in West Sussex but here we have the evidence that DO! Continue reading »

I have nothing against wasps – they cause me a degree of irritation that is irrelevant compared to the harm humans cause to the natural world and biodiversity.However there was something a ‘best served up cold’ feeling I had when I saw a wasp’ demise – dangling from the web of ‘my’ Garden spider (Araneus diadematus) in a silken lunch bag. Spiteful, perhaps, but then I am only human. Continue reading »

September’s butterflies on the butterfly bank have dwindled over the month since the end of the big butterfly count. The first week of September saw a few Meadow browns and Gatekeepers hang on and a solo Common blue graced the grassed for a moment (sadly this species has suffered a dramatic decline in 2011). Continue reading »

We were walking along the gravel path when we encountered the hairy caterpillar. At first I thought it was warming itself in the September sun but on closer inspection it had its ‘inners’ spilling out of one of its body. A sad hairy caterpillar. Continue reading »

Ragwort – perhaps it’s name is partly responsible – is a much maligned plant. I was once contacted by a manager of a building asking whether he should remove the plant from a green roof. He was concerned that it might poison someone. Someone!!! Considering only a few people every visit the roof – this is an extreme reaction if ever there was one. Continue reading »

The golden heads of the Boar’s throat crowned the poor soils of the brick works north of Conyer. The thistle is a much maligned plant yet their flowers are a bonus for pollinators and their grey seeds a feast for finches. And to many brownfields are seen by many as wastelands, even though they are very important places for wildlife and the Carline Thistle is the perfect emblem – a rare golden brown beauty that thrives on the poor soils of post industrial wildernesses. Continue reading »