Field Trip to Spring Park on Saturday 4 May, 2013

Led by Bill Welch.

Wood Anemones, Anemone nemorosa, all around. Spring Park, 4 May 2013. Photo by Bill Welch.

Spring Park is a wooded hillside near West Wickham, with a level meadow at its base. It's a semi-natural ancient woodland, much of it managed by coppicing Hazel and Chestnut. Small-leaved Limes (Tilia cordata) flourish here. There were many woodland plants, and in places we walked through carpets of flowers.

Yellow Archangel, Lamiastrum galeobdolon. Spring Park, 6 May 2013. Photo by Bill Welch.

We walked along a mid-level path through the woods, then down and back along a lower path. The birders picked out Missel Thrush, Blackcap, Green Woodpecker.

Fungus hunters were not very successful, not unexpectedly in this season. Most of the fungi that were visible were too dead and dry for successful identification. But two nice slime moulds were spotted; Enteridium (Reticularia) lycoperdon, a whitish half-sphere the size of a golf ball sometimes called the False Puffball, and the small brown globes of Lycogala epidendrum.

Lycogala epidendrum, a Myxomycete. Spring Park, 4 May 2013. Photo by Bill Welch.

The botanists had the best of it. Along the middle path, a clump of Woodruff (Galium odoratum) pleased everyone, even though it was not yet in flower, with leaves that when crushed smelled of coconut, or possibly vanilla or almond, depending on who was doing the smelling. A large clump of Butcher's Broom (Ruscus aculeatus) had both flowers and red berries on the undersides of its leaf-like cladodes.

Juneberry, Amelanchier species. Spring Park, 4 May 2013. Photo by Bill Welch.

Along the lower wood, we were surrounded by Wood Anemone flowers (Anemone nemorosa), sometimes a carpet as far as the eye could see. Some Wood Sorrel (Oxalis acetosella) was scattered among it. Yellow Archangel (Lamiastrum galeobdolon) was still in bud. A small patch of Moschatel (Adoxa moschatellina) was in flower, and some young Pignut leaves (Conopodium majus) were nearby.

English Bluebells, Hyacinthoides non-scripta. Spring Park, 6 May 2013. Photo by Bill Welch.

English Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) were everywhere, but not yet fully in bloom. Everything is late this year. All these plants are indicator species for ancient woodland.

We left the wood briefly to look at the pond at the bottom. It's a constructed pond, so none of its contents could be accepted as wildflowers, but it was pleasant to see and well stocked, with Marsh Marigolds (Caltha palustris) in full bloom. A distant damselfly couldn't be identified, but the frogspawn was easy to see.

Greater Stitchwort, Stellaria holostea. Spring Park, 6 May 2013. Photo by Bill Welch.

In the well-trodden clay path at the meadow's edge there were many holes made by Yellow-legged Mining Bees (Andrena flavipes).

Back up the hill, we started by following the spring that feeds the pond, past patches of Common Dog-violet (Viola riviniana) and some Speedwells, including Wood Speedwell (Veronica montana). Then we crossed into Three-Halfpenny Wood. Whereas Spring Park is managed by the City of London, we had now entered the London Borough of Croydon, and this area seemed less diverse. But at the top were some pretty flowering Amelanchier trees, and along the roadside were Dusky Cranesbill (Geranium phaeum) and Ramsons (Allium ursinum).

You can see or download our species lists here: Spring Park species lists for May 2013.