A wildlife diary
Mary Smith 33 Gaynes Park Road, Upminster, Essex RM14 2HJ
Early in August we cut the whole lawn. The emphasis is on the word 'whole', as from
late March onwards we leave some patches where Primroses or Cowslips are growing,
flowering, and producing seeds, making our lawn a mosaic of lawn and uncut meadow.
We leave the plants until seeds are shed, then the whole lot is mown. This is no mean
task; it usually takes about 3 or 4 hours, compared with the normal time of around one
and a half hours. This year, I suddenly realised I had hit a bees' nest with the mower.
Many angry and confused bees were flying around, and in the nest I could see lots of
cells where larvae are kept, as in a honeycomb, except that these did not seem to be in a
geometrical arrangement but rounded cases and the bees were more like a small dark
bumble bee than honey bees (this is a bumblebee nest, and from the picture probably the
Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum - Editor). I rushed for the camera, and got
some pictures (see plate 1). The story does not end there. The rest of the lawn had to be
cut, and each time I went past the damaged nest there was less of it visible. The bees
were busy covering it up again with bits of lawn cuttings and broken moss from
roundabout. Within an hour or two, the nest had completely disappeared from view. We
shall not mow there again until we think the bees have finished, so we shall have a
tussocky bit through the winter, I expect. Added in late October: the nest looked inactive,
so it was mown, with no bees or nest to be seen.
On Thursday, 16th August at 10:01pm, the clouds cleared just in time to see the
Intemational Space Station track across the southern sky about 6° above Jupiter, and of
comparable brightness. We saw it, naked eye stuff, no binoculars or telescopes needed,
did you? This is about as near as we shall ever get to space travel! Although not strictly
natural history, and certainly not much to do with Essex, astronomy is a very active
research area of natural science, so I thought I could mention it.
I was botanising on rough ground that was landfill 25years ago near South Ockendon.
The going was tough, through thick thigh-high grasses and late flowering plants, mostly
bristly yellow things. Suddenly a movement one metre ahead of me caught my eye. Two
Grass Snakes were rapidly uncoiling in front of me and making off in different directions
through the grass. They had found a small patch where the grasses were like hay and had
fallen over, making a sort of nest. The day was very overcast, so they were not sunbathing
but David Scott suggested they may have been trying to get wanner together. I had
supposed they were copulating, but David said it was not the right time of year for that.
The snakes were a good size, judging by their thickness, though I never saw their heads
and so I could only guess at how long they were, maybe around 40cm. A very wet reed-
filled area was within about 20m, and a large lake was a bit further away in the opposite
direction. Grass Snakes like swimming and not infrequently catch small fish as food. I
don't see snakes often, but when I do I am always thrilled to see these beautiful animals.
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 55, January 2008 5