KHWG, ‘a superb wild-life haven’, experts conclude

After missing a year because of Covid-19, the KHWG annual bio-blitz returned on Sunday 13 June. We had an impressive number of experts: Will Atkins (pond-life), Annie Chipchase and Maria Roberts of the London Natural History Society (flora), Clare Jeapes (birds), and Russell Miller (bees). It was a wonderful, hot, sunny day, which had many advantages. Large numbers of beautiful blue and red damsel flies swarmed round the pond. Overhead swifts were performing spectacular acrobatics. Though, on the downside, many birds were sheltering from the heat.

The highlights included an amazing 12 different types of bees, a rat-tailed maggot (a new find in the pond), a Mediterranean tube-web spider (segestria florentina) and several examples of fern grass (polypopgon viridis). Full lists of the species found are listed below.

Our experts were impressed by the rich bio-diversity in the Garden. It is a remarkable wild-life haven with a surprising variety of habitats, including open space, woodland, pond and a south-facing brick wall, producing an enticing micro-climate.

Bees:

Wool Carder Bee Anthidium manicatum – Male

Four Banded Flower Bee Anthophora quadrimaculata – Males

Honey Bee Apis mellifera – Workers

Tree Bumblebee Bombus hypnorum – Worker

Red Tailed Bumblebee Bombus lapidarius – Male

Buff/White Tailed Bumblebee Bombus lucorum/terrestris – Workers

White Tailed Bumblebee Bombus terrestris – Male

Chelostoma campanularum Scissor Bee stoma campanularum – Male and Female

Davies Colletes Colletes daviesanus – Females

Patchwork Leaf Cutter Bee Megachile centuncularis – Female

Blue Mason Bee Osmia caerulscens – Female

Blood Bee Sphecodes species (ID unconfirmed)

Birds:

great spotted woodpecker (heard drumming)

swifts flying in groups

woodpigeon & feral pigeon

ring neck parakeets

great tit

crows

magpie

On the following day (which was less hot), there were:

sparrows

goldfinch

jay

Pond life:

Pond skater – Gerris lacustris

Water boatman – Corixa sp*

Mayfly nymph – Siphlonurus sp

Large red damselfly nymph – Pyrrhosoma nymphula

Common blue damsel fly – Enallagma cyathigerum

Planarian flatworm – 2 species, unknown Genus

Ramshorn snail – Planorbis planorbis

Flat ramshorn – Planorbis complanatus

Wandering snail – Limnaea pereger

Horny orb-shell – Sphaerium corneum

Cased caddis fly nymphs – Limnophilus rhombicus and Limnophilus stigma (ID based on the cases made by the animals rather than by dissection of the animals themselves)

Smooth (common) newt – Lissotriton vulgaris

Common frog – Rana temporaria

Solider fly larva – Stratiomys sp

rat-tailed maggot – eristalis tenax?

Other:

Currant Clearwing Moth Synanthedon tipuliformis

Mediterranean tube-web spider (segestria florentina)

Flora:

Please follow this link for a full list of flora: King Henry’s Walk Community Garden Bioblitz 2021