Nature at Inch Park

After an enforced break to the programme (due to COVID) I was back at Inch Park yesterday, leading a nature walk. These walks offer people a chance to get to know the wildlife of the park, learning to identify species of plant, insects and birds. At the same time, the information collected will go towards making a resource for Inch House Community Centre to use as a basis for future nature based activities in the park. (I'll be leading another series of nature walks in the park in the Autumn). 

Yesterday's observations included: 

The Lime (Linden) trees are starting to come into flower 

 

When fully in bloom (which should be in a week or two), Line trees smell amazing! 

 

Most of the Lime trees look very healthy, but the leaves of one tree were covered with galls formed by Lime Gall Mites (Eriophyes tiliae). The mites release chemicals that cause the galls to grow.  The photo below isn't great as the wind was blowing quite hard and the leaves wouldn't stay still. 

We also found galls on a Walnut tree, these are caused by the Walnut Leaf Mite (Aceria erinea). 

 

Near the entrance to the park is a lovely wildflower bed, that is currently blooming beautifully, though I didn't take any photos of the whole flowerbed as we were too busy identifying plants and insects. I did however, take a photo of the borage, which is such a lovely colour 

We all stopped to take photos of the Knapweeds that were growing alongside a path, they're such impressive flowers

 

For 30 Days Wild.