Nature Notes: A walk from Alsa Wood at Elsenham to Aubrey Buxton Nature Reserve and back
Best laid plans and all that. Last week I had planned to arrive at Elsenham using public transport, but this all depended upon the 35 bus service from Little Hadham being prompt so I could catch the train.
It wasn’t, so I drove to Elsenham, noting that Hadham Road was closed due to a water mains leak. Consequently, I would have missed the train anyway, so just as well I jumped into the trusty 4x4.
I parked near the station and wandered off in the direction of Ugley Green. Right next to the M11 bridge, on the left, is a footpath that runs parallel to the motorway before entering Alsa Woods.
This wood, like many in East Herts and West Essex, is predominantly oak, hazel and hornbeam, with the added bonus here of several veteran beech trees.
I wandered around the wood in no particular direction. Great tits and robins came to the woodland floor for food, and coal tits and blue tits called from the canopy, as did a pair of goldcrests, their wispy call being heard over the constant roar of the motorway to my right and the banging from the building site to my left.
Sadly, Alsa Wood now has three sides bordering it that are not helpful to the wildlife. The south and east sides have new housing developments while, to the west, is the M11.
These boundaries can prohibit the movement of insects and mammals in and out of the woodland. Therefore, the green northern border is now very important to the wellbeing of the habitat and imperative that this remains to offer a green corridor to the woodland.
I arrived at a fence that I managed to get through and into Oak Drive. Normally I would have taken the footbridge over the M11, but as I drove to the village, I noted a large stand of buddleia and wanted to check this for butterflies. None was nectaring as I wandered by.
A common buzzard mewed overhead as I crossed over the M11 and picked up the track on my right at Eastfield Stables that would take me to my first planned destination: Aubrey Buxton Nature Reserve.
A common darter dragonfly flicked in front of me before alighting for a photo. This was one of several of this species I noted and they will be present until a heavier frost than we had in Little Hadham the previous week.
The field here had been cultivated and several ornamental doves, some wood pigeons and a pair of magpies searched for seeds on the soil.
However, my attention was drawn to a flock of about 50 birds flitting about over the field, landing for just a few seconds before flying off again. Their bouncy flight pattern and calling told me they were linnets.
Soon, I arrived at the entrance to the reserve. A calling nuthatch greeted my arrival as I made my way along the path for a short while before taking a left into a meadow.
Here, I hoped for butterflies and other insects. I put my macro lens on the camera, left my bag on the bench and went off in search of whatever was present.
On nearly every footstep, I disturbed a cranefly species. They were everywhere and probably were Tipula paludosa, a common early autumn cranefly also known as the European crane fly or marsh crane fly.
Not far away, a white butterfly was checking out the last flowers on the agrimony and ragwort. I approached and noted the underwing pattern, informing me this was a green-veined white.
I then clocked a stand of late-flowering knapweed, which often attract insects. Not many here; a few unidentified black hoverflies disappeared as I approached, but a Bombus vestalis (vestal cuckoo bumblebee) was too busy feeding to notice me.
Nearby, upon a curled-up nettle leaf, a seven-spot ladybird was just watching the world go by and possibly contemplating hibernation.
The colder nights are now informing many species either to migrate south or think about finding a warm place for the winter months. To emphasise this, a pair of swallows headed in a southerly direction. A jay called from an oak and a family party of magpies all “clacked” at each other.
I carried on towards the three ponds, but, disappointingly, there were no dragonflies, just a solitary moorhen. Another nuthatch called from the canopy, offering opportunities for some distant snaps.
The most common plant here was rosebay willowherb. This has now completed flowering and is releasing numerous seedheads. In the bright morning sunlight, they sparkled with the rapidly evaporating dew.
I encountered an amazing stand of fungus growing next to an old tree stump. This must have once been an imposing beech. The rotting roots underground offer a site for this fungus to establish itself very successfully.
I was not familiar with this species, but it was so large and there was so much growth, I was sure I could find it pretty quickly on the internet – and indeed I did: Meripilus giganteus.
Several fly species were attracted to this fungus, particularly Sarcophaga species, some of the flesh flies. They were, however, too quick for the camera, so I moved on and completed the circuit of the reserve.
Another check on the meadow didn’t offer anything new, so I went through the gate and onto the lane. Here, I took a right for a few yards before picking up a semi-concealed footpath adjacent to the entrance to the Christmas tree farm. Several jays took off from this field as a pair of large white butterflies flew overhead.
Soon, I was back on the road right next to the motorway bridge again and headed back to the car. I passed a hedge full of ivy and there was a myriad of insects, which meant I spent over 30 minutes checking these and photographing as many as possible.
In summer, I am easily distracted by a nettle patch for insects and arachnids. In early autumn, I switch to ivy clumps. Always worth a quick check.
I was certainly expecting to find Colletes hederae, the ivy bee, and sure enough, plenty were to be seen. It’s a very distinctive bee, showing five yellow hoops on the abdomen. New to science in 1993, first recorded in the UK on the Channel Islands since the 1970s and a first record for the mainland in 2001 in Dorset. Previously had been thought to be another Colletes species.
Other insects on the ivy were Apis melifera (western honeybee), Sarcophaga fly species, a greenbottle species and a well-marked hoverfly, Myathropa florea, also known as the Batman hoverfly, courtesy of the markings upon the thorax that resemble the batman logo.
I then came across two tiny insects. Firstly, a yellow fly species, one of the Chlorops group, and then the very odd planthopper nymph, Issus coleoptratus. The more I searched, the more I discovered.
A box bug posed well for the camera whilst another fly species, Anthomyia procellaris, fed on the ivy flowers and a small, dark hoverfly moved effortlessly between flowers, a Syritta pipiens.
A super conclusion to a 4.5-mile wander, all over good ground apart from one or two ditch inclines in Alsa Wood.
With the onset of autumn, I am anticipating fewer insect species being viewable and the return of more bird species as the winter migrants begin to arrive from Scandinavia.
It is always a time when an unusual bird can turn up, so I plan on being out and about over the next month to see what I can find.
All photos by Jono Forgham