Home   What's On   Article

Bishop’s Stortford Independent Nature Notes columnist Jono Forgham visits Golf World Stansted




Nature Notes columnist Jono Forgham covers your fortnightly look at nature in the Bishop’s Stortford area

In January, my wife and I were guests at the Indies community awards at Bishop’s Stortford rugby club where we sat on a table with staff from Golf World Stansted, generous sponsor of the Green Award category won by Suzanne Melia, who was presented with her trophy and bouquet by Golf World duty managers Jo Maton and Dan Clancey.

At the end of the evening, Jo invited me to spend time on the golf course for a Nature Notes special. After the awards night I spent a few hours familiarising myself with the habitat and duly returned on Monday June 3 to see what I could find.

Field Horsetail
Field Horsetail

Within three hours I had discovered huge amounts of wildlife, beginning with a barking muntjac as I parked the car. I met up with Dan and enjoyed a coffee on the terrace before setting off to check the rough areas, whilst making sure I kept out of the way of the golfers on the course.

Birds were in full song. From near the lake by the fifth tee, a marsh tit called. Chiffchaffs, whitethroats and blackcaps were a constant companion, with one whitethroat popping to the top of a willow tree for a rather distant photo.

I arrived at a bank full of Michaelmas daisies, put the macro lens on the camera and set off to check the flowerheads for pollen and nectar feeders. I was kept busy as there was so much.

Cantharis nigricans
Cantharis nigricans

An Araniella spider species was busy feeding on a fly. The spider will either have been A. cucurbitina or A. opisthographa. These are also known as the cucumber spiders. Impossible to tell them apart just by looking at them. Another one was found on its delicate web.

Oedemera beetles were prevalent, with both O. nobilis and O. lurida present in good numbers. The former is metallic green with the male having impressive swollen thighs. They were all busy feeding, making photography relatively easy.

In among the daisies were other flowers. I was particularly pleased to come across several bee orchids and the very fragile-looking grass vetchling. Sign of a good habitat. Bush vetch was also present.

A fourball was making its way down the fairway so I moved off towards the fifth green where there is a coniferous tree area with many nettles growing underneath them. Again, a plethora of insects, particularly the Cantharis species, the soldier beetles. These are so called as they are usually red and black, similar to the old army uniform.

Harlequin ladybird nymph
Harlequin ladybird nymph

In a short while I had recorded C. pellucida, C. rustica, C. livida and C. nigricans. The latter often associates with wetlands and this individual was discovered by a footbridge over a damp ditch. Here also were cuckooflower and bittersweet in flower and upon the former was an Empis tessellata, a dance fly species. My list for the day was becoming increasingly long.

Soon after, there was the call of goldcrests from the conifers. Too high and fast for a photo, but great to hear their tinkling call.

A sleepy bumblebee permitted me to grab a quick snap; Bombus pratorum, the early bumblebee. Next to this, clinging onto a grass seedhead, a metallic green insect with two red spots on the abdomen, the common malachite beetle.

Coot family
Coot family

A speckled wood butterfly zipped by as I checked the ladybird species that appeared to be everywhere. Most common were the harlequin ladybird. These come in a variety of colours: black with four red spots, red with several spots as well as red with plenty of spots. A nymph of this species was also found. Seven-spot and 14-spot ladybirds were also present.

Oedemera nobilis a male in buttercup
Oedemera nobilis a male in buttercup

I then decided to check the area where plenty of dog-rose was in full flower. Always an impressive flower. This area was away from the golfers, along a track bordered by tall grasses and mature trees. Many of these were blackthorn and all showed fungal growths called plum pocket galls. These seem to be very common this year, perhaps meaning there will be a poor crop of sloes in the autumn. Taxonomic name is Taphrina pruni and this causes the fruits to develop distorted and without stones.

Nephrotoma flavescens
Nephrotoma flavescens

Feeding in the roses were numerous Grammoptera ruficornis beetles along with more Cantharis species. Nearby, on a grass blade, a medium-sized fly: Chloromyia formosa, the broad centurion fly, another species that can be found in wetlands.

Araniella spider sp
Araniella spider sp

More checks on the nettles gave up more insects, with the colourful crane fly species, Nephrotoma flavescens, seen sunning itself. A Melanotus click beetle was nearby, as was a Pollenia fly. Again, the latter needs microscopic examination to identify to species.

Araniella spider sp with prey.
Araniella spider sp with prey.

The light and temperature were improving, so I headed to the lake to see if any dragonflies and damselflies were on the wing. I didn’t need to wait long before I encountered a few common blue damselflies, all winging their way over the grasses and sedges, often stopping to roost. They attach themselves to grass stems in a way that is reminiscent of airships being fixed to their landing mast.

Myrmica rubra, black ant
Myrmica rubra, black ant

A four-spotted chaser dragonfly shot past before roosting. I approached carefully, but these insects have superb eyesight and it became a game of chase before I finally managed a photo.

Chloromyia formosa
Chloromyia formosa

Another damselfly drifted by, a blue-tailed damsel. It is the beginning of the Odonata season and I am sure there will be many more species present by mid-July. It’s a sign of a healthy lake, upon which a family of coots were sheltering under a willow. A pair of moorhens disagreed with the resident mallards.

Bittersweet in flower
Bittersweet in flower

On the fairway, a gaggle of Canada geese kept the grass short, seemingly unperturbed by another group of golfers driving off. Someone, somewhere on the course managed a great shot as exclamations of “I don’t believe it, he’s gone two up,” could be heard.

Canada goose
Canada goose

A green woodpecker flew down an adjacent fairway, yaffling its familiar call as it did so. A reed bunting made its repetitive three-syllable call from near the lake as a wren burst into its raucous alarm call. I was struggling to keep up with all I was seeing and hearing as my tally of photos passed 250.

Blue tailed damselfly
Blue tailed damselfly

I headed off to the entrance road, where there is the crazy golf. Here, both grey and pied wagtails fluttered about, both heading off to the greenkeepers’ sheds.

Bombus pratorum
Bombus pratorum

Another check of the vegetation alongside the road. Here, I came across a nest of Myrmica rubra, a red ant species. One in particular caught my attention for a photo as it dangled from the tip of a nettle leaf.

Bee orchid
Bee orchid

Back at the clubhouse I enjoyed a cold drink whilst checking my photos before finishing the visit with a check on the conifers behind the offices. Here, carrion crows and jackdaws were probing the damp soil. A meadow brown butterfly rose, my first of the year. In the next month or so I am sure there will be good numbers of grassland butterflies such as the meadow brown, gatekeeper and marbled white.

Coot
Coot

In total, I must have observed and heard over 100 species in the short time I was present. Golf courses throughout the UK are now being looked upon as potential “nature reserves”. They often contain much habitat that remains, for most of the time, undisturbed.

Harlequin ladybird
Harlequin ladybird

The greenkeepers at Golf World Stansted keep the course in superb condition whilst leaving rough areas to fend for themselves. The amount of balls I saw in the rough is testament to the fact that golfers don’t enter, leaving nature to get on with what it does best. I am sure that if I returned in a month’s time, I would have an equally long list of species, just a whole lot of different ones.

Grass vetchling
Grass vetchling

My thanks to Dan and the staff for making me so welcome and to Jo for offering me the chance to visit a site I would not normally think of checking. A really enjoyable and busy nature morning.

Cantharis livida
Cantharis livida
Dog rose
Dog rose
Common malachite beetle on grass head.
Common malachite beetle on grass head.
Grypocoris stysi bug
Grypocoris stysi bug
Pollenia sp, a cluster fly
Pollenia sp, a cluster fly
Oedemera lurida beetle on Michaelmas daisy
Oedemera lurida beetle on Michaelmas daisy
Melanotus species of click beetle
Melanotus species of click beetle
Plum pocket fungal gall
Plum pocket fungal gall
Common blue damselfly
Common blue damselfly
Empis fly species on Cuckooflower
Empis fly species on Cuckooflower
Whitethroat in song
Whitethroat in song
4 Spot chaser
4 Spot chaser
Cantharis pellucida
Cantharis pellucida

Got a story for the Indie? Email newsdesk@stortfordindie.co.uk



This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies - Learn More