With 2020 approaching, I’m looking back at the wildlife I spotted on the meadow over the past year.
Hearing the dawn chorus in the Willow Cathedral was a wonderful morning, that’s definitely something to do next year. And just sitting in that bit* in Flood Field to hear and see the meadow getting on was quite special.
There were some fantastic flowers, and we found that Cathedral Field is becoming less grass dominated, which is good news for the restoration project there. The hybrid goatsbeard was particularly exciting as it was a lifer for lots of us.
White flowered grass vetchling! 
Regular pink grass vetchling! 
Bunches and bunches of cuckoo flower! 
Hybrid goatsbeard!
And finally, my highlights are really all bees, so here is a bee gallery. This isn’t even all the bees I spotted on the meadow in 2019 and I haven’t even identified all of them, but aren’t bees great?
This might be an early mining bee on hawthorn 
Someone small on slender speedwell 
Yellow legged mining bee 
Painted nomad, parasite of the yellow legged 
I think this one is the small nomad bee 
Probably a furrow bee 
Not sure! 
Not sure! 
Not sure but it’s one of the masons! 
Red mason bees extracting mud from the riverbank 
It’s a trap! This one is a fly! 
A large leafcutter, I think ligniseca 
Furrow bee? 
A bumble, having a rest on lady’s bedstraw 
Someone so faded I have decided not to try 
Megachile boy, willughbiella? 
A Lasioglossum boy… 
Some honeybees living in a dead tree
Please do tell us what your favourite wildlife sighting from the meadow in 2019 was (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) or in the comments!
If you’re looking for more ways to get involved, you could join the Friends committee, the conservation volunteers or how about a nice stroll on New Year’s Day with a little botany?
– Hester
*At the eastern end of Flood field, near the silver gates, you head down the vehicle access ramp and the grass is all a bit spindly. If you look closer, you’ll find it’s because there are many different kinds of flowers.
Happy New Year!
