Rainham Marshes is nature reserve managed by the RSPB. It is located to the east of London and is fairly easy to travel to on the train (the nearest station is Purfleet, about 10 minutes walk away).

Rainham Marshes

We mainly were hunting for insects, although we did see some interesting vertebrates too:

Water Vole, Arvicola amphibius

Marsh frog, Pelophylax ridibundus

It was my first time hearing the marsh frogs and I thought it was quite nice to hear them, although they were very loud!

The invertebrate highlights included seeing my first lace bug (Hemiptera: Tingidae), bishop’s mitre (Aelia acuminata), woundwort shieldbug (Eysarcorus venustissimus), a cream-spot ladybird and a pair of Larinioides cornutus having what looked like a violent mating ritual.

Deadly embrace - Larinioides cornutus

Cream-spot ladybird, Calvia 14-guttata

Bishop's mitre, Aelia acuminata

Langdon Hills is situated in Essex, close to the town of Basildon, and is composed of two areas known as One Tree Hill and Westley Heights. I looked through some local history books at work and managed to find some information on the formation of the park and preservation of the surrounding land.

Back in the late 1960s, as the government was planning the expansion of housing in Basildon, there were a number of housing neighbourhoods removed from original plans due to opposition by residents who were defending the beauty spots and land around the park (Lucas, 1991). In 1989 the Essex Naturalist Trust took over management of Langdon Hills countryside and made it a nature reserve following a large donation from Herbert Langdon Dowsett. Currently, Langdon Hills is managed by the Thurrock Ranger Service.

Last Sunday was my first visit of the year. I took only my camera with me and soon wished that I had taken some collecting containers and trays. Whilst searching through the leaf litter I saw some interesting beetle larvae, but they were moving too fast to photograph.

Although the weather has been getting better there were few flowers out, but I did see the bluebells poking through the earth getting ready to flower.

I did see some interesting bee behaviour, with seven or more individuals (of what looked like the same species) investigating an area of bare ground next to a tree. The bees occasionally wrestled when one got too close to another, but they didn’t seem overly aggressive towards each other.

I expect that I will see many more insects at the park in a week or so.

There should be some accompanying photos soon.

Reference:
Lucas, P. (1991) Basildon. Sussex, Phillimore & Co. Ltd.