Stanmore
Country Park
Nature Trail
Post 20:
Coming through the kissing gate you leave the fast draining Stanmore
and Claygate beds for the heavy London Clay which supports a lusher
grass community. Ahead is 40 Acre Field, the largest of the open
grassland areas in Stanmore Country Park. In summer, look for ragwort
(Senecio jacobaea) with its yellow daisy-like flowers. In July
and
August you should be able to find caterpillars of the cinnabar moth,
which eat ragwort and accumulate toxin from the plant in their tissues;
their pattern of yellow and black stripes (see illustration below)
warns
birds not to eat them.
In winter, look back into the woods on the right
of the way you have come to find a prominent pale dead tree. This is
such a strange, tortured shape that we feel it should have a name
– can you think of one? As far as possible, dead trees are
left standing and act as a food resource for a wide range of
invertebrates that cannot live in the wetter conditions in fallen trees
on the ground.
Image: Cinnabar moth caterpillar on ragwort
by Marian Sartin.
To
description for post 21
Click
here to learn more about the Harrow Nature Conservation Forum including
guided walks and conservation workdays.
