The Unexpected Beauty of Croydon

Chepstow Road is not the most memorable of thoroughfares. It is a dual carriageway running between the Park Hill roundabout and the Addiscombe Road tram crossing, on the way from Croydon town centre eastwards to Addiscombe, Shirley and beyond.  However, this time of year, the grass verges are awash with a sea of yellow. This looks striking if you're driving or walking past. On closer examination, there's a wider variety of plant species and they support an array of wildlife. Bumblebee inside a daffodil, Chepstow Road, March 2021 Violets, Chepstow Road, March 2021 Fig buttercups, Chepstow Road, March 2021 I was excited to see a brimstone butterfly flitting between plants on Chepstow Road. It particularly liked the plants below, which I think may be dead nettles. It's nice to go to a quiet nature reserve and see butterflies but it feels extra special to see them living in such urban places.  Brimstone butterfly Dandelion, Addiscombe Road, March 2021 Here's some more examp...

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of farm animals. With lockdown a year ago, I couldn't travel to city farms to get my animal fix, so I had to look closer to home. This post is a celebration of Croydon's sheep and a guide to where to find them, although sheep are moved around as necessary through the year. Goats and cows are also used for conservation grazing on some sites but I'll cover them more in another post. Sheep are naturally nervy but the ones round here are generally pretty tame and curious and their characters shine through.  If you do see sheep, please don't feed them and please keep your dog on a lead anywhere where there are sheep grazing, even if you think your dog isn't a threat to the sheep. There have been incidents where dogs have found their way into the fields and seriously injured and even killed sheep in Croydon. Croydon Ecology Centre, based at Heathfield Gardens , has an orchard with two resident sheep. They're pretty friendly. ...

I'm a big fan of ponds. Even a tiny pond can support a huge amount of life. This is the best time of year to see life in ponds, at the start of the breeding season. The great thing about ponds is that while at first glance you may not see anything, stay still and watch for a few minutes and you may spot the golden eyes of frogs peering at you from just above the surface, or newts popping up for air.  This post is about some of the living creatures that live in or visit ponds. I won't cover waterfowl like ducks, geese and swans here, I'm focusing on the less visible creatures. At the end, I've listed some of the ponds locally which are good for wildlife. Common frogs Frog, Littleheath Woods, Feb 2021 Most people are familiar with frogs and their spawn, which they lay in large clumps. Frogs spend the winter hibernating in damp places, such as under piles of leaves, mud or logs. In early spring, they emerge and head for ponds, where they mate and lay spawn.  Gradually the ...