A small garden at the edge of the park was bounded by a low hedge of Box, Buxus sempervirens - a common enough sight. I was optimistically hoping to find a specimen of the Box Bug, Gonocerus acuteangulatus. Thirty years ago to harbour such a hope would have been absurd. This insect was confined to a few patches of box bushes at the famous Box Hill, in Surrey, where it had been known for something like 150 years. Then, in about 1989, something remarkable happened; suddenly it began to crop up elsewhere, only in Surrey at first but records are now coming in from as far away as Yorkshire and Devon.
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| Box Bug. Photo courtesy of the British Bugs web site. |
I was out of luck but, truth be told, I was as likely, if not more so, to find this insect - like a longer, slimmer Dock Bug, (Coreus marginatus) on hawthorn, since this has become one of its favourite plants. It is more likely to be around in June or July, so I'll keep an eye open.
Of course, the box itself is an interesting bush. Given a chance it will grow into a tree some ten metres high but such specimens are rarely seen. It has been in flower for some weeks now and it curious fruits are developing. The odd form of the flowers and fruits have made the species difficult to place. According to Colin Tudge (Ref 1.) 'It has at times been linked to the rubber tree...although (it does) not have latex, as the euphorbias do'. It has also been placed with the witch hazels although recent research seems to link it to the proteas.
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The curious fruits are developing on box bushes. Garden adjacent to
Stefen Hill Pocket Park, 26 April, 2020
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It is prized for its extremely hard wood and (again quoting Colin Tudge), 'the English artist Thomas Bewick showed that boxwood, cut across the grain, gave results comparable with metal'. It has been compared with ivory - and it is now extremely expensive.
Strolling through an area of the pocket park where the grass has been allowed to grow, I chanced upon some Cuckoo Flowers, Cardamine pratensis. John Lewis-Stempel argues that 'Any flower that comes with a host of local names is likely to be of human use, either as food or as medicine'. (Ref 2) In fact this delightful, but increasingly uncommon plant has over 30 local names.
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Lady's Smock, Cuckoo flower, call it what you will.
Stefen Hill Pocket Park. 26 April 2020
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It is of a very pale mauve colour and is most likely to be found in damp or even distinctly wet, meadows. John Clare spoke of it:
And wan-hued Lady's Smocks that love to spring
Side the swamp margin of some plashy pond.
Village Minstrel, 1821
George Claridge Druce (Ref 3) describes it as 'common and generally distributed'. I wish that were still so, and so too will the Orange Tip Butterfly, for which this is also a food plant. The name 'Lady's Smock' suggests, again according again to John Lewis-Stempel, that the flowers 'bear a passing resemblance to women's undergarments hanging on a washing line'. My imagination isn't that vivid! It was sometimes used, thanks to its peppery taste, as an alternative to watercress.
My umbrella came into play for checking a hawthorn bush. A sharp tap brought various items of detritus tumbling down and I received a surprise. In amongst the dead leaves and twigs was a specimen of the spider, Diaea dorsata.
It was a male, generally of a striking green and brown coloration. My specimen was rather pale but still attractive enough.
So handsome is this crab spider that it was chosen by Mike Roberts to illustrate the cover of his magnum opus (Ref 4). And for my part I have used its name as part of my e-mail address. And it was new to the pocket park. (How a busy G.P. found time to write - and paint all the illustrations - for this important book is amazing.)
It was a male, generally of a striking green and brown coloration. My specimen was rather pale but still attractive enough.
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Diaea dorsata tumbled into my umbrella. Stefen Hill Pocket Park.
26 April, 2020
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So handsome is this crab spider that it was chosen by Mike Roberts to illustrate the cover of his magnum opus (Ref 4). And for my part I have used its name as part of my e-mail address. And it was new to the pocket park. (How a busy G.P. found time to write - and paint all the illustrations - for this important book is amazing.)
Another very pleasing visit.
References
1. Tudge, Colin (2006) The Secret Life of Trees Penguin Books
2. Lewis-Stempel, John (2014) Meadowland Black Swan Books (A wonderful read)
3. Druce, G.C. (1930) The Flora of Northamptonshire T. Buncle and Co
4. Roberts, R (1985) The Spiders of Great Britain and Ireland Harley Books
Tony White: diaea@yahoo.co.uk
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