Riverside Ecology Day

Fulham Wharf Jetty has been transformed to an environmental haven for wildlife on the River Thames. With a green and brown roof and proximity to the river, foreshore and local parks, there are many habitats to explore with opportunities to discover the riverside wildlife.
Hammersmith and Fulham Urban Studies Centre held a Riverside Ecology Day in early July to explore the local wildlife with local people, connecting them to the ecology nearby.
With the help of our expert entomologist, Alice Laughton, keen birder Kevin Bittan and horticulturalist Cath Knight, local residents were able to visit to the new jetty and explore the ecologiy through craft, id workshops and bug hunts.

Many thanks to all those who came and to the Ecology Society for their kind support with this event. We will be looking to run a similar event in the Spring of 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We asked people what they had enjoyed about the day. Here are a few responses:

‘The bugs – catching them’

‘Pink Flowers’

‘This is a really good idea. We would support this work in the future’.

List of birds found: Gulls, Blackheaded Gulls, Herring Gull, Great Black (bucked), Lesser black (bucked),

Other water birds: Cormorants, Heron, Canadad Goose, Grey Lag, Egyption Goose

Other birds: Others, House sparrow, Black bird, Crow, Wren, Feral Pidgeons, Collared dove, Goldfinch

Flowers:  Bird’s Trefoil – ornithpus perpusillus, Fox and Cubs – Taraxiam SP, Yarrow – Alecenilla millefolium, Maiden Pink – Dianthus deltoids, Ladies Bedstraw – Galium verum, Vipers Bugloss – Echium vulgare, Hoary Plantain – Plantoago media, Common century – Centaurium crythraea, Thick leaved Stonecrop – Sedum dasyphyllum, Small Scabious – Scabiosa columbarva, Sea Pink – Armenia mantima, Ragged Robin – Lychris flos-cucidi, Self Heal – Prunella vulgaris

Park habitat:  Shield bug, Field cricket, Frog hoppers, Ladbird, Weevil, Bumblebee, Hover fly, Looper caterpillar, Harvestman, Spider, Fly, Laewing, Butterfly, Ant, Wasp, Grasshopper, Moth, aphid,  bug – long green, bug – small green, red spider mite, bug – red – round, beetle – red, green metallic stripe, long red beetle, earwig.