Two New Species for the Area

A casual walk in Wanstead Park recently found two species that have not, to my knowledge, been recorded in the study area before.

The first was a ragwort, a few plants of which were spotted on the embankment separating the Heronry Pond from the Perch Pond. This has recently been worked upon, and new soil laid down. It wasn't surprising to find a variety of plants introduced with the soil, or making use of the new conditions.

The plant - obviously a ragwort - looked somewhat different from the usual two around here, which are Common and Oxford Ragworts: it had narrower leaves.

A trawl through the reference books showed it to be Narrow-leaved Ragwort Senecio inaequidens. It comes from southern Africa and is now found across Europe. Stace (1997) stated that it was naturalised on a sandy beach in Kent, and that perhaps it would soon spread. It is now widespread in the London area. The photo taken at the time is available here.

The other new record was of the German Wasp Vespula germanica.Two of these appeared to be coupled on vegetation near Bullet Hill, by Northumberland Avenue. In this case, a photograph was used latterly to identify the species. The photo is available here.

Paul Ferris, 3rd October 2009