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Alexanders,
Smyrnium
olustratum
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May be
known as Hedge Parsley
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-
Although
always common in the vicinity of Mill Hill
and the Adur Levels and on Shoreham
Beach, this umbellifer may not be so common and even absent on the
downs
away from the coast.
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-
-
-
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25 April
2008
-
-
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Green
Alkanet and Alexanders on the verges of the
Waterworks
Road, Old Shoreham
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-
6 April
2008
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-
-
Alexanders
covered in snow on the Adur
riverbank
2 May
2006
Alexanders
exude a strong smell. It seems rather like an unspecified synthetic chemical,
or something that could unmask unpleasant odours, being strong, but not
particularly pleasant. This may explain why it so attractive to flies
and other insects. One plant at the southern end of the Waterworks
Road (Old Shoreham) was visited by a small bee
Andrena dorsata.
Solitary
Bee Portraits
26
April 2006
This
plant, found on Mill Hill, but not very
often on the downs elsewhere, is a host of
so many insects that it has been allocated a page on its own.
Large
black
Ants and 7-spot Ladybird
British
Ants
What is it? It does not seem
to have long antennae like an ant.
Sepsid Fly (Diptera:
Sepsidae)
There are twelve
British species in the genus Sepsis
ID
by Malcolm Storey (BioImages)
on the Bees, Wasps and Ants
Recording Society Yahoo Group and by
Will
Atkinson on the British
Insects Yahoo Group
Flies:
24 April
2006
On
the
Pixie Path a small
black fly looked familiar but it was not identified.
The
orange-coloured blisters on the underside of the leaves are caused by a
rust fungus, Puccinia smyrnii.
(not illustrated)
Kew
Gardens Information File
Pixie
Path to Mill Hill
