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Nature Walk in Lloyd Park Croydon

Posted: Mon 09 Jul 2018, 21:55
by Iggy
As I am due to lead a nature walk for Friends of Lloyd Park in Lloyd Park Croydon this Sunday 10 am to noon, I thought that it would be wise to do some reconnaissance of the park this morning.
The sun was beating down fiercly, but at least I was able to use the adjoining car park.
At the cafe, I asked where the pond was and headed towards it to get out of the sun into the shady areas.
Fortunately, among the meadows and wild flowers there was lots of insect life, but getting a photograph was always going to be difficult.
I did capture a few images.
An hour and a half into the walk, having stayed longer than I had planned, I saw a wide bank of mauve flowers against a line of trees.
In the first group of flowers, I noticed that a white spider (Misumena vatia) was feeding on a bee that it had captured. There was a small swarm of fruit flies causing a nuisance.
I ignored the brambles ans stinging nettles and stayed around shooting for some 10 minutes trying to get some clear shots of spider and prey.
My luck was in. A wasp turned up to liven up the action and finally stole the prey.
I kept shooting with my trusty, hand-held Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 without flash.
Here are a few shots of an exciting encounter in the park that most people never see!
Scaled up, I guess its equivalent to a cheetah taking down a gazelle and then being robbed by a lion.
I must not let my imagination run away!!
Iggy

Re: Nature Walk in Lloyd Park Croydon

Posted: Mon 09 Jul 2018, 21:59
by Iggy
A couple more images to finish the story.
Wasp flies off with the bee. Spider survives unharmed to hunt again!

Re: Nature Walk in Lloyd Park Croydon

Posted: Thu 12 Jul 2018, 18:05
by Iggy
Here are a few more details:
The spider was slightly smaller than one cm wide, not counting legs. Bee and wasp less than 2 cm long.
To capture the story sequence with the 5 shots, I took 103 images in 10 mins. The wasp flew around the spider and bee a couple of times before settling for a few seconds on the bee. Was fortunate to get that part of the sequence as it only lasted some 10 seconds or so.
By then I had my eye in.
Iggy

Re: Nature Walk in Lloyd Park Croydon

Posted: Sun 22 Jul 2018, 23:44
by Iggy
The Nature walk in Lloyd Park on Sunday 15 July was another hot morning.
Seven Friends of Lloyd Park participants turned up, 2 with DSLRs, 2 with advanced point and shoots, 1 with a point and shoot, another with an iPad and one without a camera.
After running through the basics on aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc, we set off into the blazing sun and made for the shady parts of the park.
Here we found a wealth of insects and flowers to keep us happy for some 90 mins.
Back in the shade of the cafe, we had a short brief with plans to meet again in spring.
Here are a few images that I took.
Iggy

PS: After some searching, I did manage to find a white spider among the mauve flowers of some fireweed, but all it was feeding on was a small indiscernible insect!

Re: Nature Walk in Lloyd Park Croydon

Posted: Sun 22 Jul 2018, 23:54
by Iggy
A couple more images to add to the set.
So well worth going out to Lloyd Park to capture some small wild life even in this parched summer.
Insects obviously love it hot and sunny!
Iggy

PS: We could do a group session if CCC members are interested.

Re: Nature Walk in Lloyd Park Croydon

Posted: Mon 23 Jul 2018, 11:35
by Paul Heester
Nice set of images. Took my sons there on Saturday for the play park. Never realised there was a pond there, is it worth a visit? Anyone know of nearby ponds/lakes for wildlife?

Re: Nature Walk in Lloyd Park Croydon

Posted: Mon 23 Jul 2018, 20:02
by Franke07
Paul I think there's one in Wandle park waddon pond and river wandle, They have a children's playground but I have not visited the pond. I have been to Norwood lakes that has a fair amount of wildlife hope this helps

Re: Nature Walk in Lloyd Park Croydon

Posted: Mon 23 Jul 2018, 23:08
by Iggy
The "pond" in Lloyd Park is tiny and shallow and only still has some water in it as it is spring fed. Very few damsels and the odd dragonfly about.

For entertaining small children, Crystal Palace Park is probably the best with huge recently refurbished prehistoric monsters in the lake. Also the usual water birds in the lakes and probably lots of insects all around. There is a petting animal collection where there might be a charge though.
http://crystalpalacepark.org.uk/things-to-do/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Palace_Park

There is also South Norwood Lake
https://www.croydon.gov.uk/leisure/parksandopenspaces/parksatoz/south-norwood-lake-and-grounds
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Norwood_Lake_and_Grounds

David Beard told me the there is also another South Norwood park more suitable for photography.

Also Morden Hall Park or Beddington Park & The Grange to explore.

Take your pick,
Iggy

Re: Nature Walk in Lloyd Park Croydon

Posted: Mon 23 Jul 2018, 23:20
by davidb
Iggy wrote:David Beard told me the there is also another South Norwood park more suitable for photography.


That's South Norwood Country Park located between Arena Tram Stop, Elmer's End Station and Harrington Road Tram Stop. The lake is accessible from a number of stages around the pond but insect life is not generally conveniently located.

For dragonflies and damselflies, there's a pond in Spring Park just over the Surrey/Kent border along Addington Road

Re: Nature Walk in Lloyd Park Croydon

Posted: Tue 24 Jul 2018, 09:09
by Paul Heester
Thanks for all the suggestions, including kid-friendly places!