Adelaide Nature Reserve

Adelaide Local Nature Reserve is in North West London, in the area of Chalk Farm, Primrose Hill, Belsize Park and Swiss Cottage.

[3][4] The site has been a nature reserve since 1984 but for hundreds of years had been a hay meadow area which provided food for London’s horses.

The land is owned by Network Rail, who lease it to the London Borough of Camden for use as a nature reserve.

Volunteers from Green Gym, University College London, Interact and other groups have all worked here.

Site volunteers leave logs in place to provide habitats for insects and fungi.

Regular visitors have included Great, Blue and Long-tailed tits, Robin, Wren, Blackcap, Carrion crow, Jay, Magpie and Blackbird – all common urban birds.

Volunteers have made Hedgehog hibernating boxes which provide warm and dry winter quarters.

Some recently seen plants include Birdsfoot trefoil, Bloody cranesbill, Corncockle, Cowslip, Dog rose, Evening primrose, Field speedwell, Lesser periwinkle, Michaelmas daisy, Oxeye daisy, Vipers bugloss, Sweet violet, Lucerne, Wild gladiolus, Green alkanet, Herb robert, Lesser celandine, Marsh marigold, Purple loosestrife, Yellow flag, Wild strawberry, Yarrow and many others.

The site has a good variety of galls, which have been surveyed in recent years, including some rarities.

The well known Robin’s pincushion (Diplolepsis rosae)- a wasp gall on Dog rose – can be found periodically.

C. artemisiae is a Hemiptera gall - of which the aphid inducers are preyed on by larvae of Hoverfly species Triglyphus primus.