Last week D and I went on one of our favourite walks to see Wild Garlic in flower at Brueton Park LNR. We try and visit every May but last year the walk was so muddy we had to abandon it after a few hundred yards and the year before we were in lockdown. So it is several years since we saw it in all its glory.
The River Blythe which runs through the park is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
Brueton Park can get busy but not many people seem to follow the public footpath into the woodland. Wild Garlic was flowering profusely everywhere you looked.
Holly Blue
We also saw several Orange Tips.
No sign of Purple Toothwort this year even though I checked where it normally grows.
After the first patch of woodland the path crosses a meadow with the M42 rumbling away in the distance. I have seen this meadow full of buttercups but this year it had flowering dandelions.
The next patch of woodland is full of Bluebells.
You can carry on across another meadow and on towards Widney but at this point we turned round and retraced our route.
Horse Chestnut candles are starting to flower.
Bracket fungi - don't ask me the species as I am really hopeless at identifying them!
As well as Wild Garlic and Bluebells many other Spring flowers were seen - Cow Parsley, Buttercups, Daisies, Marsh Marigold, Dandelions, Yellow Archangel (indicator of Ancient Woodland), Red Campion, Garlic Mustard and Herb Robert.
It was a lovely walk and interesting to note a Ring-necked Parakeet flying over.
In the garden the nestbox camera is being watched as we had 9 Blue Tit eggs all of which have hatched. The good news is that this year both parents seem to be feeding the chicks and at the moment the youngsters are all of a similar size. In the past we have noticed a few chicks get the majority of the food and the remainder have ended up dying presumably from lack of caterpillar food. Hopefully, the warm sunny weather will help the adults find plenty of food.
I hope everyone is staying safe and well.
All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera. (For some reason I can't seem to upload D's photos from the camera card).
