Weekend at Herefordshire - Part 1: Bodenham Lakes NR and Church

We decided to go the caravan at the weekend to take some more items and also my daughter was due back at work on Monday so it would be a mini break for her. We travelled at tea-time Friday which we discovered was not the best time to go as the traffic was awful at times and the journey took an hour and fifty minutes as opposed to one hour twenty minutes the previous Sunday!


The hedge next to the caravan has a lot of bramble flowers which were covered in insects.

Here a Marmalade Hoverfly

This is the tiny garden we have inherited - hidden in amongst the plants is a bird bath which we will move to the front.

On Saturday we decided to visit Bodenham Lakes which is only about 20 minutes away. Well it should have taken 20 minutes but the reserve was hard to find and it actually took 50 minutes! We passed Queenswood Arboretum and Country Park on the way but the car park there looked exceedingly busy. Perhaps a place to visit mid week?



Bodenham Lakes

The area was once part of Lady Close Farm and the 114 acre site was developed for gravel extractions from the late 1800's. Extraction finished in the late 1980's and the pits were linked to create a lake. Bodenham Lake covers 50 acres and is one of the largest stretches of open water in Herefordshire. The reserve is bordered by the River Lugg. More than 160 species of bird have been recorded here and it is also a good site for damsel and dragonflies.

There are two orchards which date back to 1700 and trees include cider and dessert apples, perry pear, cherry, greengage and walnut. Apples are sold to local producers for cider making.

Grassland beside the lake is managed as unimproved grassland with no fertilisers or pesticides and is grazed or cut for hay each summer. This management regime has encouraged many wild flower species to flourish, for example, birds'foot trefoil and common spotted orchid. One area of former gravel working has been left to re-colonise naturally and there are teasels, evening primroses and bee orchids.

In 2018 Herefordshire Wildlife Trust started work to imrpove the habitat. 2000 young reeds have been planted to create a reedbed. In 2019 three islands in the lake were improved to allow little ringed plover and oystercatcher to nest away from predators. A large muddy spit was also created to encourage waders.




It was busier there than I expected although most people seemed to be respecting social distancing. It was a bit of a shock to the system after hardly leaving home for months! The only downside was that there were gates to open - so the hand sanitiser was used regularly. Anyway the reserve was really lovely and will certainly be worth repeated visits.


We took a path which ran alongside the lake.

Traveller's Joy or Old Man's Beard (John Scurr if you see this post I hope I have id'd this correctly and it isn't White Bryony!)

Mallow

Mullein

Teasel and Meadowsweet

We must go through the orchards on the next visit.

Meadow full of wild flowers - so many bees and butterflies including Meadow Brown and Common Blue. Flowers included Clover, Silverweed, Buttercups, Trefoils and Self Heal.

Self Heal

We didn't carry on any further as the hides, and possibly the paths, were closed. So we retraced our steps

Red Admiral

Purple Loosestrife

Sloes and Hawthorn berries are forming.

We followed another footpath along the other side of the lake.

Stonecrop?

Evening Primrose

Lady's Mantle

Butterflies seen on the walk included Red Admiral, Peacock, various "Whites", Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown and Common Blue. There were a lot of bees and hoverflies and we saw one blue damselfly and a dragonfly (a hawker species I think). I didn't see that many birds (Cormorant, Mute Swan, Blue Tit and Blackbird) but to be honest I was constantly being distracted by wild flowers and insects!


There was a permissive path to the church but B and E were not keen on using it as it was very narrow and it would be rather difficult if you met someone coming the other way! We do live in such awful times that you have to think like this :(

So I didn't get chance to look round the church exterior and churchyard.


St Michael and All Angels, Bodenham

Construction of the West Tower began in the late 13th century and most of the building is 14th century.

In the evening we went a walk to the pool and wildflower meadow on the caravan park. No photos this time as it was getting close to dusk!

Part 2 will include a local walk and the church at Hatfield.



If any of the flower id is incorrect please feel free to correct me :)



All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera

A Brief Walk at Temple Balsall

D was on leave last week so, as it was fairly dry on Tuesday, we went for a drive out to Temple Balsall with the idea of going for a walk. I didn't park in my usual place by the school and church as I wanted to avoid school run time and, as leaving times are I think staggered I couldn't be sure what times they would be, so I used the car park by the Natural Burial Ground and Cemetery. I picked Temple Balsall because in the week you never normally see a single person. Unfortunately it was busier than usual with 3 cars parked and we saw other walkers and cyclists. Thankfully all but one who we passed in the lane were in the distance and there were a few cyclists gathered in the car park when we returned.

Information Boards - some of you may remember I paid several visits to the natural burial ground last summer when it was just one huge wild flower meadow buzzing with insects.

Wild Strawberries

In the end we decided to walk past the cemetery and along the lane.

I've been trying to identify without success these pollen covered beetles which at times seemed to be "fighting". I saw several of them on umbellifers so they must be fairly common. If anyone has any idea what they are I would love to know.

Edit - Thanks Dean. A species of Sawfly.

A Hoverfly I still haven't identified.

This hoverfly is I think Eristalis pertinax - Tapered Drone Fly

*D

D spotted a catepillar in the hedge.

Edit - thanks Dean - a Yellow-tail moth caterpillar

*D

*D


Grasses - I think the first may be Meadow Oat Grass?

It was a lovely walk and so good to be back in the countryside. Everywhere looked reassuringly "normal" apart from Covid 19 signs in many places warning of keeping the 2 metre distance and a few people wearing masks.


I drove back through the lanes and managed to park when I spotted what looked like a badger run. There opposite the run in a wood were signs of a badger sett. Hopefully active and it was certainly the highlight of my day.

I hope everyone is staying safe and well.




*D Photos taken by D with the Canon SX50 HS bridge camera

Rest of photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera