Yesterday D and I went on one of our favourite walks along the River Blythe. I first discovered the walk several years ago when doing wild flower surveys for Plantlife and my 1 kilometre square covered Brueton Park area in Solihull and there was a public footpath that ran diagonally across the square. Brueton and Malvern Parks near Solihull Centre are lovely parks and contain a local nature reserve, a small Warwickshire Wildlife Trust Reserve as well as the walk we did.
When we arrived the car park was full and there were cars parked for miles along the side of the road - what I hadn't realised was that there was a music event in the park that day. Luckily we eventually found somewhere to park.
The River Blythe is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and is a good example of a lowland river on clay.
As soon as we got out of the car we spotted a pair of Blue Tits collecting caterpillars
There were wild flowers everywhere
Garlic Mustard or Jack-by-the-Hedge
Daisies
Cow Parsley
White Dead Nettle
Dandelions
David and I stood for ages at this spot watching a Nuthatch and Grey Wagtail although neither of us could get a decent photo.
The park was busy and we could hear music in the distance but once you branch off away from the main park along the public footpath you see very few people.
We had smelt the Wild Garlic as soon as we left the car and there were masses of it in flower along the first part of the walk.
The path follows the River Blythe through woodland.
I love this time of year when all the tree foliage is so new and fresh.
Purple Toothwort is parasitic on the roots of various tree species such as Alder, Poplar and Willow. One of the wild flower books I have suggests it is introduced and has naturalised. When I first visited I only saw it growing on a log but this year it had spread nearby.
Yellow Archangel - one of my favourite flowers.
In this part of the wood many of the plants had variegated leaves which suggests they are an introduced variety of the plant which may have escaped from gardens. Further along the walk in another wood the leaves on plants are not variegated so I suspect they are the wild variety.
A few Bluebells started to appear.
Wild Garlic continues along the path for hundreds and hundreds of yards.
Red Campion
Speedwell - I saw a least two species on the walk but I hadn't taken a hand lens or magnifying glass so couldn't get them to species level.
Yellow Archangel
Violet
When you reach the end of the first area of woodland the path continues with the River Blythe on one side and a field stretching to the M42 in the distance on the other. In the past I have seen this field covered in Buttercups but not in recent years.
Edith Holden of "Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady" fame used to walk this stretch of the River Blythe and she mentions visiting it in May although I think she started at the other end of this section of the River i.e. Widney Lane rather than from the town centre side as we did. She writes of seeing in the meadows Marsh Marigolds and Lady's Smock and she gathered the Corn Crowfoot and Cross Wort Bedstraw.
The path then meanders through another area of woodland.
Timothy was rather enjoying himself and pleased to be out and about :)
Dandelions and
Buttercups
The second area of woodland has far more Bluebells
A graffiti tree!
Timothy again
D had a moth on his jacket - sorry rubbish photo it is very heavily cropped. I always struggled with micro moth id even when I was moth trapping more regularly than I do these days but I think this may be Cameraria ohridella ? which is common in parks and urban areas. It was first seen in Wimbledon, England in 2002 and since then has spread rapidly. Its larvae mine leaves of Chestnut trees causing brown blotches on the leaves and infestation can be so severe that trees become defoliated. Please correct me if my id is wrong.
One day I will walk as far as Widney Lane but we had dilly dallied quite a lot so we turned to retrace the route.
Hawthorn is coming into flower.
Mallard
Two fungi D spotted - my fungi id is appalling but I think these may be Hoof Fungus and King Alfred's cakes. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
It was a very enjoyable walk and as D said we really should do it at other times of the year.
No butterflies were seen but I did see a few Bumble Bees - a Common Carder Queen on Bluebells and a White-tailed Bumble Bee on a dandelion.
Other flowers seen included Lesser Celandine and Marsh Marigold.
*D Photos taken by my son with the Canon SX50HS bridge camera
Rest of photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera
