Weekend in Herefordshire - Part 2: Local Walk and St Leonard's, Hatfield.

Sunday


Timothy settling into his new home from home.

D bought us a clock for the caravan. I don't think it is easy to hang items on caravan walls! so B improvised with a piece of wood wedged across the gap above the fire and attached the clock to that!

Caravan in its new location. Quite secluded as there is a hedge to one side and then just five caravans further down the hill. The one next door will be empty shortly for a while as the owners there have bought a new caravan which has been located further along the row.

On Sunday morning we went a local walk along the lane to the small village of Hatfield.



View as you walk along the caravan park drive.

Just at the end of the drive is a sign for a bridleway which is something to explore in the future.

In the distance in the centre of the photo is the area where the caravan is situated.

A Peacock butterfly decided to land on my trainer.

The lanes were quiet - we didn't see a soul and just a few cars and a tractor passed us.

St Leonard's Church, Hatfield.

The chancel is 13th century and the western part of the nave with its bell turret is 14th century and was weather boarded in 1903. Part of the south wall is 17th century having been rebuilt after the nave wall collapsed!

The Early Norman Nave's North wall has herringbone masonry with a tympanum decorated with a trellis pattern.

The front part of the churchyard was kept neat and tidy but at the rear of the church there was a beautiful "living churchyard" where grasses had been left unmown and wild flowers flourished. It really was delightful and very tranquil and peaceful. There were many bees and Meadow Browns flying around.

The open timber West Porch is partly 14th century.

The church was open for private prayer and there was a bottle of hand sanitiser to use. I would have loved to go and have a look inside and it looked deserted but I didn't partly because I don't think being open for private prayer is the same as wandering around taking photos! and to be honest I am still very reluctant to go inside any building (or shop).

B and E had gone to explore the village apparently the Old School House there is for sale!


When they returned we walked back to the caravan.


Distant view of a Comma.

We left at about 4.30. We did make a detour initially as years ago when she was at primary school E attended a 5 day outdoor activity residential course at Bockleton Hall and she was keen to see it again. We failed to find it! although there was some sort of fete on in the village with deckchairs and teddy bears outside the cottages and bunting everywhere. The traffic was fine on the way home and it took about 90 minutes after the detour!




All photos taken by me with the Pansonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera.

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