At last, the rain stopped and we were able to get out for a half-decent walk round Linford Wood, which is a about 100 acres of ancient woodland not far from our home.
Although the sun didn't shine - it remained grey all day - the wood was awash with colour, scent, and sound. We like to count the numbers of different kinds of wild flowers we see when we come here, and today we were absolutely thrilled to see several dozen Early Purple Orchids scattered throughout the wood! Not many years ago, we were lucky to see one or two, let alone dozens!
The Bluebells are coming out now - some fully, some still all in bud - and what a wonderful carpet of vivid blue they'll be in a week or two, if we get some decent sunshine!
Coltsfoot are nearly over, now, and their white seed heads are getting 'fluffy'. There's still quite a few mauve Violets, even on the more exposed ditch banks, which is good to see them spreading across the wood again. Lesser and Greater Stitchwort show snow-white amongst the long grass and Ground Elder, and then suddenly, there's a few Red Campion (though quite pink), standing brightly in a shaded glade.
The shrill sound of a Hawk got me looking sky-wards, and we were rewarded with the sight of a stunning female Sparrowhawk alighting on the topmost branch of a very old Beech tree, hardly even in bud, so quite visible to us 30 feet above... She took absolutely no notice of us as we watched her preen her feathers, and look at us, with those piercing yellow eyes!
Let's hope the sun shines soon, and we can go to the woods again!
No comments:
Post a Comment