The FollyDonald and myself led the group of 8 which would have been 9 if Margaret hadn't got her dates confused! Three group members who had booked to go had to withdraw owing to illness.
Despite the poor weather throughout most of the past month we were once again lucky with our lot and we saw plenty of sunshine during the day although it remained too cold for any butterflies or day-flying moths. One high-flying large red damselfly was however spotted.
The group were repeating a visit made in May last year but this time varied it by taking in more of the riverside, omitting the path to the fountain but including The Ruin and Lover's Leap. Conditions were muddy underfoot and walking sticks were particularly useful.
During our riparian lunch (sandwiches on the beach) we enjoyed seeing up to 3 sandpipers flying up and down the river and displaying on the rocks. A grey wagtail was also present.
Lunch On The Beach
Altogether up to 18 birds were seen and on the path from the car park we heard blackcaps, chiff chaff and song thrush.
The woodland plants were of course a delight with carpets of bluebells, anemones and stitchwort. Memorable plants included woodruff, sanicle and hairy st johns wort
Wood Sorrel (none of which were yet in flower), alternate-leaved golden saxifrage marsh marigold, moschatel and toothwort to which I have given the award of plant of the day; well I had never seen it before! This small patch was superbly spotted by Joan as most of the stems were obscured behind a tree. The woodland had also a rich variety of ferns, which several members of the group were able to identify.
The day however was not too cold for a tiny species of pesky fly, which abounded in the car park, a good number of which took it upon themselves to travel back with us in the minibus!John Gavaghan