Wootton Woods - Thurs 5 June

The weather was sunny and warm. Highlights were Bastard Balm, Pale Butterwort and Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary.

17 of us met at Wootton Bridge car park and we set off into the woods in the sunshine. Before we got to the woods we saw Lesser Spearwort growing in a wet ditch beside the road. Once in the woods we saw many flowers, mostly along the edges of the tracks. Foxgloves, Tormentil and Silverweed were everywhere. It was nice to see Ragged Robin near the beginning of the walk. Common Cow-wheat was also near the beginning of the walk in a more shaded area. We stopped to look at some Meadowsweet by the path that had not yet come into flower and there were a couple of young Great Tit and Coal Tit. There was also a little Heath Speedwell by the path. There were also a couple of dragonflies - a few teneral Common Darter, the teneral ones are the young ones that haven’t reached maturity yet and so are not coloured red. David spotted a couple of Broad-bodied Chaser here too. A little further on we had a brief view of a Green-veined White butterfly. Then the flowers got more spectacular as we started seeing Common Spotted Orchid – many of them lining the tracks. At one point there was a single Marsh Orchid coming into flower among them. Other flowers here were Germander Speedwell, leaves of Hemp Agrimony, the poisonous Hemlock Water Dropwort, Wood Spurge and some Yellow Flag Iris in a damp spot. One damp spot also had a couple of Large Red Damselfly and a Blue-tailed Damselfly. Then the rarities turned up!! Carole spotted an orangey butterfly – a Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, then we saw the tall plants of Bastard Balm white with a pale purple lower petal. We saw quite a lot more Bastard Balm along that section of the track.
Birds had been quite scant, but we did see a couple of Chiffchaff singing at the tops of a tree and a Nuthatch. Later on we heard Willow Warbler and Blackcap singing. The rest of the walk gave us much the same flowers with the addition of Yellow Pimpernel and several more insects, a bright red Soldier Beetle, Straw Dot moth, some Beautiful Demoiselle damselflies and Speckled Wood and Holly Blue butterflies.
Once back at the cars we had a quick look round the damp areas at the edge of the valley mire. Here we saw some Heath Spotted Orchid (nice to compare with the Common Spotted), Lousewort and three insect eating plants, Round-leaved Sundew, Oblong-leaved Sundew and several Pale Butterwort. While looking at a Royal Fern just round the corner we saw a few Meadow Pipit and a Buzzard.
Simon Curson