Beaulieu Road Heath

The weather was sunny and warm, but with a cool wind. Highlights were Wild Galdioli, Coral Necklace and Silver-washed Fritillary.

17 of us met at Shatterford car park and we set off over the heath. Before we left Alan found a Treecreeper on one of the pine trees in the car park and most of us saw it. On the heath Cross-leaved Heath and Bell Heather were starting to come into full bloom and there was a little Heather starting to flower. We saw Dwarf Gorse and Round-leaved Sundew at the pathside. The valley mire looked great with all the Cotton grass in it. We stopped for a while at the first valley mire we crossed. The yellow spikes of Bog Asphodel and the grey green leaved of the Marsh St. John’s Wort added colour. A few Broad-bodied Chaser and Keeled Skimmer were whizzing about and we got great views of Small Red Damselfly and Azure Damselfly. One Keeled Skimmer did settle long enough for us all to get good views. Walking towards the woods we saw the first of several Meadow Pipit and a Stonechat. A couple of Kestrel flew over too. The area just before the woods was grassy with Bracken. Here we found several spikes of Wild Gladioli, after a bit of a search. The pathsides had much Tormentil and Milkwort. On the edge of the woods a Skipper zoomed by without pausing – probably Large Skipper.
In the woods all was quiet save for a couple of Wrens singing occasionally and a few Robin and Great Tit that we saw. On a large Bramble bush we saw a Silver-washed Fritillary nectaring and further on we saw a couple of Meadow Brown butterflies in a sunny open patch. There were quite a few Foxglove flowering in the woods and one area had some Wood Spurge and a few Lesser Skullcap flowers. Looking up into a dead standing tree we were very surprised to see a large Common Bird’s-foot Trefoil plant growing out of it! As we left the wood Alan got a brief, but good view of a male Redstart, which disappeared before anyone else could see it. In this damp open area we found lots of Heath Spotted Orchid and some patches of Bog Pimpernel. Mick and Christine also found a Brown Silver Lines moth.
The route then took us through an open area with several streams that had new bridges over them. In the first stream was cover with yellow Lesser Spearwort, blue Water Forget-me-not and white Marsh Bedstraw. In amongst the Iris leaves we also found the small pom-pom like flowers of Branched Bur-reed. Brenda spotted a very distant Buzzard soaring over woodlands, 2 Lapwing flew past and we saw more Meadow Pipit and Stonechat. The last stream had lots of Marsh St. John’s Wort in it and a little Self Heal on the edge. The route then goes through a little more woodland where we saw Heath Milkwort in the grass. It then goes over a final wide stream before going back over heathland. There were loads of House Martin feeding over the valley mire of this last stream and we heard and saw a Reed Bunting as we left it. In the stream itself we saw White Water Lily flowering, some Marsh St. John’s Wort in flower and a Common Frog. We walked back to the car park over the heath. One area of Gorse had a Dartford Warbler. A few people waited for it to show and it paid off, the rest of us walked on and we did see another Dartford briefly in another area of scattered young pines. Along the pathsides Brenda found some Coral Necklace – a rare plant and great to see.