Ivy Wood Spring flowers 10th April

The weather was rainy. Highlights were Early Purple Orchid, Bee Fly, Tadpoles and Marsh Tit.

Despite the drizzle we were all determined to have a good walk – and it turned out to be great. The rain only fell in two short periods!!
From the car park we listened to Song Thrush and Great Tit singing and then we walked off through the woods. Ivy Wood is one of the few areas in the New Forest that has a good show of woodland flowers. One of the first ones we saw was Common Dog Violet growing on a small hump on the edge of the path, but it wasn’t long before we were walking through colourful areas of Wood Anemone, Lesser Celandine, Primrose, Common Dog Violet, Wood Sorrel and Wood Spurge. The leaves of Pignut were abundant in some areas and we found some Early Dog Violets to compare with the Common Dogs. There was also quite a lot of Wavy Bitter-cress and some Cuckooflower out. We ate some Stinging Nettle leaves and Wood Sorrel leaves so that everyone could get a taste for them! We did hear Goldcrest singing in this part of the wood, but couldn’t see it. We then walked over the road, passing Marsh Marigold growing beside the stream, and explored the plantation areas. The flowers here were far sparser and much of the area looked bare. Wood Spurge was in flower along many of the paths and we found some Early Purple Orchids just coming into flower in one area. Barren Strawberry and Gorse were seen in flower and we watched a Siskin performing a singing display flight. Further on Louise spotted some Tadpoles in a puddle and Anna found a Bee Fly, which accompanied us for the rest of the walk on her jumper! Just before we came back to the deciduous woodland area we saw a small herd of Fallow Deer, one of which was white! Coal Tit and Blackbird were singing here as well. In the deciduous area we saw the same as we saw on the first part of the walk, but also found a few plants of Goldilocks Buttercup and saw a Mistle Thrush briefly and Marsh Tit very well.
Simon Curson