Sally Rankin led a walk on Mill Meadows on Thursday 3rd June, starting from the Mill Lane car park on the outskirts of Henley. Mill Meadows is owned by the Town Council and the Henley Wildlife Group have been managing parts of it for wildlife since 1995. The main feature is the pond area south east of the River & Rowing Museum. The pond nearest the railway line was dug in February 1996 and was planted with a variety of things from the Warburg reserve, including Mare’s-tail, Hippuris vulgaris, the rarest species seen that day, according to Chris Bucke. The other two ponds were dug in September 1995 and August 2004. The area in front of the ponds was awash with buttercups, Ragged-Robin Lychnis flos-cuculi, and many other species like Water Forget-me-not, Myosotis scorpioides. Damsel and dragonflies, including Banded Demoiselle and Southern Hawker, were flying over the ponds. The exit hole of a Hornet Moth was found near the base of a hybrid black poplar.
The group then visited Ratty’s Refuge, the Museum’s water vole garden, based on an entry in the Chelsea Flower Show in 2008. This contains an array of garden and wild plants, a pond and some interesting features such as the gabion seats filled with logs to provide an additional habitat for wildlife and the Wind in the Willows sculptures. We then completed the wildlife trail (leaflets available from the Museum) along the stream on the other side of the Museum and returned via the grassy triangle.
Pictures by Ricki Bull and Sally Rankin