Fiona Brown led a well-attended walk round Charvil Country Park and BBOWT’s Loddon Reserve on the morning of Wednesday 21 August, starting from the Heron on the Ford pub. The weather was mostly sunny, but with a cool breeze. The route led left out of the pub car park and along the lane for a short distance, then turned right through a gap in the hedge and into the country park. It is an area of former gravel pits and remnant pastureland in the flood plain of the lower River Loddon. The path led through an area of mixed scrub and woodland, passing a young family who were picking fruit from the abundant blackberry crop. Butterflies seen in this part of the walk included several Speckled Woods, a Comma and a Red Admiral. Common Centaury and Red Bartsia were in flower at the side of the path. The walk then continued alongside a lake where a Migrant Hawker patrolled over the waterside bushes. Other dragonfly species seen during the walk included Beautiful and Banded Demoiselle and Common Blue Damselfly. Tall bankside flowers included abundant Water Mint, Gypsywort, Greater Bird’s-foot-trefoil, Purple Loosestrife and Common Fleabane. A Jersey Tiger moth was seen up in a Buddleia bush. The route then led under a railway bridge and emerged at a large grassy field which was dotted yellow with the flowers of Lesser Hawkbit. Continuing through woodland, a clump of about 10 Broad-leaved Helleborines was flourishing down by the path. Two more groups of Broad-leaved Helleborine were found later in the walk. A small Frog was seen nearby. To the right of the path was a lake, with viewing platforms giving good views across the water. In front of an island were a female Mandarin, a few Tufted Ducks and some other eclipse-plumage water fowl, probably mostly Mallards. Yellow Loosestrife was in flower to one side of the viewing platform. Other waterside plants included Wild Angelica and abundant Hemlock Water-dropwort. Hop has separate male and female plants. A male plant, with unobtrusive small greenish-white flowers, was inspected. Feeding on it was the spiky caterpillar of a Comma butterfly. Down on the path, one of the group found a dead Grass Snake. The next section of path ran next to a river channel where Loddon Pondweed could be seen. It had floating elliptic pointed leaves. The river channel was too deep and vertically sided to permit close inspection of the plants. The path led to a main road which had to be crossed to reach the pavement on the far side, then recrossed to follow the pavement on the bridge which crossed the River Loddon. The footpath led through a pub car park and over a wooden bridge, where tall leafless spikes of dark green Common Club-rush filled the channel below. There was a Loddon Nature Reserve sign here. Turning left and following a board walk, flowers of Water Chickweed, Trifid Burr-marigold and Water Forget-me-not were seen, while female Hops with green cone-like fruits scrambled through the vegetation. Further on, Creeping Jenny and Marsh Woundwort were seen. Signs warned of the dangers to people and pets of toxic blue-green algae in the water. Fiona had spotted a large Shaggy Bracket fungus high up in an Ash tree. The route then led under the railway, through some horse paddocks and back to the pub car park, passing a Kestrel perched on a dead branch near the top of a hedgerow tree. Most of the group then stayed for lunch at the Heron on the Ford.