Janet and Jerry Welsh led a walk through Bottom Wood on the Hardwick Estate on the cool and cloudy afternoon of Sunday 28th April. The walk started from the roadside next to the former King Charles Head pub and followed a footpath southwards across the fields. Blinks was in flower in the first field – a tiny, white flower – “blink and you’ll miss it”. As the track dropped down through Holly Copse, Dog’s Mercury plants marked the transition onto the chalk. Early Dog-violets, with a dark spur, and Hairy Wood-rush Luzula pilosa were growing on the bank at the side of the track. The route then turned eastwards, following the track along the bottom of the valley. Primroses, Wood Spurge and Wood Anemones were in flower, and there were clumps of Butcher’s-broom and Spurge-laurel. A Muntjac Deer was spotted on the other side of the valley. At the far end of the wood was a single Wild Service-tree. There were also flowers of Common Dog-violet, with a pale, notched spur. There followed a steep climb to the southern edge of the wood, and then out onto the chalk grassland beyond, for a good view of the valley of the Thames, looking towards Purley, Tilehurst and Reading. At the top of the wood were sheets of Ramsoms.
The walk continued back westwards across Bottom Wood. Two Roe Deer were seen. At the far side of the wood, there were sheets of bright green Wood Melick. A few of the plants were already showing their dark flower buds. Southern Wood-rush, with an asymmetric flower head, was growing on a bank nearby. Leaving the wood, the route continued along the lane through Path Hill, then followed another footpath across a steep valley. On the far side was a bank with interesting chalk flora, including Hairy Violets, Salad Burnet, Hound’s-tongue, Cowslips and Glaucous Sedge. Finally, in the last field before returning to the cars, the delicate leaves of Pignut were seen and a Greater Stitchwort plant was just coming into flower.
Pictures by Chris Ash and Jan Haseler
RDNHS excursion to Bottom Wood, Mapledurham, 28 April 2013
Leader: Janet Welsh
Plants in Bottom Wood
| Lesser Celandine | Ranunculus ficaria |
| Common Dog-violet | Viola riviniana |
| Blinks | Montia fontana |
| Horse-chestnut | Aesculus hippocastanum |
| Blackthorn | Prunus spinosa |
| Wild Service-tree | Sorbus torminalis |
| Cowslip | Primula veris |
| Dog’s Mercury | Mercurialis perennis |
| Lords-and-Ladies | Arum maculatum |
| Traveller’s-joy | Clematis vitalba |
| Early Dog-violet | Viola reichenbachiana |
| Barren Strawberry | Potentilla sterilis |
| Wood Speedwell | Veronica montana |
| Primrose | Primula vulgaris |
| Common Figwort | Scrophularia nodosa |
| Wood Avens | Geum urbanum |
| Hairy Wood-rush | Luzula pilosa |
| Wood Spurge | Euphorbia amygdaloides |
| Ground-ivy | Glechoma hederacea |
| Butcher’s-broom | Ruscus aculeatus |
| Germander Speedwell | Veronica chamaedrys |
| Wood Anemone | Anemone nemorosa |
| Woodruff | Galium odoratum |
| Yellow Archangel | Lamiastrum galeobdolon |
| Garlic Mustard | Alliaria petiolata |
| Spurge-laurel | Daphne laureola |
| Hairy St John’s-wort | Hypericum hirsutum |
| Gooseberry | Ribes uva-crispa |
| Ramsoms | Allium ursinum |
| Ivy-leaved Speedwell | Veronica hederifolia |
| Cleavers | Galium aparine |
| Bugle | Ajuga reptans |
| Wavy Bitter-cress | Cardamine flexuosa |
| Southern Wood-rush | Luzula forsteri |
| Wood Melick | Melica uniflora |
| White Dead-nettle | Lamium album |
| Wild Cherry | Prunus avium |
Plants on chalk bank and beyond
| Oxeye Daisy | Leucanthemum vulgare |
| Salad Burnet | Sanguisorba minor |
| Hairy Violet | Viola hirsuta |
| Hoary Plantain | Plantago media |
| Ribwort Plantain | Plantago lanceolata |
| Hound’s-tongue | Cynoglossum officinale |
| Wild Marjoram | Origanum vulgare |
| Parsley-piert | Aphanes arvensis |
| Creeping Cinquefoil | Potentilla reptans |
| Glaucous Sedge | Carex flacca |
| Dwarf Thistle | Cirsium acaule |
| Bulbous Buttercup | Ranunculus bulbosus |
| Field Wood-rush | Luzula campestris |
| Foxglove | Digitalis purpurea |
| Greater Stitchwort | Stellaria holostea |
| Pignut | Conopodium majus |
Birds (song or call)
| Pheasant | Phasianus colchicus |
| Green Woodpecker | Picus viridis |
| Song Thrush | Turdus philomelos |
| Wren | Troglodytes troglodytes |
| Chiffchaff | Phylloscopus collybita |
List by Renée Grayer