{"id":1618,"date":"2011-12-17T10:50:25","date_gmt":"2011-12-17T15:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/?p=1618"},"modified":"2011-12-17T10:50:25","modified_gmt":"2011-12-17T15:50:25","slug":"ridgeway-near-aldworth-10-december-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/ridgeway-near-aldworth-10-december-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"Ridgeway near Aldworth – 10 December 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was ice on the puddles, but the sun was shining and the air was still when Fred Taylor led a walk round Lowbury Hill in the Berkshire Downs on Saturday 10th<\/sup> December. A flowering poppy was a surprise find as the group started off up the track above Starveall, near Aldworth. Also in flower at the field edge were Scentless Mayweed, Shepherd\u2019s-purse and Groundsel. Along the base of the hedge were a few clumps of Spurge-laurel, and this too was in flower, with its inconspicuous small green flowers.<\/p>\n

There were big flocks of Starlings, Lapwings and Golden Plovers on the grass above Juniper Valley. The big surprise of the day was the number of species which were in flower on the racehorse gallops, including Cowslips, Common and Greater Knapweed, Field Scabious and Clustered Bellfower \u2013 very unexpected for the middle of December. A number of fungi were found, including white waxcaps and Field Blewits in the grassland. Some of the hedgerows had been drastically flailed back. Where they had been left, they carried heavy crops of sloes, hawthorn berries and the bright red strings of Black Bryony berries and these were attracting large flocks of Fieldfares and a few Redwings.<\/p>\n