{"id":1708,"date":"2012-05-05T03:59:03","date_gmt":"2012-05-05T08:59:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/?p=1708"},"modified":"2012-05-05T03:59:03","modified_gmt":"2012-05-05T08:59:03","slug":"harefield-copse-tilehurst-28-april-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/harefield-copse-tilehurst-28-april-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"Harefield Copse, Tilehurst – 28 April 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ren\u00e9e Grayer led a field trip to Harefield Copse and Boxgrove Wood, Tilehurst on the cold wet afternoon of Saturday 28th<\/sup> April. The walk started out from Little Heath at the junction of Pincents Lane and City Road. The route followed a footpath through a horse-grazed field, where Ren\u00e9e pointed out that the first field buttercups to come into flower in spring were Bulbous Buttercups, with reflexed sepals. The path led into Harefield Copse, where the Bluebells were close to their best. Scattered amongst them were Yellow Archangel, Goldilocks Buttercup, Woodruff and Wood Anemone, with both Early Dog-violet and Common Dog-violet in flower close to the path. A diversion along a smaller side path revealed a big clump of Early-purple Orchids and a number of Wild Service-trees. Dropping down through the woods, Wych Elm and the uncommon Southern Wood-rush were seen. The bottom of the woods were wetter, with some particularly slippery clay patches on the footpath. Here Moschatel, Enchanter\u2019s-nightshade and Primrose were found, together with Red Currant and Gooseberry bushes and another patch of Early-purple Orchids. An abrupt boundary at a wood bank from carpets of Bluebells to a big patch with no Bluebells hinted at a different history for the adjacent bits of woodland. An area which had recently been cleared of conifers was covered by a sea of Wood Spurge. On the climb back up through the woods, Wood Melick, Sanicle and Three-nerved Sandwort were added to the species tally.<\/p>\n