{"id":1839,"date":"2012-08-10T02:43:37","date_gmt":"2012-08-10T07:43:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/?p=1839"},"modified":"2012-08-10T02:43:37","modified_gmt":"2012-08-10T07:43:37","slug":"medmenham-28-july-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/medmenham-28-july-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"Medmenham – 28 July 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

The weather was fine and cool, just right for a country walk.\u00a0 24 members and guests met in Ferry Lane, Medmenham for a very varied walk, led by Chris Bucke, in an area dominated by the river Thames and by past human activity.\u00a0 The first habitat encountered was water meadow.\u00a0 A ditch right at the start of the walk provided a good show of Water Plantain (Alisma plantago-aquatica)<\/em> and the water meadow proved very species rich with Ragged Robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi)<\/em> persisting later than expected, Marsh Valerian (Valeriana dioica), <\/em>Yellow Loosestrife (Lysimachia vulgaris)<\/em> attracting particular attention.\u00a0 The braver members of the party detected colonies of non-stinging Nettles (Urtica dioica).\u00a0 <\/em>Hobbies were noted hunting dragonflies and damselflies, apparently successfully.<\/p>\n

There was an abrupt change of habitat on leaving the water meadow to a path with steep chalk cliff on one side and swampy areas to the other.\u00a0 The latter were once part of pleasure grounds of the Danesfield Hotel and the area was dominated by alien species, at least three bamboos and planted trees and shrubs. It has a very fine colony of Loddon Lily (Leucojum aestivum) <\/em>visible in the spring. \u00a0The chalk slopes had box (Buxus sempervirens) <\/em>reproducing vigorously but the most conspicuous species was Hart\u2019s Tongue Fern (Asplenium scolopendrium)<\/em> in great quantities.\u00a0 Some of these had fronds that split into two at the tip.\u00a0 The path climbed and passed through a tunnel to a shady area where there was a colony of Nettle-leaved Bellflower (Campanula trachelium) <\/em>some of which were a very attractive white-flowered variant.\u00a0 It emerged into species-rich dry chalk grassland.\u00a0 This did not provide especial rarities but was very interesting because different areas seemed rich in different species: a large colony of Goat\u2019s Rue (Galega officinalis) <\/em>attracted attention, as did Burnet Saxifrage (Pimpinella saxifraga) <\/em>and Rest Harrow (Ononis repens), <\/em>both of these apparently confined to particular areas.\u00a0 The whole area was probably part of the pleasure grounds of the Danesfield Hotel so the different areas may have been subject to different cultural regimes in the past.<\/p>\n

The party returned by the same route but most had the intense pleasure of walking through Suzanne Phillips\u2019 lovely garden at Medmenham Mill.\u00a0 Any tendencies to note the wild species in the garden were rapidly eliminated by the beauty and variety of the cultivated species.\u00a0 This completed the pleasure of the afternoon and it is to be hoped that Suzanne will accompany us on other walks in the area in the future.<\/p>\n

Report by Chris Bucke<\/em><\/p>\n