{"id":3072,"date":"2016-04-24T02:42:31","date_gmt":"2016-04-24T07:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/?p=3072"},"modified":"2016-04-24T02:42:31","modified_gmt":"2016-04-24T07:42:31","slug":"beenham-20-april-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/beenham-20-april-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Beenham – 20 April 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rob Stallard picked a day of strong sunshine for his circular walk, starting from the Six Bells at Beenham. 7 members set out along the village street towards the church on Wednesday 20th<\/sup> April. The daffodils in the churchyard were past their best, but 10 days earlier they had been identified as Wild Daffodils. A footpath led from the churchyard into Old Copse, where there was a superb display of Bluebells, together with Wood Anemones, Wood-sorrel, Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage, Yellow Archangel, Wood Spurge and about a dozen Early-purple Orchids. High above the wood, the blossom of the Wild Cherry Trees was white against the blue sky. The walk continued down a lane which was edged by a mossy earth bank, with abundant Common Polypody ferns on the top of the bank. The next footpath led across a grassy field. There were new leaves on a hedgerow oak, a Swallow flew overhead and an Orange-tip butterfly flew along the hedgeline.<\/p>\n

Continuing to Upper Woolhampton churchyard, Meadow Saxifrage was found on an old grave and a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly was seen in a nettle patch. The route then led to Channel Wood, where there was another splendid display of Bluebells, together with Common Dog-violet, Moschatel and Cuckooflower. Towards the end of the walk, a large area of standing water and mud in a ploughed field split the party into the ones who waded through and got their boots very muddy, and the ones who took a drier alternative footpath. Grayfield Wood had some fine Wood Spurge plants in flower, and several Brimstone butterflies were seen nearby. Following the walk, lunch was enjoyed at the Six Bells.<\/p>\n