{"id":3469,"date":"2017-07-25T04:21:05","date_gmt":"2017-07-25T09:21:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/?p=3469"},"modified":"2017-11-06T12:35:28","modified_gmt":"2017-11-06T17:35:28","slug":"turville-17-july-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/turville-17-july-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Turville – 19 July 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rob Stallard led a circular walk starting from the Bull and Butcher pub at Turville on Wednesday 19 July. It was a mild and humid morning, following an evening of torrential thunderstorms. The walk started out up the lane through the village, then turned left onto a footpath up the side of a field. Several tall plants of Stone Parsley were growing at the field entrance and in the field margin were a number of interesting arable weeds, including Dwarf Spurge, Small Toadflax and Sharp-leaved Fluellen. Clumps of Wild Marjoram on the other side of the path harboured Common Blue butterflies and a single Small Copper. Higher up the bank were flower spikes of Dark Mullein and on one of these, 2 caterpillars of the Striped Lychnis moth were spotted. The route then led up through Churchfield Wood, where Nettle-leaved Bellflower, Hairy St John\u2019s-wort, Gooseberry and Wood Barley were amongst the sightings. The next footpath contoured through Idlecombe Wood, with distant views across the valley. Deadly Nightshade and Spurge-laurel were found here. The walk continued down through a grassy field with abundant Wild Marjoram, Common Toadflax and Dark Mullein, across the lane at the bottom, along a track with more Wood Barley and the bright orange fruiting spikes of Lords-and-Ladies and across a grassy field, where a tiny centaury plant with a small, dark pink flower was thought to be Lesser Centaury. Next stop was the privately-owned Gray\u2019s Lane Bank nature reserve. Flowers here included Clustered Bellflower, Yellow-wort, Carline and Stemless Thistle and Ploughman\u2019s-spikenard. Close inspection revealed that the abundant thyme plants were Large Thyme. Their 4-sided stems had long hairs at the corners, the leaves were slightly folded upwards and the stamens protruded significantly from the flowers. The route continued to Ibstone Church, down a steep section of lane, then along a footpath below a wood, where Vervain, Wild Mignonette, Common Rock-rose and Pale Toadflax were seen. The final section of the footpath crossed the grassy field below the Turville windmill. Pyramidal Orchids, a little past their best, were still in flower at the bottom of the field. The walk was followed by lunch at the Bull and Butcher.<\/p>\n