Browne's Folly

Alex told us about the ongoing problem with Ash Dieback Disease. They have lost many mature (and also quite a few younger) trees, and at present are felling them where they are unsafe to walkers, and leaving the felled trees in the woodland to enable insects and mammals to take advantage of them. However, due to the overwhelming number of dead trees on the woodland floor, they are in the process of removing a high percentage of them. This is an ongoing problem all over the country; it is hoped that eventually sufficient resistant saplings will recolonise the area.

We didn't have time to explore the open grassland above the woodland, so that will have to wait for another year. We returned to the car park and said a sad goodbye to Alex and to Browne's Folly.

Common dog-violet

King Arthur's cakes

There were plenty of wild spring flowers around, including early English bluebells, wild strawberry, lesser celandine, cuckoo flower, common dog-violet, daisy, dandelion and ransoms. The common horsetail was showing its short, club-like fertile stems, before the tall infertile stems later in the year. There were many round, black fungi (called “King Arthur's Cakes” as they look like burnt buns) clinging to old tree trunks.

Insects were also out in the sunshine; we saw clouded yellow, brimstone and peacock butterflies, bee-flies and red-tailed bumble bees among them. We didn't expect to come across any of the mammals that call this reserve their home, but were assured that there were mice, badgers, muntjac deer and foxes hiding away; although we did see some goats sunbathing (they apparently belong to a local farmer!). No dormice have been detected here.

Lots of birds were heard and seen, unfortunately I am not an expert at their identification so you will have to ask the other members present as to what they saw!