Fascinating morning I had today when I found myself & son with a few bank holiday Monday hours to occupy. For a week or so, I've been tempted to get out & visit some woodland, to enjoy a 'natural' bluebell wood, therefore, with a return to work looming on tomorrow's horizon; my time had come!
A while ago, I tracked down a website run by the Woodland Trust, which provided, amongst other things; information to help people get out & enjoy woodland environments. There's a simple but effective search feature that tracks down sites with specific attributes; cafe, wheelchair access, toilets etc; you just pop in your postcode & it does the work for you. Click on the following for a look: Woodland Trust.
To cut to the chase, we tracked down a bluebell wood, only 10 minutes from our house, that is managed by Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, which we had passed by so many times before without realising. A small car park was provided, & before long we set off on foot, with my toddler in his reigns & my camera ready for some quick shots if I could grab the chance.
I certainly wasn't dissapointed. There was a good interpretation board that gave alround information for the woodland, including a map to show the routes available; its important of course to keep to the designated footpaths to preserve the wild flora. A couple of good pointers on the board read; 'Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but photographs', which I thought very succint.
This ancient wood offered a good mix of plant species & terrain, with nice easy paths on main routes through to some with gradients for those wanting something of a mild work-out! My toddler enjoyed the nicely managed walks through the wood, with the lush spring growth making routes quite obvious - he marched on & on! Of course, nettles come with the territory, but with a little delicate handling of the reigns, we navigated through unscathed.
There were the lovely Bluebells of course, which was my initial flower ticked off the list, but the wood threw up a few lovely extra's including Yellow Archangel, White Dead-nettle, & Red Campion. The River Avon flowed adjacent to a small but valuable meadow area, & this again brought in another very welcome aspect to the visit, seeing a pair of swans swimming against the brisk flow of water heading towards Stratford upon Avon. There was a lovely clump of my favourite Burdock, or 'Arctium' as I have learned since my return; I love the huge leaves. There were some reeds, or Phragmites growing down in the river margin, & water lillies surviving in a sheltered part of the river, although a little early for blossom - a return trip is now planned!
If you haven't visited a woodland for a while, I'd definately recommend it, & the websites mentioned above would be a basis to start your search. Woodlands are great places to catch the little ones imagination; the swish of the trees & bird song, the lush shade loving flowers & butterflies, they're magical.
A while ago, I tracked down a website run by the Woodland Trust, which provided, amongst other things; information to help people get out & enjoy woodland environments. There's a simple but effective search feature that tracks down sites with specific attributes; cafe, wheelchair access, toilets etc; you just pop in your postcode & it does the work for you. Click on the following for a look: Woodland Trust.
To cut to the chase, we tracked down a bluebell wood, only 10 minutes from our house, that is managed by Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, which we had passed by so many times before without realising. A small car park was provided, & before long we set off on foot, with my toddler in his reigns & my camera ready for some quick shots if I could grab the chance.
I certainly wasn't dissapointed. There was a good interpretation board that gave alround information for the woodland, including a map to show the routes available; its important of course to keep to the designated footpaths to preserve the wild flora. A couple of good pointers on the board read; 'Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but photographs', which I thought very succint.
This ancient wood offered a good mix of plant species & terrain, with nice easy paths on main routes through to some with gradients for those wanting something of a mild work-out! My toddler enjoyed the nicely managed walks through the wood, with the lush spring growth making routes quite obvious - he marched on & on! Of course, nettles come with the territory, but with a little delicate handling of the reigns, we navigated through unscathed.
We spent a good hour & a half wandering around, which was great excercise for the little one, & he took some notice of the butterflies & flowers along the way, which is a great introduction for him; he already loves spotting flowers (I hope it lasts!) We did stop for a short break, when he made full use of a fallen tree trunk & used it as a see-saw see-saw!
Visiting was a real breath of fresh air, & I didn't realise how long overdue. I'm a very focused gardener on the whole, but its been good to return to a more natural environment, to enjoy it for what it is - natural! I understand that even this 'wild' environment has to be managed, & I could see the signs of this; but it is very well cared for & not 'gardened', which is something I've become acclimatised to in a working capacity. It was nice for a change just to spot things that have occured with minimal input from humans, just a steering hand so to speak. I did learn from notices of the volunteer input to keeping these areas maintained, & if you're interested then the websites have all relevant contact information.
Happy 'Wild' gardening, Gary.
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