A Jack Russell terrier in the boot and other surprises

It's been hot much of the time and that has meant early starts in order to get a walk in before it's too hot for furry dogs and their paws. Not to mention their owners.

It's also meant interesting dawnlight in the woods, and on rivers and lakes.

The trees are continuing to struggle in the extreme conditions, dropping huge branches, coppiced trunks and in some cases falling completely and taking other trees with them as they go.

While the landscape is mostly still lush, with no end in sight to temperatures nudging 30°+,  it will be tipping into sere any day now.  Here's Badock's Wood on the River Trym, modelling both looks.

Top to bottom, left to right:

red and white clover; moon daisy;yellow rattle; broadleaf enchanter's nightshade; honeysuckle; broomrape; white dead nettle; foxglove

large-leaved avens; common twayblade; hemlock water dropwort; milk thistle; loosestrife; bindweed; meadow bindweed; hedge woundwort and agrimony; common centaury; hairy St John's Wort 

broad-leaved willowherb; mallow; field rose; rosebay willowherb; self heal; ragwort; meadowsweet; valerian; buddleia

hogweed; black mustard; mallow; corn cockle; tutsan (St John's Wort); ivy-leaved toadflax, chicory; wood dock

poppy; corn flower; corn marigold; ground elder; tufted vetch; crow garlic; wild carrot; spear thistle; hemp agrimony; fleabane

Buddleia and chicory at Blaise Castle

 moon daisies, ragwort, hogweed and tufted vetch on Purdown

Vassall's Park

sweet chestnut catkins at Blaise

Following on from my recent trip to Barbury Castle, I've been to check in on a couple of other, more local hillforts, namely Stokeleigh Camp in Leigh Woods ...

... and Bury Hill Fort at Frenchay, both of which, while not exactly atmospheric in the high summer heat, were looking good.

assorted fungi

Ermine Moth caterpillars

Top to bottom, left to right:

ermine mother caterpillars; treble brown spot; froghoppers

painted lady; cinnabar moth caterpillar; ladybird

 

Red admiral

Holly blue

We've been to one new place and that was Lower Woods in South Gloucestershire, one of the largest areas of ancient woodland in the south-west and an SSI to boot. Unfortunately it was very hot and the wide rides cut through the trees did nothing to protect woman and dog from the boiling sun. Also, lots of the woodland, at least where we walked, was fenced off. Important to manage it for wildlife, I know, but it felt far from the immersive experience promised online. Maybe a visit in spring or autumn would be more interesting, but I found myself thinking fondly of our feral woods locally, and how I can get lost on their winding little paths in deepest summer even though I go there most days. No chance of that here.

There was some light relief when we got back to the car park. I opened the boot of my car, took out a water bowl, filled it with chilled water from a flask, and waited while Cwtch drank it, only to find, when I went to put it back, that the boot now contained a Jack Russell terrier, who was busy eating some mouldy bits of kibble that had been spilt some time ago from the box of crow food. (I feed the crows at Asda when I go shopping.) He showed no signs of jumping out again, I didn't want to pick him up in case he was a biter, so in the end I rattled the box and shook a few bits of (fresh) kibble onto the ground to get him out, before quickly shutting the boot and heading off. 

Most of the wildlife I've got a close look at has been dead, sadly, which is the usual state of affairs when you're walking a dog. (Not, of course, that Cwtch killed them; it's just that sensible creatures get out of the way when they spot a collie.)

Top to bottom, left to right:

roe deer; thrush eggs; crow; robinling

snail massacre; shrew; squirrel having a peek; vole

That said, the feather season has started in earnest, with the first three jay coverts found (always a reliable indicator):

magpie; tawny owl; jay; great spotted woodpecker; sparrowhawk; green woodpecker; nuthatch; long-tailed tit; greenfinch; robin; buzzard

But mostly it's been beautiful despite the heat. I'm really looking forward to getting lots more walking done through the rest of the summer. 

View across Stoke Park at Purdown

my favourite Purdown oak at midsummer

hoggin

Cwtch at Blaise Castle

Other flowers are available

At the end of April, I thought I'd had all the bluebells I was going to get, at least in Bristol, but there were a few late surprises in some more sheltered pockets, like this lane at Winterbourne in South Gloucestershire ...

... and also at nearby Monk's Pool Nature Reserve.

There were also cowslips still blooming in one of the meadows on Purdown beneath the BT tower.

Mostly, though, it's been a glorious month of cow parsley and wild garlic, both of which bloom in profusion at Badock's Wood, in the Trym gorge ...

... and in Hermitage Wood, high above the River Frome on Purdown.

Oh, and mustn't forget my favourite whitethorn, here also in Hermitage Wood ... 

... and further upstream on the Frome, at Winterbourne Down.

And, of course, lots of other flowers too ... 

row 1: cowslip; red campion; yellow mustard; ground ivy; whitethorn x 2; comfrey

row 2: greater stitchwort; wood avens; cuckoo flower (lady's smock); hedge mustard; dog rose; jack-by-the-hedge (garlic mustard); bluebells, yellow archangel, wild garlic; hemlock water dropwort

row 3: horse chestnut, whitethorn and cow parsley; green-winged orchid; rowan; forget-me-not; flag iris; lesser celandine; columbine; elder blossom

row 4: fringe cups; yellow archangel; buttercup and vetch; wood speedwell; wild strawberry; herb Robert; black mustard; alkanet

The squeeze-belly stile leading down to Wickham Glen was also beautifully dressed with cow parsley and alkanet ... 

... while downstream at Eastville Park lake, there were cygnets, ducklings, goslings, cootlings and, rather ominously, the local heron. 

Where there are lots of flowers, there are insects, but most of them far too flighty for me to take a photo of.

Fungi don't move around much, though there's not a lot about at present:

Good times for hoggin finding, though: last year's leaf litter is gone, mud is no longer an issue, other people are out walking and displacing soil, and spring showers make the ground soft enough to dig bits out:

On Halfpenny Bridge at Snuff Mills

Path at Vassalls Park

There was deep sadness one morning when I was walking at Blaise and found that a favourite tree - a sweet chestnut estimated to be between four and six hundred years old - had fallen in the four weeks since I'd last visited it. 

I'd got into the habit of photographing it every time I saw it: above, on the left hand side, is how it looked in November, March and early April. 

Nearby in the wood, there was another fallen tree - a beech - blocking the path ...

... and another in the woods at Winterbourne Down. It's been such a year for falling trees, with no signficant wind storms to cause it. I can only assume it's down to extremes of climate - a hot dry summer, followed by a very wet winter, followed by a dry spring.

Other sadnesses: a fallen bluetit and a fallen nest. 

More predated bluetit feathers here, along with an (early) moulted great spotted woodpecker tail feather, a goldfinch primary and a tawny owl secondary.

After the loss of one old friend, making the acquaintance of a new one - this magnificent, railing-eating oak in the woods at Bishop's Knoll - was a comfort. 

Old Sneed Park nature reserve

Old Sneed Park Lake

After the hurly-burly of spring, Cwtch and I are looking forward to summer, where you can wander along side paths and end up getting lost in woods you know perfectly well all the rest of the year. Bring on the peace of the deep, dark woods.