By woods, marsh & heath

[puddleshark]

Silver-studded Blue (Plebejus argus).

Still a cold, fresh June. The heather is not yet in flower on the heath, but there are tiny Silver-studded Blue butterflies on the wing.



Through the hazel coppice, with the wrens singing.




Hoverflies humming above the bracken.


Hemlock Water Dropwort in the ditches.


Dog Daisies among the rushes.


Willow-lined ponds.


Azure Damselfly, I think.


The path to the marshes. Expect mud. Even in June.


The bracken hasn't quite eaten the path. Not yet.


A mossy oak, by the marshes.

A few Marsh Orchids in flower, but too far out in the marshes to photograph. A Peregrine Falcon hunting, also too far out over the marshes to photograph. Sika deer in their dappled summer coats glimpsed in the distance.

The theme of the day: "Things too far away to photograph".


Raven.

From the marshes, back across the heath, where the European Gorse has almost finished flowering, and the Bell Heather is yet to start.


Cross-leaved Heath (Erica tetralix).


Heath Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza maculata). There has been a small colony of them here for years. (There was an article in the New Scientist saying that scientists have discovered that some orchids use a mycorrhizal network to send food packets to young plants, and this is why orchids grow in colonies).

A brief stop by the banks of the Tea Brown Lake, sheltering under an oak, waiting for the rain to stop.




Then back through the woods.

On the way home, a stop off at the little tea room run by a local farm. Sat outside in the sunshine and cold wind, drinking tea, in company with the speckled white hen who wanders around the tea room garden begging for food, and clucking happily when you drop her some cake crumbs. But she is most fond of the free Biscoff biscuits the tea room gives out with tea and coffee. When she hears the wrapper being opened she becomes very vocal, and even tries to jump up and snatch the biscuit from your hand. (No photos. I had the zoom lens on the camera, and she was too close. The theme of the day: "Things too far away to photograph. Or too close.")

Comments

[heleninwales]

Those photos really capture the atmosphere of the woods and marshes.

You really have to watch hens where food is concerned. One mugged me once and stole my cream bun as I was unloading the shopping from the back of our Landrover.

[puddleshark]

Thank you.

LOL. Yeah, when they set their heart on something, hens are surprisingly good at sneak attacks!

[zenigotchas]

I want to go there it looks magical!! Just like a fairytale 😍

I love chickens, they can be so mischievious like that <3 She sounds like an adorable bird <3

[puddleshark]

This is one of my favourite walks. It has everything: the green woods, lonely marshes, open heathland. And a nearby tea room!

That hen is a real character. The way she instantly recognises the sound of a packet of biscuits being opened - you just know she's spent her life hanging round the tea room. 😊

[sartorias]

Wow, what a terrific shot!

[puddleshark]

Thank you!