Spring Flower Walk 2023

Spring Flower Walk 2023 with Friends of Hillhouse Wood

Early Purple Orchid
Early Purple Orchids similar to those seen

This is one of a few guided walks the Friends of Hillhouse Woods run each year. They  work with The Woodland Trust to look after this beautiful remnant of ancient woodland.

Last years’ Spring Flower Walk identified nine flowers in the first few yards, also many birds and other natural delights. The stars of the walk were Early Purple orchids that were flowering in profusion on the bank above the top pond. Walkers saw a total of 29 plants and trees in flower, which shows what a rich little patch of nature we are lucky enough to have.

Don’t miss this years’ walk!

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Winter Bird Walk 2023 -will a Waxwing show this year?

Winter Bird Walk 2023

Waxwing
Waxwings migrate from the boreal forests of continental Europe to spend their winters with us in search of rowan and other berries.

The Winter Bird Walk 2023 takes place on Saturday 4th March at Hillhouse Wood with Steve Hallam leading.  Walkers should meet at the Old Church at 10 am (weather permitting). We advise wearing stout footwear and warm clothing & with a warm drink in a flask.  Walkers can expect to see a range of resident woodland and meadow species as well as some winter visitors. Last year the walkers saw or heard:

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2022 Dawn Chorus Walk – Where’s the Song Thrush

Steve Hallam reports on the 2022 Dawn Chorus walk.

The 2022 Dawn Chorus walk at Hillhouse Wood took place in the midst of a run of warm sunny days, with cool nights. Except for the morning that we chose, which was cloudy and dull but mild. Nevertheless, the publicity team had done an excellent job, resulting in a very pleasing 30 people turning up. I was particularly pleased to find that Jonathan Jukes, the Woodland Trust Regional Manager responsible for the wood, had dragged himself out of bed at such an uncivilised hour, to join us. With the cloud cover, the night was still fully dark, and thus the birds were relatively slow to get going.

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2022 Spring Flower Walk – but no pea shooters

Some of the spring flowers seen on the 2022 spring flower walk

Steve Hallam reports on the 2022 Spring Flower Walk.

This took place on a day of sunny intervals and a strong breeze; 12 people came along and off we went. Except that we did not go too far, to start with, as the first few yards of the track hold a variety of flowers to be discussed.

  • Daisies,
  • Dandelions,
  • Red campion,
  • Cow parsley,
  • Ground ivy,
  • Yellow archangel (domestic variety),
  • Garlic mustard,
  • Greater stitchwort and
  • Buttercup

… may not set everyone’s pulse racing – but they all contribute to a rich flora and they each have a story to tell. In the hands of a knowledgeable and articulate expert guide, these can weave a fascinating spell.

Unfortunately for the group, however, they had me – you get what you pay for!

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The return of guided walks at Hillhouse Wood

Two Guided Walks Return to Hillhouse Wood

Guided walks return to Hillhouse Wood

After a gap of three years, guided walks return with two great walks to enjoy with Steve Hallam in the next few weeks.

  • Spring Flower Walk on 23rd April, and
  • Dawn Chorus Walk on 7th May.

Spring Flower Walk

The last Spring Flower walk took place in 2019 in the company of Storm Hannah! Despite the weather, 22 folks assembled for the walk and thoroughly enjoyed themselves; the comic highlight possibly being when Steve was pretty much blown over by the force of the wind! The walk is normally conducted at a gentle pace (storms permitting).

In a typical year you are likely to see the following flowers:

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Winter Bird Walk 2022 – will you see a Waxwing?

Waxwing
Waxwings migrate from the boreal forests of continental Europe to spend their winters with us in search of rowan and other berries.

Winter Bird Walk 2022

The first guided walk at Hillhouse Wood since 2020 takes place on Saturday 26th February when Steve Hallam leads the Winter Bird Walk 2022.  Walkers should meet at the Old Church at 10 am (weather permitting), wearing stout footwear and warm clothing & with a warm drink in a flask.  They can expect to see a range of resident woodland and meadow species as well as some winter visitors, the Woodland Trust lists the following as the top-15 winter potentials:

Continue reading “Winter Bird Walk 2022 – will you see a Waxwing?”

Winter Bird Walk 2020 – will you see a Waxwing?

Waxwing

Waxwing
Waxwings migrate from the boreal forests of continental Europe to spend their winters with us in search of rowan and other berries.

Winter Bird Walk 2020

The first guided walk of the year at Hillhouse Wood takes place on Saturday 29th February when Steve Hallam leads the Winter Bird Walk 2020.  Walkers should meet at the Old Church at 10 am (weather permitting), wearing

Continue reading “Winter Bird Walk 2020 – will you see a Waxwing?”

Autumn Fruits in the Rain

Autumn Fruits walk in the rainAutumn Fruits in the Rain

It appears in recent years, that the Autumn Fruits Walk tends to act as a magnet to rain.  This year was no exception.  However, the weather forecast gave plenty of warning and so the 7 participants came prepared.

As for the walk itself, we again saw how the presence, location and abundance of plants vary from year to year. This time there were lots of the Continue reading “Autumn Fruits in the Rain”

2019 Spring Flower Walk with Storm Hannah

Wodland flowers to see on Spring Nature WalkStorm Hannah Besets Spring Walk

Whilst we had some glorious weather over the Easter weekend the following Saturday brought strong winds, overcast skies and the threat of rain courtesy of Storm Hannah.  It was in this environment that Steve Hallam lead the annual Spring Flower Walk into and around Hillhouse Wood.  Having successfully survived the walk, Steve reported:

A bit different

This year produced something a bit different – as I was nearly blown over at one point (with only a slight exaggeration for dramatic effect).  As luck would have it Storm Hannah chose that afternoon to blow some cobwebs away.

Despite the ‘challenging’ forecast I was pleased and relieved to see 22 people assemble for ‘the off’.  The graveyard and adjacent track hold a varied display of flowers, each with a story to tell.  I was able to show the group 13 species before we had walked 30 yards.  It is always nice to show people how much there is that they would otherwise have walked straight past.  Whilst things calmed down a bit after such a racing start, the track down to the entrance of the wood still revealed a lovely spread of Speedwells tucked into its verge.  And I was able to explain how Groundsel got its name.

And into the wood…

Once in the wood, I was able to find a last few Lesser celandine and Wood anemones – well past their prime, but still providing some colour.  In contrast, the Early purple orchids were showing well, with a good number of flower spikes. Regular readers will recall that every year there is some variation in what we see.  And so, it was that this year there were several lovely Violets flowering right by the path, while last year there were none.  In contrast, this year I could not find a single Lady’s smock or Bugle.

Wild Garlic Detour

As the ‘bracing’ weather had encouraged us to keep walking at a good pace, I decided that this year we would detour down to the bottom stream to see the Wild garlic.  This turned out to be an effort worth making, as the group were most interested in it.  It also provided me with yet another opportunity to say one thing, while ‘nature’ catches me out by doing the opposite.  I explained how the garlic only ever grows within a certain number of yards of the water and wondered how this was so precise.  Naturally, a few yards further along the path we found a patch of garlic growing three times this distance away from the water!

Bluebells

We then visited all of the three main areas of Bluebells, which were just about fully out.  We felt that the display was not quite up to the standard of some years, as we could see individual flower spikes, as opposed to a solid ‘carpet’ of blue.  Perhaps last summer’s drought was the reason?  Still impressive, though.  Finally, I was able to show the group the ‘non-flowers’ of Golden saxifrage, so easy to miss.  And then also the tiny and weird symmetrical flowerhead of Moschatel, or Town-hall clock.”

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