Berkshire: Windsor Great Park

7 May 2013                                                OS 175: Reading & Windsor

Length: half day.

We visited two sites - Savill Gardens for its naturalised daffodils, and Cranborne Chase and the open park for its veteran trees.  It is possible to walk between the two, although we drove separately to each, saving repetition of the walk back.

          The car park at Savill Gardens is signed from the main roads at SU977706.  There is an entrance fee, but the car park is free for the first 90 minutes.  We found we could walk round it in an hour.  In front of the Savill Building where the entrance and shop stand is a welcoming "Sedum roof" that at this time was carpeted with flowering stems of meadow saxifrage Saxifraga granulata.

Meadow saxifrage amongst small Sedum leaves

After entry we descended the grass slope towards the lake.  On this slope a group of daffodils with 1-3 flowers per stem, of medium size, appeared to be the cultivar 'Sweetness' (see picture). 

'Sweetness' daffodil

 By the bridge over the lake we visited a bank with cuckoo-flowers Cardamine pratensis being visited at the same time by orange-tip butterflies, while dark alder flies emerged from the lake that had been the home of their larvae.  Here among field woodrush Luzula campestris and the leaves of common spotted orchid Dactylorrhiza fuchsii, there were plants of a pale purple form of wood anemone Anemone nemorosa, which can occur naturally, but may have been selected for this horticultural situation.  There were also many well-naturalised specimens of the miniature species Narcissus bulbocodium with its distinctive megaphone-shaped flowers, also known as the "hoop-petticoat daffodil".  These were scattered all across this bank and we were to find them similarly naturalised in many other grasslands in the gardens, particularly in the area beyond the lake called The Glades.  It appears that they seed and germinate readily, although native to SW Europe.  The Glades consist of a large meadow on both sides of a small stream where N. bulbocodium is rife, along with a few specimens of another miniature Narcissus minor.  It was pleasing to see a formal garden like this allow these species to spread and acclimatise, looking as though they were in their natural meadow habitat instead of a garden-bed, and this as a matter of policy.

 

Pale purple form of wood anemone

Narcissus bulbocodium

 In the lake below flowered bogbean Menyanthese trifoliata and marsh marigold Caltha palustris, which may have been native to these waters.

Bogbean in the lake

In The Glades the N. bulbocodium was accompanied by bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta, cowslip Primula veris, and fritillaries Fritillaria meleagris, a good many the white form that hints that these, like the daffodils, were introduced, as the white form constitutes only a very small percentage of "native" or at least long-established populations.  Other introductions in this meadow are Erythronium revolutum, a lily with marbled leaves, and Asian skunk-cabbage Lysichiton camtschatcensis in the brook.  St Georges Mushroom Calocybe gambosa also grew here.

 

Narcissus bulbocodium in The Glades with a couple of Narcissus minor

Fritillaries by the brook in The Glades

Erythonium revolutum

Asian skunk-cabbage

The other species daffodil long-naturalised in the Gardens is the cyclamen daffodil Narcissus cyclamineus, so named for its swept-back petals.  There is a large plot of this beyond the Glades as you approach the Spring Garden.  Unfortunately this plant had flowered much earlier and it took a diligent search to find one last fading bloom to photograph.

Narcissus cyclameneus

We completed the tour of the garden past the Queen Elizabeth Temperate House and back to the river and its lakes.  Striking plants included the following.

Rhododendrons augustinii cv 'Electra' (upper)

& 'Baden Baden' hybrid 'Essex Scarlet' x forrestii 'Repens' (lower)

Lily of the valley

Acer palmatum 'Dissectum'

'Salome' daffodil with pink trumpet

'Coleman Hybrid' daffodil

'Baby Moon' daffodil

'Toto' daffodil

 

Inside the warm Temperate House mossy clubmoss Selaginella kraussiana was spreading like a weed, although we did not see it escaped, as it does occasionally in the south-west.

Mossy Clubmoss inside the Temperate House

By the stream American skunk-cabbage Lysichiton americanus is well naturalised, and we saw one small patch of blinks Montia fontana, quite possibly native.

American skunk-cabbage

As we returned to the entrance we noticed a fenced grass plot where another species daffodil was being naturalised, this time the multi-flowered creamy Narcissus triandrus from the Iberian peninsula.

 

Narcissus triandrus

We then drove to the car-park on the A332 at SU948727, opposite a pink lodge called Cranbourne Gate.  This provides access to a small part of the old woodland of Cranbourne Chase.  Immediately by the entrance to the car-park is one venerable pollard oak Quercus robur, over 700 metres girth, which is split but apparently in good condition.

 

 

There are similar pollard oaks all along this part of the A332, easily seen from a car.

Old pollard oak by A332

Also near the entrance was shining cranesbill Geranium lucidum, but the ground flora in this area is generally poor with thin acid soils and improved grassland.

 

Shining cranesbill

To the south more old oaks in various states of disrepair were visible in cow pasture.

In the semi-open woodland west of the car-park roamed cattle that looked very like the Chillingham breed, closest to the original wild cattle.  We also saw roe deer.

 

Chillingham? bull, Cranbourne Chase

We followed a sandy riding track (there seem to be no footpaths) through the woodland, past a fine display of bluebells.

Cranbourne Chase

Most of the veteran trees here are oak, but we did see the odd beech Fagus sylvatica, hosting the common willow bracket Phellinus igniarius.

 

Old beech, Cranbourne Chase

Willow brackets on old beech

Another old oak, Cranbourne Chase

While the veterans are oak and beech, the younger growth trees are mainly sycamore Acer pseudoplatanus with hawthorn Crataegus monogyna scrub, while ash seedlings Fraxinus excelsior dominate the ground layer, showing a very different wood developing.  There were also some tall old apple trees, but Malus domestica, not the true crab apple.

Apple blossom

The riding track bent back round to the road opposite Rangers Gate.  We crossed the A332 here and found by the gate some clumps of early scurvy-grass Cochlearia danica, a sign of road-salting.  By the lodge was another impressive old oak.

Early scurvy-grass, Rangers Gate

Old oak by Lodge, Rangers Gate

We entered the main part of Windsor Great Park, an odd artificial landscape of straight hedgerows, wide grass rides with vistas and statues, improved grassland and intensively farmed fields, where the vegetation is very low in diversity, a landscape for riding and hunting rather than walking.  The main flowers in the low grass were dandelions Taraxacum officinale agg and the introduced slender speedwell Veronica filiformis.

 

Vista towards Windsor Castle along Queen Anne's Ride

We took the path to Queen Anne's Ride and up there to The Village, where grotesque lime-trees Tilia x europaea, much lopped and pruned against their natural growth, were festooned with large clumps of mistletoe Viscum album.  They stand near the Millstone statue commemorating the planting of 1000 trees along this ride in 1992, replacing veterans that were taken down because they looked decrepit, not recognising they were invaluable for invertebrates and fungi in that state, and even have a certain Gothic scenic value.

Mistletoe limes by The Village and the Millstone

We went east from this spot towards the 1829 copper statue of George III on Snow Hill.  We passed an excellent large veteran oak which was not far under 10 metres in girth.  The emergence holes in some of the dead wood showed that it was being well used by beetles.

Ancient oak with girth of nearly 10 metres

Bark of the veteran oak

This route also passed some old hornbeams Carpinus betulus and some fragments of wood stained blue by the Green Elfcup fungus.  There was another long vista to Windsor Castle from the top by the statue.  We walked south from here and circled around the other side of The Village, sometimes with ring-necked parakeets flying over with their harsh cries, and occasional views of brown hare, pheasant and red-legged partridge.  From here it is just a short walk back to Cranbourne Gate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Berkshire: Maidenhead Thicket & Few-flowered Leek

3 May 2013                                                OS 175: Reading & Windsor

Length: 1 hour.

 
We started from the car-park by the northern arm of Maidenhead Thicket (National Trust) at SU855816.  Across the road was an open access field carpeted with cowslips Primula veris, one of the best cowslip meadows we have seen, thick with vigorous plants.  This is Pinkneys Green Common, managed by the National Trust.

Cowslips, Pinkneys Green Common

 Having drunk in this spectacle - which is likely to be full of more flowers in the summer - we walked NW through the thicket to the north end and then followed the west edge southwards.  The wood is largely of young trees with occasional mature beech.  Plants common here are red currant Ribes rubrum, ramsons Allium ursinum in large masses but still only in bud, wood anemone Anemone nemorosa, woodruff Galium odoratum, spindle Euonymus europaeus, gooseberry Ribes uva-crispa, bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta, lesser celandine Ficaria verna, sanicle Sanicula europaea and our target few-flowered garlic Allium paradoxum. 

Wood anemones, Maidenhead Thicket

Ramsons, Maidenhead Thicket

 The few-flowered garlic, which happened to be in peak condition on this date, was concentrated down the western edge, sometimes spilling out of the wood into the grassland.  This must be one of the best places to see this plant in all its glory.  Most plants consisted of a head of bulbils with several white papery bracts, from which emerged one or two slender stalks with single small white bell-shaped flowers - few-flowered indeed.

Few-flowered garlic flower-head

Dense patch of few-flowered garlic

Few-flowered garlic with cowslips just outside wood

Some plants of hybrid bluebell Hyacinthoides x massartiana near the car-park made us wonder about the origins of the flora in this wood.  The few-flowered garlic is certainly an introduction and can spread rapidly, ramsons is native but also occurs widely as a garden escape, and the same applies to many other plants here, such as red currant and gooseberry.  Others like sanicle and woodruff are almost certainly native.  However it got to be this way, it is still a great spectacle in spring.

 

Afterwards a brief drive took us to Burchetts Green SP840815 (walking there is awkward because of the intervening motorway).  Here an old American red oak Quercus rubra stands at the crossroads opposite the Crown pub.  It was just opening its bright yellow leaves at our visit.

Red oak, Burchetts Green

New leaves on red oak

 We walked up Hall Place Lane from the oak, leading to a path through playing fields to Hall Place College.  On the crest ahead stretches a line of limes Tilia x europaea with large bunches of mistletoe Viscum album, standing out dramatically against the sky.  They border the eastern road into Hall Place and were originally planted in the C17th, although many have been replaced since.  The usual bush of shoots at their base is kept cut, unusually revealing the trunk. 

Hall Place limes from south

 

Mistletoe

The former mansion is now a further education facility teaching a huge range of work skills from farming to hairdressing to dog-handling and the park makes a very pleasant milieu.  A range of daffodils has been planted along the road verges.  We did not stop to identify most, but we were struck by the cultivar 'High Society', which has a trumpet which is pink, white, yellow, then green inside.

'High Society' daffodil

Berkshire: River Loddon & the Loddon Lily

30 April 2013                                             OS 175: Reading & Windsor

Length: half day.

 
This walk was essentially all about the rare Loddon Lily Leucojum aestivum, which is either native or long-established here along the Loddon and to a lesser extent by the Thames, although it occurs elsewhere casually as a recent garden escape.
 
We started at the car-park of Dinton Pastures Country Park just east of Reading SU785717 (just £2-40 all day).  The park was busy with dog-walkers, joggers and groups of walkers of all kinds.  With it being a sunny spring day after a long winter, flowers, bee-flies and butterflies (most of the spring species including holly blue) were out in quantity.

Comma on its food-plant

 We took the path west along the south side of the park, heading straight for the River Loddon, which forms its western boundary.  We passed some indigenous wood-carvings of a bird and snail.

Bluebells Hyacinthoides non-scripta were just out - our first of the year; lesser celandine Ficaria verna, garlic mustard Alliaria petiolata, greater stitchwort Stellaria holostea.  Many trees and shrubs were flowering: blackthorn Prunus spinosa, Norway maple Acer platanoides, field maple Acer campestris, ash Fraxinus excelsior, wild cherry Prunus avium.
 

Norway maple flowers & lichen Xanthoria parietina

Ash flowers

 
By the streams, lakes and pools (these are former gravel workings) great pond sedge Carex riparia and hemlock water dropwort Oenanthe crocata were common.  At the first lake, ducks and geese congregated around the interpretation board where there was obviously regularly feeding.  They were largely mallard, Canada geese, Egyptian geese, coot, mute swans, herring gulls, tufted duck, a few gadwall, great crested grebe and a possible melanistic mallard.
 

Egyptian goose and mallard

Gadwall quacking

Melanistic mallard?

Freshly-opened cuckoo-pint Arum maculatum posed for a picture and could not be refused.

 

When we reached the river, we first saw ramsons Allium ursinum on the banks, the flowers still in bud, wrapped in a white cowl, but soon afterwards we began seeing clumps of Loddon lily and these were at a perfect stage in their flowering season.  We saw these scattered the whole length of the river on both sides between the southern and northern boundaries of the Country Park.  Reminiscent of snowdrop with the green spot on their petals, most spikes had 2 or 3 bell-shaped flowers which hung their heads demurely.  The rare flower that happened to be gazing upwards revealed the striking orange anthers inside which normally remain unseen.
 

 

Close-up of Loddon lily showing orange anthers

 
We explored the east bank and then crossed the river by the bridge at the south end of the park to follow the west bank north.  Where mud had been dredged from the river there were bleached remains of the River Snail Viviparus viviparus, restricted to major rivers like this and the Thames, and Swollen River-mussel Unio tumidus.  Deep in the stream could be seen the large submerged leaves of fringed water-lily Nymphoides peltata.

          After diverging from the river round a large field, we followed a path through an equally large marsh.  It was fortunate that the path was concreted here because the water was very high in the centre, coming over our feet, and it would otherwise have been difficult getting through.  It led to a rather decrepit wood (Sandford Mill Copse?) with some old trees that looked as though it had seen better times, but by going right at the entrance through fallen wood debris we came across a swamp with thousands of Loddon lilies crowded around, the largest colony we found (see picture).

 

 
Although neglected and with some rubbish, this copse also contained wood anemone Anemone nemorosa, primrose Primula vulgaris and moschatel Adoxa moschatellina.  Some of the latter had distorted stalks and the silvery spore-capsules (sori) of the fungus Puccinia adoxae.

Wood anemone and primrose

Moschatel

 
Old willows had the common bracket fungi Willow Bracket Phellinus igniarius and Blushing Bracket Daedaleopsis confragosa.

Willow bracket

Blushing bracket

 
At the top of the wood (having found the right route among the meandering paths) we were confronted by the apparent wreck of an aeroplane!

Having found a way around to the other side we discovered the Berkshire Museum of Aviation.  There were a couple of outside exhibits and much other stuff inside a hanger, but it was currently closed.  Just inside the fence by the entrance were the dead seed-stalks of tower mustard Arabis turrita, reportedly transferred here when land nearby where it grew was landscaped for the museum car park.  On a barish grassy bank opposite the entrance grew early forgetmenot Myosotis ramosissima, cornsalad Valerianella sp, thale cress Arabidopsis thaliana, common whitlow-grass Erophila varna, parsley-piert Aphanes arvensis, field woodrush Luzula campestris and leaves of tansy Tanacetum vulgare. 

 

Early forgetmenot

Nearby were garden yellow archangel Lamiastrum galeobdolon montanum, garden grape hyacinth Muscari armeniacum, honesty Lunaria annua, purple and white forms together, and curly leaves of crow garlic Allium vineale.

Honesty in purple and white forms

The museum has access to the lane from Reading to Sandford Mill, which we took past the latter, where a dell below the road as it passes over the Loddon had more Loddon lily, ramsons and marsh marigold Caltha palustris.  The bridge itself supported hartstongue Phyllitis scolopendrium and common mosses, while shiny cranesbill Geranium lucidum was common in the verges. 

Mosses on bridge, Bryum capillare (green capsules) & Tortula muralis

 

Shining cranesbill

 

Just over the second bridge a path goes left along the east bank of the river again.  (Another path across the road re-enters Dinton Pastures just where there is a large bush of wild plum Prunus domesticus in full flower, with the leaves unlike blackthorn.)

Wild plum

 Back beside the river we saw alder-fly emerging and passed the corpse of a common shrew (these creatures always seem to die in mid-path).  From a bird-hide we could see across another of the gravel-extraction lakes where there was a narrow island adopted by a group of cormorants.  Other birds were great crested grebe, lesser black-backed, black-headed and herring gulls, Arctic terns, and moorhens.  A fox was scouting the far bank, perhaps looking for accessible nests to raid.  Frequent along the well-vegetated banks were the clambering vines of hop Humulus lupulus. 

River Loddon

At Whistley Mill a heron was fishing beside the wide old mill-pool. 

Heron at Whistley Mill

 

The riverside path ends here and we had to divert westwards and then north along a wide track through more lakes reserved for angling clubs and protected by high fences, spoiling the experience for walkers.  Goldilocks buttercup Ranunculus auricomus was frequent on the pathside, and occasionally water chickweed Myosoton aquaticum. 

Goldilocks buttercup

 After passing underneath the main Paddington railway we were in Berks Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust's Loddon Reserve, with much planted western balsam poplar Populus trichocarpa with fresh bright green leaves and red currant Ribes rubrum.  One path rejoins the Loddon, where the banks were full of comfrey Symphytum sp not yet in flower.  In wet hollows was more Loddon lily and marsh marigold.

         The path eventually leads to the road on the west edge of Twyford, where we found a café for a snack.  Alongside the main road, between the pavement and a cottage wall were a few plants of early scurvy-grass Cochlearia danica.

Early scurvy-grass in Twyford

 This walk could easily be foreshortened by returning through Dinton Pastures after Sandford Mill (past the wild plum) without missing much of consequence and having seen the best the Loddon lily could offer.  By the car-park is a café that might then be useful.

         We afterwards drove to the pleasant old town of Wallingford and walked up the west bank of the Thames north to opposite Preston Crowmarsh, a place where Loddon lily has also been recorded, but we only found two well-separated plants and the banks were too built-up and bare to provide suitable marshy habitat.  However, we did find flattened meadow-grass Poa compressa and Mexican fleabane Erigeron karvinskianus growing on Wallingford bridge and saw mistle thrushes feeding in the grassy parkland beneath the bridge, while beside the street from the bridge into town was rue-leaved saxifrage Saxifraga tridactyla.