Buckinghamshire: Marlow Common to Skirmett (Flora of Chalk and Bog)

28 June 2011       Starting & ending on OS Explorer 172 Chiltern Hills

East, but mostly on Explorer 171 Chiltern Hills West

Length: All day

This walk features several Chilterns rarities, but the most prevalent plants on this date were pyramidal orchids Anacamptis pyramidalis and dark mullein Verbascum nigrum, common at many locations and in full flower.  Early June would be better timing for the military orchid Orchis militaris, but late June is better for many other plants on the route.  Red kites sailed overhead for most of the day.

          We parked at a small parking bay at the edge of Pullingshill Wood (just west of Marlow) where a footpath crosses it from east to west, SU822865.  The wood is managed by Marlow Parish Council and is noted for extensive diggings, the result of practice trenches during the First World War.  The trees at the top where we started are mixed oak, birch and beech, with wood sedge Carex sylvatica beneath, but more extensive beech Fagus sylvatica on the slope down as we walked west along the footpath, with virtually no ground flora.  A more open ride along the bottom of the wood has wood melick Melica uniflora, dog’s mercury Mercurialis perennis, and woodruff Galium odoratum, which were all extensive in woods throughout the day. 

The footpath continues straight on out of the wood along a hedgerow by pasture, gradually rising uphill.  The flora improved as we rose to chalkier horizons.  Lower down the hedge-bank, with its old coppiced and laid trees, was largely dominated by agrimony Agrimonia eupatoria and rough chervil Chaerophyllum temulum, with pyramidal orchids and dark mullein becoming increasingly frequent, eventually joined by rest-harrow Ononis repens, vervain Verbena officinalis, long-stalked cranesbill Geranium columbinum, fairy flax Linum catharticum,  greater knapweed Centaurea scabiosa, musk mallow Malva moschata, musk thistle Carduus nutans (in the neighbouring field) and Leer’s sedge Carex divulsa ssp leersii.  

Pyramidal orchid

Vervain

We saw a hare on the path well ahead of us.  A large hoverfly with a divided orange band on the first large abdominal segment and bright yellow face was the uncommon Volucella inflata, associated with sap-runs on old trees.  Although the weather was overcast, marbled white butterflies were flying.

          Over a stile the path veered left along another field hedgerow.  Here there was field madder Sherardia arvensis and red bartsia Odontites vernus, but we were now largely in improved grassland with little variety.  Over another stile we crossed the lane and, slightly to the right, entered the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust Reserve of Homefield Wood, an SSSI owned by the Forestry Commission. 

Homefield Wood

The forest track passes through pine plantations, but the trackside vegetation is rich with nettle-leaved bellflower Campanula trachelium, meadowsweet Filipendula ulmaria, hemp agrimony Eupatorium cannabinum, and bee orchids Ophrys apifera.  There were lots of the large bright orange and black larvae of the harlequin ladybird, while spikes of dark mullein held the scarce Cionus nigritarsus weevil, roundish and grey with two conspicuous round black spots. 

Nettle-leaved bellflower

Dark mullein

Harlequin ladybird larva

We took a path on the right that led to a gate providing access to a chalk bank rich in flowers.  

Homefield Bank

Pyramidal orchids were the most prominent among retired cowslip Primula veris stems, lady’s bedstraw Galium verum, and common centaury Centaurium erythraea.  Pride of place, however, goes to the rare soldier (or military) orchid which is well scattered over the slope, but was now in seed.  An early June walk would catch it in full flower. 

Military orchid (taken early June)

Twayblades Neottia ovata were still in full flower, with common spotted orchids Dactylorhiza  fuchsii going over and broad-leaved helleborines Epipactis helleborine still bent over at the top in bud.  

Twayblade

Other flowers included clustered bellflower Campanula glomerata, glaucous sedge Carex flacca, ox-eye daisy Leucanthemum vulgare, rock-rose Helianthemum nummularium, wild basil Clinopodium vulgare, yellow rattle Rhinanthus minor, wild thyme Thymus polytrichus on the anthills, and sweetbriar Rosa rubiginosa. 

Clustered bellflower

We also saw banks voles, slow-worms and a dark bush cricket. 

Slow-worm

Dark bush cricket

At the bottom of the bank a track leads up to a gate and a ride through woodland, near which we saw a single specimen of wood small-reed Calamagrostis epigeios.  Along the edge of ride can be seen more bee, spotted and pyramidal orchids, helleborines and twayblade. Returning along the bottom of the chalk bank we were pleased to spot a single specimen of fly orchid Ophyrs insectifera there, as they can be elusive and are rarely in large numbers.  

Fly orchid

We returned to the main woodland ride by which we entered the reserve and continued west along it, gradually leaving behind the abundant chalk flora as we rose into the clays of Heath Wood, eventually dominated by silverweed Potentilla anserina.  We were still largely in conifer plantations.  The path gradually bends right towards the north edge of the wood, where there were several shooting parties operating in the fields of the Hutton Estate, as noisy as the police and military helicopters that passed over frequently – who looks to the countryside for peace and quiet?  At the corner of the wood we turned up the left-hand footpath, keeping just within the boundary of the trees.  We crossed a path junction, keeping on to the west edge of the wood, past unremarkable vegetation with many clumps of remote sedge.  At the next junction we turned right, crossed a farm track and walked straight through a wheat-field. 

The path briefly entered woodland again before exiting and following the edge of the wood and another field of wheat.  A few arable annuals grew here – including scarlet pimpernel Anagallis arvensis ssp arvensis, field madder, and round-leaved fluellen Kickxia spuria.  The path then crossed through the wheat again, across a lane and entered a small wood managed by the Game Conservancy Trust just to the right.  Again little of note here except for a clump of tutsan Hypericum androsaemum, probably introduced with planting for game.  We took the first path to the right, leaving the wood and crossing yet another large wheat-field, disturbing a skylark from the crop.  The path reaches another lane at Rockwell End (essentially just a group of farms), just where two large marker oaks stand.  We turned left here, walking through Rockwell End, taking the right fork and at a bend taking a footpath left between a hedge and a field of rape where pineapple weed Matricaria discoidea was the dominant plant, with a little field pansy Viola arvensis and common poppy Papaver rhoeas.  Here we saw our first painted lady butterfly of the year.  We then entered a double hedgerow, apparently marking an old green lane that has been destroyed further east.  The hedges were predominantly coppiced hazel Corylus avellana. 

The path now starts descending into the Hambleden Valley, becoming flintier and chalkier, eventually entering woodland on the steepest slope.  The wood-edge to the left is a high steep bank below which stand old ash Fraxinus excelsior, beech Fagus sylvatica and yew Taxus baccata trees above patches of dog’s mercury Mercurialis perennis.  The path soon turns right and we followed this to the bottom of the steep slope, past some clumps of spurge-laurel Daphne laureola.  At a lane we turned left and carried on downhill along the road, past a clump of Russian comfrey Symphytum x uplandicum, until a bend to the left where we turned right along the Chiltern Way travelling due north up Hambleden Valley. 

Russian comfrey

A hedge with much spindle Euonymus europaeus and dogwood Cornus sanguinea to the left obscures views of the valley and this eventually becomes another section of double hedge until we crossed another lane and straight across a tall-grass meadow, semi-improved but still with numbers of pyramidal orchids and dark mullein.  A stile took us into a thistly field with more flowers, dark mullein, long-headed poppy Papaver dubium ssp dubium, common toadflax Linaria vulgaris, musk thistle, and white campion Silene latifolia ssp alba.  

Common toadflax

Musk thistle

The next field, however, was less flowery, dominated by false oat-grass Arrhenatherum elatius and Yorkshire fog Holcus lanatus.  To the left is a good view of the valley and the old Arizona Farm.  

Arizona Farm in the Hambleden Valley

The next meadow is also grass-dominated and the final one before the village of Skirmett is kept cut but has a new-laid hedge on the right.

Skirmett

At the road we turned left, then right at a corner where there are a number of sarsen stones, past a number of old cottages until we reached The Frog on the left for our lunch-break.  

The Frog

While enjoying this there was a heavy thunderstorm outside we were glad to have escaped, although we were nevertheless to get very wet (at least to the tops of our legs) because of sometimes having to walk through tall wet grass the rest of the day.

After a good rest we took the footpath almost opposite the pub, between cottages, rejoining the Chiltern Way (which circles around the eastern side of the village).  Crossing two fields, this path enters another double hedgerow, with some small toadflax Chaenorinum minus, wild mignonette Reseda lutea, pryamidal orchids and nettle-leaved bellflower on the banks.  Going steeply upwards out of the valley gave us plenty of time to admire them!  The bellflower continued into Adam’s Wood, and so did the climb, partly along a sunken way.  

Adam’s Wood

This wood is owned by the Woodland Trust.  The trees are virtually all young ones, and there were lots of cut wood lying everywhere.  There were also large patches of bluebells Hyacinthoides non-scripta, now of course long over.  Otherwise the ground flora is largely dog’s mercury and sanicle Sanicula europaea.  At the top of the wood and the end of the climb, the Chiltern Way goes west to Fingest, but we turned right along the edge of Mousells Wood, scaring a green woodpecker from nearby trees.  It flew directly up the path in front showing clearly its yellow rump.  In 100 metres we took the path left into this wood, continuing along the top of it for a while until we met a path crossing which took us left straight down the hill, losing all the height we had just so laboriously attained!  The wood is mixed beech, quite open and grassy in places.

Mousells Wood

At the road at the bottom of the wood we turned left.  The opposite verge has plenty of pyramidal orchids and kidney vetch Anthyllis vulneraria.  Other road verge plants include cowslip, goatsbeard Tragopogon pratensis, greater knapweed Centaurea scabiosa, and hedgerow crane’s-bill Geranium pyrenaicum. 

Wet goatsbeard seed-head

At the road junction the road off the to the right has slightly shorter grass screened by shrubs and this is the famous site for the rare dragon’s teeth Tetragonolobus maritimus, whose large pale yellow vetch-like flowers, singly on each stem, were very conspicuous.  Our timing was just right, being in perfect fresh flower for the most part, although a few flowers had already turned into the long pods that stand up from the turf and are supposed to resemble dragon’s teeth. 

Dragon’s-teeth

Dragon’s-teeth in fruit

After admiring these flowers for a while we crossed the road to the footpath running east up Hanover Hill (steep again!).  After cow-pasture we walked between a wood and a field of barley.  At a kissing-gate a path comes off to the left towards Lane End, but we ignored this one, and in 100 metres our own path turned left to cross fields, across Long Copse and then beside it until we diverted along a footpath to the right across fields over rolling hills.  The meadows here had been just cut for silage.  Just before Muswell Farm there were two clumps of tansy Tanecetum vulgare, not yet in flower.  After skirting the farm the path comes to a track where we turned left to reach the road at Moor Common, past some plants of the cottage garden plant, greater celandine Chelidonium majus. 

A little way to the right a track diverges left across the wooded common to the footpath along the eastern side.  In the wood not far from a cottage off this track was a large stand of larkspur Consolida ajacis.  We turned right to take the footpath south through the common, initially among old oak and birch trees and alongside a medieval boundary bank and ditch separating Moor Copse – the ditch being on the common side, this boundary was to prevent stock on the common entering the wood.  Among the trees was just emerging a specimen of green brittlegill Russula aeruginea, a common brownish species associated with birch.  We soon came to the open part of Moorend Common with gorse and boggy grassland. 

Oak tree and bog, Moorend Common

Here there were many plants quite unlike those of the chalk hills we had so far walked: yellow rattle Rhinanthus minor, clustered rush Juncus conglomeratus, bifid hemp-nettle Galeopsis bifida, greater birdsfoot trefoil Lotus pedunculatus, southern marsh orchid Dactylorhiza praetermissa in impressive arrays, ragged-robin Lychnis flos-cuculi, betony Stachys officinalis, lousewort Pedicularis sylvatica with its pink flowers and small crinkly leaves hugging the ground, tormentil Potentilla erecta ssp erecta, sneezewort Achillea ptarmica, petty whin Genista anglica now in seed, marsh thistle Cirsium palustre, and hairy sedge Carex hirta. 

Southern marsh orchid

Betony

Ragged robin

Lousewort

Sneezewort

Marsh thistle

Marbled white on marsh orchid

Just outside a house at the far end of the common (Moor End) was a clump of pencilled cranesbill Geranium versicolor, after which we crossed the road and a piece of woodland with a clump of stinking hellebore Helleborus foetidus (no doubt a garden escape).  At a junction of paths, complicated by a new forestry track and an overgrown footpath, we found it easiest to go through the gate into the field to the right, following a footpath going NW, and to turn left and go up beside the wood to join the path going west as it emerges from wood after a few dozen metres.  This path goes up through cow-pasture and then beside a hedgerow, eventually coming to a lane just past a cluster of new barns.  It is not necessary to go into the lane itself, as there is a footpath going south beside it on the other side of the road hedge, which eventually comes out into a wide road verge with a row of planted trees, mostly turkey oak Quercus cerris just forming their acorns, but also flowering sweet chestnuts Castanea sativa and a pedunculate oak Q. robur.  One of the turkey oaks had a girth of 487cm, so this row must have been planted several centuries ago.  Old oyster mushrooms were growing on logs fallen from one of the sweet chestnuts.  

Old turkey oak

Where the road bends we joined it to continue south past St Katherine’s Convent at Parmoor.  Just before a few cottages a narrow lane comes off to the right, the destination broken from the signpost – as this lane does not exactly lead anywhere in particular it is difficult to imagine how it would be signed!  We took this lane for over a kilometre through large wheat-fields, in what must be one of the quietest and most remote locations in Bucks.  Its isolation was reinforced by the sight of a herd of 15 roe deer amongst the wheat, eventually bounding over the tall rows of crops as we got too close for their liking.  The lane ends in a T-junction, having not passed any habitation whatsoever, and here we crossed to a footpath that continued in the same direction past Chisbridge Farm.  This was a narrow section of tall grass between wheat-field and hedgerow. 

After crossing another hedge the path crosses sheep-pasture and then beside a hedge marking the boundary of the Woodend House estate to the south.  A few parkland trees are still visible.  A new hedge has been planted on the other side of the path too, screening the vista towards other remote large houses at Holme Wood, including one with a green roof, huge windows and sculptures.  As we crossed the track connecting the two estates a young buzzard flew out of a sycamore tree.  The path eventually bends right and goes south along a line of young larch, with plentiful golden-coloured larch boletes beneath them and in the grassy path.  This path leads straight into the dead-end lane that leads up to Woodend House and we followed this south (some marsh cudweed Gnaphalium uliginosum in the verge) past a few houses to a house on the right called Arbon, where a path goes off left through the hedge and diagonally across a wheat-field to Lower Woodend.  Here we turned right along the road to a footpath on the left between tall garden fences and round behind a garden before continuing across a field by a hedge down to a valley bottom with a farm track.  We crossed the track to the stile opposite, where there was a large patch of rest-harrow.  The path went diagonally across one final pasture to Lord’s Wood, where the path is fenced both sides and eventually opens into a track along Marlow Common, which we followed south to the road which goes by Pullinghill Wood and to our parking-place.

Buckinghamshire: Wendover Woods to Tring (N Chilterns Escarpment)

21 June 2011          OS Explorer 181 Chiltern Hills North

Length: All day

This walk centres on the Chilterns escarpment and orchids.  Wendover Woods is run by the Forestry Commission and offers various facilities such as a café and trails for a range of users.  (For more information and to download a map go to www.forestry.gov.uk/wendoverwoods.)

          We parked at the car-park near Hengrove Wood off the Aston Clinton to Cholesbury road, opposite Chivery Hall Farm SP899083.  We took the footpath north from the car park (near which is a conspicuous yellow patch of the garden escape, whorled loosestrife Lysimachia verticillaris), and crossed a drive, eventually reaching a horse/cycle trail. 

Whorled loosestrife

There is a choice of turning right and continuing to the central car park, the shorter route, or, if given more time, of going left and exploring the southern end of Wendover Woods first.

Wendover Woods

The woods are mostly a mixture of beech Fagus sylvatica and pine.   At this time the foxgloves Digitalis purpurea were particularly prominent.  Along the initial footpath we noticed slender and hairy St. John’s-worts Hypericum pulchrum & H. hirsutum; yellow pimpernel Lysimachia nemorum; wood, remote and oval sedges Carex sylvatica, C. remota & C.ovalis; wood sorrel Oxalis acetosella; guelder rose Viburnum opulus; wood barley Hordelymus europaeus; wood millet Milium effusum; and bluebells Hyacinthoides non-scripta (now well over).

          We took the second of the options above (although this later put us under some time pressure).  Speckled wood butterflies were frequent.  Close to the southern edge of the wood the track had chalk banks with pale toadflax Linaria repens, wild mignonette Reseda lutea, bladder and white campions Silene vulgaris & S. latifolia, wild strawberry Fragaria vesca, musk thistle Carduus nutans, wood spurge Euphorbia amygdaloides, woodruff Galium odoratum, nettle-leaved bellflower Campanula trachelium (in bud) and large plants of wild candytuft Iberis amara, a rare plant of the Chilterns on disturbed or bare ground.  

Wild candytuft

When we came to a junction of tracks at the bottom of a slope we found a footpath to the right and took this, passing a good plant of deadly nightshade Atropa belladonna, typical of this area but very sparsely distributed. 

Deadly nightshade

This path came to a junction where we turned right but this proved to be up a very steep slope where, further up, trees had been felled to try to prevent access.  This eventually led back to the horse/cycle trail near where we had first joined it.  To avoid the difficulty of the steep obstructed path, one should turn left at the previous junction and turn right along the horse/cycle trail, here combined with the ‘Firecrest Trail’, which provides opportunities of seeing the rare firecrests that nest here in the pines.  After a second right turn that way reaches the central car park.

The trail we were on also joined the Firecrest Trail later, and although we saw none of these birds, we saw and heard plenty of blackcaps.  We also passed a few white helleborines Cephalanthera damasonium that had finished flowering.  This is the trail that would be followed if the shorter route from the start had been taken.  At a bend a footpath crossed the trail and led on the right to the central car-park via the “Go Ape!” huts for “Forest Adventure” activities.  We crossed the car-park and continued along the paved road north, inadvertently disturbing a great spotted woodpecker from a dead tree stump.  Alongside this road are several shrubs of the alien red-berried elder Sambucus racemosa, already with sprays of small orange-red berries and leaves reminiscent of a pale rowan but with red mid-veins.  A path to the right passes between another car-park and the edge of the wood and eventually passes fenced properties (and the usual associated large patch of escaped garden yellow archangel Lamiastrum galeobdolon ssp argentatum with its silver-marked leaves) before leaving the trees and crossing open land to the Aston Clinton-Cholesbury road again opposite the Aston Hill Car-park (for mountain bikers only) and distant views of the Aylesbury Plain below. 

A track goes beside the right-hand side of the car-park to reach the woodland track behind it, where we turned left and descended the Chiltern escarpment by a fairly gentle diagonal gradient, although the trail is crossed by innumerable tree roots, over which it is a considerable challenge to avoid stumbling at some time!  The trees here are mostly pine although relics of the original ground flora include wood meadow-grass Poa nemoralis.  Emerging from the trees we passed the club-house of a golf-course, through which the footpath continues.  A less-mown bank descending on the right of the path had good specimens of pyramidal orchid Anacamptis pyramidalis and dwarf thistle Cirsium acaule.  Just before another small building with conveniences we could easily get through the wood-edge on the left to enter Aston Clinton Ragpits, a Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) reserve, sheltered within the site of a former chalk-rock (“rag”) quarry.  A path descends parallel to the road through dark pines and yews Taxus baccata to the entrance-gate from the road.  On our way we saw a small specimen of mezereon Daphne mezereum, but with no berries.  Turning right past the sheepfold, we entered the main chalk grassland part of the reserve.

Aston Clinton Ragpits

Here we were greeted with one of the greatest orchid sights(sites) in Britain more or less at its peak, with hundreds of fragrant orchids Gymnadenia conopsea and common spotted orchids Dactylorhiza fuchsii, twayblades Neottia ovata, greater butterfly orchids Platanthera chlorantha and pyramidal orchids, bee orchids Ophrys apifera, and broad-leaved helleborine  Epipactis helleborine (in bud).  

Fragrant & pyramidal orchids

Common spotted orchids

Fragrant orchids

Great butterfly orchid

There were also musk thistle, squinancywort Asperula cynanchica, common rock-rose Helianthemum nummularium, the common eyebright Euphrasia nemorosa and the large-flowered chalk eyebright E. pseudokerneri, fairy flax Linum catharticum, wild and large thyme Thymus polytrichus & pulegioides , carline thistle Carlina vulgaris, kidney vetch Anthyllis vulneraria, horseshoe vetch Hippocrepis comosa, small scabious Scabiosa columbaria, yellow rattle Rhinanthus minor, lady’s bedstraw Galium verum, salad burnet Sanguisorba minor, common valerian Valeriana officinalis, columbine Aquilegia vulgaris, crested hair-grass Koeleria macrantha and the dry stalks of gone-over cowslips Primula veris.  

Squinancywort

Large thyme

Chalk eyebright

Over these fluttered marbled white butterflies, ringlets, common blues, bees and narrow-bordered five-spot burnet moths.  A caterpillar of the latter was also seen on birdsfoot-trefoil Lotus corniculatus.  

Narrow-bordered Five-spot burnet

Burnet caterpillar

Cuckoo-bee Bombus (Psithyrus) sylvestris on musk thistle

The whole scene in its profusion of flowers was reminiscent of certain unspoiled spots in the Mediterranean, an impression reinforced by the sight of huge Roman snails wandering around after the previous night’s rain. 

Roman snail

A slow-worm was also found coiled among the grass and herbs, and we saw two grass-snakes, one adult and a small jet-black juvenile with a bright yellow-white collar. 

Slow-worm

We were of course too early for the gentians, including Chiltern gentian Gentianella germanica, that grow here, and we did not see any frog orchid Dactylorhiza viridis (perhaps not yet flowering) or adderstongue Ophioglossum vulgatum reportedly here.  Chalk milkwort Polygala calcarea is said to occur but we only saw small patches of common milkwort P. vulgaris.  The chalk species starts flowering earlier than the common one and may have been over.  A flatter field beyond the spoil-hillocks of the quarry has fewer species and is more dominated by dogwood Cornus sanguinea, but it does have two prominent clumps of mezereon, and these carried large numbers of red berries, although their leaves were rather etiolated, possibly because of too much light compared to the plant in the wood.

Mezereon

We reluctantly left the reserve by the main entrance and walked down the road, across the A4011 straight into a footpath descending through a narrow dark wood of yews to the Grand Union Canal (Wendover Arm).  This is the wood (Cobblers Pits) we passed on the 22 March walk (see post).  

Yews, Cobblers Pits

There is little ground flora in the dense shade, except for wood melick Melica uniflora, but there are alien shrubs and trees like Oregon grape Mahonia aquifolium, box Buxus sempervirens and evergreen oak Quercus ilex.  At the canal we turned right and followed the route of 22 March all the way to Drayton Beauchamp.  Now, however, yellow water-lilies Nuphar lutea were flowering, there were white clusters of privet Ligustrum vulgare flowers on the far bank, and the vegetation was now much more rampant with large water docks Rumex hydrolapathum, yellow iris Iris pseudacorus and reed sweet-grass Glyceria maxima.  At Buckland Wharf where we had seen the mass of flower on the cherry-plum Prunus cerasifera hedge there were now green fruit in plenty. 

Towards Drayton Beauchamp we passed buckthorn Rhamnus cathartica in fruit (with the small soldier beetle Cantharis pallida). 

Buckthorn and soldier beetle

Just before the new bridge for the Aston Clinton by-pass, appeared a clump of wild clary Salvia verbenaca with very blue flowers smaller than the rarer and larger meadow clary S. pratensis, and distinguished by white hairs on the calyx and no glandular hairs on the flowers.  

Wild clary

This plant seems to be decreasing – we rarely see it these days.  Past the bridge the chalk bank had abundant kidney vetch, although few other chalk plants.  We imagined that they had probably seeded the bare banks after construction work, so it remains to be seen how many of these flowers survive. 

Kidney vetch

At the churchyard there was not a sign of the masses of few-flowered garlic Allium paradoxum witnessed earlier: as a spring bulb plant it had entirely withered away.  Inside the churchyard the whole area covered by this and winter aconite Eranthis hyemalis had been cleared, leaving just bare soil and creeping stems of ground ivy Glechoma hederacea.  At least some of the clumps of stinking iris (gladdon) Iris foetidissima were in flower, although these always seem somewhat faded and shabby, even at their best, not as striking as their later orange berries.

Gladdon

We now continued along the canal past the churchyard a few yards to the next road bridge, where we turned right down the road about 200 metres to a footpath off on the left.  This is paved past houses and as far as what was Broadview Farm, now rebuilt as modern barns.  Slightly to the left the path continues up the side of a meadow, left along the hedgerow at the top and then through the hedge, across more horse pasture past Beeches Farm and through a small copse to the B488 road.  We could not see the path continuing opposite, which would have taken us straight to the edge of Tring, and had to go a little right before crossing to another path which stayed outside the town, by a wheat field with a little common poppy, until we reached the B4635 or Akeman Street.  Here we crossed and followed the road into Tring.  Where two roads joined from the right at Norfolk House we took the second continuing east and uphill, Park Road.  Here the brick walls had ivy-leaved toadflax Cymbalaria muralis, maidenhair spleenwort Asplenium trichomanes and yellow corydalis Pseudofumaria lutea.  Through cross-roads we continued straight on along King Street to the Kings Arms, a prominent red-painted building which faced us.  This was our destination for a lunch-break, with a range of real ales and home-cooked food (thankfully serving until 2.15pm).  This year 2011 is the 30^th anniversary of the current, obviously successful, management.

Kings Arms

After a break we continued eastwards beside the pub to the end of the street, turned right up Castle Street to the end, and then left to reach the Museum.  We passed beside it, still going east, to the path which goes south to Tring Park, a former Rothschild estate and now run by the Woodland Trust.  This path is fenced both sides, but on the right overlooks the museum’s “wildlife meadow”, accessible from near the museum.  This meadow has an old remnant of a pollarded sycamore Acer pseudoplatanus, now clearly on its last legs unfortunately, that would have been part of the grazed parkland at one time. 

Pollard sycamore

The path crosses the A41 trunk road by means of a spiral bridge, giving us close-up views of the canopy of neighbouring trees, mostly common lime Tilia x europaea. 

Lime flowers

The path now crosses grassland with scattered trees, heading for the Chiltern escarpment, which is mostly wooded. 

Tring Park, Chilterns escarpment

The grass has lady’s bedstraw, salad burnet, hoary plantain Plantago media, cowslip, and common spotted orchid.  At the bottom of the escarpment are a few old beech-trees. 

Old beech in Tring Park

As we climbed the escarpment we kept right along the more open slope grazed by cattle, to examine the grassland vegetation on the more open calcareous ground.  This was similar to that below, with the addition of fairy flax, common valerian, an abundance of common rock-rose, and wild thyme colonising ant-hills. 

Rock-rose

The cow-trails along here eventually reach a path going up to the top of the slope into the trees, past twayblades.  Some old beech here had obviously been planted in the days of grazed parkland, as they still had iron railings surrounding them to protect from cattle.  These railings were in part running through the tree itself, where it had grown too large and subsumed the cage.  

Caged beech-tree

This path ends at the wide Ridgeway Trail along the Icknield Way, where we turned right, proceeding west through a line of beech and lime. 

Icknield Way

An old log provides a microhabitat for plants and mosses

A break in the trees briefly gives a good view north over the park and Tring House, the former mansion.

View of Tring Park & House

The path turns to the left eventually through Bishop’s Wood (bluebells, sanicle Sanicula europaea) and past a patch of small balsam Impatiens parviflora just before reaching Hastoe Lane and the end of Woodland Trust land.  We continued to follow the Ridgeway Trail up the road to Hastoe Cross and left again following the sign to Hastoe.  There is a large patch of least yellow sorrel Oxalis exilis on the right-hand verge along here.  Beyond Hastoe the road bends sharply due south and we followed the Trail straight on along a path into Pavis, and later Northill, Woods.  There are some old beeches and hornbeams Carpinus betulus on the banks either side of the ancient track here.  When we emerged on another lane we left the Trail and went down the road, down the escarpment once more, past lots of wood melick on the steep banks, and the blue, pink and white flash of a jay disturbed from the surrounding woods.

Descending the road

At a hairpin bend a footpath leaves the road north up a steep slope past a meadow into Bittam’s Wood, part of the BBOWT reserve of Dancers End, past bluebell, yellow pimpernel, dog’s mercury Mercurialis perennis and woodruff.  New rides through the wood have common spotted orchid and red bartsia Odontites vernus, and offer glimpses of muntjac.  We continued straight on north, however, until we arrived at the grassland area of the reserve at SP900095, although we sometimes got led astray by other minor paths.  The grassland area is fenced for sheep-grazing and has a wide ride along the southern side outside the fence.  At this time of the year there are no sheep and there is open access to the grassland.  Along the ride were abundant twayblades and some greater butterfly orchid – we looked for fly orchids Ophrys insectifera as well, but did not find any.  (Nor, in the wooded area, could we find any wood vetch Vicia sylvatica, which we have seen here in the past.)  Towards the north side of the grassland, where there is a great deal of yellow rattle, are a few clusters of meadow clary.  This plant once died out here and was re-introduced, but its population is dwindling once more.  Its exact requirements in this region are difficult to determine, making management a matter of trial and error.  Plants are long-lived, however, and this showy plant with its striking blue flowers should survive here for some time yet.  Later in the summer there will be large numbers of Chiltern gentians here.

Meadow clary

We left the grassland at the far eastern end where a public footpath took us along the edge of woodland and back to Bittam’s Wood along our original path.  In the centre of the wood another footpath is signed to the left and we took this to the edge of the wood, along the top of a field and then diagonally across another field to the lane near which we were parked half a kilometre further south.