Down by the River

Today we went down to the river; it was a beautiful day, very hot and sunny and the wooded areas were cool and shady. The path ran between the river and the woodland: gone were the narcissi which grew alongside it, taking their place are small and larger groups of bluebells, with here and there pink and white bells.

I listen carefully as the drumming of a woodpecker is often to be heard.

Areas of the woodland floor were still marshy and squelchy underfoot from the overflow of the winter floods, but if we kept to the boardwalk it was fine. In places near where snowdrops and aconites bloomed and snow once lay, the ground is now white with ramsons (wild garlic).

The fresh green of new shoots is swallowing the bare earth, mainly himalayan balsam and many new young horse chestnut seedlings. It is interesting to note that on the latter their new leaves come in fours, set around the stem like the points of a compass. I am glad to see so many young horse chestnut trees growing, in spite of the virus that attacked and killed or damaged so many of our venerable old ones in the last few years.

We were lucky to spot on the bordering river, a female mallard with her young brood of eleven ducklings. After the woodland is a wild meadow, where already the growth is almost thigh high. The path through the meadow is to one side, the other side of the path is bordered by an area maybe twelve feet wide. This area is mainly brambles and at intervals through it are narrow pathways, used by animals to reach the tree and bush lined water's edge.

Along the edges of this path old, empty, but still intact snail shells are to be found, they are interesting, they have such a variety of colour and pattern. I also look to see if they curl in a left or right handed manner -- I find most often they curl to the right. Some of the very small ones are very delicate and must be handled with care.

The wildness of this area is a perfect habitat for all sorts of wildlife, including insects, arachnids, small mammals and, although I've never been lucky enough to spot any, reptiles. Bird song here is wonderful -- trying to identify the different birds is interesting, but the real joy is in just standing and listening. During the summer the sound of grasshoppers and crickets is very loud in this area. The term used to describe their sound is stridulation. Grasshoppers make this sound by rubbing their hind leg against their fore wing, but crickets make the sound by rubbing their wings together. Stridulation, otherwise known as singing or calling, is made to establish a territory, to defend that territory, or to find a mate. Interestingly, each species has its own call and so of course the sound is recognised by a grasshopper or cricket of the same type as is calling.

On the other side of the river are fields and it is like one enormous nature reserve: cowslips, buttercups, ladysmock and many other wild flowers pepper the landscape, together with dozens of different grasses. Beyond the fields runs a small stream with trees and bushes on the far side of it. Scattered along the side of the fields by the river are occasional bushes and trees including a few apple trees, perhaps grown from pips fallen from apple cores dropped by passersby. The apple trees are prettily covered in pink and white blossom and are very eye-catching at present. Butterflies dance in the air back and forth over the meadow, and ducks and swans are on the river.

The whole area I have described makes a perfect habitat for wildlife: woodland, wild meadows, river,  mown meadows, trees and hedges, and is a picturesque and very pleasant place to visit.