Bank holiday woods

As promised, the weather has been fine today so Chickpea and I headed to the woods for a quick walk. It felt much more lush and green since the last time we were there gathering wild garlic, and the tree canopy has started to close over. Chickpea was disappointed that the garlic is now well past its best as she'd been hoping for more of the pesto.

We followed the cobbled path upwards towards the light.

In places it's almost disappeared as the grasses and flowers take over.

Cow parsley, red campion and buttercups - so, so pretty.

Emerging at the top is a buttercup-filled field. There's a public footpath past the farm and horses but we were headed back down into the woods.

But not without a last look back at the buttercups before we left.

We were headed to the pond in search of wildlife. We were unlucky though, not a butterfly or dragonfly to be seen.

I did spot a moth which, after trawling through my guidebooks, I think is a Silver-ground carpet.

We were also delighted to see that the iris are in full bloom.

They glowed bright and golden in the sunlight. I don't think they'll last long though. Can you see the dark patches on the iris on the left - they were covered in tiny snails.

The other flower in full bloom was Common bistort.

The bees absolutely loved it. I'm hoping one of you can tell me what these two varieties are.

As we headed back, we stopped for a paddle. I think this was my favourite moment - it was so calm and peaceful stood in the middle of the stream with the sound of the water trickling over the pebbles, the birdsong and the cool scent of damp greenery.

All too soon though, we had to make tracks but not before a Speckled wood butterfly finally made an appearance. There's always something to see and discover in what's really a very small patch of woodland.

Last but not least, and hot off the camera, the first clematis flower of the season has opened. Seems a nice way to end a bank holiday :) x