Pete Collins

This morning I visited College Lake, the B,B & O Nature Reserve near Tring. I’ve written a post about it here:

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Yesterday I visited the RSPB reserve at Fowlmere, which is between Royston and Cambridge, about an hour’s drive from where I live. I’d been there a couple of times before, but this was my first visit for over ten years.

Fowlmere, as the name suggests, was originally a mere or lake inhabited by wildfowl. After a failed attempt to drain it, it was used for growing watercress for many years, but since the decline of that industry it has reverted largely to reedbeds. It is fed by chalk…

Rather than write a blog entry for my walk at Ashridge this morning, I’ve created a separate thread for it, as it should appeal to everyone on the Mammal Forum:

[Link]

(OK, it also means I can fit in more photos than are allowed in a blog entry!)

Gosh! It’s months since I wrote a blog entry here!

Today I did a 12-13 mile walk south from near Royston, Herts., passing through the villages of Therfield, Kelshall and Sandon. I saw numerous Speckled Wood butterflies, one Small Tortoiseshell and two Red Admirals. I also saw a couple of Buzzards, and a female Muntjac deer.

I saw a Nettle-leaved Bellflower, lots of Clustered Bellflower, Wild Mignonette, both Red Campion and White Campion (though both very faded), and…

Usually when I go for a walk, I photograph only wildflowers that I don’t recognise or maybe those that I’m seeing for the first time this year. Today I decided to do a long walk (10-11 miles) that I knew would be good for wildflowers, and to photograph or record all the different wildflowers that I came across.

Starting from my home in Kensworth, I walked down the lane to Church End (the old part of the village) – along here I saw: Nipplewort, Herb Robert, Russian Comfrey, Agrimony,…