Cowslips, celandines, violets as the sun sometimes shines

There's an area of the Welcombe Hills at the bottom of the opening leading down from the reservoir area toward the Welcombe Hotel. On one side is a sloping wooded area of predominantly hawthorn but with lime and two old beech trees. On the other side is Nursery Cover and between the two lies a fallen horse chestnut tree.

April 10th 2016

In the spring and summer the morning sun warms this area. Many of my butterfly and bee pictures are taken here (for example here) on the Woolly Thistles, blackberry bushes and the margins of the woods where the Lady's Smock thrive in the damp clay.

Violet in Nursery Cover April16

Nursery cover gently slopes down here. In the spring the leafless spindly Ash, crab apple and the few hawthorn allow the sunlight to penetrate to the ground layer and if anyone cares to walk this way you will find amongst the damp moss a wonderful display of bright yellow lesser celandine and violets of all shades from deep blue to white. 

Celandine, Nursery Cover April16

It seems wrong to walk over these but they do survive so I suggest a closer look. Stand still and you may hear a bumble bee queen looking for a nesting place in the ground. Follow the sound and you may see her on her quest. 

Nursery Cover, April 16

Look more carefully and you may treated by finding the  fungus I pictured below that grows here. It's not a true morel (Morchella) so don't get too excited. It won't harm you but is tasteless.

Mitrophora semilibera, April 16

Elsewhere the first Cowslips are flowering! These were catching that morning sun on a bank behind the seats at the top of Nursery Cover that look out over towards the Monument and Edge Hill beyond.

First Cowslips of the year, Welcombe Hills April 2016

Cowsliips, April 16