Chinnor: Butterflies and Balloons

Chinnor: Butterflies and Balloons
7 September 2002

Location	Chinnor, Oxfordshire, OS Explorer, 181. I parked my car by the shops in Chinnor, crossed the railway line and then followed it north-eastwards all the way to Bledlow and Horsenden. In Horsenden I turned south. I took the Icknield Way and Ridgeway back to Chinnor. Last time I visited Chinnor was in September two years ago.

Weather	Sunny most of the time. Nice and warm.

Click on the images to see larger versions.


	A comma was sunning itself on a thistle, Eryngium giganteum, also known as "Miss Willmott's ghost". I don't often get the chance to take pictures of butterflies. They dart away as soon as I get close with the camera. Therefor I find it amusing that last time I walked near Chinnor, I also photographed a butterfly, a painted lady.

Looking back along the Midshires Way. The Ridgeway follows the ridge on the left.

	With clouds scudding across the skies, the light shifted incredibly quickly. I was very lucky to get this shot of the white horse in the sun surrounded by shadow.

Outside the pub in Bledlow there were pink anemones, Anemone japonica. With its big, radially symmetric colours in soft shades of pink, it's an obvious favourite of mine.

	As if the anemones weren't enough, the pub itself is quite nice with outdoor seating both in front and in the garden behind the house. I chose to sit in front soaking up the rays with a Pimms before moving on.

Lyde Garden in Bledlow is a private garden owned by Lord and Lady Carrington. It's open to the public for free and definitely worth making a detour for. The garden is set in a ravine with a pond at the bottom. The photo illustrates the luxuriant foliage and the many shades of green to be savoured.

	The Chinese bird house in the middle of the pond serves as a safe haven for wildfowl and as a focal point for human visitors. The whole garden has a somewhat Asian theme.

These are the vivid flowers of Crocosmia. Crocosmias used to be called Montbretias. Don't ask me why they changed the name. This is probably a Crocosmia Lucifer, the most widely grown variety. They're South African in origin.

	Each individual flower isn't all that big but with a colour like this, they still make quite an impact.

More brilliant red but this time it's not as natural. Last time I took a picture of this postbox, it had ivy climbing on the pillar. I thought that was charming. Still, I guess it works OK even without the ivy.

	The churchyard in Horsenden was not as neat and tidy as most churchyards in the Chilterns. The church itself also didn't seem too well taken care of.

This is a case in point. This cherub could do with a bit of TLC. As it is, it looks more gothy than gothic.

	Also in Horsenden, I found this delightful thatched cottage with a postbox in front. The cottage has been used as a setting in an Inspector Morse episode.

A closer look at the Victorian wall box. I wonder if it was painted and gilded especially for its TV appearance.

	Along Icknield Way there were stubble fields on both sides. I liked the juxtaposition of the empty wagons and the utility pole.

The pristine white flower of a hedge bindweed, Calystegia sepium.

	More stubble fields. This is just before the Icknield Way turns from two-lane blacktop to single lane dirt road.

There's this piece of British folk wisdom that says that nettles sting except when they are flowering. When asked about this British people will point to the white flowers on the nettles on the right. But wait, what's that hanging from the nettles on the left? You guessed, it flowers. The plant on the left is in fact a stinging nettle, Urtica dioica, in flower. The plant with the white flowers is a white dead nettle, Lamium album. The stinging nettle stings all year round, whether in flower or not. The dead nettle, never stings. So how do you tell them apart when the dead nettle isn't flowering? The easiest way is to touch them. If it stings, it's a stinging nettle. If, for some unfathomable reason, you don't want to do that, you can smell them from a respectful distance. Stinging nettles have a sulphuric smell whereas dead nettles don't smell much at all.

	It was a perfect evening for a balloon ride, calm and warm. The footpath I started out on is on the left in this picture.

As I'm crossing the railway again, I get another look at the bright drop in the sky.

	Once back in Chinnor, I poked around in the churchyard a bit. The sun was setting and casting a beautiful, warm light on the tower.