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The view from Bledlow Great Wood north-westwards. The village
on the left is Chinnor, the one on the right is Henton. The curious bushes
in the foreground are a native conifer called juniper, Juniperus communis. |
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These are juniper berries. They are used to season game but are probably
more well known as the principal ingredient in gin. The berries stay on
the bush for three years, gradually ripening to a dark bluish colour.
Juniper wood is dense and fragrant. In Sweden juniper wood is commonly
used for butter knives.
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The path through Bledlow Great Wood Nature Reserve followed this natural
canyon. It's been so dry lately that it wasn't actually muddy. As you
can see, some shrubs were starting to sprout leaves.
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| The primroses, Primula vulgaris, were out in full force.
If you think the leaves on this plant are a bit chlorotic, that's probably
because it was growing in more or less pure chalk. |
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Primroses are a part of English culture, so much so that Google
returns 469,000 hits on the word "primrose". Most of them have
nothing to do with primroses except to create a pleasant association in
the reader's mind. For instance, there are hundreds of inns and B&B's
that have the the word "primrose" in their name. |
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With flowers as delicate and cheerful as these, it's not hard to understand
why we associate primroses with happiness and sunshine.
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OK, OK, last primrose picture, I promise. |
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This is a cultivated form of barberry. The colour is bright and cheerful
but it won't get planted in any garden I grow. I have a strict no-thorns
policy.
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Here's a tree that I would happily grow if I had the space.
It's a horse chestnut, Aesculus hippocastanum. The leaf has just
unfurled and is still shiny and new. |
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Along the Ridgeway a wild cherry tree is nestled between two ash trees,
Fraxinus excelsior.
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Looking back toward Bledlow Great Wood on the Ridgeway.
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| Finally a decent photo of some veronicas. There are a host
of very similar species in the veronica family. I'm not even going to try
and decide which one this is. They all have small flowers like these with
four blue petals. |
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Looking along the footpath to Bledlow we see a barn on the
other side of the field. |
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The bridleway along the south side of Lodge Hill was edged with wood
anemones, Anemone nemorosa. They're not nearly as common in the
UK as they are in Sweden. In Sweden wood anemones are ubiquitous in woodland.
Considering that most of Sweden is covered by forests, that's a lot of
white flowers.
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A closer look reveals delicate darker veins on pristine, white
petals. The leaves are dark green and finely cut. |
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To a Swede nothing says spring like a wood anemone. In fact an anthropologist
could make a case for wood anemones filling the same cultural niche in
Sweden as primroses do in the UK.
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Wood anemones tend to grow in great sheets like this because
they spread by underground runners. The effect is absolutely charming. Unless
you've got them in your garden in which case getting rid of them is backbreaking
work. |
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The white flowers along the edges of the trail are all wood anemones.
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There are other things besides flowers to discover along the edges of
the trail. An empty snail shell is lying among the leaf litter beneath
a tree. All around it life goes on.
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Another empty shell. I liked the warm colours.
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As I walked back the sky got hazier. This is Bledlow Ridge seen from
the Ridgeway to the northwest of Lodge Hill.
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| The last picture of the day is even hazier. The crop in the
foreground is rapeseed. The large village nestled against the next ridge
is Princes Risborough. You can see a lighter pattern on the hillside above
Princes Risborough. That's the Whiteleaf Cross that's cut into the chalk. |
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