Fresh

You know that distinctive fresh smell that wafts over you when rain first starts? These green tones remind me of that. We had some hail too and the cooler temperatures this week have stalled the emergence of Grizzled Skippers who love the abundance of wild strawberry at Waterford Heath.

The Orange Tips are flying however. This is a male on Garlic Mustard. It was a tough call whether to post this or a Roman Snail.

I’m preparing a photo trail for the Scouts and Guides of all the things they could potentially eat or use on a survival camp - not that they’d take from the Reserve but they can use it as a learning resource. There are several trees to identify which are good for whittling; birch bark and pine cones for firelighters; rabbits, huge Roman snails, garlic mustard, dandelion leaves, nettles, (and later in the year) wild strawberries, blackberries and hazelnuts to eat. I would think most of them would rather go hungry! But it will be interesting to see their reaction to the suggestion they could eat these things.