I took advantage of the dry start to the day to head up to Lapwing Hide. Along the Docken’s Water path the bluebell leaves are appearing amongst the leaf litter and celandine.
Celendine and bluebells
Patches of wild daffodils are dotted all along this woodland corridor.
Dockens Water
Quite large areas of the woodland floor are also being covered by the foliage of moschatel. Moschatel and bluebells are both ancient woodland indicator species and their presence here suggests this stretch of woodland has remained quite untouched throughout the changes that have taken place to the site during recent times.
Moschatel (foreground) Arum (background)
A close up view of the moschatel shows the buds of their distinctive ‘clockface’ flowers.
Moschatel
After a little bit of a search I found a flower head that was open. The five faces of the flower head resemble a town hall clock which is one of its other common names.
Moschatel
Further along the Docken’s Water path and there was a branch across the river that had collected debris from the weekend’s flood waters; a visual aid as to how high the river got over the weekend and how quickly it has now dropped back down. It is this spatey nature of the river that has resulted in this strip of ancient woodland being left as a buffer for the river throughout the changes to the site in recent history.
Dockens Water
Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve 