Tom the Botanist

Wyre Forest – 29th September 2024

Lauren and I decided to visit the Wyre Forest for some autumn colour and the Wild Service trees Sorbus torminalis along the Dowles Brook didn’t dissapoint. We walked in from Buttonoak, stopping off at Coopers Mill to have lunch where we watched the cattle grazing the orchard on the slopes above.

We looked for the Bloody Crane’s-bill Geranium sanguineum along the main track from Coopers to Knowles Mill. We counted six clumps on the downhill side of the bank and three clumps on the upper bank where it was seemingly being shaded out, with no signs of flowering or fruit.

We followed the Dowles to Knowles Mill then ascended up to the old railway line, before plummetting down Knowles Coppice in search of the Oak Fern Gymnocarpium dryopteris, but had no luck.

Ribbesford Woods – 5th October 2024

On Saturday we popped over to Ribbesford Woods as we hadn’t yet been there this year and we were glad we did. I am aiming to get out into the woods as much as my schedule allows, as I’m striving to bring more shinrin-yoku (Forest Bathing) into my life. I’ve become so engrossed in the minutia of botanical identification that I almost stopped getting the benefits of just being out in nature for the experience of it.

Ribbesford was kind to us, provided beautiful light and a refreshing walk. The Devil’s-bit Scabious Succisa pratensis still flowering, and a Comma butterfly was making the most of the autumn sunshine.