The sun was shining as a group of 8 members gathered in the car park of the Black Horse pub, Great Linford. They then crossed Wolverton Road to Stanton Low, walking past the ruins of St Peter’s Church to Haversham Mill, thence back via the Linford Lakes Nature Reserve (formerly called the Hanson Environmental Study Centre) and its lakeside hides. After three hours our intrepid walkers were happy to enjoy a bit of rest and refreshment in the Black Horse pub.
Notable sights in the Spring sunshine were a profusion of early butterflies: Peacocks, Commas (or Commae?), Small Tortoiseshells and Brimstones. Also a Buzzard, boldly seen out of its airspace by a Kestrel, Green Woodpeckers and nesting Herons. From the HESC hide numerous Cormorants, Mute Swans, Great-Crested Grebes, Coots, and the rather misnamed Common Gull were on view, as well as Tufted Ducks, a Lesser Black-Backed and several Black-Headed Gulls, and Herons.
Al in all a pleasant excursion into the springtime sunshine, whetting our appetites for the evening walks programme beginning on Tuesday May 5th.
The intrepid walkers go forth
The Heronry on an island in the HESC’s lake
A Buzzard patrols the sky overhead
An interesting fungus
A colony of ants (probably Myrmica rubra), warm their overwintered larvae under a HESC corrugated iron snake/lizard refuge
Cormorants, one drying its wings, on the HESC Bund
Lesser Black-backed Gull, Cormorant, Common Gull, and Canada Goose
One of many overwintered Peacocks basking in the sunshine
A Toad poses for a Society photographer
The weary wanderers wend their way back to the pub
(All pics by the Author of this Post – the Ron Arnold Society Photograph of the Year Shield is unlikely to await any of them!)