A beautifully sunny and warm day with a breezy aspect dawned on Saturday 11th June as a group of us from the MKNHS met at Pegsdon Way, some five miles west of Hitchin to take a walk around Knocking Hoe, Bedfordshire’s first National Nature Reserve.
The reserve is around eight hectares in size and is surrounded by arable and grazing land with an ancient woodland bordering its eastern boundary. Our intention was to walk along the private road leading from Pegsdon Road and to gain entry to the reserve via the farmyard at the foot of the main hill, the owner, Mrs Franklyn, having graciously allowed us special access.
However, our first interesting species of the day were on the roadside before we even left the parking spot where a male Lesser Whitethroat was rattling his territorial song for us. A lovely patch of Pyramidal and Bee Orchids were our first target species, all in near perfect condition and allowing us good photographs without standing on anything else too rare!
Bee Orchid (Photo © Matt Andrews)
As we made our way down the access road, butterflies started to appear and we saw a beautiful and freshly emerged Marbled White as well as several Small Tortoiseshells and a Red Admiral, all resplendent in the late morning sunshine.
Round and Cut-leaved Cranesbill as well as a number of other hedgerow flowers were out as we reached the wonderful, immaculately tended farm garden containing some stunning Peonies and Roses, a prime example of an English cottage garden. Walking past here and up towards the reserve, we found ourselves at the reserve entrance where, after negotiating a five-bar gate, we entered a magical world of chalk downland wildlife.
Quaking Grass and several vetches were evident here in much longer vegetation than on the hillside we were aiming for but Small Heath and Common Blue butterflies were enjoying this miniature forest world and as we gained height and the walk became considerably steeper, the scrub reduced in height and we were in a land of chalk downland flowers. Dropwort, a chalk-loving relative of Meadowsweet was everywhere and Pyramidal Orchids were also abundant here. We made our way around the base of the main hill to an area now marked with tape and little flags to see the colony of Burnt-tip Orchid and we weren’t disappointed, there were still plenty out in flower. An alternative name of Dwarf Orchid was appropriate as the plants here rarely grow more than six centimetres tall owing to the soil depth and quality.
Burnt-tip Orchid (Photo © Matt Andrews)
There were also Clustered Bellflowers starting to appear as well as considerable numbers of Chalk Fragrant Orchids, the sweet scent of which was just about detectable. A warm, still evening visit to this site or indeed, Ivinghoe Beacon gives one a much better idea as to their name, their fragrance truly is incredible.
Pasque Flower (Photo © Matt Andrews)
The fluffy grey seed-heads of Pasque Flower were everywhere here and Julian reminded us of a trip he paid here with his wife Ann and Phil Sarre earlier this year when the Pasque Flowers were out in their thousands, much loved by our dear friend Mary Sarre. There were still a few in bloom though and we enjoyed their wonderful deep-mauve flowers with bright yellow centres. Paz explained that the name Pasque was similar to her native Spanish name for Easter, ‘Pascua’ the time when traditionally these lovely anemones begin to flower and from where the common name derives.
Pasque Flower seed heads (Photo © Matt Andrews)
The seed heads though are beautiful in their own right and we enjoyed these, as well as finding the tall, bright yellow-flowered Cats Ears, rather like large yellow hawk weeds. We checked the basal leaves of each of these until we found several with spots on the leaf, in the manner of Cuckoo Pint or Lords and Ladies. This meant we were looking at Spotted Cats Ear, one of the extreme rarities this little reserve is known for. There are barely five other locations for this rare chalk speciality in the entire country so we are fortunate to have one of those sites here.
Houndstongue, Mignionette and Small Scabious were here as well as the Field Fleawort, another downland rarity, this place really does produce on a good day!
The tiny blue flowers of Milkwort were all over the hillside as we moved along towards to the top, eastern end of the reserve when Julian indicated he’d found a fritillary butterfly and indeed, we were all able to see it before it flew strongly off north. A stunningly fresh and bright orange Dark-green Fritillary, absolutely immaculate! I have never seen one here before so this really was a good sighting.
Dark Green Fritillary (Photo © Matt Andrews)
We set off along the top path finding the tiny white flowers of Squinancywort as well as aromatic Thyme, both chalk-loving species and then some really big Spotted Orchids at the little pond on the topmost edge of the hillside.
The group split into two at this point as some of us had to make our way back so we made our way down the track leading back towards the farm, finding several ‘tents’ of jet-black Peacock butterfly caterpillars feeding on nettles, as well as Large Skipper and Meadow Brown.
Walking down past the little spinney of Corsican Pines, we found Candytuft, always regular at this location and a flowering Privet bush absolutely covered in butterflies. Holly Blues, Red Admirals, Small Tortoiseshells and Small Skippers were nectaring here along with a Brimstone passing through.
Such bushes are known as ‘Butterfly Bushes’, an irregular feature of our countryside and this is the first time I have seen one in the UK. They provide a wonderful but rare spectacle for the naturalist and we enjoyed this opportunity for what it was … a delightful end to a great day out.
Knocking Hoe Reserve is easily accessible throughout the year. Later in the summer other rareties emerge such as the enigmatic Moon Carrot, again only found in a handful of other locations in the UK along with a now famous colony of Autumn Lady’s Tresses, a small orchid which has been intensely studied at Knocking Hoe for over fifty years.
Walking is fairly easy, though wet conditions will make the terrain challenging – so a dry, August day would be an ideal time to visit and afford one an opportunity to see some of the other chalk downland specialities this lovely little corner of the Chilterns offers.
Parking in Pegsdon Road, the footpath to the reserve is well signposted and a drink and light meal at The View pub adjacent to the road makes a perfect end to a good day out.
Matt Andrews
June 2022