Mrs. Toad

Another enjoyable spring afternoon, spent walking round Fineshade Woods with Chris. We'd gone in pursuit of two plants that I wanted to photograph. The first was European White Elm, a species that was discovered growing there a couple of years ago, that I'd never seen (see extra). This European species of riparian woodland is rare in the UK, although its random distribution, together with the absence of any record of its introduction, has led at least one British authority to consider it native. It's resistant to Dutch Elm disease and is being planted by some conservation organisations to benefit White-letter Hairstreak. 

Our other target plant was Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage which grows along a stream near the edge of the wood. This took a little more searching, but once we'd found the right area there was plenty of it, growing on the stream bank and in seepage areas in the adjacent Alder woodland. There were also carpets of Great Scented-liverwort, and Overleaf Pellia on the stream banks as well as abundant Wall Scalewort growing on a fallen tree, rather than its more usual habitat of limestone walls.

After a winter being restricted to the flat terrain round Peterborough, it was a bit of a shock climbing the hill out of the valley - my muscles certainly need some hill practice! But as we reached the top we came across this beautiful female Common Toad who was sitting on the edge of the ride, and seemed perfectly happy to do a photo session before strolling on her way back to her breeding pond.