Male orange-tip nectaring on woodruff The bluebells of Warriners Wood were to be the highlight of my morning's walk. And Herb Paris, Paris quadrifolia, An April day with tree flowers, leaf buds unfurling, the canopy a luminous green and the herb layer a haze of bluebells. Mosses were sprinkled with petals of cherry blossom. Four hazel nuts clung to the trunk of a hazel, as if stuck to the bark. A blackcap sang loudly and brown butterflies flitted about the bluebells.
In spring especially, I set out with a wish-list- flora and fauna I hope to find- like the elusive Herb Paris which I came upon in Warriners Wood some years ago, but not today.
In spring especially, I set out with a wish-list- flora and fauna I hope to find- like the elusive Herb Paris which I came upon in Warriners Wood some years ago, but not today.
The best butterflies of the morning came as I walked along the Brigsteer Road to Warriners Wood. I heard the exquisite bubbling call of curlew. And early purple orchids grew in profusion on the roadside verge with its low terrace of limestone and ash trees. The yellow-green flowers of crosswort are honey-scented and grew beside the white flowers of woodruff. Male orange-tip butterflies were nectaring on woodruff, and they lingered. The contrast of the upper wing (orange on white) and the hind under-wing (a cryptic colouring of green and white) is strikingly beautiful.
Opposite Warriners Wood, the newish stile erected by Kendal Ramblers is excellent in design. No rain so far in what may be the driest and hottest April in Cumbria and the grass is parched and brittle. Early purple orchids come fast into full-bloom with the hot weather. And there are clumps of wood anemone sheltered by bracken.
Perhaps the most novel and stunning aspect of the morning was the cloud-scape. During much of April the sky has been hazy and monochrome. Today's cloud was breathtakingly beautiful, three dimensional. Clouds for a study of perspective.
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