Hartslock

Spent the day up on the reserve showing visitors around and the day was marked by clouds of migrating Painted Lady butterflies (see right). Every few seconds one passed by, heading north-west enroute from North Africa to who knows where.
One Lady orchid still looks very good as do half of the hybrids and most of [...]

Just a quick update on today’s conditions. It’s very wet under foot and muddy in places - especially in the lane. Very breezy with heavy showers makes it quite a bad day to see the plants. Two hybrids have been lost to snails but the rest are flowering well, as are the Lady and Monkey [...]

Just punched in the figures from taday’s mapping - adding about a dozen new Monkey Orchids. This has taken all the statistics to new record levels: most plants in the colony (547); most Monkey Orchids (410); most hybrids (130). I am sure we haven’t heard the end of the story yet either because I know [...]

Spent another day scouring the slope with Gerry today, and rather laboriously mapping new orchids. Most were hybrids in close proximity to the existing hybrids but further up slope. We’re pretty close to finishing the main part of the mapping, with just a handful of plants still to be looked for but we do expect [...]

Just a reminder to anyone thinking of visiting that this weekend is probably not the ideal time to see the orchids. They have only just started to flower and the ground is still quite damp and muddy around the Lady orchids & hybrids. However, I will be up there as often as I can manage, [...]

The Hartslock website has had a spring make-over - I hope you all like it. I have changed to this format because it will be easier for me to keep it updated and it will look much more attractive than the previous website.
I have transferred most of the articles from the old site but if [...]

Last Thursday the BBC did some filming for a new series called Country Tracks - due to show on the old Countryfile slot on Sunday lunchtimes. From their initial blurb it seems to be a programme looking back at some of the old Countryfile articles and tieing them in with walks through areas of outstanding [...]

Hartslock Nature Reserve is located on the north side of the Thames between Whitchurch and Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. The site is owned by The Wildlife Trust for Berks, Bucks & Oxon (BBOWT) and managed by its staff and volunteers.
The reserve is a beautiful south facing, unimproved chalk downland hill with stunning views over the river Thames and [...]