Hartslock and Warburg nature reserves, Oxfordshire  | - Click on the image above to view gallery
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 River Thames from Hartslock Nature Reserve I had the chance to spend a couple of days in the Chilterns area so I set about planning places to visit where I just might see some different orchids to those I see regularly in Kent. One such place I do know of is Hartslock Nature Reserve looked after by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire wildlife Trust (BBOWT). On this site grows the rare Monkey Orchid which I’m used to seeing grow at Park Gate Down but what also grows here is a hybrid orchid that has occurred between the Monkey and the Lady Orchid. It seems that the best time to see them in flower is about the third week in May so I’ve made a note that it would be nice to try and visit the site at that time next year.
When doing a Google search on the site I came across a site looked after the voluntary warden and I e-mailed him seeing if he could suggest a few places for me to visit, which proved one of the most useful things I did to prepare and I can’t thank him enough for the suggestion he made. He did suggest that if I enjoyed good views and walking to still visit Hartslock which is exactly what I did and I really enjoyed my visit even though I got caught in a heavy shower. I was staggered to read that, on his site he had a total of 410 Monkey Orchids and 130 hybrids this year. That really must be a sight to see.
After having a good look at the nature reserve and seeing just where the Monkey, Lady and hybrid orchids grow, and enjoying the wonderful view towards the River Thames I decided I would follow the riverside footpath for a while to see what I might find. I walked the obvious footpath towards Goring. I went a little way past the Brunel railway bridge, known locally as the Four Arches. This was built during the 1830s by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Just past the bridge is a small nature reserve known as Little Meadow, a natural hay meadow alongside the Thames path which is managed for wild flowers by the Goring and Streatley Environment Group. It certainly made for a very pleasant walk and I spotted some of my favourite damselflies, the Banded Demoiselle, although sadly they were hiding in the grass and weren’t in the mood for posing for pictures.
I had thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Hartslock but knew I also had time to visit another nature reserve I have visited on a couple of occasions before: Warburg near Henley-on-Thames. On my journey there the weather really did improve and I thought for a while I would get a sunny afternoon, but the heavy showers soon returned. At Warburg, however, there are plenty of woods to shelter in.
 Lesser Butterfly Orchid  Greater Butterfly Orchid Warburg is the BBOWT showcase nature reserve and it really is a fantastic place to spend time. On arrival I popped into the visitor centre to see what was worth looking for and the warden told me there were some Lesser Butterfly Orchids. Now I was really pleased about this as I’d never seen them before, but unless you look very closely they look just like the Greater Butterfly Orchids I’d taken pictures of at Bonsai Bank the week before. The warden very kindly showed me exactly where they were growing and also pointed out the differences.
She was able to do this as there were both Greater and Lesser Butterfly Orchids growing next to each other. The pollinia inside the flower are parallel in the Lesser and divergent in the Greater. The spur of each flower of the Lesser is slender and horizontal whilst the Greater has a downturned spike.
It is not the only time I’ve visited Warburg it had also rained when I visited last November. For a bit of contrast I have included some pictures from the November visit too. How soon we forget the autumnal colours when we are surrounded by the bright greens of the summer months. I would happily visit Warburg at any time of the year as there is always something interesting to see.
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