A short stay in the New Forest and we spend the time exploring some of the wood and heathland areas. We also spent the morning at Bucklers Hard an eighteenth century village where warships for Nelson's Navy were built.

If anyone was to ask me if there is one place in Kent that is the best place to visit to see a spectacular display of Bluebells I would have no doubt in saying that King’s Wood is the place to go. We’ve been going there for quite a few years now and each year it never fails to delight. This year we have made two visits. I was so keen to see them this year we in fact went a bit too soon to see them at their best, but on this first visit we actually discovered some footpaths we’d never found before and in doing this found many more areas of bluebells we’d somehow missed in the past.

April is one of those months I just love and it’s the time of year when you just have to get out and enjoy the annual spectacle as the woodlands come to life. Visits to my favourite local woods at East Blean happen frequently as it’s all over too quickly. During this April I made 3 visits and each time it was so different.

The Early Spider Orchid is one of the first orchids to flower in the year. This year I decided to visit not one but several different places where they grow. They aren't the most spectacular of orchids but the sight of seeing several thousand growing together at Samphire Hoe is certainly an impressive sight.

At the end of April I made a visit to Denge Wood hoping I would see the first of the newly emerging Duke of Burgundy butterflies that have a colony in a part of the wood known as Bonsai Bank.

I always try to visit Marden each year for the annual show of thousands of Green-winged Orchids that grow there. They are usually at their best around the first week of May and in fact I made my 2009 visit on exactly the same date that I did in 2008. This year the day was quite overcast and breezy at times.

 

The last time I visited Sissinghurst Castle Gardens was back in late March, just after the garden opened to the public for the year. I really enjoyed my visit on that occasion as I found it interesting seeing the structure of the garden revealed. On my way home from my visit to Marden Meadows I called into the garden to see just how much it had changed.

Over the weekend of the 16th /17th May we volunteered to help with a survey for Butterfly Conservation, which helps to give some idea of how many different species are present in certain woodlands.

The weather wasn’t very good at all during the early part of May but I have been visiting the places I know Orchids will be in flower as I always try to. This particular day was a beutiful sunny one at last and I visited various places knowing exactly which orchids I would see in flower and I wasn't disappointed in what I found. 

It had been many weeks since we’d done one of the walks including the Royal Military Canal but with the promise of a good forecast and a free day we set off to park in the village of Aldington and soon started on our walk of 9½ miles.