It was great a week or so ago to find some sunshine for a short couple of visits to the meadow at Maldon Wick and to find that, as last year, the wild flowers were blooming,
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| The meadow at Maldon Wick EWT reserve (opposite Morrisons) |
(Comparing with 2023) one of the post obvious flowers was again the Corky-fruited Water-dropwort and there were plenty of different peas- Common and Tufted Vetch, Meadow and Grass Vetchling, Birdsfoot and Lesser Trefoil, Smooth Tare and Red and White Clover.
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| Corky-fruited Water-dropwort |
It was good to see species I had not recorded there before, including Common Centaury, Agrimony and Red Bartsia.
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| Common Centaury |
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| Agrimony |
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| Red Bartsia |
Best of all was my first Pyramidal Orchid on the reserve, to add to the list of Bee and Common Spotted Orchid seen previously.
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| Pyramidal Orchid |
It was good to see that the developers of the neighbouring estates have refurbished the old railway bridge to allow access from one side of the embankment to the other. Hopefully this will direct pedestrians and cyclists away from the old railway line, thus reducing disturbance of the reserve itself.
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| Refurbished Railway Bridge |
