A walk around the reserve today. Just the one dog attack today...
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| Birds Foot Trefoil... |
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| Cobham Field... |
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| Kitchen Field... |
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| Kitchen Field... |
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| Longhoes... |
Strictly speaking, the name "Longhoes" is that of the strip of woodland to the north of this field, which (in 1839) rejoiced in the name of "Prebles" (the western half being called Further Prebles ,with the eastern half called Nether Prebles). Everyone calls both the field and the woods "Longhoes" now. Whatever you call it, the recent wet weather is helping it to green up quite nicely since its
late ploughing in April. It looks like a lot of poppies are coming through, presumably seeded by Plantlife...
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| Rock Rose at Longhoes... |
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| Twenty Acres... |
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| Southern Valley (Nether Great Bottoms...) |
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| Advertising hoarding for Lower Bush Alpacas... |
I had always thought that the track around Ranscombe reserve was called the Cuxton Community Heritage Trail, but it seems to have been recently adopted by Jon and Jameela as the "Alpaca Trail", presumably with the blessing of Plantlife. This seems a little bit cheeky to me, but you'd have to have a heart of stone not to appreciate the work these guys do with autistic kids, who seem to develop a special bond with Jon and Jameela's docile woolly friends. So best of luck to them.
Maybe our new neighbours at Vineyard Farms could spare them a few acres of the 1500 they now have over the road from Forge Cottage, or maybe let them have a trail up through Upper Bush valley.
That would be a nice gesture. But I'm not holding my breath...
