Aston Clinton Ragpits

On our way home from a Forest Discovery Day at Wendover Woods yesterday, we popped into Aston Clinton Ragpits.

It's an old chalkpit that's only 3 ha in size and is managed by BBOWT. It's famous for its orchids and wildflowers, with 10 different types of orchids and 25 species of butterflies found on this small site. They hold an annual orchid count in June and usually count around 30,000+ orchids in just 3 ha.

It's still too early for the orchids, but we wanted to see if there were any wildflowers around yet. We weren't disappointed as we found Coltsfoot and Primroses being enjoyed by the bees and bugs.

Coltsfoot

A queen white-tailed bumble bee loved the primroses

Primroses

 

We also found wild growing daphne, that was fenced off to protect it from being nibbled.

The catkins looked lovely in the sunshine.

Bug Mad Girl couldn't resist going for an explore and she soon found some treasures.

Hunting for treasure

She found a bone, but couldn't find the rest of the creature

A Roman snail shell

A fluffy feather

We also had a peep under the several metal sheets left out for reptiles, but nothing was home (although they may well have heard us coming and disappeared before we got there!)