Crocus

Amongst the mature trees and stones deep swathes of crocuses carpet the old section of New Milton cemetery, they really do make the finest of shows.

Becton Bunny

Just beyond Barton on Sea, on the New Forest coast is Becton Bunny (bunny being the local name for a chine), a narrow valley carrying a small stream of the same name towards the sea.  The bit that people really know as the bunny though is the 400m before the sea, where as steep sided ravine it opens through the sandy cliffs. This section runs obliquely to the cliff creating a rather thin promontory, and the sandy/gravelly nature of the geology here makes that promontory susceptible to weathering. And, man, has it weathered in recent years. Coastal erosion has really taken it's toll, and once that promontory has gone I don't think the bunny will be a feature, or a feature of any substance, here for many more decades (the average rate at which the cliff retreats along this section of coastline is 1m per year); it'll become merely a scoop in the cliff line (like the nearby Taddiford Gap) and hollow in the coastline. Maybe then the stream will reach the beach as a waterfall, though maybe that'd cut a new ravine over time...time will tell. The stream itself isn't that long, maybe a mile and a half or so, originating just below New Milton. It's a nice spot.

Where's Pathy?

Where's pathy? It's like 'Where's Wally?', but with paths. It's a fun (or tedious) game for all the family round these parts. I was wandering Resource Woods (real name Great Woar Copse, know by us as Resource Woods due to the high number of resources available), and following a well used path, when all of a sudden the path had vanished. It had simply ceased to be. I found myself adrift in proper bog woodland.

Wood Anemone

With Spring proper comes a noticeable increase in flowers, an environment in which that's most apparent is woodland. Resource Woods, a part neglected Hazel copse, is our local Bluebell wood; you know, there'll be a wood near you that you know is the place to go see a proper Bluebell show. Although before that the Wood Anemone's (Anemone nemorosa) reign. A woodland blessed with an abundance is a beautiful scene to behold, that's all, mind, as the Wood Anemone is pretty toxic to man and beast. Like Bluebells or Ramsons, they're a good sign that the woodland is old, especially when found on mass.