Good Friday

The first day of the Easter break saw the Tense Towers team make the short journey to Pilch Field, a Wildlife Trust site in North Buckinghamshire. The reserve consists of unimproved meadowland, much of which retains the ridge and furrow features of mediaeval ploughing.

Whilst Whitethroats scratched out their tunes from the hedgerows and Orange Tip butterflies reprogrammed their sat-navs to "Haphazard", we weaved our way carefully across the field, so as not to tread on anything remotely floral.

Along the tops of the ridges, swathes of Cowslips provided a carpet of soft yellow hues in which  Green-winged Orchids appeared as a random pink pattern.

The temperatures rose steadily through the morning so that by early afternoon we felt the need for some shade. Travelling up to Northamptonshire, we revisited Everdon Stubbs wood, which has featured in several posts for its profusion of Bluebells. Despite the huge number of cars parked along the verges of the roads running through and alongside the wood, once immersed in the dappled shade of the trees and the heady scent of the flowers, peace and tranquillity were not hard to find.

Taking a different approach to previous years, here's the gratuitous Bluebell shot...