Not quite gone yet

Not a terribly interesting shot today, but possibly the last image of snow in the Home Counties for a while. I was working at the nature reserve, at the very highest point - 256 metres above sea level, just 11 m short of the highest point in the Chilterns, which is one field away. It was cold, but very sunny and I was surprised to find a series of snow patches. Then I thought, if you were to travel west from the coast of Suffolk (indeed, probably somewhere east of Dusseldorf) there is no land higher until you get to Cleeve Hill near Gloucester.

The reserve woodland is in the far distance. The field you are looking at was growing wheat (poorly) until about 15 years ago, after being ploughed up during the second world war. Until that time it was part of the once extensive flower-rich sheep walks of the Chiltern Hills. The Wildlife Trust managed to buy this and two other fields connected with the main reserve 13 years ago and, after a successful trial reverting sections to chalk grassland, last year we managed to excavate a series of bare chalk scrapes and sow the rest of the land with a native chalk grassland seed mix - all designed to recreate suitable habitat for some of our threatened butterflies. More blips on this project later in the year.