Greenham Common, Bowdown Woods

Greenham Common

I first wrote about Greenham Common here:

Sett survey September 2024 – Animal Wild

My daughter has now submitted her dissertation and although it is perhaps not for me to say, it is brilliant and very moving. I learnt a very great deal from Greenham Women Everywhere: Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp Ideas, Actions, and Legacy, 1981-2000. A friend who served in the US army there at the time and I have decided not to discuss it since we are always going to be diametrically opposed about the protestors and what they achieved, both in political terms and as a hugely important, empowering catalyst for women generally. I have visited Greenham many times for a variety of reasons. The missile silos are terrifying. My younger daughter raised a significant sum from a sponsored run and cycle around the perimeter in aid of refugees, having been moved by the sight of overcrowded rubber boats in the Channel – this was many years ago, when she was still at primary school. How sad that so little has changed, that people are still desperately needing to risk their lives in this way.

I had never been to the control tower though. The common is now a nature reserve and the tower has a café and exhibition spaces for local and other artists and it is possible to enjoy the spectacular views from the visual control deck.

American and British flags still flying.

One of the knowledgeable guides was extremely helpful and informative. He had little good to say about the Greenham women though. He seemed to be almost a reincarnation of my recently departed and much lamented colleague Peter Scott, a bookseller whose expertise on the subject of the First World War was extraordinary. I asked what the bomb-shaped object outside was: not a bomb but a floating minesweeping device. How or why it is there is a mystery to all.

Two artists were exhibiting and I liked both their work very much. They were also lovely to talk to. From Anne Dalton I bought this gorgeous tealight holder and postcard. You can see more of her work here Anne Dalton, The Dalton Kiln | Open Studios.

The other artist is Mair Edwards, working with textiles, Mair Edwards | Open Studios. I was particularly struck by a piece depicting lines of police and protestors from that dark period in the common’s history.

I took a brief stroll around outside. There are designated off-lead areas and I suppose this was one of them, but I was still trying to stop my blood boiling at the site of dogs running around and entering the large pond during nesting season. Not a single one was on a lead. It’s good that dogs are given spaces to run free, but I am not sure this should be one of them nor what the Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust is thinking of. I was calmed by this beautiful little calf and Hawthorn in flower, burgeoning in a profusion which seemed almost immodest.

Back at the tower, there is a permanent exhibition on the history of the place. This photo caught my eye.

A Douglas C47-A Skytrain, military version of the DC-3 Dakota, in USAAF D-Day markings.

The tower itself, and an old fuse board:

Bowdown Woods

I first visited this lovely reserve in November last year in search of fungi:

Even more fungi, the Tree Register and a not so welcome presence in my hair – Animal Wild

It is not easy to find, there are no signposts at all.

This time I took my electric bike – it was nice to follow a more or less circular path, rather than the toing and froing of recent canal towpath trips. Following the various paths took almost no time, but whether cycling or walking, stopping is the important thing. Whenever I did, there was so much to notice and absorb.

Ferns and bluebells were everywhere. I posted a similar picture of this particular fern in the garden last year. Again, it has come back from looking completely dead. Fractal personified.

Also, incidentally, I have just noticed these wild columbines, Aquilegia vulgaris, in the garden, which were hiding.

Dappled light all around in the woods.

Impressive Birch Polypores:

I walked down a twisted path of rickety steps to the stream with a sandwich and beer picnic here:

To repeat, the stopping is the thing. The birdsong was musical: in under two minutes the Merlin app picked up Chiffchaff, Song Thrush, Robin, Blackcap, Blackbird, Wren and Blue Tit. And to quote from Seán Ronayne’s Nature Boy, see Nature Boy – Animal Wild, the closer you look the more there is to learn. Apart from the Dog Rose, which was at Greenham, immediately below, these were all new to me. For the spider and the fly I had to ask a fellow volunteer at HART Wildlife Rescue for help since the internet was not much use.

This is Pendulous Sedge, Carex pendula:

Herb Robert, Geranium robertianum, a species of cranesbill. The curious name dates from at least as long ago as the sixteenth century and was continued in Linnaeus’ assignation. The “Robert” part may come from one of two saints, Robin Goodfellow or the bird the Robin. It may have medicinal uses and goes under many other folk names.

Greater Stitchwort, Stellaria holostea. According to the Woodland Trust, “These plants have an explosive seed-dispersal mechanism. Disturb a large patch of them in summer and they go off like fireworks.” It’s a good food source for many flying insects. It has been used as a herbal remedy for a stitch, hence the name and is also known as poor-man’s buttonhole. Also, delightfully, from the Woodland Trust: “Some say that if you pick greater stitchwort, you will cause a thunderstorm. In Cornwall it was believed that greater stitchwort was the property of the pixies, and picking it would anger them – often resulting in said pixies enchanting you.”

This is a Dance Fly, specifically Empis tessellata. Apparently only the adult males are predatory upon other insects, presenting them as gifts to the females before mating.

This pure white spider was minute, scarcely visible to the naked eye from six feet away. Some sort of crab spider is the consensus, phenomenally busy building the web.