River Cerne Walk 1

We are lucky to have access to such a lovely little chalk river only a short walk from the village of Charlton Down. Like every habitat, it can change dramatically in its appearance through the seasons, with the water level rising and falling, and the banks increasingly shrouded with luxuriant vegetation as the weather warms up. This winter saw a big tidy up and cut back for river management reasons, but last year there was a spectacular abundance of white-headed umbelliferous plants including Water Dropwort mixed in with Comfrey. Last year in June the riverbank plants were well established but the Dropwort had not yet reached anything like its full height. This year everything is a bit behind because of the cold Spring and it will be a while for plants to re-establish after the cull. It is a very pleasant walk along the bank at any time, with expansive views of the surrounding slopes and fields. There was a field of poppies in the distance, and young barley close by (field peas are the crop this year) on this particular walk.