Taking a walk on the wild side.

There were one or two things I definitely wanted to see on my hols to Lincolnshire this year, the limewoods being one of them. We followed a walk out from Fiskerton but there are a number of different routes available on the website www.limewoods.co.uk. This type of woodland is very rare and the habitat it provides valuable support so some of our more threatened species. I would imagine that in the spring it's a beautiful place to be- in August everything has grown up tall and is going over but that didn't prevent us from seeing an abundance of wildlife.

The walk itself was mainly across open fields with high hedgerows with some of it following an Iron Age trackway. It also takes in the ruins of Barlings Abbey which was dissolved in 1537. As you can see from the photo little remains above ground but you can still follow the earthworks and see where the fish pond was.

I was completely staggered by the number of butterflies we saw flying between the field boundaries- as ever they didn't tarry long enough to be snapped, but I identified a red admiral, speckled wood, brimstone and the peacock which, although not taken on the walk, was taken en route.

The highlight for me, indeed the highlight of the whole holiday though, was seeing one of these. I've only ever glimpsed one in the distance but this one just stopped and put its ears back before lolloping off back into the undergrowth.

Arilx