Six of us met at the Gatten Valley Daffodil Field car park with the sun shining and a cold chill in the air. This car park has a donation box in place raising money for Marie Curie. 170,000 daffodils were planted in November 2015, and the spring of 2026 marks the tenth year of flowering daffodils in this field – always flowering a little later being at 1100 feet and on a north facing slope, the car park has raised over £8000 for a great cause. The RVCWG previously met at the same location last year for our monthly walk in March, so we decided to do the same loop, but this year we switched the direction. The group made its way up the main road, enjoying the views of Stiperstones and listening to the Goldcrest singing in the woodland. Passing Gatten Lodge where the swallows were flying in and out of the stables, we paused to enjoy the views and to see if we could see the Monastery nestled within Gittensay Woods in the distance. With the sun out, a lizard was spotted basking on the roadside vegetation. The group admired a large group of ashy mining bees which were nesting in the exposed soil on the roadside banks. Further up the road we spotted a pair of Curlew in the field, one sat down and one feeding. A Buzzard flew over and both Curlew flew up making that distinctive call.
We took the path off the road up hill, admiring the old hedgerows, spotting orange tipbutterflies, meadow pipits and skylarks. There were areas along the path where the thin soil was perfect for spring ephemerals to grow such as Parsley-piert, Hairy Bittercress and Common Whitlowgrass. Ravens flew over ‘croaking’ as well as Red Kites soaring, and a Wheater was spotted at the top. The views at the top were spectacular. The group walked back down through the old Alder woodland where Rowen trees were growing out of ancient alder trees. The lake was picturesque as it reflected the sun withtufted ducks bobbing on lake’s surface, it was a peaceful end to a lovely walk.
