Wildflower Walk for U3A

On Wednesday 14th June, Andover Trees United hosted a guided wildflower walk in Harmony Woods for 10 members of Andover U3A’s Nature Group. The morning was organised and run by ATU’s Nature & Community Officer Abbey Sadler, with support from Nature & Community Officer Jo Oliver-Hawkins and Ecology Intern Laura Morrell.

The group were welcomed with refreshments in the Hazel Circle, and the sun was shining gloriously! The session began with a talk from Abbey about the history, purpose, and future of ATU and Harmony Woods. This was a request by the U3A group prior to the day.

It was lovely to see how interested the group were in the project, their enthusiasm in asking lots of questions was a real highlight!

- Abbey Sadler, Nature and Community Officer

Intern Laura then led a 45-minute walk around the Woods. She pointed out and described around 15 different wildflower species including sainfoin, self-heal, yellow rattle, bird’s-foot trefoil, and kidney vetch. She explained their key features and their importance to the environment. The U3A group were already very knowledgeable, but some new knowledge was shared between them and ATU. 

Everyone was treated to surprise sightings of four pyramidal orchids along the route. Other favourites included the large white seed-head ‘clocks’ of goat's-beard, and broomrape, a parasitic plant that gets its nutrients from the plants around it.

The U3A group also had keen eyes for birds, butterflies, and moths. They spotted several meadow brown and marbled white butterflies, along with a cinnabar moth. They also saw and heard a few yellowhammers and skylarks.

Thank you for a most enjoyable morning. We very much appreciate the time that you spent organising and planning our visit. We have seen the woods in summer and autumn, so will plan future visits in spring and winter.

- Andover U3A Nature Group

ATU would like to thank the Andover U3A Nature Group for their kind donation of £50 towards the Cabin, and their interest in volunteering for us in future.

All the wildflowers planted in Harmony Woods are native species, and mentioned in the works of Shakespeare. They are grown from locally-sourced seed over the spring and summer and planted out in early autumn each year. They are then left to reproduce naturally.

We are holding a public wildflower walk on Saturday 24th June, and a bat walk in the evening of Friday 7th July: see our Events Calendar for details.