Wild flowers of College Lake

Last week, I took the chance to go to College Lake Nature Reserve not far from where I live. The range of wildlife there is fantastic, mostly because of the widely varied habitats. At this time of year, the number of birds at College Lake is quite amazing. Swifts, Swallows and House Martins whizzed around overhead, and plenty of waders were around too… but even more impressive at this time of year were the wild flowers.

A picture of part of the reserve is below. The views were really spectacular. Its great to think that such an amazing habitat is on my doorstep.

Not long after arriving, we came across a small group of Bluebells around a tree. They have got to be one of my favourite plants.


Whilst I am on the theme of blue, below is a photo of a Blue Tit we saw just a bit further along the same path. College Lake had a large number of nestboxes scattered around the reserve on various trees and buildings. I saw a pair of Blue Tits pop in and out of one of these boxes as we walked. The female was taking in beakfulls of nesting material. The one in the photo below looks in remarkable condition.

I was quite surprised to see Primroses on the ground too. The little purple flowers surrounding the Primroses are Violets. I had never seen Wild Primroses before, so I was very pleased to see the ones in the photo below.

On the way around the reserve, we also saw Cowslips on the edges of the path. In the sun, the yellow flowers were very colourful. See them in the photo below:

I got a close-up picture too.

Violets were very common throughout the reserve, and I saw a good number of bees and butterflies surrounding them.

I’ve no idea what the flowers in the next photo are. Please forgive me if the ID is glaringly obvious, but i’m still new to flowers. The flowers hadn’t come out yet but the buds were colourful anyway.

As we walked around to the woodland section of the reserve, we saw plenty of teasel swaying in the wind. It was around this point where I saw what I think was a Willow Warbler singing in the trees judging from its song and brighter plumage than the Chiffchaff. Both of these birds are apparently quite common in the spring around College Lake.

So there you have it. The flowers which I saw on the 2 mile walk around College Lake. I visited it again this weekend, and I may post on that visit soon. But my eyes have been glued to the garden birds today, as I saw a fledgling flitting around.