It must be the best part of a decade since the last time I visited Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. When I was still teaching at the University of Northampton we took students there every year to show them the diverse lowland heath landscapes, the ancient oak forest, the birch woods and the alder carr that runs through one of the small valleys.

Now that Karin and I have moved back to Britain, I can revisit some of these old haunts to see how much they have changed. Yesterday I returned to Cannock Chase with a group of friends, all former or current academics, a mix of geographers and ecologists. As we walked we discussed the local ecology and geomorphology, speculating or enlightening, as our knowledge allowed.

Highlights for me included a stunning, newly emerged male Orange Tip butterfly (Anthocharis cardamines) basking in the warm sunshine. I was also intrigued by these hour-glass shaped Hawthorn trees (Crataegus monogyna), presumably the product of grazing of older trees by deer that can cannot reach the highest stems (I said there was a bit of speculation going on!)

The swampy Sherbrook Valley always fascinates me, with its primeval atmosphere and dominating tussock grasses:

Look closer, however, and you see some real flowering gems such as Wood Sorrel (Oxalis acetosella) clinging to mossy stumps and broken branches:

All in all it was a great day: good company, wonderful landscape and wildlife, perfect weather, and lunch in a nearby pub.

You might be wondering about the title to this post. Well, next week I head to the Kunming Institute of Botany for three months of fieldwork and paper writing, and to deliver some talks. Then I’m briefly back in the UK before heading to the International Botanical Congress in Madrid for a week. During that time I’ll try to post about my adventures on the blog.