Decided to head further afield today, waaaay up to Woolmer Forest just south of Bordon in North Hants. I've been here before in search of Natterjacks (missed 'em every time...) and it's a great area. One patch I particularly enjoy mooching across consists of a recently cleared drainage channel with the spoil heaped up alongside and what seems to be an old carpark area. The whole thing is covered in colonising ruderals and I never know what I'm going to find next. It'll be crap in a few years, but at the moment it's an exciting spot with Slow Worms and Grass Snakes under the rubbish and masses of newts everywhere. Here's a pic I took as I lifted one piece of debris (which I quickly and gently returned into place). Now there's something you don't get to see every day!!!

Figuring it was wiser to stick with the plants I made my way to the area I like best. The edge of the hardstanding is being colonised by many plants and grasses including quite a few I was unfamiliar with. Not that they're particularly rare or infrequent, just that I'm too crap at plants to recognise/work out what they are! Lots of different goosefoots for example, although I did manage to identify Many-seeded Goosefoot (Chenopodium polyspermum) and Fat-hen (Chenopodium album) at least. Small Balsam (Impatiens parviflora) is rapidly taking over the egdes and I was pleased to find many Dark Mullein (Verbascum nigrum) amongst the brambles. Less pleased to see lots of Evening Primroses, I'll tackle them another day when they're in better condition! Lots of garden throwouts too, even though the nearest garden is about a mile away. Stuff like Snapdragons, Purple Toadflax, Marigolds etc.

So here's a few pics that I hope I've identified correctly. Let me know (in the comments box below this blog) if I've gone wrong please!

Trailing Lobelia (Lobelia erinus). Reckon the ID is good for this as was already confirmed by a proper botanist on the Facebook PSL site!

Hoping this is Many-seeded Goosefoot (Chenopodium polyspermum), much of the plant was prostrate.

I'm thinking this is Peppermint (Mentha x piperita) a hybrid between Water Mint and Spear Mint and presumably of garden origin. Or something close?

And this (I'm seriously hoping!) is Three-lobed Crowfoot (Ranunculus tripartitus). I'm not very good at crowfoot identification, but it does appear to key out at R.tripartitus. It was growing on mud as opposed to actually in the water. The water you can see is the result of recent rain, usually this recently dredged channel is merely damp.

Aside from the plants I couldn't help but notice the state of some of the sallows. I think these are Goat Willow (Salix caprea) and they provided me with two more lifers.

This appears to be Willow Powdery Mildew (Uncinula adunca) which I've seen before but never quite as heavily as this! And it's taken me up until now to try and identify it...

Whilst on the undersides was this - Sallow Rust (Melampsora capraearum), another one I've seen before but never tried to identify until now.

My last lifer of the day was another leaf fungus, and again, one I'm certain I've seen before but never attempted to identify.

This one I'm thinking is Bindweed Mildew (Erysiphe convolvuli). Anybody out there who can confirm or correct any of the IDs, please let me know. Microfungi and garden plants aren't amongst my stronger points!

Invert-wise there were a few nice bits and bobs. Raft Spiders (Dolomedes fimbriatus) were decidedly numerous in the ditchside vegetation, mostly youngsters with green-tinged legs but a few sunbathing adults too. I saw several Rhingia campestris, one of my favourite hoverflies. I netted a couple to rule out R.rostrata. I've seen this fly called the Heineken Fly but I've no idea why, although I can think of a couple of possibilities. Butterflies seen were Brimstone, Small and Large Whites and Speckled Wood. Common Darters were the only Odonata I noticed. Common Lizards and a small Grass Snake were the only reptiles today and a pair of Red-legged Partridges were the only birds that made it into my notebook. No Natterjacks though.....