10th March: Exbury Gardens are Open

Exbury Gardens actually opened on the 1st March for members only during the first week.  However the bad weather combined with Seatern being collected on the 6th March meant I did not get there until Tuesday the 10th.  I was concerned to find that  the path running west of the old tennis courts was now tarmac rather than gravel and other places had been tidied quite a lot.  I did both River Walks and went back to the café but there were no “savoury” items like scones or danish pastries, just cakes, so I headed on to Lepe and had a bacon bap in the Lookout before walking through the conservation area.  In the bird hide I watched a great speckled woodpecker on the bird feeder.

I visited again on Sunday the 15th March before doing on watch at NCI Stone Point.  I hadn’t realised it was Mother’s Day and had to queue up to get in.  However the northern part of the Gardens was quiet.  The swampy area seemed to have been tidied up rather a lot but the Rock Garden seemed more over-grown in a pleasant way, and I wandered up towards the railway line just as a train went past.  The cherry trees near the dragonfly pond were still very dormant but I took some photos to contrast with what happens later in the year.