For the second of my 30 days wild challenges, I’m visiting a green space that I’ve travelled past many times but never been to.

Beaulieu Heights on the south side of the Crystal Palace ridge is a remnant of the Great North Wood and more recently was the grounds of two large houses. It’s hot and quiet this morning, well quiet at least in terms of humans.  As I walk through the meadows in search of some relief in the woods, I can hear a couple of chiffchaffs singing and a juvenile robin stops to watch me.

This week I’m reviving my rusty grass identification skills and there’s lots of unmown patches here where I can botanise happily. It has once again become an obsession with my ongoing internal monologue along the following lines “There’s Festuca, Agrostis, Holcus… don’t know that one…”

I do know that I’m in great need of a botany mentor for reassurance with identification. I’m hoping that after lockdown I’ll be able to find one.