Attenborough's Fields
Attenborough's Fields are a green oasis in an increasingly urbanised environment in this part of Hertfordshire. They are the responsibility of Hertfordshire County Council, and the location and its ecology are managed with wildlife in mind.
The fields have names: Upper Haydon Hill, Lower Haydon Hill, Merry Risom Field and Rush Mead / Little Brickfield / Hither Pikel and Home Field / Markham Field, Further Pikel, Bottom Field, Round Hill and Oak Field. Some of the names speak for themselves and are mundane enough, others I find more interesting because of their use of archaic or arcane agricultural terms. Risom may be from the Late Middle English, rissom, meaning a small amount, or a "scrap", derived from an Old Danish word for an ear of grain (I originally wondered, incorrectly, whether Risom was associated with "rhizome"), mead is obviously a derivative of "meadow", while pikel is a 17th Century word for a pitch- or hay-fork (although one of the many definitions of pike is an English word for a peaked hill, eg Scafell Pike in the Cumbrian Lake District).
View south over Attenborough's Fields. When my son was small, and after I'd turned freelance, I'd walk him to primary school and home again through here. It was fun even in winter, providing we had our wellies on (wellington boots = rubber rain boots).
The cooler, shady path home for hot afternoons.
View to SE with cow parsley and Hillside House, once a small film studio and now expensive apartments.
A carpet of wildflowers.
The mighty fallen.
Track to Merry Hill.
The Woodland Trust keeps plenty of open meadow: great for wildlife. Won't be long until this hay is mown.
An oak in winter.
A horse chestnut, I think. Weather less predictable here.
Buttercups.
Bee in ragwort.
Cow parsley and campion, above; Blackthorn blossom, below.
Here's a pair of autumnal views with red poll cattle:
Winter months: a grey heron and a hen mallard.
For all the fine words on conservation, pressure on this fragment of greenery continues, as predicted. Adjoining open land is increasingly poached for development and locals have to remain vigilant and vociferous about maintaining our green spaces. Post-war governments established the so-called Green Belt to protect against the sort of in-filling that's going on (and evoking that legislation might yet save us), but there is immense pressure from Parliament on local government to meet high quotas for house building after central government itself has long-neglected the requirement. Brown field sites ought to be the primary targets for development but, by placing quotas on individual councils—some of which have few brown field sites available—it becomes necessary for them to invade the green spaces.
Also see Attenborough's Mists and Attenborough's Horses.
Part of Merry Hill Walk.