Gallery

Viewing galleries from June, 2018

Ebernoe Morning Walk 27th June 2018

Kate and Nigel led this morning walk in Ebernoe Common, a National Nature Reserve. A lot of nature was seen!  We heard and sometimes saw blackcaps, whitethroats, dunnocks, song thrush, chiffchaff, robin,  greenfinch, bullfinch, little grebe, muscovy (aka barbary) duck and a buzzard. When we weren't birding, we found time to spot silver washed fritillary, meadow browns, marbled whites, skippers, ringlets, large and small white and speckled wood butterflies. It was a hot day but we spent most of the time in the shade which was very pleasant. The reserve has a great variety of vegetation and animal life, carefully nurtured by Sussex Wildlife Trust. They hadn't had time to clear some rapidly growing ferns from the footpaths but nobody complained! At the end of our 5 mile flattish walk we had a look at an extraordinary tree/trees. Almost gowing with a single trunk was an oak and a beech and over a century or two neither had won the battle for life and both seemed very happy in each other's company. Excellent lunch in the nearby Stag Inn.

Stopham Day Walk 20th June 2018

Excellent walk in excellent weather. This was Isabel's walk previously scheduled for January but flooding stopped it happening. After parking in a lane we walked alongside and then crossed the route of the Wey and Arun Canal, now dry, before walking through leafy woods and flourishing fields of the Stopham estate. The Stopham estate has been in the hands of the Barttelot family since 1379. Many members of the family are buried in Stopham Church and commemorated on floor brasses and in the 14th Century (modified in 1853) East window.    We had a very satisfactory lunch in the White Hart adjacent to Stopham Bridge before making a return past the extremely sucessful Coombelands Racing stables with the Toat Monument on a distant hill.  The Toat monument was erected in 1827 to commemorate Samuel Drinkwater, supposedly buried beneath, with his horse.

Milland Hills Morning Walk 13th June 2018

Isabel led us from Older Hill down to Redford and across the road  to Titty Hill (the map shows Titty Hill as a collection of houses, with a hill immmediately beyond them called Dunner Hill). We stopped for coffee at this point before continuing past Bowley Farm and Tentworth before turning North towards on the New Lipchis Way. Woolhouse Farm had several farm carts and caravans on display. A little further on Isabel had cleverly provided a car for those wishing to avoid the final drag back up Older Hill. An excellent walk with plenty of shade available as the sun was quite hot.  Great lunch in The Royal Oak.

Hambledon Day Walk 6th June 2018

Denis led a 6.1/2 miles walk from Hambledon village to The Bat and Ball for lunch  and returned via Broadhalfpenny Down with the memorial stone marking the original cricket pitch of England. Walkers also admired the vines in the Hamledon Vineyard, the oldest commercial vineyard in England before getting back to the Village Hall car park.

Trotton Morning Walk 30th May 2018

Janet's morning walk seemed unlikely the previous day with more rain forecast. However no rain fell although a few parts were still wet from earlier rain. A very pleasant walk from Trotton to the hill above Rogate and back again with lunch in The Elsted Arms. Nigel was quick to hear a yellow hammer perched high in an oak tree. The concrete lumps in the field on Habin Hill turned out not to be a gun emplacement nor a nuclear shelter, but probably just an old water reservoir. We later crossed Habin Bridge, a scheduled Ancient Monument, built by monks from Durford Abbey in the 16th Century.