Longcross near Fritham - An Evening Walk

Saturday 31st May 2014

We parked at Longcross car park near Fritham this evening for a very pleasant 2 mile walk. We didn't see another soul on the circular route and it was very peaceful as the light began to fade. The birds were singing their little hearts out and at one point in the trees we saw a large bird which we now think may have been a red kite.  The tail was the correct shape and it's colouring didn't seem to be that of any other bird of prey.  I don't know if there are red kites are in the New Forest but that's what we believe it was.  (I have just had a search online and it appears they are in the New Forest).  

One of my favourite flowers, foxgloves, are just coming into bloom..

The greenish light was a little eerie in places.

Back at the car park, the first animals we saw, a dozen New Forest ponies.

No sign of a decent sun set tonight though.

Portuguese Fireplace and the Reptile Centre - New Forest

Sunday 25th May 2014

We parked at  Millyford Bridge car park near Lyndhurst this morning for a walk through Wooson's Hill and Holidays Hill Inclosures, via the Portuguese Fireplace and the Reptile Centre.  It was the first dry day for a while and the Forest was very soggy under foot, back to the mud and splodge we know so well.  

From Millyford Bridge car park looking towards the Portuguese Fireplace.

There were masses of cyclists about this morning, there was an event on, some were going up and some were going the opposite way down this small road, luckily not in large groups though, they were either on their own or in small groups of 3 or 4.

The Portuguese Fireplace.

During the First World War, Portuguese troops were stationed at this site in the New Forest to help produce timber for the war effort.  There was a shortage of local manpower at the time as most forest workers were on military service.  To ensure that meals were cooked in the traditional way, troops constructed this fireplace.  The Forestry Commission have retained the fireplace from the cook house as a memorial to the men who lived and worked in the forest.

Very pleasant.

There were quite a few rhododendrons dotted here and there to add a splash of spring colour.

Fresh new larch fir cones.

And back to mud and water.

In order to avoid the mud and from sinking up to our armpits in it we had to walk alongside a fence on a raised bank on which the local wood ants were doing the same thing - thousands of them - they went on for a long way - they're certainly fitter than us!  We came to a ditch full of water and found the ants had the best idea - cross on the fence, just like this......

Clever!

We then had a look round the Reptile Centre, where we saw more reptiles today than I think we have seen there before.  I think maybe the sun had encouraged them out.  

A common lizard.

A natterjack toad.

An adder...........

......and close up.

As well as the above reptiles we also saw a grass snake, a common toad, sand lizards and a smooth snake.The reptile centre ( I should have taken an overall picture of it) is a great place to visit, and at this time of year they have a hut/shed place where you can watch a goshawk's nest in action on a webcam.  This year three baby goshawks hatched at the end of April and are now looking quite healthy and large.  

The view from our lunch spot, on a very large fallen beech tree, taken lying down on the tree, looking up!

Nearly back at Millyford Bridge car park, the Highland Water.

We walked about 3.5 miles, saw plenty of wildlife, including various breeds of deer and loads of birds (and one  particularly stressed wren who was not overly happy with our choice of lunch spot!)

A Rainbow and The Ornamental Lake

Wednesday 21st May 2014

I have just come across some photos that I took one evening about a week ago when we came across a brilliant rainbow.  Luckily I had my camera with me so I took lots of photos, but unfortunately the rainbow was almost invisible in most of them.  This was the best one and that's not great.

A rainbow at Aldermoor.

Yesterday for the first time in ages we had a swift walk on Southampton Common, things were a lot greener than they were a few weeks ago, it looks quite different.  I especially liked the Ornamental Lake, this has looked quite plain and stark over the winter but now it looks softer and more alive.  

Irises on the edge of the Ornamental Lake.

Lilies - no sign of a frog sitting on one though!

The Island, with a swan just visible sitting on a nest.

Bright and shiny Irises.

Farley Near Salisbury

Wednesday 14th May 2014

We had a great 4.5 mile walk in woodland and farmland at Farley near Salisbury today. Our aim was to try and find 13 geocaches in a circuit, this we managed fairly easily with no dnfs (did not finds).  Shortly after starting out on a woodland track a gamekeeper stopped his land rover to have a chat, he has been doing his job in this area for over 50 years and he was a very interesting person to chat to, obviously with lots of local knowledge about the local bird and wildlife.  It was really nice of him to stop and chat.

The tracks were bordered by masses of cow parsley all along the walk (please note the speeding bird getting in on the act - in the blue sky on the right - on zooming in, this is a great tit).

Fields of crops.

There were lots of butterflies flitting about in the warmth of the sun, here we have a tortoiseshell, the only butterfly to keep still long enough for a photo.  We also saw a peacock, a red admiral, a brimstone and a speckled wood (we had to look this one up when we got home).  We also saw a few fallow deer, one crossed the path in front of us the rest saw us, turned and fled.

Old farm machinery, going nowhere.

A field of rape looks fantastic but smells awful .... and it makes me sneeze.

The bluebells are just beginning to go over.

A very cute black lamb.

And a very cute white one (with dinky little horns).

Swanage & An Unexploded Grenade

Monday 12th May 2014

We visited Swanage again today and were treated to lunch in the Pines Hotel, which has a fantastic view overlooking Swanage Bay - it's somewhere you can easily while away time just staring out to sea.  

This is the view from the garden of the Pines Hotel,.  Their garden has reduced in size quite considerably in recent years due to landslides but the cliff has now been underpinned and hopefully this will halt the erosion.  Down on the sand there are a few people......

........ with a drum kit and a camera - what else!!!!!!

More evidence of landslides on the cliffs further round the bay.

During the afternoon we were hoping to get out for a walk but heavy showers kept following us around so we didn't get out until early evening,when part of the beach and Shore Road were closed off because an unexploded WW2 grenade was found during building work on new beach huts.  The emergency services were all there and according to Facebook the Bomb Disposal team carried out a controlled explosion later on in the evening and all is now back to normal.

Early evening, all is calm apart from an unexploded grenade!

Colourful beach huts.

Posh beach huts.

Looking up at the Pines Hotel where we had lunch earlier, with it's long gone garden and the underpinned cliff.

You don't see many of these around nowadays.

Woodpecker, Sparrowhawk, Roe Deer and a Bird List

Tuesday 7th May 2014

This blog contains a few odds and ends, things I have been meaning to include in a blog and haven't got round to.  Firstly, on holiday last week I listed all of the birds we saw and I'm quite impressed by the number, this is the list.

wren                                                     buzzard                                magpie
great tit                                                stonechat                             herring gull
black backed gull                               fulmar                                   kittiwake (maybe)
dunnock                                               sand martins                       raven
jackdaw                                               crow                                     mallard
wood pigeon                                       chiffchaff                              blackbird
chaffinch                                              swallow                                sparrow
skylark                                                 greenfinch                            robin
blue tit                                                  blackcap                              cormorant
goldfinch                                              pied wagtail                         kestrel
house martin                                       starling                                  feral pigeon
willow warbler                                      rook                                      gannets

An odd thing happened a couple of weeks before we went away, a greater spotted woodpecker started drilling on the telegraph pole opposite our house.  This bird spent about four or five days on and off really trying to get into the top of the pole - it was really loud and certainly got the neighbours scratching their heads, if only they had looked up!  After a very good attempt the bird must have found itself another more desirable residence as it hasn't been around for a few weeks.

We got home on Saturday to the sight of a sparrowhawk tearing into a sparrow in the back garden - not the best home coming!

Finally last night my daughter and I had a late evening walk in the dark around our neighbourhood and a short distance from home the eagle eyed one of us - her not me - spotted a deer on the edge of some woodland alongside the main road, opposite where we were walking.  I was very concerned that we might spook it so we cautiously moved along and into the cut way through to some houses, all the time being watched by the deer who didn't move.  It seemed to be on it's own and I have seen a deer in this spot before but in the daylight and I am fairly sure it was a roe deer as it had small pointy antlers and the big black nose.
                                   

Stoney Cross & First Cuckoo

Bank Holiday Monday 5th May 2014

We had a quick 3 mile walk around part of Stoney Cross this morning and managed to find a small pond that we haven't come across before - I have no idea how we have missed it.
We also heard our first cuckoo of the year, loud and clear.

The trunk of this silver birch has grown in a very odd way.

This lovely pond was full of life, mainly lots of  tadpoles, (at least they are in a pond this time, not in a puddle or a drainage ditch).

We walked through the woods and came across a balloon floating about, caught in a tree;

to infinity and beyond - Buzz Lightyear!

By lunchtime it was getting busy at Stoney Cross with walkers, joggers. cyclists, donkeys and ponies so it seemed like a good time to leave everyone else to it and get on home.

Harlyn Bay, North Cornwall

Saturday 3rd May 2014

We left our holiday home by 9.15  this morning and decided to make a slight detour and visit a favourite beach in North Cornwall, Harlyn Bay near Padstow.  It was surprisingly quiet on the roads, especially as it's a bank holiday weekend and even the car park at Harlyn was practically empty.  On the beach there was quite drastic evidence of the winter storms, with landslides, damage to the slope and steps onto the beach and a wall destroyed from a garden above the beach.

Harlyn Bay

We had a walk along the beach to the rocks and had a look around a few rock pools, the sea was very calm, a bit of a contrast to the last time we visited when the seas were very choppy and rough.

Rock pooling.

There were masses of mussels on the rocks.

Fab!

After a bit of lunch we had an easy drive home on empty roads, I think we chose the right time to travel.

All week we were hoping to photograph a good sunset from the garden, we took a few on a couple of evenings, but the splendid sunset never did happen, this was as good as it got - can't complain.

Tuesday

Thursday.

And so the sun sets on another holiday, a new area explored, 34 miles walked, 45 geocaches found and a great time had. 

The Lizard in Cornwall and Basking Sharks

Friday 2nd May 2014

We walked just over six miles today on a circular walk from Lizard point.  It is the most southerly point in England so is popular with tourists, but it wasn't too bad today.  There are lots of geocaches to be found in this area and we managed to find ten today, having had a few problems finding some and not attempting others (again down the steep cliffs).  There were lots of notices about nesting choughs in the area, we kept an eye open but didn't see any.

Looking back towards Lizard Point.

A little stream ran across the footpath in a gully, with ..... more tadpoles in it!  These Cornish frogs choose very strange places to leave their frog spawn.

Looking towards Kynance Cove.  There was lots of badger evidence along this section of path.  We then walked inland, through Lizard village and on to the coast on the other side.

As the valley descended into Church Cove, there were lots of flowers out, I think early, there were arum lilies, irises, osteospermum and lots of other flowers that I didn't know the names of. Whilst here we looked for a geocache that was 'tucked in' I lifted one small rock to find a slow worm asleep curled up along side it, so had to carefully put the rock back without squashing it - we never did find this particular cache.  We climbed out of Church Cove and found a cache overlooking the sea by a handy seat, and as I looked out to sea at one stage I spotted a SHARK.  There were two, basking sharks, one came in quite close to the cliffs and it's shape looked massive under the water, with it's two fins clearly visible.  We spent ages watching it as it moved around the bay, the other one we only saw briefly a couple of times.  This was an amazing sight and it absolutely made my day, even if I did end up humming the Jaws theme for the rest of the walk!  As we stood watching the sharks we saw five gannets diving into the sea, they are pretty amazing too, talk about all the good things happening at once.

Church Cove

Basking shark.

The Lizard lifeboat station.  This must be quite a sight if the boat launches as at the other end of the station is a slipway for the boat to launch from.  I had to make do with a photo of how the boat launches on the side of the building at the top.

A photo  of a photo!

Finally we passed the Lizard Lighthouse, quite grateful that it wasn't foggy as the foghorns looked alarmingly large.

An epic walk, as I have never seen sharks in the sea before, it was an amazing sight.