Steeple To Creech Barrow Hill Via Grange Arch & Stonehill Nature Reserve

Thursday 28th May 2015

We had planned out a walk from the National Trust car park at Corfe Castle taking in a circuit of geocaches, thinking this route wouldn't be a busy place in half term.  What we hadn't thought about was the number of visitors going to the castle and parking in the car park - there was absolutely no chance of a space in there.  We had a quick re-think and drove a couple of miles out of Corfe on a narrow lane to a car park at Creech that we have visited before with fantastic views across the countryside and in the distance out to sea.  It's a great place to watch birds of prey, mainly buzzards, and we also spotted alpacas in the valley below.

Everywhere is looking green and leafy now.

Grange Arch.

Grange Arch is a fantastic folly that was built in 1746 by Denis Bond, the owner of Creech Grange, to give the impression of the ruin of an ancient castle when viewed from the house below. The arch was given to the National Trust by the Bond family in 1942.    

With a fantastic view through the arch,

down to Creech Grange below.  

Purbeck views from Creech Barrow Hill,

with Poole Harbour in the distance.

The trig point with more fabulous views in the other direction.  

Walking down from the hill a few young oak trees looked like they were really struggling to survive, maybe because of how open and exposed it is here.  This little tree however stood out because of the many oak apples on it.

Rosebay willow herb.

No standing about allowed today!

We walked back along the same route but just after Grange Arch we stopped at a field containing hundreds of sheep.  A man on a quad bike was surveying the flock, making sure he made them all move, checking them over I suppose.  Every now and then he let his sheepdog off to go and move a sheep on but that dog seemed to be loving being driven at speed on the quad bike with the wind blowing through his fur.  

Late Spring, Flowers and Sheep

Wednesday 27th May 2015

Here are a few photos from our walk along the Priest's Way in Swanage (again!), you can never have too much of a good thing!

A special spot overlooking Swanage.

Five rams - they look like bruisers and a bit thuggish but unlike most other sheep they didn't run away when I went and had a little chat with them.  Freshly shorn and friendly it was good to see them.

Not sure about the looks but I reckon he's a bit of a character!

Buttercups were everywhere.

Spring flowers and warm sunshine - nice.

Just watching.

A carpet of buttercups and clover.

Boats in the bay and a cow head on the wall.

We turned towards the coast and joined the cliff path at Dancing Ledge - the boats in the bay may well be there looking at the cliffs where puffins have been seen of late.

I have no idea why this is in the wall, but why not!

On the footpath back from the coast I spotted these caterpillars, just looking at them now makes me a bit uncomfortable, one caterpillar on it's own is fine, masses together, I'm not so sure!

Another lovely 4 mile walk with lots to see and an added bonus, the sun shone. 

Corfe Common

Wednesday 20th May 2015

We had a walk into Swanage this morning (a mile each way) where it's beginning to look a lot like summer is on the way (even if the weather isn't looking much like summer).

Pedalos.

Deck chairs and kayaks - take your pick.

In the afternoon we parked in the car park near Corfe Castle and walked through the village to Corfe Common where we spent a while trying to find a geocache, which we did eventually.  It was probably the best kept cache we have visited and we've visited a few!  

The bluebells maybe over in our garden but on Corfe Common there were masses, huge drifts of them.

Bluebells with Corfe Castle in the distance.

The rolling countryside looking towards Kingston from the site of the best kept geocache we have ever found.

We met a friendly dog walker just before this and had a bit of a chat with her whilst her border collie headed straight for a deep puddle/small pond and just sat in it and waited - wet dog - hmmmmm her other dog was a cross jack russell and a beagle - very odd.

The bluebells were very lovely but it seemed odd to see them out in the open rather than under trees.  Another weird thing was that they didn't appear to have leaves like the normal large bluebell leaves, in fact they didn't really have leaves at all.

We then moved from bluebells to buttercups.

Corfe Castle.

We walked past the castle just as the steam train was passing, and here we have a less than magic photo of the train!  (It really needs the road work barriers cropping off!)

Studland & It's Second World War Past

Tuesday 19th May 2015

We are back staying in Swanage for a couple of days and this afternoon as we had a couple of hours free we drove the short distance to Studland for a walk and a look round.  Studland was an important training ground for troops in the lead up to D-Day and there are still various interesting places to look at behind the beach.  

Before we set off we had a look at the view from a view point in the car park, where there was a seat......

.....an ordinary seat?

No, one that talks!!! You can press and hear various bits of info, it was interesting but there didn't seem to be a way of stopping it and it could certainly talk and talk and.........talk!! (you couldn't fault it's enthusiasm)

The view from the 'talking seat' looking towards Bournemouth.

On the way down to the beach we came across these dragons teeth from the second world war.  These large concrete blocks, together with mines and ditches were designed to prevent enemy tanks advancing inland in an invasion.

Looking towards Old Harry Rocks.

This is a very thick layer of spongy seaweed and I cannot begin to explain how smelly it was in places - a peg is definitely required for those with super smelling noses!

It was a showery afternoon and here comes the next one.

Sadly there were a few of these large dead jelly fish on the shore.

With a shower looming the sea looked quite colourful.

WW2 observation post - Fort Henry.  This was constructed in 1943 by Canadian engineers and named after their home base in Ontario.  Fort Henry is a concrete observation bunker with walls a metre thick.  In 1944 it was used by Churchill, Eisenhower and King George VI to watch rehearsals for D-Day.

From inside the observation bunker.

Our final stop was a useful place to shelter from the rain and read up on the information about the war.

Information on this walk can be found on the National Trust website here

Bluebells, Cowslips and Shorn Sheep on the Priests Way

Saturday 9th May 2015

It was a lovely sunny afternoon with a perfect blue sky but there was a strong wind whipping about!  Despite the wind we had a couple of walks, one was cut short when I realised my phone wasn't in my pocket where it had been - we retraced the mile and a bit only to find it was  in the house where I had put my boots on!  We went back out again and to the the coast where we sat and just looked!

Now here we have a couple of smartly shorn sheep.

I prefer them with a bit more wool on!

Bluebells and cowslips.

Looking at this scene, I think it  could pass for hundreds of years ago.

Aha!  Not shorn sheep, gorgeous

This small slope had lots of cowslips on it, this area must be ideal for cowslips as we saw a fair few out this afternoon.

To summarise this afternoons walk, five miles walked, one phone lost then found, lambs now much bigger, some sheep shorn and some not, wild flowers aplenty, sunshine and blue sky, and a very keen wind!

Arne RSPB Nature Reserve

Friday 8th May 2015

This was our first visit to Arne, which is an RSPB nature reserve near Wareham and it was long overdue as we have been RSPB members for many years.  According to the information leaflet, 'nestled near the base of the Purbeck hills, RSPB Arne nature reserve is a peninsula that juts out into Poole Harbour'.   For details of the reserve see here.

At the visitor centre in the car park, a man from the RSPB  told us about the reserve and suggested places we might like to walk to and things to look out for, he was so enthusiastic and informative, it was great - plus it appeared to have been a quiet day and I think he was glad to have people to talk to!  

We decided to follow the red route which took in various different habitats found on the reserve, including woodland, grassland, heathland, a beach, and an estuary.  

There were probably as many as a dozen sparrows having dust baths when we approached, most had flown off by the time I got the camera out, although you can still see the little indentations where they had been flapping about in the dust!

Big blousy rhododendrons are beginning to come out.

And here are some of the sika deer, I counted about 36 this afternoon.

A few bluebells.

The edge of Poole Harbour, looking towards Long Island.

We saw a few ant hills, I don't know if this is the start of one but I have never seen so many wood ants in such a small space.  We stopped at another ant hill to watch the ants for a while and some of them were carrying bits of leaf and twig two or three times the length of their own bodies, it was amazing to watch.

It was a bit of a dull afternoon, with rain in the air but it didn't matter.

The beach was a very pleasant spot, there wasn't a soul in sight.

Looking towards Poole in the distance.

We stopped off at a bird hide overlooking the estuary but there wasn't a great deal of bird activity this afternoon and after a while we began to get cold so walked on back to the car, via a geocache near the lovely church in Arne.  A great three mile walk in a new place that we will definitely return to.