Ballard Down, Swanage & Wild Flowers Everywhere

Friday 17th July 2015

It was a mainly overcast but warm  afternoon with a welcome breeze so fairly ideal conditions for a walk UP to Ballard Down.  We parked at Ulwell and immediately climbed steeply uphill to the obelisk at the top where there are fantastic views overlooking Swanage, it was well worth the effort.  We walked out to the cliffs, admiring the views of Poole Harbour on one side and Swanage Bay on the other.

The view of Swanage from the obelisk.

The obelisk.

Poole Harbour and 

Swanage Bay.

We had a close encounter with a low swooping skylark who landed and stayed put just long enough for a photo.  Normally we see them singing and hovering high up in the sky, this is the first time I have seen one close up, it was good to see.

There were a few hardy individuals on the beach, despite the lack of sunshine.

The much less steep footpath back down  went through a field of cows, I was less than happy about this but the cows didn't seem at all bothered or particularly interested in us.

The views were amazing so we sat on a bench and just watched for a while, bliss.  I haven't been on this walk before and it's one we will definitely return to.  There were masses of wild flowers on the footpath down here are a few.

The caterpillars of the cinnabar moth mainly eat ragwort, there was the odd one here and there but in the past we have seen masses teeming over each plant.

An old metal kissing gate back at the car park.

And back into Swanage.

The Smell of Summer - Privet

Wednesday 15th July 2015

I remember mentioning this in a post last year but this year I will explain why to me privet is the smell of summer.  Privet is in flower at the moment and has been for two or three weeks now. The distinctive smell wafts in the car window every time I pass large bushes of it and I love it.  It's probably not to everyone's taste but to me it evokes memories of long hot summers when I was a child out playing, as our next door neighbours had an enormous hedge of privet at the bottom of their garden.  We now have privet in our garden and we haven't pruned it for a while to enable the flowers to go for it!   Privet couldn't be called colourful or flouncy, in fact quite plain and green but in the summer it's magic (I think it is anyway) so I am sharing the love of privet!  

Next time you see it, take a deep breath, breathe in the scent and think of summer!

For a bit more info on privet, take a look here

A Beautiful Weekend

27th - 29th June 2015

There are no excuses but it's photos of Swanage again! (I need to take photos of sunny summery days in Swanage to record the changing seasons).We spent a sunny weekend in Swanage but managed to keep away from people and just observe.  On Saturday we watched gig racing from a park overlooking the beach and later on we were lucky enough to see the flypast of a hurricane as part of Armed Forces Weekend.

Races were continuous all afternoon.

The Hurricane flew along the valley from Corfe Castle before circling around the bay a couple of times, not a sight you see very often!

This was one of the only photos taken on Sunday, a mackerel sky taken from the garden.

On Monday we walked into Swanage for a coffee then had a walk through Prince Albert Gardens to take in another view of Swanage.

The sea was very clear, just perfect.

Prince Albert Gardens.

Looking towards Durlston Country Park.

Swanage Pier.

It seemed odd in the heat of the summer to see masses of young horse chestnuts.

And so ends another weekend in Swanage, time to get home, to enjoy I believe more hot weather, can't be bad!

Frame Heath and Denny Lodge Inclosures near Brockenhurst & A Cuckoo

Friday 26th June 2015

It's been quite a while since we last had a decent walk in the New Forest.  A month or so ago we picked a travel bug up from Swanage and  it needed to be dropped off in a geocache fairly urgently so we chose a cache at a favourite spot near Brockenhurst.  It was a lovely warm sunny start to the morning and from where we parked I could see a fantastic group of foxgloves that were just asking to be photographed.

Despite the lack of rain, this area was boggy and soft, perhaps that's the sort of conditions foxgloves like, they were certainly thriving.

Gorgeous.

We walked through Frame Heath Inclosure where some time ago lots of trees were felled, but now the Forestry Commission have planted masses of young trees,which are fenced off to keep the deer out  and can just about be seen here planted in rows.  

Creeping up the fence in places was honeysuckle.

In fact honeysuckle was all over the place.

We walked down to the main Southampton to Bournemouth line.  Incidentally, today we found that deer don't flinch or look up when a train sounds it's horn for the pedestrian crossing and speeds by but they saw us 200 metres away and took flight - are we really that scary?

It was good to be back amongst so much greenery and trees.

At this spot we heard our first cuckoo of the year, very late I realise but we just haven't been out in the Forest to hear them this year.  I assume the cuckoos will be off home to Africa again soon.

Another plantation of young trees being protected from deer!

 Pens for rounding up ponies, at the railway bridge crossing over to Denny Lodge Inclosure, this unfortunately was the last we saw of the sun today.

We walked back alongside the railway line on the other side until we came to this lovely pond, where we had lunch and sat watching deer grazing in the distance.

I was hoping to see frogs, but there were none to be seen, however there were plenty of lilies and a few damsel flies.

Lilies, so perfect they almost look plastic!

Near here we found a geocache that is called trains and tadpoles, well, there were no tadpoles today but there were plenty of trains!

This tree alongside the railway line looked rather out of place, it was an old fir tree, quite an unusual one too.

The railway bridge crossing back into Frame Heath Inclosure is under repair, with some heavy equipment parked up waiting to be used (it was a nice bit of colour as the sun had gone in and it all looked a bit washed out).

An ant hill full of activity (not a good idea to stand still too long here!)

Then it was back to the car, having walked 3 miles and having found 2 geocaches.

Durlston Country Park

Friday 19th June 2015

These are just a few photos from today. We walked into Swanage for a coffee and a look around the very busy bustling market via the beach where summer is in full swing.  Quite a few of the new beach huts were being used and  various cafes and ice cream parlours that have been closed up until now were open for business.  The place that hires out pedalos and various bits of beach equipment (deck chairs, windbreaks etc) was up and running and there were lots more people strolling about.  I don't do crowds of people so if it gets too much busier I might have to avoid it for a while!

Swanage.

In the afternoon we had a quick walk at Durlston Country Park where we saw lots of guillemots diving for fish and swimming about in lines - almost ocd lines - odd.

The Globe.

Looking towards Old Harry Rocks in the distance.

At the Tilly Whim Caves.

Chapman's Pool - Near Worth Matravers

Thursday 18th June 2015

We haven't had many warm sunny days yet this summer, however today was most definitely one of them - but with a nice breeze (which later on was very welcome when we were climbing back off of the beach).  We parked on the outskirts of Worth Matravers and walked across a couple of large fields of crops before getting to the sea.  I hope I've got this right, I can never remember which cereal is which!

A fantastic field of wheat?

with the odd bit of barley? thrown in!

The farmer has kindly kept a wide footpath through the middle of the fields.

And so to the coast.

Chapman's Pool, for information see here

The cliffs above the beach, taken from the footpath about halfway down to the beach.  It was a long way down and it was even further coming back up!!!!!!

Dorset certainly has some out of the way, quiet and lovely places.

Chapman's Pool, almost there.

There were only about half a dozen people on the whole beach.  It was a fascinating place to spend an afternoon mooching around and exploring.

There were plenty of fossils in the rocks, like this ammonite.

A nice place to paddle then sit in the sun for a while.  Then we had to climb back up, and it was too hot a day for that, so there was a fair amount of moaning!

Back on the cliff top we saw this plaque set into the dry stone wall, we saw some of these a little while back when we walked in the opposite direction to Chapman's Pool, this one says 'stones lean together'. Nice.