Are the eels ill?

A quote from a good friend of mine - it only works with a Portsmouth accent!

I'd met up with them in Alresford, north-east of Winchester last weekend, for a bite to eat and a quick potter along the river. The Arle is a tributary of the River Itchen (which, as you may recall from previous posts, is a SSSI and SAC - the highest level of legal protection).

It was pretty muddy underfoot (well, we have had a lot of rain), but the river was looking clear in many places, with lots of different aquatic plants on show. On first inspections, this seems like a good thing, but unfortunately, having carried out a condition assessment on the river in 2014, I know this to be far from the truth. The levels of phosphate in the river are still much too high - a result of runoff from farmland, septic tanks, watercress farms and fish farms mainly. And the river hasn't been allowed to 'do its thing' throughout much of its course through the landscape - for example, many of the banks are 'protected' with reinforcements to prevent them eroding away - this effectively means the river can't move. It's a funny thing, but a river is far from inanimate!

Our walk took us to the Eel House - this is a listed building that had been restored to a degree some time ago, and is part of the rich heritage of the area - harking back to a time when the runs of eels through the river were so plentiful that you could build permanent buildings to catch them. Now, unfortunately due to many factors, some of which unknown, the numbers of eels nationally are declining rapidly. With their famous migration taking them all the way to the Sargasso Sea south of Florida, there is a lot thrown at them to along the way.

Saying that, the Environment Agency have a National Eel strategy, and they are even protected under a specific piece of legislation - these coupled with efforts to improve the ability of fish to migrate up and down rivers (overcoming barriers such as weirs), the UK is doing its bit to help these struggling fish.

First visit of 2016

Due to the copious amounts of rain we've been having, we've been constrained in our walking locations to those on the chalk. The free-draining soil has kept the paths relatively clear, although sometimes exposing the bare chalk in parts with erosion from sudden downpours.

So, last Sunday I went on my first walk on Martin Down in 2016. Amazingly, the sun was shining, casting long shadows, and really picking out the varied topography of the NNR.

The sheep were in force, rotationally grazing sections, getting the grassland ready for the spring flowers. The birds were also evident, although mainly skylarks. They have already started to sing, which is coinciding with my other observations of birds getting ready for the breeding season.

The song thrush that is resident outside of my flat has been singing its repetitive song for weeks now, joining the melodic flutings of blackbirds and robins, and the inane chatter of house sparrows. I'm lucky in this neck of the woods - we have great numbers of this declining bird, once so common in our gardens.

Talking of which, the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch is only a few weeks away (weekend of 30th and 31st Jan) so don't forget to spare an hour to record what your garden has, no matter what its size.

Finally, no sooner had the latest issue of BBC Wildlife highlighted the fox breeding season was upon us, than I heard the cries of a vixen calling outside the flat - it's amazing what wildlife you can hear from the comfort of your own bed!

Mud

Here we are, about to head back to work in the rain. I hope you've all had a relaxing break - mine features much mud and rain (but then the latter seemed fairly unavoidable for all!).

I started with a quick walk on Christmas Eve afternoon - the sun was out, and a rainbow - but the mud was also making its presence felt. I decided on a quick yomp around Stratford Sub-Castle (below Old Sarum), ending up on an area of wetland given to the local people by a developer, and now being managed by the friends of Stratford Nature Reserve (volunteers). They're after a grazier, so if anyone out there knows of one locally, they would be grateful, otherwise it will have to be cut, which is expensive and time-consuming. In the summer, it will be alive with insects and beautiful wetland flowers.

Despite the copious amounts of food and celebrations, I did manage a surprising number of walks, including Broken Bridges and across the Town Path. On the 29th, we opted for a family outing from Fovant across to Broadchalke for lunch and back. This started (in the sun!) with a steep and slippery climb on the chalk escarpment of Fovant Down (including the beautifully-maintained Fovant Badges - military emblems carved into the chalk), up to Chiselbury hill fort. We then hit the Ox Drove (the one that runs from Salisbury, that we often walk parts of), before turning off to walk in some chalk valleys.

We came across some signs indicating that the farm was in a Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement, being paid to manage the land in an environmentally-friendly way, and including permissive access routes connecting the Public Rights of Way to areas of Open Access chalk downland. Under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, many areas of chalk downland were designated in such a way, but without connecting paths to them. This particular area of downland was part of Knapp and Barnett's Downs SSSI, being nationally-important and legally protected. It was a beautiful valley, with ancient stunted hawthorns and earthworks providing evidence of habitation and cultivation of the area for thousands of years.

In the distance we could hear a shoot underway, which was getting closer as we continued to walk down the valley. Eventually, the SSSI became a narrow bank, with a track and arable fields on the other side, which contained the shooters. We were told by a man with the shoot to stop and wait a few minutes to pass, and then walk along the track rather than the SSSI. Doing this, we were accosted by the shoot, saying it wasn't a footpath - I then showed them the map with the Open Access land clearly marked on it, which all appeared to be news to them! In any case, they were very pleasant and allowed us on our way, where we joined up the the main footpath and continued a short way on to Broadchalke for our lunch.

Afterwards, due to slow service in the pub (it was rammed) we route-marched back a slightly different way to avoid the initial slippery steep slope, and ended up through a short but very muddy stretch of path in woodland, before emerging out onto the other end of Fovant Down and returning to the car. A beautiful walk, even in the mud!

And finally, I've just come back from a few days on the North Cornwall coast, where the wind and rain made for some of the worst walking conditions I've ever experienced - saying that, the waves and coastal scenery were still amazing, even if my waterproofs couldn't cope with the blasting!

Now to work, and a week full of meetings :(

A rare trip out

I was very lucky this week to be able to get out as part of work - making a change from the usual back-to-back meetings!

This followed on from a good yomp up to the Clarendon estate last Sunday, up to the see the ruins of the royal hunting lodge (see previous posts), and of course, the llamas! The position of the ruins, high on top of a chalk ridge, with excellent vistas all around, as well as the unusual accompaniment of the llamas, makes it a very atmospheric spot that few experience. 

Then, with a week of Christmassy events - both work and social- our team Christmas meeting involved a trip out to the edge of the New Forest, near Breamore. At Castle Hill, we parked on a ridge overlooking the wide expanse of the River Avon floodplain. The silvery ribbon of the river snaked in wide meanders across the valley, with the colours really popping in the dull winter light. After a bit of a chat about agricultural improvement and runoff of nutrients into the river, causing water pollution, we headed off into the Forest for a very muddy potter amongst the plantation forest. A welcome respite from the mince pies and meetings!

And I've just got back from another good stroll at Martin Down - with all this rain, it's becoming quite limited in finding locations with suitable ground conditions to avoid slipping and sliding around. The sun was shining, but apart from that and some sheep, it was uneventful - not even one bird.

Of course, it's going to be full-on-festivities in the next couple of weeks (I'm lucky enough not to have to work between Christmas and the New Year), so I will be a little quiet on here until probably my birthday weekend. Let's hope that winter gets a little more forceful, as my garlic is already a foot high and will probably need harvesting at this rate! Merry Christmas everyone! 

Great Yews

I've been a bit quiet on here lately - something to do with building a flat pack wardrobe (don't ask, just don't...), Christmas shopping, and various Christmassy events!

Anyway, took the day off today, after a week of meetings, for a nice long walk in the patchy drizzle. I wanted to explore somewhere new, and the Whitsbury area has been one I've had on my 'to do' list for a while. This is the edge of Cranborne Chase, the picturesque area that includes Martin Down.

I started on a track just a little way along from Salisbury Hospital at Odstock. The map showed I had plenty of choice in terms of footpaths/byways, so planning a route was tricky, but in the end, substrate condition forced my hand (i.e. it was very muddy/flooded!). the walk took me passed Clearbury Down - a SSSI chalk downland and hill fort, with the unimproved nature of the grassland contrasting markedly with the intensive grassland and arable surrounding it.

I eventually ended up walking along the county boundary between Hampshire and Wiltshire, with a very distinctive hedge mostly made up of yew, and filled with birds. I heard several farmland bird species that have experienced a rapid population decline in recent decades, including many corn bunting, a flock of fieldfares, yellowhammer, and possibly some linnet. Check out the RSPB website to hear them for yourselves. The corn bunting, in particular, is a speciality of the Chase area, loving the wide open spaces and lack of hedgerows, although is very rare elsewhere.

This took me to the edge of another SSSI (and SAC - of European importance)  - Great Yews. the citation for the site (legal document supporting the SSSI designation) cites it as a nationally-rare habitat, and unusual in being on mostly flat ground and purely yew in some areas. The trees were certainly spectacularly-wide, with estimates of age suggesting most are in excess of 200 years old.

Returning to the path, I carried on up then looped back on myself, affording great views across the undulating landscape, before retracing my steps to the car. There's much more scope for further walks here, with many permutations available - the only trouble is, the byways are so deeply rutted that in wet weather they flood very easily and with the underlying chalk making things very slippery, it can be quite hazardous! I'm certainly glad I braved it though, and will be coming back when perhaps drier!

Fiery horizons

Bit dramatic perhaps, but the sunset after a longer-then-intended walk was pretty amazing last Sunday.

We'd headed up to Pepperbox Hill - at 157m high, it's positively mountainous for our area. It's owned by the National Trust, but access is a bit tricky off the busy A36 on a blind summit, so you have to be pretty brave to go there! It comprises a strip of chalk downland (currently being grazed by sheep and British White cattle) along a ridge, with a 17th century hexagonal folly. We walked along the old droveway on top of the ridge, which links up with the village of Dean eventually.

It was pretty muddy going, but the views were as always stunning. As mentioned, it was the low rays of the sunset casting a fiery glow across the extensive woodland in the distance that really caught our eyes. The woodland forms part of the West Tytherley woods, which includes Bentley Wood (see many previous posts!), and is well known for its small-leaved lime trees and rare butterflies such as the Duke of Burgundy.

Although it was a straightforward walk, on a weekend where winter seemed to have finally arrived, it was the views on the way back that made it particularly memorable - I will let the photos speak for themselves!

Rain and more rain

It's been a bit of a changeable week! On Sunday, after the morning was largely dry, I popped to Martin Down, whereupon is immediately started to drizzle. However, even in these conditions, the views from the top of the reserve were still beautiful, and it seemed to make it even more tranquil (and of course, few silly people had ventured out like us).

I then spent much of the week indoors at various meetings (which was probably just as well, due to the sharp showers), but yesterday I finally managed to spend a day out in the North Dorset countryside with one of my members of staff. They were visiting farmers managing SSSI and SAC (nationally and internationally-protected) land. Having been born and raised on the chalk, going to the Blackmoor Vale, with its heavy clay soils, was a bit of a change - all the recent rain had certainly had an impact, with wellies definitely required! However, one thing that struck me was the patches of flowers still in bloom - see previous posts about the lack of wintry conditions. I spotted betony and devil's bit scabious, in particular, with the latter being of most interest on our visits.

The sites in questions were hotspots for dense breeding populations of marsh fritillary butterflies (a nationally-declining species), the caterpillars of which feed on the leaves of this flower. This year's monitoring of larval webs by Butterfly Conservation had yielded impressive figures, and a testament to the management being carried out by the landowners.

Well, today winter has certainly hit - glorious blue skies but a biting northerly wind. I think I'll try and find somewhere a bit sheltered to visit on tomorrow's walk!