Sussex Scrapbook
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Nature walks throughout the year
Saturday 11th April 2009
Old Winchester Hill - West Meon - Warnford - Beacon Hill - Exton - Winchester
Hill
12.5 miles
Ok, it's not Sussex, but it is the South Downs!
Another visit to the
grave of Gill's mother at the
Natural Burial Site in Hampshire gave us the opportunity to do some
more exploring of this far western end of the
South Downs. We parked at the nature reserve at Old Winchester Hill
(197 m) with dire warnings posted everywhere about how thieves were targeting
the car parks. There were even police cars on patrol there. So far we haven't
had our saddlebags rifled (touch wood) and in truth the contents (well-used
protective clothing) are of no value second hand, but we did leave the bike
concerned as to whether we would have crash helmets when we returned. Anyway,
the excitement started straight away as a major "twitch" was in progress on the
reserve. Crowds of tripod carrying people were converging on us from all parts
of the country. The target of all this convergence was a
White-throated Sparrow freshly blown in from the USA. A very rare bird in
Britain, which today Gill spied fleetingly but which I sadly missed. The mad
throng finally got a bit too much for us and as it was already 1:30 in the pm,
it was well time we got going and tried to see what England had to offer
instead.
Our extremely well-signposted walk wound its way around the
Meon Valley crossing the
River Meon twice and taking in the ridiculously beautiful villages of
West
Meon and
Exton via woodland, water meadows, sheep fields and hedgerows. The
houses are mostly ancient, thatched and gorgeous and the area is very sparsely
populated. Perfect for walking in fact, and despite the drizzle we had one of
the best walks we've had for ages.
Good numbers of the common downland birds, including Blackcaps, Skylarks and
Red-legged Partridges and we also heard lots of woodpecker drumming.
Buzzards and Kestrels we expected of course and we saw plenty of both, but we
were surprised to see two
Red Kites on Wheely Down.
Anti-clockwise from the car park at
Old Winchester Hill leaves you with a 600 foot climb at the end of the walk
The burial site continues its slow transformation back
to undisturbed woodland
Excellent signposting today, even approaching
over-zealous at times!
It's just as well because our compass broke !
A lot of the signs appear to be brand new
Gill squeezes through a kissing gate into woodland with
emerging bluebells
Gill, put the bowl away!
This cottage is the West Meon Smoke House, where we
bought some excellent cheese.
It's also a hunting shop and is bristling with every type of firearm and knife.
Imagine our surprise when we walked in to find a bearded man cocking a high tech
shotgun!
West Meon church where some amazing
tapestry maps can
be found
The River Meon - a pristine chalkland stream
This huge artwork was in mid construction at Wheely
Down Forge
This seemed to be the right way!
Cowslips were everywhere we went today.
They are supposed to bring luck in love and marriage.
Steep stile
Exton Church
These squared off flints are used a lot in this area.
These were on Exton Church.
After a day of drizzle we did at least get a good
sunset,
after which we climbed Winchester Hill to the sound of Tawny Owls, back to the
deserted car park and our bike....
......and yes, all of our stuff was still there!
Cow sumo
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