Sussex
Scrapbook ~ Wildlife walks throughout the year
Saturday 12th March 2011
Amberley to Arundel and back
12 miles
Two friends joined us
to make a group stomp from
Amberley to Arundel and back in the beautiful spring sunshine. It turned out
to be a great advert for the season as birds seemed to be pairing-up everywhere,
chasing each other and singing their hearts out.
The boom in breeding was evident from the start, as the rookery just outside Amberley station is
already raucous and rowdy. Up on the Burgh we had boxing Hares, Bumble Bees, as
well as banks covered in the first daisies we've seen this year. Later, out on the brooks near Burpham, we spied a Water Vole in one of the
rills.
While we were having a good-old nose-round Burpham churchyard we spotted
some overgrown steps leading underground, presumably to a crypt. Just as we
approached them a Brown Hare came scampering out and made his escape straight
through us. Another
close encounter with this, one of our favourite animals.
.JPG)
Peace and quiet apart from the music of Skylarks.
The track down to the Burgh was full of birds and birdsong, particularly
Yellowhammers, Dunnocks, Chaffinches and Robins.
There were also pheasants of course, (it's a shooting estate) but also Red-legged
and Grey Partridges.
Up at the Burgh a
Short-tailed Vole was having a little lie down in the sunshine.
Canary Budgie Yellowhammer
Brown Hare. We saw one small bout of pugilism. In fact a female gave this guy
a left hook worthy of Henry Cooper.
Wook!
The key to St. Thomas', Arundel. You can't get copies of this made in Timpsons!
Even the graffiti in these old churches is ancient.
Black-headed Gull.
Blonde-headed Girl.
The underneath of a corbel (one of two) in North Stoke church.
The times we've explored this church and we've never even noticed the little faces
before.
Take the time to read
the
countryside code for yourself and please stick to it at all times.