Sussex
Scrapbook ~ Wildlife walks throughout the year
Saturday 30th June 2012
Barcombe - Hamsey - South Malling - Blackcap - Cooksbridge - Barcombe
12 miles.
We had a well-deserved
lie in and then a really late start to our walk from Barcombe today: 1pm of the
afternoon in fact. This was all part of our cunning plan of course, as we
thought that we'd visit some of our favourite churchyards during the heat of the
day and then kick back and stroll across Mount Harry and Blackcap during the
long summer evening.
Very little bird action today unfortunately but that was more than made up for
by the amount of flowers blooming all over the place. Mount Harry and Blackcap
were Orchid City and we spent ages exploring the SSSI and just hanging about.
Our walk started with a sit down at
Barcombe church and a survey of part of our route to come.
Ash keys
Hamsey church with its newly-repaired weather vane.
From Hamsey we followed the Ouse to South Malling. Hamsey church is
visible to the north sitting up high on its little island in the flood plain..
The area is speckled with pillboxes.
South Malling has one of our favourite churchyards as it's given over to wild
flowers entirely.
Although the building was locked we spent a long time exploring the grounds...
and taking advantage of the shade during the hottest part of the day.
Offham church on the other hand is Victorian built and has no churchyard. It
seems very sterile in comparison.
It too was locked.
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Then up onto the downs and into a downland flower and orchid extravaganza!
Marbled White Butterfly.
Wild Strawberry growing in amongst the orchids.
Fragrant Orchids (Gymnadenia conopsea)
Pyramidal orchid (Anacamptis
pyramidalis)
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The recently-used beacon at Blackcap.
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Slopes that have always been too steep to
plough are now an SSSI.
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Then through long lush meadows back to
Barcombe.
Take the time to read
the
countryside code for yourself and please stick to it at all times.