After the complete slothageness of yesterday when I did nothing
but lurk indoors and write, I decided to head back out for a walk this morning not
quite realising how far I would get.
It was a grey day but the biting wind from yesterday had
dropped so with but one extra layer on I headed down into Strood (where people
were already queuing outside Morrisons and M&S) and then under the railway
line at Canal Road back alongside the Medway.
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| 'Come on sunshine!' |
A solo gentleman was having his own private martial arts battle on
the prom but it was otherwise empty and the only conversations I had were with
a couple of Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls that seemed to think I should
be feeding them. Redshanks ‘doodled’ and a pair of noisy Oystercatchers ‘kleeped’
their way up river and over the bridges.
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| Herring Gull |
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| Lesser Black-backed Gull |
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| Lesser Black-backed Gull |
The Black Widow Russian Cold War Submarine is looking a
little worse for wear at its moorings and I presume from all the little windows
in the conning tower that it is actually lived on by someone!
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| The Black Widow |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Rochester Castle |
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| Pied Wagtail |
My route took me away from the Pied and Grey Wagtails running
around yet another patch of land destined for ‘riverside properties’ and up a
steep footpath to All Saints Church at Frindsbury. Like every churchyard I have seen it is
overly tided with no long grass or wild areas around the churchyard despite its
age.
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| Up to All Saints Church |
The view up the Medway was superb with the Cathedral and
Castle in Rochester and the whole stretch visible to the M2 Bridge where I
walked on my birthday. To the south west I could see the gleaming copper roof
of St Francis’ Church just up from my house and then strove to pick out my upslope
garden which I am pretty sure I have now done! It gives you an idea of just how
green Strood and the surrounding conurbation is.
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| Rochester Cathedral |
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| Rochester Castle |
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| Up the Medway |
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| Black Widow |
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| St Francis Church is on the far right. It was really tricky to work this out but it is 1.25 miles away! |
I found a Song Thrush snail anvil but no bird and Blackcaps
and Chiffchaffs were singing and Stock Doves ‘whooing’. Just beyond the church wall was the much more unkempt but
not unloved part of the cemetery which included Commonwealth war graves. These
two, one from each World War seemed to stand out. I took a picture and doffed
my hat and moved on with a quick look at a female Anthophora plumipes as I went.
A path between some bushes suggested that you were being
given permission to walk there by the landowners so after a quick look at my
map I ventured down the back of the houses and out into a patch of scrubby
grassland above another small chalk pit that, although silent at the moment,
will once again be filled with the industrious building of more tiny houses
with no gardens or view.
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| Whitebeam |
There were more Blackcaps and Chiffchaff and at last my
first two Whitethroats were heard scratching away while three male Greenfinches
were wheezing away and asking each other ‘whhhyyyyy?’. I suspect that there will be orchids to find
up here in a few weeks but insect wise it was very quiet as the temperature was
struggling to get up under leaden skies.
I looped down past a huge red tiled barn conversion and some
Oast Houses that I have often seen from the main road and then across said road
to Tower Hill path alongside the stinky sewage works where six Swallows and two
House Martins hawked and Cetti’s and Willow Warbler sang over the light traffic
noise.
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| My daily Woodpigeon |
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| Honesty |
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| Leafy lane alongside the main road - the Tower Hill path |
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| I do like a good sewage works... |
A heavily armoured fence appeared
on my right and I found myself alongside a MoD site with a pool where they
train have amphibious landing and bridging exercises.
The assault dinghies were a helpful pointer but this big copper plaque
was more helpful as I carefully had a look at the Mute Swan nest, Pochard and
Tufted Ducks on the Gundulph Pool.
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| Gundulph Pool |
The track took me into Lower Upnor and then to the Castle
before going along the prom where I walked on Thursday. The light was much better (but poorer for
nice images) and I could see the two crossings onto the Isle of Sheppey quite
clearly nine and a half miles away.
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| The edge of Upnor Castle |
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| Chatham Maritime sheds |
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| female Shelduck |
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| The Sheppey Bridges 9.5miles away |
At the point where I hit the beach before I swung up hill
and into Beacon Hill Wood SSSI where Nuthatches were very vocal before veering
back down again through the beautiful Upchat Wood SSSI although the very
serious fencing is designed to make sure you only view the swathes of vivid
Bluebells from a respectable distance.
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| Fresh young Elm leaves in the hedges |
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| Primroses |
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| Herb Robert |
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| Bluebells |
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| Black Bryony |
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| WWII pill box amongst the trees on a ridge |
Med Gulls and Buzzards called above but like so many woods
around here it felt far quieter than it should have been. My path popped out onto Upchat Road and
immediately gave me an option of a footpath around a wheat field margin
pointing me straight at Wainscott and home. A Kestrel and some Black-headed
Gulls were over the field and I may have found some wild asparagus growing in
the hedge line as I walked around...
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| Buzzards |
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| Med Gull |
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| Looking towards Wainscott |
I followed this into Wainscott but as I have been trying to
stay off real pedestrian areas I once again diverted onto the Cliffe road
and then onto Dillywood Lane putting up my first lock-down walk Red-legged
Partridges in the process. It is amazing how things have grown since I came out
this way on the 8th.
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| Looking north to DP World London Gate in Essex 6.5m away with an MSC vessel unloading |
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| Not sure what the crop is |
The Alexanders are about a foot higher and the
bare field where I snapped the Woodpigeon now had a green fuzz across its
surface. There were more apple trees flowering
in the mature orchard now and two ginger naped Rabbits cautiously watched me
from one side and two shaggy maned horses did likewise from the other.
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| Looking back at Upchat Wood on the distant rise |
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| Alexanders |
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| ... with a nice Calliphora |
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| Bunnnneh! |
From here I said hello to the Skylarks I found the other day
and watched four Med Gulls drift over and made a final push for home via Rede
Common where a little sunshine at last greeted me after a most rewarding
exploratory adventure.
A relaxing afternoon with lunch in the garden and a basking Slow-worm came out to say hi.
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| Slow-worm |
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