I left home at just after 8.30 on what would turn out to be
nearly seven hours on my feet. It was
pleasantly warm as I headed up the road to find my way into the Ranscombe Woods. The display of Meadow Cranesbill before the
CTRL Bridge is now superb and Large and Essex Skippers were zipping around
merrily before I crossed over to the trees.
 |
| Large Skipper on Meadow Cranesbill |
 |
| Essex Skipper |
The sun was illuminating the very first Bramble clump and I
was on the lookout for those special woodland summer butterflies and so was
delighted when a White Admiral glided down from the canopy for some breakfast
until a stroppy Holly Blue gave it a thump and sent it on its way again.
 |
| White Admiral |
 |
| Holly Blue |
I found another a few paces further on but this one was
coming down for salts on the ground. The woods were alive with the hum of
hoverflies and bees and each Bramble clump I came too was thrumming with life.
 |
| White Admiral |
Small and Large Whites started to appear and then a couple
of Commas before I discovered the sunny side of an Oak with two each of Red
Admiral and Comma and a rather lethargic Tree Bumblebee sunbathing on the
trunk.
 |
| Tatty Tree Bumblebee and Red
Admiral |
 |
| Red
Admiral |
 |
| Comma |
 |
| Red
Admiral |
Grey Squirrels were everywhere and I do worry about the
predation rates on small bird nests when they are at this sort of density.
Unfortunately the woods are just too disturbed to home Goshawks!
 |
Grey Squirrel
|
 |
Grey Squirrel
|
A gingery bee was nectaring on some Hawksbeard and I thought
it might be an Anthophora and my books pointed me towards A.furcata when I got
home – a new one for me while my first Cheilosia illustrata of the year was on
some Hogweed.
 |
| Anthophora furcata |
 |
| Anthophora furcata |
 |
| Cheilosia illustrata |
Meadow Browns and Ringlets started to dance around the edges
and there were Large and Small Skippers on the Bramble flowers. Helophilus pendulus, Episyrphus balteatus and
Syrphus sp were common and there were numerous Eristalis intricaria and
Volucella pellucens patrolling territories over the paths.
 |
| Ringlet |
 |
| Helophilus pendulus |
 |
| Volucella pellucens |
 |
| Foxglove |
 |
| Rosebay Willowherb |
 |
| Enchanter's Nightshade |
Just before I reached the Cobham gate I discovered the
disgusting remains of a big party that had been had at the laying Chestnuts
where families often play. It was an absolute mess with bottles, bags, BBQs,
food packages and gas canisters. The fact that the people responsible had
walked at least a mile up through the woods with all their stuff made it all
the more unbelievable.
I took some
pictures and pinged the Farm’s FB page and went on my way down the slope
towards Knights Place Farm where my first ever local Silver Washed Fritillary took
my mind off just how little regard people have for the countryside.
The pesky Frit would not perch where I could see it properly
so I had to be content with some nice close fly by views but there would be
other opportunities as I entered the Cobham Woods cattle area but although I
saw several I still never got a shot. The Brambles were well attended by Honey
Bees and many Bumbles but strangely only a few Meadow Browns. I saw a single
Eristalis arbustorum and a nice Xylota sylvarum flashing its yellow tail
light. There were a few small Clegs
circling around me so I kept moving and scanning the oaks for Purple Emperors
and Hairstreaks but with no joy.
 |
| Xylota sylvarum |
A single dragonfly patrolled a clearing and landed briefly
enough for me to get a couple of shots proving it to be a teneral Blue Eyed and
not Southern Hawker as I had expected.
 |
| Blue Eyed Hawker |
 |
| Blue Eyed Hawker |
I stayed on the cattle paths as I cut back up towards the
main route through as I did not want to cross the boring golf course. There was a bit of zigzagging to avoid
brushing through the Bracken where the chances of my finding questing ticks
would have been greater. Treecreepers were vocal and a Garden Warbler (or a
Greater Pettychap as my Dad discovered they were called in his 1863 hedgerow
book he got for Father’s Day) was giving it large.
I had previously mentioned that this bit of old open
woodland looks perfect for some of the scarcer breeding species but that I
could not find any so when a Spotted Flycatcher started singing from one of the
mighty Ash trees I was very pleased. A
second bird called in the next tree but it took ten minutes to actually find
him. This was my 110th species
on foot from home since Lockdown started.
 |
| Spotted Flycatcher |
A stand of Ragwort had some well grown Cinnabar moth cats on
it – the first I have seen.
 |
| Cinnabar |
 |
| Spear Thistle? |
The long hedge as I exited the wood has the gold course on
the north side and a meadow and then wheat on the south. The meadow was dotted
with Ox Eye Daisies, Field Mallow and Knapweed and there were Meadow Browns ,
Small Heaths and Skippers darting around and a Slender Robber Fly was moving
slowly among the grass stalks while Med Gulls called above my head in the blue
with a Buzzard mewing even higher up.
 |
| Buzzard |
The calm was broken by a Spitfire thundering into view
before banking around and heading back south. It is always a thrill to hear and
see one of these majestic beasts.
I cut alongside the Pea field full of ripening pods before
being hit by the scent from the Lime Tree avenue at the end of the road. I am
not sure what the time actually was but I was determined to get lunch from the
Cobham Village Store and with cup of tea and well filled thick cut ham salad
roll in hand I cut across the rec ground and into Jeskyns CP having added six
pair of nesting House Martins to the village tally.
 |
| Lime flowers |
There is never a seat when you want one but I balanced my
tea on a fence post and stood there, roll in hand and watched the Bonking
Beetles on the Hogweed with the Oedemera nobilis and my third recent White Crab
Spider – this one sucking the juices from a good sized fly.
 |
| Red Soldier Beetle (AKA Bonking Beetles...) |
 |
| Empis tessellata |
 |
| Misumena vatia |
 |
| Andrena flavipes |
 |
| Cheilosia illustrata |
Garden Chafers were swarming and dancing around whatever
tree they fancied (I think I wrongly called them Summer Chafers the other day –
must go and check)
 |
| Garden Chafer |
The meadow opposite was full of Trefoil and Red Clover and
my first Gatekeepers of the season were out with Meadow Browns and Whites.
 |
| Hogweed |
 |
| Red Clover |
 |
| Filed Scabious and Empis tessellata |
From here I entered the officially Ancient Ashenbank Wood
which is home to some very impressive Sweet Chestnuts including this oddity
which has seemingly continually sprouted side shoots and cross branches and now
looks like some sort of tropical fig with aerial roots.
I paid my respects and walked up to where I
believe the Bronze Age Barrow is situated but the interp was missing and I only
found a semi-feral Small Blue Elephant.
 |
| It was quite mobile... |
Fours Spot Chasers and a Large Red Damselfly were on the dog
pond and I could hear Treecreepers and both Woodpeckers.
I stumbled on the WWII housing bunkers sunk in the sandy
loam where personnel were stationed to staff the local airfields and some interesting
Wasps were taking prey into their burrows in the sandy path while a Southern
Hawker patrolled above.
 |
| WWII Bunker |
 |
| Bracken |
 |
| Multi-trunked Birch growing out of the root ball of a long fallen Sweet Chestnut |
 |
| Cerceris rybyensis |
 |
| Common Awl Robberfly (Neoitamus cyanurus) |
 |
| Common Awl Robberfly (Neoitamus cyanurus) |
 |
| Common Awl Robberfly (Neoitamus cyanurus) |
 |
| Common Awl Robberfly (Neoitamus cyanurus) |
Red Admirals danced in the sunlit glade by the car park and
it was a short nip across the road and into Cobham Estate once again. The Rookery was noisy and there seemed to be
as many Jackdaws in there as Rooks as I cut across the Trefoil filled grassland
to get to the CRTL path in the North East corner.
I followed this as before all the way to the Golf Course
entrance road passing many Pyramidal and huge Spotted Orchids on my way before coming
to a continuous line of Ox-eye Daisies, Knapweed and Greater Burnet-Saxifrage
(an umbelifer) which were being visited by a host of bees, flies, beetles and hoverflies.
 |
| Common Spotted Orchids |
 |
| Common Spotted Orchids |
 |
| Pyramidal Orchid |
 |
| Pyramidal Orchid |
 |
| Greater Burnet-Saxifrage |
 |
| Greater Burnet-Saxifrage |
 |
| Ox-eye Daisies |
 |
| Ox-eye Daisies and Greater Burnet-Saxifrage |
Rather than cutting over the A2 at the road I followed the path onwards and this
fantastic train of flowers continued beyond that point. It was amazing and I was very pleased with my
discoveries partly as I managed to successfully identify a couple of tricky
Hovers.
 |
| The hairy eyes of Cheilosia variablis |
 |
| Cheilosia variablis |
 |
| Cheilosia variablis |
 |
| Xanthogramma stackelbergi |
 |
| Xanthogramma stackelbergi |
 |
| Xanthogramma stackelbergi |
 |
| Volucella pellucens |
 |
| Volucella pellucens |
 |
| Volucella pellucens |
 |
| Volucella pellucens |
 |
| Graphomyia maculata |
 |
| Small Megachile? |
 |
| Small Megachile or an Osmia? |
Marbled White appeared where the path widened and a
White-letter Hairstreak came up from the flowers by the only patch of Elms I
had seen. Rutpela maculata joined the fly throng and a Hornet thrummed
pasty my ear but did not stop. Speckled Wood, Common Blue and Peacock were new
for the day and a family of Jays boisterously kept pace with me for a couple of
hundred yards.
 |
| Speckled Wood |
A footpath back into the wood became available and I had a
sneaky feeling that I knew where 161 led and it did indeed take me back up
through the Ash grove to the corner of the Cobham fenceline where I entered
earlier but rather than retrace my steps I found another path a little way into
the wood and this proved to be a very good choice as I heard a squeaky ‘k-wick’
from up in front and hoped that I would find a young Tawny Owl perched up in
front. I crept up the slope but it saw
me before I saw it and it flew silently off but not too far and I found it
again watching me from a safe distance.
It was a fledgling but well feathered and is probably the first daylight
Tawny I have seen properly in 15 years or so.
 |
| Tawny Owlet |
I left it sitting there and quietly moved off just as a
couple of Crossbills called up in front – two more Lockdown Walk ticks!
As I got back up towards the main ride I could hear the
tinny whine of ‘interesting’ music through a phone and being a grumpy old fart
nowadays I bristled at my peace being disturbed. Three lads and a girl headed
across the top, music blaring but hang on a minute... they were carrying four
black bin bags and two big shopping bags.
Didn’t I see those two bags at the party spot earlier? Surely not?
It was only fifty yards back to investigate and there it
was, pristine and devoid of any sign they had been there. I was speechless. Ok,
so they should not have left it there in the first place but to walk over a
mile up into the woods to collect it all the following afternoon gave me just
the smallest smidgeon of hope that all might not be lost.
I veered back off the main path and back down the bridleway
where another Silver Washed Frit dashed past me and a doe Fallow Deer stopped
long enough for me to lift the camera.
 |
| Fallow Deer |
The path reached a paddock at the back of the stables with a
very nice pond which is where I suspect my Blue Eyed Hawker came from and I
thought I had found three more deer in the shadows until I realised that they
were Alpacas!
 |
Alpaca with Lockdown ear hair issues
|
The last bit of new trail popped me back out on the CTRL
path before shortly intercepting the Bligh Way Bridge. I had a quick chat with Ben from Plant Life
who was doing some work at that corner who had been equally puzzled at the
teenagers with the rubbish bags who had just walked past him!
And so I only had a mile to go to get home after a thoroughly
enjoyable amble with many new species added and different paths trodden.
No comments:
Post a Comment