Saturday, October 23, 2010
Heathland and forest
We walked down through Swinley Forest to the Surrey ridge above Wishmoor, where we had lunch on the fallen pine. An unseen raven called twice then flew past us and landed on a tree beyond the power lines.
We headed out towards Bagshot Heath looking for the shrike, but there was no sign of it. There were lots of young soldiers in the area on an orienteering exercise, who greeted us politely as they ran past. This lovely little slow worm was on the track. Greger said that in Sweden this is known as the copper snake - which is a nicer name than slow worm, if just as misleading.
As we walked back north along the military fence towards Crowthorne Woods a raven appeared over the danger area; but whether it was the Wishmoor bird or a second individual, I've no idea.
The raven/s, like the ring ouzels, gave me a Wishmoor/Swinley tick: a tick for one of the many lists I do not actually keep.// posted by Christine @ 10:38 AM 
