Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Lovely Swinley Forest is on fire. It's on the BBC website as just one of the locations across the UK that have been burning this weekend; apparently there are road closures round Bracknell and Crowthorne.
We went for a walk from the Lookout on Saturday. I noticed then that there was a new burnt area on the Berkshire heathland; but at least this wheatear was finding it good for foraging.
On the Surrey heath it was the same story; this was the abrupt end of our pleasant walk through the heather.
We saw one Dartford warbler, and this is one of the male stonechats present.
Tree pipits were heard singing in several locations and one was visible at the top of a tree; but none of them were displaying, probably because of the very strong winds. A woodlark was seen on the ground. It gave us a long look over its shoulder and then carried on feeding. Along the danger area fence, a lizard ran across the track. At the far side of Caesar's camp we intended to have a rest and a coffee on a seat we've used in the past, only to be confronted with this....
Oh well, at least we laughed - though somewhat hysterically as we were by this time extremely tired. // posted by Christine @ 6:54 AM 
