Saturday, September 22, 2012
High and wild in West Berks and Hampshire
For the third Saturday in a row we walked from Walbury Hill. "Chat Junction" was very quiet but this stonechat was a nice new arrival.
Instead of turning off to the left to Combe village, we continued along the Test Way into this valley which was new ground for us. This is looking back towards Combe Wood.
Walking up the track skirting Hogs Hole we saw a family of marsh tits in the narrow strip of predominantly ash woodland. Once in the open we sat on the bank to enjoy the sun. We had great views across open country, but in all that immense sweep we could see no other people. It was wonderfully peaceful.
This terraced hillside isn't marked on the OS map as such, but it's probably an ancient field system as there are several in the area.
Back at Walbury Hill loads of swallows and smaller numbers of house martins were hunting over the ridge and appearing to be moving generally southwards. A second stonechat was seen briefly at the side of the track where I was looking into the sun. A small tortoiseshell butterfly was on weedy ground near the car park.
On the slopes below the gibbet a whinchat was my last bird of the day.
// posted by Christine @ 3:20 PM 
