Warwickslade cutting

No this isn't a well worn woodland path, but the bare gravel and clay bottom of Warwickslade cutting. Bone dry now, but come the rainy season and this, and the open woodland surrounding it, will be awash and impassable. Although called a cutting, the long straight 'cutting' was remodelled some years back and now Warwickslade snakes through the stands, as it would have done prior the Victorian draining of the forest.

Under Win Green

Under Win Green is just what it says, the area under Win Green Hill. An area marked by steep rough grass slopes which disappear into deciduously wooded combes with meadows running through their bottoms; bloody lovely.  I've said it before, chalk-land is surely my favourite landscape, so rich in life; it crackles with energy. Wherever you look there are useful herb plants, fruiting trees and so many useful materials. Mammals too, Hares are common as are the Deer, the Fox and Badger, signs of which can be spotted if one cares to look a bit deeper; wander from the path maybe. And that's only few of the species of life which call this place home. Everywhere you look is bustling with activity. On reaching the end of the path in the photo, you emerge from the woodland on top of a high chalk grassland ridge which continues for miles in each direction and views, man, the views. I don't know how many counties I see, but it was a few. Great walking. It's a landscape to loose yourself in and find yourself all the better for it.

Bratley

Bratley enclosure 1830.

Big chair

There be giants! I thought the time of giants was over, other than a few who may still live in the wilds beyond the reach of modern man, but this giants chair would suggest otherwise.  Can't fault the giants choice of setting; lovely views. 

Hurst Hill

I'm not usually a fan of coniferous plantations, often they're planted too tightly for my liking; making them impassable and dark places. Hurst Hill enclosure is different though; originally Oak and enclosed in 1808, the replanted Pines are mature, open, airy and full of light; Hurst Hill exudes a majestic quality a creates fantastic space.

New bidge

Over the years one of the river crossing over the Red Rise Brook had become virtually invisible amongst the overgrown stream side shrubbery and for the last few years a muddy lake has formed at one end of the bridge, making it near impossible at times to even access it. The clearing, renovation and addition of a raised path at the Red Rise Shade bridge is welcomed, and just in time for wet season.

Rose Bay Willow herb

After the fire of a year or two ago, the Rose Bay Willow herb, or bomb weed, now carpets huge swathes of the common. Requiring fire to germinate its seed, the reckless youth did this plant a favour.

Beech Mast

The Beech mast continues to swell, some boughs are now straining, drooping ground-ward; so heavy the weight of fruit upon them. I've thought about having a go at pressing some Beechnut oil, not much mind, just giving it a go. It must have been incredibly arduous to prepare enough nuts to produce any quantity of oil. 

Highland Water

The forests streams are running low, more exposed gravel than water for many sections; and where there is water it hardly moves. Highland Water, one of the bigger forest streams, looks more like a chain of loosely connected puddles. Lovely vibe though, along the stream, beautiful walking.

Pairs

I'd noticed before about the forest that quite often trees appear to have been planted in twos, no doubt to hedge the foresters bets on forming a regular wood.  Here in Camel Green I've noticed how many of these paired trees follow a similar pattern; one thriving tree paired with one dead upstanding tree. I grow plants and veg, and you regularly have plants that don't take or wither when still little more than a shoot. These trees though appear to have thrived together for some considerable time, before one just gave up the ghost. Why is that? What's effected one that hasn't effected the other? They share the same environment, the same ground, the same source of water, everything! It's not just one or two either; pairs of one living, one dead are all over this wood. Another woodland mystery.

Mrs Tiggywinkle

Ah, Mrs Tiggywinkle, the once ubiquitous Hedgepig of children's tales, now, sadly, a far rarer visitor to our gardens and hedgerows.  I heard their numbers were seriously on the fall, and maybe that's so, I hope not. Though this year, after some thin years, I've seen a few about and possibly heard some. That said, the scrambling and shuffling I regularly hear about ours and our neighbours back gardens can't be positively attributed to Hedgehogs. I hope it is them though, and that they're making return.

Cheese and wine, yu?

I thought I'd see all types of graffiti, your regular so and so loves/4 so and so, dates, band names, symbols, even pure swearing and more, but I can now add another category....middle class graffiti. Coming across 'Cheese and Wine, march 02', I could help but smile and let out a laugh. Brilliant, posh vandals.  Although, I'm still out on whether I consider graffiti vandalism and leaning heavily to the not vandalism camp, even with my deep respect and love of trees.

Clouds

Over the sea, out beyond the bay, I saw these evening clouds drift by from the summit of Hengistbury Head; I liked them.

Bratley Water

The upper reaches of the forest streams are not commonly visited, what with many being off the beaten path, tucked in hollows and frequently bordered with wet ground. Their isolation gives them an added air of wilderness. Here a section of Bratley Water (later Blackensford Brook, then Black Water, then Fletchers Water before joining Highland Water a couple of miles before it becomes the Lymington River), an area I know to be difficult to traverse during the wet season, is bathed in gentle summer light made dappled by the narrow band of woodland which frequently borders such streams. A few ponies, surprised by my appearance, are grazing, enjoying the shade, noisy birds busy themselves in the canopy and the air hums with the clicks, chirps and buzzes of a myriad of insects making best use of their time.  I feel lucky to know such places, lucky to be able to enjoy time in them; time immersed in nature.  

Pot boilers

The forest has many stories to tell if you deviate from the main tracks and paths, looking carefully as you wander. Amongst the buttresses of this old Beech, a pile of blackened pebbles, burnt in a fire. Too small, I think, for the stones you might place around a fire and all a similar size. What they look like to me are stones which may have been used as pot boilers.  Pot boiling is heating stones in or near the fire and then adding them to a ceramic or hide container of water as a method to cook food.  Archaeologists suggest that this practice was common in prehistoric times, with heaps of pot boilers found on some sites. These stones though, I don't think are that old. So, if they were used in this way, who by? And in what circumstances?  The closest source for the stones is about 300m away, in the banks of a small stream; that and the way they're heaped I'm confident they had purpose and human agency was in action and them not being merely exposed natural subjected to heath fire. An interesting find, posing several questions to ponder.

Cool of the evening

After the heat of the day, the forest stands offer the wanderer a much appreciated cool evening walk.

Slow worm

You ain't seen me, right!  Even when I moved in for this close up this Slow worm didn't move. It was a good size and still had it's tail; the one you usually see round out way are tailless, having had to sacrifice a piece of tail in return for their lives. When I moved away it rapidly slithered into shade and was gone.

Beech stand

A favourite stand of mature Beech of mine has been decimated over the last two years or so; a tree here a tree there. Though this last 12 months has seen the worst of it. The extremes of wet and dry along with harsh winds whilst the canopies are in leaf have all wrought their toll. Four mature Beech humbled and several more like this one slighted, losing boughs or a trunk or two, in the case of grown out pollards. This, the most recent victim, is an old pollarded Beech tree, it's lost a mighty trunk, though the leafs remain green as if shouting their last defiant hussar.  It makes me sad to see these trees slighted, It makes me sad seeing any trees slighted, but these trees are special to me.  These trees are a place I come to sit and think awhile under the shade of their canopies; it has a certain magic.

Den

The summer sees an increase in the number of camps and dens amongst the forest stands. It must be something so hot wired into us, the urge or need to build shelter, that from a young age it's almost instinctive. I suppose it is one of the main requirements of our existence; somewhere to shelter from the elements.

Thistle

Grazing Deer

Myself and the lead Deer of this grazing group traded barks for over 5 minutes, I was partly obscured by the woodland and don't think they could make who or what was trying to communicate with them. No idea what I was saying to him, nor what he was saying to me.

Hengistbury Clouds

Some magnificent clouds out over the Head, rolling in with purpose.

Sunset

 What a fantastic Sunset over the forest to end the day.

Nuts

Many of the Hazel trees I've seen whilst out and about are looking good for nuts, and I could be being a bit previous, but I think with any luck we could be in for a good harvest this year. Many of them are of a good size too. Here's to hoping.

Shermel Gate

Todays walk was planned to remain in the shade for as much of the walk as possible. The weather wizards said the day was set to be hot, and they weren't wrong; the air was thick and heavy, no breeze to mention, the Sun beat down and it was hot.  Add to that mix the humidity created by high bands of cloud, moving fast enough though not to interrupt the Sun much, and you have a day where shade offers some degree respite.  Under the canopy amongst the stands, the woodland, with its dappled light, is a degree or two cooler, the humidity drops and you can now feel the air as you breath in. Nice. I was lucky, the route I'd chosen for the day allowed us to spend maybe 70% of our walk in well developed woodland or through the woodland fringe. One stretch which was quiet open, in sections, was from Shermel Gate up to Bigley Buildings, about 2 miles or so, uphill for the most of it too. Lovely countryside though, somewhere inside you feel a connection to it, it's a timeless landscape of hills and combes, a landscape which stirs images from deep in your subconscious as if you've always known the place. Lovely.

Great Huntley Bank

The low evening Sun shines through the stands of Great Huntley Bank.

Castles in the sand

Alone on the beach, no other sand hewn monuments anywhere, this splendid creation stuck out. Beautifully crafted, with a really cool and imaginative design; someone had gone to lot of trouble, taken time and consideration in this build.  It's a funny human trait, that we can spend endless time, and derive such innocent joy, absorbed in creating temporary structures; building sand castles or sculptures, digging a hole, building a damn across a brook and endless other activities.  The spoils of which are all transient, gone on the next tide or raise flow or under the boot, materials to be reused in another creation, another day. The memories through endure, maybe not always as individual events, but just in the knowing that such activities were, and still are, time well spent, good times which when thought about elicit a warm feeling and a smile.  It's the simple things. 

Common spotted Orchid

I'm no expert, but i think this is a Common Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) or it could be a Heath Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza maculata) as the soils in the forest are acid and heathy. No matter, beautiful either way. The ride along the edge of South Oakley Enclosure towards Berry Wood, where the land hollows and retains a dampness, is covered in these Orchids. I say 'these Orchids', the range of colour, from the lightest of pinks, through the whole spectrum of purple hues and the forms were endless too, from small clusters of flowers atop the a stem, to stems festooned with flowers. A gathering of individuals rather than a homogenized group, though they all appear to share some or other feature or features. Possibly the result of cross breeding? Local Orchids, for local damp hollows! Whatever, Orchids are always a pleasure to see and in such numbers the pleasure is multiplied.
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Sweet rains

I like the dry weather, it facilitates comfortable activity. Though I welcomed todays rains. Cool and refreshing, but not cold, the rains washed away some of the heavy air, thick and dirty, hard to breath air. What a relief to breath in this cool fresh air, the scents had changed too, clean and fresh, just like the air. Nice. I know the plants and wildlife will have enjoyed it too. Although, as I said, I like the dry weather, and hope for its swift return, What would be best was if it could rain, say, from 0100 to 0500 every night and stay dry for the rest of the time. Still, not really grumbling, weather's weather and you should embrace its many splendours.

Hengistbury Head

Looking east, sundown over Hengistbury Head.

Meadowsweet

This time of year the water meadows are covered in summer plants, one of my favourites is Meadowsweet. Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria), common on damp ground is a slender, can grow up to 2m tall, perennial herb, with dark green serrated leaves and beautifully delicate cream white clusters of strong sweet smelling flowers. Meadowsweet smells divine and was once prized as a strewing herb. Though this plant is not merely a pretty fragrant plant. Meadowsweet is a powerful nature medicine; the roots contains salicylic acid, a compound used to make aspirin; a piece of peeled root, chewed, will help relieve headaches. The flowers too have been used medicinally as well as flavouring for beverages and preserves. 

* As Meadowsweet contains salicylic acid care should taken in using if you asthmatic; as like aspirin it may induce asthma symptoms.

Fort?

For the second time recently I've visited an archaeological site, which is marked on OS maps as a 'fort', only to find the label on the map didn't really fit what I saw on the ground. I wonder if the sites recorded by the RCHM in the early part of the last century might benefit from reevaluation in light of developments in archaeological techniques and theory. I didn't see a fort. I saw an oblong come oval enclosure delineated by a ditch and rampart, other than one end of the oval which was open with no visible defences. The 'defences' are represented by a relatively shallow ditch with quite a flat bottomed in places, backed by a rampart maybe 2m or so high and topped by a very slight bank. With such slight defences and the open end, I just don't see it as a fort. Something else was happening here. What ever uses it might have served, it's in a lovely setting. Overgrown Hazel coppice with a scattering of deciduous Oak and Ash, until recently the floor would have been carpeted in swathes of Bluebells and Ramsons, their remnants are all about. There's an active Badger set just within the enclosure, near the phallic Oak, evidence of other inhabitants and the sound of bird song fills the canopy. It's a very alive place. It's a place that calls you to sit and chill awhile.

Phallic Oak

Yes, that's right, over there within the enclosure, I saw a tree what looked like a knob. No, but really, there are no side branches for maybe 6m up the trunk, so add the two ball shaped protuberances to the front of the base and this tree does look incredibly phallic. 

Chalky white

I've mentioned before, how many of the local prehistoric monuments, when freshly constructed or kept cleaned, would have shone in the Sun, making them visible for miles. This was brought in to sharp focus when coming across a fresh pile of chalk amongst the long grass and open trees. The pile wasn't very high, 1m to a 1.5m, but oh how it shone. I imagined how a large Bronze Age barrow, the high ramparts of a hillfort or any of the linear or circular ritual monuments  which cover the land here abouts must have looked in the bright Sun when new and in use; striking. My photo really doesn't do the brightness of the chalk mound justice.

Coppice

Whilst away at the weekend, inebriated youth, amongst many other misadventures facilitated by an excess and a mixing of alcohol, broke my cloths pole.  So, the mission for today was to visit Resource Wood and harvest myself another. Resource Wood, I'm not sure of its real name, is known as such for its abundance of a variety of bushcraft, food and wild plant resources. Under a powerful Sun the six mile or so return walk, mainly through farmland, was open and exposed. On reaching Resource Wood we were afforded a respite from the heat; amongst its stands, a mixture of neglected Hazel coppice and mature deciduous trees, the air was cooler. It took some searching to find the right pole, but eventually one showed itself; I thanked the tree and made sure that the cut was clean and close to the stool. I thought on the walk home of the lunacy of modernity, that you'd consider buying a pole to hold your washing line up or when you see bundles pea sticks on sale at the garden centre; it wouldn't have been that long ago that, instinctively, we'd have looked to nature to provide such things. Even if you didn't harvest it yourself, you'd have only paid a nominal fee to woodsman or such.  It's clear from out and about that many woods were once well managed and most likely very productive, supporting a thriving sustainable economy. Now, we happily pay for over priced synthetic poles and use plastic netting to support peas, wasteful and environmentally damaging. I can't help thinking we've gone wrong.    

Common Spotted Orchid

Yet another orchid, this time the Common Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii). The Common Spotted Orchid is Britains most common orchid and can be found growing in all sorts of habitats. Being common doesn't make it any less beautiful or any less of a treat to see. There were about a dozen in this hazel coppiced woodland, all looking healthy. It's still early into their flowering season, June to August, so keep your eyes open as there's plenty of time to catch a glimpse of them.

Winspit

Walking the Jurassic Coast it's easy to understand see why it's designated a World Heritage Site. In fact the first natural World Heritage Site in England.

Sun rise

Sun a rise.....too early in the morning. Just before 5am I became aware of them, sheep calling and crying, then the sound of birdsong became apparent, no I thought. It couldn't be morning already, but it was and on opening my eyes, and by way of confirmation, I just glimpsed the orange Sun peeking over the eastern horizon. The sleep hadn't been too bad, though longer grass would have made for a better bed, we'd crashed out on the hill between Seacombe and Winspit, under a fantastically starry sky. Although sleep hadn't been too bad, it had been far too short. Still, all things considered, felt quite spritely and the day looked like it was going to turn out nice again.

Chilled Cider

Set just inland off the Purbeck coast, on a high hillside, the Square and Compass in Worth Matravers is a quaint little pub, and I mean little, with a strange museum filled with archaeological artifacts, natural history pieces and some, what could only be described as weird stuff. It has a rambling outside of grass strewn with limestone blocks and wooden tables; it holds commanding views over the Jurassic coast and is not too bad a place to spend an afternoon. Chilled Cider at the Square and Compass is a yearly event of interesting ciders and beers, tasty homemade food and eclectic music, all in a fantastic setting with loads of lovely people. Sitting in the Sun, with a pint of chilled cider, groovy music drifting about, whilst having a laugh with chums, timeless joy.  What a day, if you've not been before, I can't recommend it highly enough. Put it in your diary for next year. And don't just visit the Square and Compass for Chilled Cider, it's a nice pub when ever.

Solstice

The Sun shone brightly on the Dorset Groves Summer Solstice open ritual at Knowlton henge. A good turn out, again as with last nights ritual, of lovely people of good heart. The Dorset Grove always put on a full and beautiful ritual, shamanic aspects, meditation, appropriately focused play containing water pistols and, of course, rubber chickens, healing and cake; there's always cake. Glenn the Shaman wore the headdress of his close friend Nick who has passed not so long, in his honour and memory, powerful stuff. Another great grove ritual.