Winters' gate

 

We stand at winters' gate, across the threshold we'll enter what are notionally the hardest months of the year, so it was apt that light snow and frigid conditions accompanied us on our roam this morning. When I say 'light' snow, although it was visible it really was ephemeral, instantly evaporating on contact with any surface. I don't so much mind the cold, so long as it's dry, wet and cold on the other hand, that's just nasty.

Gimme shelter

I like seeing shelters and camps amongst the stands, they mean at least some of the coming generation are being introduced to the joys of the natural world. Exposure to nature builds a connection, that connection builds a relationship, and that relationship develops and deepens with continued exposure. Until relatively recently everyday life was exposure to nature, it's well-being tied directly to ours. Now though being for the most part removed from the natural world, we've got to actively seek making that connection. Building shelters and camps is as good a way as any to start. It's where my love of the natural world was kindled. It's essential our species connection with the natural world isn't weakened any further. 

 

Bit of a tangent, but. Years ago we had a friend who'd moved down from London, and one time thought he'd come camping with us to Dartmoor; at the time we regularly camped on the moor. His reaction to the moor has stayed with me. Dartmoor blew his mind, and he wasn't a fan, he'd never experienced that degree of nature, prompting questions like 'why are there no street lights?' and 'where are the shops?'. He was an urban human, the natural environment was a mystery to him. That amazed me.

Dames Slough

Dames Slough

Nippy out

This morning found Jack Frost had left his frosty fingerprints all over Anthonys' Bee Bottom, ooh err! How 1970's. That aside, it was bloody cold out on our roam today; it was the first morning when I've really felt winters approach.

RAF Holmsley South

 

At the corner of Holmsley enclosure, easy to overlook as you pass, are these unassuming earthwork features which were once the site of serious and dangerous work in the pursuit of victory; they're all that remains of RAF Holmsley Souths' bomb store. Bomb store sounds quite straight forward, but there was more to it than that, the bombs required preparing for use and strict procedures needed following. The bombs went on a journey. The photo above is of one of the two main storage areas that housed the bodies and separately the tail units of the bombs which run at 90 degrees around the corner of Holmsley enclosure. From here a trackway along which the bomb trains ran, travelling back and forth between store and planes parked on the dispersals. By the side of the trackway were a series of stations, brick built loading bays, smoke bomb and small bomb stores, component stores and finally the fusing point, the last stop before the bomb ready store where prepared bombs waited to be taken to the planes; all of these sites had associated trackways, nissen huts, blast walls and such like. Sadly as with other Second World War airfields in the forest, and short-sightedly in my opinion, the physical remains of RAF Holmsley South were viewed as having no historic/archaeological value and subsequently over the years, beyond a short section of Runway, some perimeter track and some dispersal pads,  all have been destroyed. Criminal really.

Holmsley Bog

Where ever you look evidence of the success of the stream restoration program is clear to see. I regularly comment on how the slower transit of water through the Forests' waterways is changing the nature of its' streams and their environs; it's also invigorated their watersheds too, where the Forests' bogs and mires are looking healthy. Which is a good thing.  These are rare environments. The Forests' shallow valley wetlands represent 80% of those in Lowland England.

Red sky in the morning

Red sky in the morning, shepherds warning; and the day broke with a proper red sky this morning.

Old embankment

We were back walking the old Brackenhurst to Ringwood line again this morning, the embanked section between Holmsley Station and Holmsley Passage, through Holmsley Bog.  

Roe Douglas harvest

 

The forestry wheels turn slowly. Way back in early 22' I commented that many of the mature conifers (Douglas Firs in this case) in Roe enclosure had been marked with a pink spot for cropping; though it's only now that they're beginning to be harvested and collected at the track side adjacent to their stands. Handsome looking timber, it has a real quality look to it. Geoff said it smelt good too.

Same day, take #2

30 minutes later on the same roam, seen in another place in another light, autumns' winding down can still be viewed through a kaleidoscope of autumn tints.

Same day, take #1

 

In the right place in the right light, autumns' winding down sees the colour slowly drained from the forest, and the landscape take on an almost sepia like tone.

Late flush?

 

I saw quite a few Magic Mushrooms (Psilocybin Semilanceata) around the grassy areas this morning, enough to surprise me. You'd usually see them September to October in these parts, though in recent years it's become more common to see them later; their season does extend to December. Although in my experience of hereabouts it's not common that you see them in good numbers this late in the year. The times they certainly are a changing.

The old line

We took the opportunity of a sunny, and for the most part windless, day to roam beyond the stands. And glorious it was. Part of our walk followed the old Brockenhurst to Ringwood line as it threads the edge of Homlsley Bog; it must've been a wonderful journey in its' day, at no point without splendid views. Crazy to consider the extent of the affordable integrated public transport network we once enjoyed, as compared with the woefully fragmented, often expensive, excuse we endure today. Good social infrastructure is essential, especially if we want change.

Drain

 

Although there's been some restoration to sections of the forests' streams and drains to their pre-Victorian watercourses, they're the anomalies rather than the rule. The straight forestry drains remain the rule. Though the restored sections have been cleverly selected to mean that many of the remaining drains cease to function as designed, backing up and flooding out into their surrounding woodland, where they hold the waters back as desired. They're certainly holding plenty of water at the moment as it remains wet out. This morning was a rainy walk again. There seems a sort of rhythm to our current weather, a couple of days rain and grey, followed by a dry and sunny day.

Wooson's Hill

 

Wooson's Hill

Fall

Recent rough weather marks the beginning of the end for fall. Each season has it's own distinctive face and personality, and the face of the forest is changing. Autumns' window begins to close. As the russet coloured bracken battered by rain bows out and the canopy's thinning allows light into the under-story and reveals views through the stands, so the forest is slowly adopting it's open winter persona. It's noticeably quieter out here now. And why not. It's been a difficult year for forest and it's inhabitants, so with rutting over and the growing season done, the forest world retires for a well deserved period of R&R until the seeds awaken on springs' approach. Anyone wanting to catch the last hurrah of the autumn tints shouldn't leave it too long, each day the depth of leaf litter deepens. 

Wood Blewits

 

As we took an off road short-cut through a small mixed stand on our walk this morning we stumbled upon another 'edible good' mushroom, the Wood Blewit (Clitocybe nuda).  Wood Blewits are fairly easily recognized by their lilac/blue colour caps, which is particular prevalent when young, as the caps mature they become a buffy brown, the gills and flesh on the other hand remain purple blue only fading slightly with age. They're a tasty mushroom with solid flesh making them a  versatile fungi to cook; caution though, they've been known to cause upset in some and therefore require cooking before consumption. They're also said to be good driers, though I've not put that to the test...yet.   As always I'm at pains to remind people never to collect any mushrooms you are not certain of, and even then double check.

Canadian Memorial

 

The forest was utilized by all branches of the services during World War Two, if you look carefully you can still find the evidence here and there, as a consequence there's a number wartime memorials about. Aptly our walk this morning took us past one them, the Canadian Memorial in Bolderwood. A wooden cross was erected and services held here in the months and days prior to D-Day by men of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Div who during D-Day took terrible loses and casualties securing Juno beach. After the war it was decided to maintain the site as a memorial to the Canadians who'd worshipped here, and more broadly the Canadians who'd passed through the forest on their way to war. And so it remains today.

Autumn tints

 

Autumn tints in Burley Old; presently the palette of the forest is rich in rustic hues.

The Incal

The Incal by Jodorowsky and Moebius is a unique comic romp, complexed and confusing, it's bonkers sci-fi turned up to 11. It opens high in a futuristic city where the main protagonist John Difool is thrown by a thugs towards an acid lake. I won't even try to give a synopsis of what follows, it's proper mental, just to say Difool and a motley crew of supporting characters undertake one hell of a trip; oh, and there's a super important and powerful ancient artefact too. They don't make them like this any more, probably why it's a recognized genre classic, a volume in which both narratives and artwork epitomize cerebral sci-fi at its' best. Wonderfully (if not sometimes confusingly) written by Jodorowsky and beautifully illustrated throughout by the legendary Moebius, whose art requires no introduction and defies definition, it's a magnificent read. A recommended read.

Warwickslade Cutting

Warwickslade Cutting is what a well restored and re-established forest stream looks like; a stunning vision of natural beauty.

Gravelly Ford

 

Black Water looking downstream towards Gravelly Ford.

Black Trumpets

In my opinion Black Trumpets (Craterellus cornucopioides) are the hardest of the 'edible good' mushrooms to find; sneaky little buggers with a talent for effective camouflage amongst the leaf litter they're often found in. However the recent flood waters, now retreated, scoured most of the leaves away with them, making these Black Trumpets easier to spot; I reckon there would've been some larger examples before the scouring too.

Autumn in the forest

 

Autumn in the forest

14 Pebbles #2

Back at the beginning of July I came across a rough circle of 14 small sub rounded pebbles placed with purpose on the hollow trunk of a tree which came down in a storm decades ago in Burley Old. I pass the trunk on one of our regular routes and have taken to tending to its' up keep; often the pebbles are disturbed and/or covered in detritus, and I set them in a circle again, detritus free. Strangely since July one of the circle pebbles mysteriously disappeared, whilst a tiny white pebble mysteriously appeared, so there remains 14 pebbles, though they're not the original 14. 

Tracks in time

A broad loosely linear ribbon of innumerable ruts running from Whitefield Moor on the outskirts of Brockenhurst up onto Hincheslea Moor and Wilverely Plain before snaking off towards either Holm Hill and Ober Water in one direction and Long Slades Bottom in the other; in some sections they're much more noticeable than others, in some sections they're so ephemeral as to be near invisible. You might reasonably think they're natural features caused by erosion or so such, maybe they could be signs of forestry works, or it's quite possible you'd overlook them all together amongst the heather and gorse. In fact they're an interesting archaeological feature from World War Two. Throughout the war the forest was used by various branches of the military, and these are the 80 year old tracks left by Churchill tanks of the 33rd Army Tank Brigade/43rd Bat Royal Tank Regiment on exercise hereabouts in 1942. One of the more recent layers of history etched onto the forests' landscape, joining numerous archaeological features reaching back thousands of years. My photo doesn't do the tracks or their scale justice, if you're interested check them out on a satellite map or LIDAR.

Stockyford Green

 

The forest was gorgeous this morning, a crisp clean fresh autumn morning, sunlight flooding through the quiet stands. Magical.

Dames Slough

The flooded stands of Dames Slough still look decidedly Louisianan. Long stretches of the forests' stream environs remain under water as repeated downpours help to replenish the waters; the restoration of the streams was supposed to hold water in the forest, and it works really well. The geology of the forest helps too creating a landscape which soaks up water like a sponge, even the raised areas of woodland are sodden and yielding underfoot.

Duck Hole

The view across Duckhole Bog, with Ferny Knap then Rhinefield Sandys' beyond.

Holmhill Bog

 

Our walk this morning was out on the exposed open heath of Wilverley Plain and Holm Hill and adjacent wet heath and bog valleys of Holmhill and Duck Hole bogs. Through Holmhill Bog there's a raised path at a point where a pond has developed; the pond is about half a mile from Ober Water into which the bog eventually empties; the water here is clean and clear, the colour of strong black tea.