Chewton Common

 

The common is really coming alive. We're lucky to have a magical space of such diversity on our door step. It's a haven for innumerable bird and beast, foxes are common, deer are regular visitors, and a dog person told me he's seen a badger recently.

Birch seed casings

 

All across the Common this morning, the gossamer threads of spiders toil were festooned with Silver Birch (Betula pendula) seed casings, the majority of the papery winged seeds having been transported elsewhere on the winds. A mature Silver Birch, and many of those over the Common are mature, can produce up to one million seeds; certainly like hedging their reproductive bets.

Rare fruit

Apples from three of the Commons' apple trees; the others were either barren or the few fruits they had were inaccessible. On the whole it's been a pitiful year for apples over the Common; and not just over the Common, neighbours with cookers say their fruits are fewer and smaller. It started well enough, with plenty of blossom, though it has come to nought, a very thin harvest indeed. Shame. And no, they hadn't be scrumped already, I was point and had to wade through dense bracken, bramble and nettle to reach these trees. That said, it was worth it even for a few fruits; the Commons' apples, although not huge, and sometimes slightly thicker skinned, are very tasty nonetheless.  Heritage varieties do you think? I do.

Peak green

With many of it's paths disappearing under a sea of towering growth the Common's reaching peak green.

Chewton Common

 

Our local common is a wonderful space, as well as a vital community resource. A mosaic of different environmental types: heather and gorse heath, rough grassland, pockets of coniferous and deciduous woodland; it's seasonally waterlogged in winter/spring due to underlying clay geology and choked with towering growth in summer/autumn. Set in our suburban sprawl it's a rich and diverse parcel of land, of massive value to wildlife as well as locals. It's a nice size tract of land, not huge, though being criss crossed by a myriad paths gives it the illusion of being much bigger than it is, and gives you the opportunity if you opt for canny routes utilising as many paths as possible to rack up surprising distances. As I say, a wonderful space. Common land is a blessing, man, and one I'm grateful for; though by natural law reasonable access to the land should be ours by right. 

Oak Apple

Oak Apple, home to the Oak Apple Gall Wasp (Biorhiza pallida), easy to see where it gets it's name; looks and feels like a gone over apple. I'm sure there's been a marked increase in galls on the oaks in recent years; last year locally the oaks of the common were covered in Knopper galls.

Apples

As the apple trees over the common are coming into blossom, I've noticed their number is multiplying with several young trees popping up. To my knowledge all the Common's apple trees, well at least all the ones I've tested, are eaters rather than cookers. I don't know what variety of apple they are, though they have the feel of an older less breed variety and produce small yet flavoursome fruits with tough skins. I'm hoping for a good fruiting season as I've got some appley plans.

A change of tune

 

The times they are a changing, and the nature of birdsong has definitely changed in recent days; gone are the subdued mournful songs of winter, songs much brighter are being sung in the canopy today. There's an air of anticipation and excitement amongst the chorus; I feel it too, I think we all do, Spring approaches, the game is nearly on.

Small fruits

The Common's apple trees are again well laden with fruit, although this year they're noticeably smaller, more like over sized crab apples or large plums, that said, they may now be bite sized but they're still just as tasty; the same can be said for our neighbour ancient cooking apple tree, usually laden with gorgeous fruits, the source of countless pies and crumbles; it's going to take a hell of a lot of them to fill a dish this autumn. This is another aspect to consider about climate change, how will it affect the size, quality and quantity of our wild harvests; a resource I'd taken for granted in my societal/food supply breakdown modelling. As I've probably mentioned before, these apocalypses we're enduring continue not to shape up to be the ones I'd been envisaging, planning and prepping for. No zombies either....yet (Shawn of the Dead zombies, not World War Z zombies, please).  

 

Bathing blooms

Willow (Salix) blooms enjoying the spring showers.

 

Regeneration

Nature's resilience is an unceasing wonder to me; take the view above, a few years back this area of Chewton Common was all scorched earth and charred trunks after 'another' common fire, yet look at it now, you'd never know; the regeneration is a marvel.

Pomme

This time of the year the common's apples make for a welcome fruity snack whilst out for a walk with Geoff. I know I bang on about this every year, but I'm amazed more of the common's fruit is utilized, there are half a dozen apple trees and countless blackberries....I feel guilty that I don't use more of it. This particular apple tree yields a very tasty smallish apple, slightly tart on first biting though there after sweet enough, an eater cooker cross maybe? Very nice.

Dog people

If you walk locally with a dog you'll quickly become 'dog people', a cadre of people who, for the most part, are known by their canine companion's name. Sometimes a nod, a wave from a distance, small talk or even occasionally longer exchanges bind us. I have to admit I dig it. Life's a collection of infinite stories, and I love to hear them. Through talking my community feels more alive somehow, populated now by real characters rather than a nebulous homologous neighbour, and many have a story they want to tell...and I'll listen. For another time maybe. For now though, I'd had a chat this morning with an elder who always stops and tells me her story through unconnected piece, like slowly doing a jigsaw. Anyway, as we wished each other a good day, she turned and said 'thank you for talking to me'. I told her that it was my pleasure.  But, man, as I walked off emotion captured me, for this wasn't the first time, by far, that a local elder spoke those exact words...and every time they land like unintended punches. As for that short sentence to be common parlance, we must genuinely be losing our humanity.

Hidden paths

 

Walking the Common's myriad paths at this time of year you need to be a believer, to have faith that the path exists and you're not just stumbling off into the undergrowth. The annual excess of summer growth has choked the place with a sea of verdant bracken raising to 6 or 7 feet. I love it like this. Although, the downside is you're assured of a soaking if you walk here early in the morning or shortly after a downpour.  

Ooh!

Ooh! That's not a regular sight, a Deer in the central parcel of Chewton Common, in 25 years this is only the third I've seen. The first was 20 years ago, and this one happens to be the second in a week.  Last week one of the dog people told me he'd seen a large deer crossing the road that transects the common, so Geoff and I were particularly deft and vigilant as we wove the commons winding paths. It was Geoff who clocked the deer first and was off through the bramble choked thicket; the deer had more open ground behind it and soon was gone. I only caught a couple of glances as it disappeared in to thicket. Today's deer was not the same one, it was smaller, younger maybe. It didn't appear too fazed by our presence though, happy to check us out for a while before moving out of sight casually. The presence of a deer in the common highlights what I've mentioned before, that the pockets of common and strips of woodland create and act as wildlife corridors allowing animal movement through our urban intrusions into their natural world.

Bure Brook

Chewton Common isn't one parcel of land, it no doubt would've been, although by the 80's years of invasive development from Highcliffe and Walkford had reduced it to fragments of its former glory. The remaining fragments vary in size and exist in isolation, although only just so; through your minds eye though, you can imagine the common that was. Bure Brook runs through the north-eastern parcel of Chewton Common, still only an easy strides width at this point. Dry now, the surrounding woodland is seasonally wet and languishes mostly neglected, which is a shame as it's particularly florally diverse, a secret oasis. The trees in the photo stand on the bank of a small irregular sub rectangular enclosure, the origins of which I've no idea, some are couple of hundred years old which suggests the enclosure is older than that.  That's something for me to explore. 

 

Willow snow

The conditions have been perfect for wind dispersal, sunny and warm with a very gentle breeze, and for a few days now the seeds of the Common's numerous Willows (Salix) have filled the air. Willow's produce an inordinate amount of small fluffy seeds only a couple of millimetres long, they're so prodigious that the seeds can fill the air for days and once grounded they gather like drifts of fluffy snow on the sides of the Common's narrow paths. A lovely seasonal happening.

Slowy

Easily in excess of a foot long this is a mature Slow worm (Anguis fragilis) bathing in the morning sun in the middle of the path, oblivious to our approach. I'd say this fella (I'm presuming it's a 'he' by the markings) was normally more alert, his tail didn't look as if it was regrown. It wasn't until my shutter clicked that he decided the the game was up and sidled off disappearing into the rough. Good the see such a healthy specimen. Do you know,  Slow worms can live up to 30 years old.  

Mouse

A careless Wood Mouse ambled across one of the common's paths as we passed, it was moving slow enough for me to get my camera out and just catch a shot.  It didn't appear to pay any attention to us at all. It's going to need to be more attentive to threats if it wants last around here, there are more than enough predators looking for a tasty snack.

Apple blossom

 

There are so many points in nature's ever turning wheel of the year that I look forward to, after all, each season offers up so many gifts. Few gifts though are as fragrant as apple blossom in spring sunshine, it's a heavenly scent, dreamy...it's easy to see why they're associated with love and sensuality.  The Common's apples are just edging into blossom now, with the very first flowers opening up to the sun. Catching their fragrance is a real joy, a joy that over the last decade has grown in abundance as several new apple trees have appeared and burgeoned around the Common.