Waterside Natural History Society visit to Michelmersh
A combination of warm spring sunshine, beautiful countryside and an Icelandic volcano provided an excellent walk round Michelmersh in the middle of April. The volcano eruption meant that all plane flights were cancelled leaving the skies clear and the area noise free. We were able to listen to the birdsong instead. The Blackcaps, which have recently arrived from their migration, have a strong, melodic call with a variety of notes that is a delight to hear whilst walking through open woodland. We counted about a dozen during our walk, although we only saw two or three since they have a habit of hiding in the bushes. Chiffchaffs are another recent spring migrant with a distinctive call which happens to coincide with their name. Although their call is rather coarse and repetitive it is a welcome reminder of spring. Swallows and House martins appear to have reached their nesting areas but relatively few are seen on the wing at the moment. They are particularly fond of the barns and farm buildings which were scattered along our walk.
The walk, which starts and ends at the church in Michelmersh, followed a triangular route along tracks to Lower Eldon farm to meet Eldon road at Humbers wood then south along Eldon road before turning west back along the Monarchs way to the church. Roads in this area are not in the motorway class at the best of times and we were able to walk along Eldon road without meeting any traffic. Other tracks and lanes are quite substantial with tarmac in several areas. The distance is about five and a half miles.
Much of the earlier parts of the walk were through or alongside open woodland and one of the objects of the walk was to see swathes of bluebells. Unfortunately spring is about a month late this year and although some of the bluebells were in flower it will be the end of April before the blue swathes are evident. Other spring flowers were appearing however such as the Wood anemone, Celandine, Primrose, Barren strawberry and Violets. Both the early dog violet, with its pointed sepals and dark spur, and the sweet violet were present. Spurs of Solomans seal, just beginning to turn over at the top but not yet in flower, were present in numbers on the woodland floor together with Moschatel.
Between the woods the rolling chalk downland provided a familiar alternative. A good number of hares were seen during the course of our walk. It is always difficult to predict exactly where hares are going to be seen so coming across them unexpectedly and in such numbers was a delight. We also came across a group of Guinea fowl later in the walk but in an area of farmland such as this the wild and the managed animals are hard to distinguish.
During our walk back along Eldon road we called in to see the church of St. John the Baptist which is described as having the smallest parish in England. Its charm lies in its simplicity which consists of a single room with wooden chairs, a small organ and a small lectern for a pulpit. This contrasted nicely with a bright yellow primrose plant on the doorstep which appeared to be trying to get closer to heaven.
Eldon road appears to be an ancient pathway to King’s Somborne as it is sunk into the surrounding countryside and plants such as Butchers broom indicate mature woodland. Primroses and violets grew on the raised banks at a convenient waist height and cowslips were just coming into bloom. A variety of plants in the dead nettle family were coming into flower. The red dead nettle flowers all the year but the white dead nettle was starting to flower and the yellow archangel was just showing its characteristic yellow colour. The blue flowered ground ivy has also been in flower for a few weeks now.
Butterflies such as Brimstone, Peacock, Small tortoiseshell and Orange tip were seen as well as a Speckled Wood and a blue butterfly in a woodland glade which was probably a Holly blue. Holly blue are one of the first of the blues to be seen and can be recognised by their habit of flying at hedge height.
The flowers of Blackthorn and Plum cover the hedgerows in clouds at the moment but it is not a good sight if you are a hayfever sufferer. These are pollinated by bees and flying insects so don’t disperse a lot of pollen. Trees that pollinate by wind dispersal have no need of bright flowers so are not noticeable but a shake of the branches of any conifer tree can release clouds of pollen.
The walk although not overly long by rambling standards takes some time if you stop and look at everything so it was with relief that we saw the cock on top of the church tower as we came to the end of our walk.

Wilverley New Forest

Wootton Bridge via Wilverley (6.9miles)
This is a varied walk at any time of year but is particularly pleasant in summer. The walk can be started from any of three or four car parks and can be said to be a walk from one car park to another. I do not however recommend starting from the car park at Holmesley as it is a small secluded park near to the busy A35, an ideal place for thieves, and is often closed in winter to deter itinerant travellers. Wootton Bridge is a nice place to start for several different walks and is particularly good because you finish the walk unexpectedly after emerging from the wood.
So starting from Wootton Bridge we turned left on to the main road and crossing over the road we walked up to the junction at Wilverley. Just before the junction we veered to the right and crossed over the road to walk up towards Wilverley Lodge. The track follows the road and crosses over the access road to the lodge before continuing on towards the car park for Wilverley inclosure. We walked along the car park access road to enter the inclosure through the main gate. The main path, which is also a cycle route, continues ahead and when we came to an old inclosure sign with a wooden seat on the right we turned right along a minor path.
After fifty metres or so we turned left along an even smaller track which we followed until we came to a junction of tracks in a dip within an open space at which we took the path at about one o’clock. We followed this track for a short distance until we saw a track going to the right and leading us out of the woods. It is not important where you exit the wood so long as it is to the right hand side. Wilverley inclosure is a mixed deciduous and mixed coniferous wood which has been thinned over the years to encourage tree growth. Many of the coniferous trees are Douglas fir and growing quite large.
Once out of the woods we turned left and continued in a straight line following the edge of the wood as far as the main A35 road which we crossed over. The track then followed an old abandoned road over the open heathland. When we came to a bend and dip in the road we turned left between the second and third road markers through the hedge to the valley beyond. This is revealed as a hidden valley which is quite unusual in the New Forest and feels as if you have entered another world. When we did the walk in early April Lapwing were seen on the ground and one was in the air chasing off a crow. On emerging through the hedge we took a faint track round the right side of the marshy area which goes round the hill to the right. We then crossed over to the right of a low marshy area known as Holmans bottom before rising again to emerge at a minor road called Station Road. We saw a pair of bullfinch in the bushes of this low lying area.
At the road we turned left and walked along the side of the road for a short distance before crossing over the road to a car park. We maintained the direction of the car park access road over the brow of a hill to the left and followed the track downhill and over the heath. We could see a row of power cables in the distance and the track goes along the line of poles before veering off to the left towards a modern looking building on the road to Burley. On reaching this building, which is at the junction of the road and the dismantled railway, we turned left along the dismantled railway line back towards Holmesley.
At the end of the line we called in to the tearooms at Holmesley for our lunch. We then turned left out of the tearooms to walk along the road to the main A35 which we carefully crossed to start down a side road back to Wilverley. Instead of following this road we turned right opposite the forest car park through the hedge and over an old wooden stile. We followed the faint track over a bridge on the Avon Water and continued straight ahead across the water meadow to a five bar gate entering the Brownhill inclosure. The path then goes uphill to join the main track where we turned left to follow the broad path back to Wootton Bridge.