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.