Great Fly Past

Last Sunday we went to the Battle of Britain 70th Anniversary open air Concert at Chartwell, the home of Sir Winston Churchill. We settled ourselves on the hill, just below the terrace, overlooking the beautiful lake and bandstand. The concert began with some readings and in the far distance there was the familiar hum of a Sptifire and Hurricane who were due to do a fly past...but they were beaten to it as a group of about 15 geese flew over us in perfect 'V' formation. The crowd cheered and clapped them and the geese circled round and then flew over us again and then off into the distance leaving the sky clear for the aircraft. It was a wonderful moment and I just wish I had had my camera ready.

The concert was quite moving. Most of the audience were my age and I couldn't help thinking that we were all there because our parents had been lucky enough to survive the war. When a life is lost to war (or anything) the generations that could have followed are also lost...so sad.

It is a natural thing to fight for supremacy and the good of the herd and all animals seem to do it. The difference with humans is that we involve so many innocent people in our battles, while mostly, in the animal world, it is just the leaders and leader wanabees that fight and the pack/herd will meekly follow whoever wins, so there is a lot less carnage, but I am very grateful to my parent's generation who all gave up so much for our freedom.

This coming weekend it is the Banstead (Surrey) Countryside Day so if anyone is in the area on Sunday (12th) call in...the entrance is free. It is being held next to the car park in Holly Lane from 10.30am to 4.30pm and should be good...if the weather stays dry:-)

Pony Visit

It has been a week of doing lots of horsey things.

Firstly we eventually found the time to visit Rufus and Tavey on their new site that they are busy conservation grazing and I am pleased to say that it is beautiful. It is quite an open enclosure with a lovely sunny slope covered with lots of sweet smelling wild herbs, like marjoram, basil and thyme. Both ponies have put on a healthy amount of weight which will set them up nicely for the winter and both look very happy. Better still there is a lovely country pub at the end of the footpath which is a good place to round off a visit to them. Unfortunately the site quite a long way away so we are not able to be their stock checkers while they are there but hopefully they will be coming back to our area again in the autumn.


My next horsey caper was to have a go at western riding. Ever since seeing Monty Roberts (horse whisperer) riding western at one of his demonstrations I have been wanting to have a go. I like the fact that they only have the lightest contact with the horse's mouth and they don't constantly keep nudging the horse in then ribs which must be so annoying for a horse. I was very nervous as I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to control my English riding habits and that I would confuse the horse but I needn't have worried and by the end of the lesson I was happily weaving in and out of cones.


My last horsey activity was to visit the Edenbridge and Oxted Agricultural show. We go most years but this time The Old Surrey Downs Project had a stand which we were helping with. Luckily the stand was in a good position where I could look over to see what was happening in the main arena and we also had some time off so we were able to watch some of the horsey classes in other arenas. My favourite was the lead rein class..such cute ponies and children..very Thelwell.


Amongst all this week's activities I have managed to get over to Rufus and Tavey's old site where I am helping with a survey of the reptiles there. I have put out 25 reptile refuges (bits of roofing felt or metal that reptiles like to go under for warmth and to keep dry) and wanted to check what was under them. There were several common lizards and some slow worms including the one in the picture below that is clearly pregnant and ready to pop any day:-)))

Embrace your Weeds

This is a picture of the field just the other side of our garden fence. You can now see why we are fighting a losing battle with weeds in the garden. I would like to complain to the farmer but I am worried that he may use a herbicide which would get rid of the invasive weeds but would also destroy the orchids and other chalk downland flowers that are now appearing after years of it being set-aside land so instead I try to embrace the weeds as wild flowers...which I suppose they are really:-)

I find that if I zoom in on the weeds the photos often show that they are actually very beautiful plants. Here are some examples of self sown incomers to our garden:

One advantage of lots of weeds is that the insects like them and this in turn attracts the birds. I am pleased to say that friendly Robin has raised his/her brood and is back to following me around the garden. The first picture was taken before the breeding season and the second after. She looks a bit the worse for wear in the second picture but then raising offspring can do that to you (you should see my before and after pictures...not a pretty sight..lol).

When all the garden work gets a bit too much to enjoy it is lovely to be able to go up on to the North Downs to do the stock check of the sheep but, unfortunately, the last time we went we found one of the sheep had been attacked by a dog. Poor thing was in a sorry state and as a consequence the flock have been taken back to the farm so that the injured one can be treated and the others checked for bites. This leaves us with no stock to check as the ponies are still grazing another site quite a long way from us. I think we are going to be given 16 sheep to check on another site but it isn't quite as nice as it adjoins rather a rough estate and is notorious for vandalism and dog attacks. I have heard that Lamas and Alpacas are good at protecting sheep from dogs...maybe I should suggest that The Old Surrey Downs Project should get some of them:)

More Comings and Goings

I have just realised that it is nearly 2 months since I have posted anything on my blog. My excuse is that I've been busy, although, on looking back, I can't think what has been sooo time consuming:-) So to summarise what has been going on:

The ponies on the SSSI have now been moved to another site to allow the land to recover before the winter. Rufus (the baby) took 3 hours to load into the trailer so I am pleased to say I wasn't involved. Their new site, which is another area of chalk downland, is a fair distance away but I have been told they are very happy as there is better grazing there. Hopefully they will be back in the winter.

I am pleased to say that the Bee Orchids (referred to in my previous post) survived the pony's hooves along with plenty of Pyramid and Common Spotted Orchids. These all finished finished flowering a few weeks ago and it is now covered with a carpet of wild Marjoram, giving a wonderful scent as we walk through it and lots of butterflies.

Since the ponies have gone I have put down 25 reptile refuges on their old site to see what reptiles there are following the scrub clearance and grazing. So far there have been a lot of slow worms and a few and common lizards. It will be interesting to see which will breed this year.

We still have the sheep to stock check and we have also become a lot more involved with all the sheep that are owned by the Old Surrey Downs. We are now proficient human sheep dogs and (if the sheep are willing) can flip them on to their backs and give them a wonderful pedicure. If they are not willing they flip us on to our backs :-))))

In the garden, the Lavender seedlings are now strong little plants and most have been planted to form lavender hedges alongside the paths (can't wait for next year when they all come into flower...the bees will love them). Otherwise there is the usual selection of weeds, perennial sweet peas, roses and a glut of runner beans and courgettes.

We have recently returned from a lovely holiday in the lakes and mountains of Italy to find that we have some new neighbours. I am not sure they are really welcome though, as it is a family of rats. They are incredibly cute as they gobble up the fall out from the bird feeder but as they are quite close to the house and ponds and knowing how fast they reproduce I don't think we can let them stay. I am not quite sure, at the moment, how we will get rid of them, because, as I am sure you will understand from the photo of baby rat, there is no way I could kill them.

Comings and Goings

With every walk there are now new wild flowers popping up everywhere. It is becoming hard to walk in the pony field as there are so many Orchids coming up, including a group of the very attractive Bee Orchids. They are growing quite close to the water trough so I wonder how long it will be before eight big hooves manage to squash them. We have tried to protect them by covering them with a tripod made of sticks but Tavey seemed to think we had put it there for him to scratch himself on:-)

Another of the 'comings' are the butterflies and moths. Now when we walk through the long grass and wild flowers in the field behind us, masses of Cinnabar Moths, Small Skippers, Blues and some others that I have yet to identify, fly up chasing each other around. Magical. There seem to be far more than in previous years which is surprising when we had such a long cold winter.

Something that worryingly seems to have gone though, are the Bees. We had loads in the early spring when all the Crocuses were 'a buzz' with them but I haven't seen any for several weeks.

Lastly and very sadly another thing that has gone is our lovely old cat, Lizzy, who had to be put to sleep yesterday. She was rather a 'one person cat' and I was that person. Right from being a kitten she would follow me around and sit with me so I will miss her such a lot. However, she was nearly twenty and, apart from losing her tail when a car ran over it, she has had had a really good long life and was loved very much, which is great considering she was born to a young stray and spent her first few weeks of life living under a bush in an old ladies garden. Now she is at rest with her brother and sister in our back garden where she loved to watch the world go by whilst basking in the sunshine.

I Like Lichen

I have always found lichen to be interesting although I have never spent much time finding out about them, so I was pleased to find that lichens were the subject of the first activity of the Open University short course that I am doing. There are many interesting facts but here are a couple:

• Although looking like one organism, lichen is made up of two interdependent organisms. The main part is a fungus and within the fungus there is either photosynthetic algae or cyanobacteria. The fungus protects and stops the algae drying out while absorbing the products of the algae's photosynthesis.
• In 2005 the European Space Agency exposed 2 different types of lichen to open space for 15 days and despite being exposed to the vacuum of space, cosmic radiation, full spectrum uv light and intense temperatures, the lichens survived and on return to earth were still able to photosynthesise.

In my garden we have a lot of trouble with a vast amount of lichen colonising on our apple tree. I have yet to find out if the lichen are causing branches to die off or if a dying branch just provides a more attractive habitat for the lichen but as you can see from this photo, some branches are covered in it and not looking too healthy.

While I have been wandering around my garden looking for different types of lichen I have also come across some bugs which I haven't seen before. The first was a Roesel's Bush-cricket but unfortunately he hopped off before I could take his photograph. The second bug, which was crawling around the cornflowers, was more obliging (just) and thanks to the Natural History Museum's bug forum, I have found out it is a Agapanthia Villosoviridescens. Apparently the larvae live in the storks of thistles so no doubt another benefit of adjoining a field of weeds that like to spread their seeds and other bits into our garden (one has to try and find positives:-) Anyway, rather a cute beetle with very striking antennae.

Besides searching for lichen, my husband and I have been busy cutting down some of the Hawthorn which is re-growing in the pony sssi area, as it is reducing the grazing area and shading out some of the wildflowers. Although it is a very scratchy job it is also enjoyable as the ponies come over to keep an eye on us and investigate our belongings...Rufus even managed to pick up my water bottle and give it a good shake...wish I had my camera ready as it looked very funny. There is also plenty of interesting wildlife like a Grizzled Skipper, loads of Twayblade and this newly emerged Man Orchid although this picture doesn't really show it properly.

There were also a few interesting passers by who stopped for a chat. One person was a riding instructor that taught me to ride when I was about 9 yrs old and another was an incredibly knowledgeable reptile expert. He was very interested to know where I had seen the common lizard last week and logged it in his GPS. He also told be about the best places for putting down refuges for the reptiles and said he will drop some off for us, along with some more information on reptiles. He was the sort of chap that one could learn so much from and it was such a pleasure to meet him.

Sunny Sunday

At this time of the year I just want to be constantly walking around the countryside, as everyday seems to bring something new, especially when the weather is warm and sunny.

In the SSSI land grazed by the ponies, over the last few days, I have seen three slow worms and a cute common lizard that was sun bathing on a choice piece of fairly fresh horse's dung..mmm..lovely and warm:-) Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me.

Today, as the weather was so warm, I decided to forget the usual Sunday gardening torture and go for a long walk, checking out some of the fields around us. There were masses of moths and butterflies. I rather liked this White Ermine moth and thought it looked quite trendy sporting its musical notes on its back...

Another butterfly that caught my eye was this beautiful Green Hairstreak. The photo doesn't do it justice as the emerald green of its wings shone amazingly as it flew around. It's the first time I have seen one of these around here.

In the area of SSSI land nearest to us, that has been rather mashed up by heavy machinery clearing the scrub, I was pleased to see some Birdsfoot-trefoil making an appearance again as the whole area used to be covered in it. It shows things are beginning to recover so hopefully there will be more Orchids this year (still no sign of the lizards though).

Another flower that I rather like that is growing in lots of places on the ground disturbed by the heavy machinery is the Scarlet Pimpernel, although very common I think it is so pretty.

Besides my long enjoyable walk, I have managed to fit in some other useful things today. I have cleaned the filters on the fish ponds and thinned out the pond weed, all the while being watched by the beady eyes of several frogs. I have also put together a rose arch which is currently on the living room floor waiting for a strong man to help me lift it outside. There were too many red ants wanting a nibble of my ankles to build it outside. I think we are gradually being taken over by red ants but I don't like killing them so I just try to avoid them, although, every time I go out, they seem to come running over to me as fast as their little legs will carry them...I can almost hear them shouting, "Hooray it's dinner!" :-)