Martin Down

Martin Down is a National Nature Reserve to the south of Salisbury. We went for a look on the 23^rd May on a warm but largely overcast day with occasional sunny spells. On setting out from the car park we came across buttercups which were of the bulbous variety and speedwell which was the common field speedwell. Our first butterfly was a grizzled skipper and singing in the nearby bushes was a blackcap. We stopped to listen to the blackcap for a while but at this time of year with all the vegetation on the trees it is almost impossible to spot the birds.

Walking further along the grass track a number of flowers suited to the chalk downland became evident. Milkwort in colours ranging from white through purple and blue mingled with ground ivy and salad burnet.

We saw our first marsh fritillary not far from the start of our journey. They are rather small for fritillaries but the detailed markings in orange yellow brown and black make them quite distinctive.

The birds foot trefoil which was common at the start of the walk became mixed with kidney vetch which is recognised by the downy white sepals and later horseshoe vetch which has a smaller flower than the trefoil and radiates from a single point. One patch of kidney vetch had the small white flowerheads of hairy rock cress sprinkled amongst them.

Sainfoin and goats beard were the next flowers we saw although both were not quite fully out. Wild mignonette seems to prefer the trodden down path to the grassland. After walking in an easterly direction we turned south over a small hillock where the grass became relatively shorter and was supplemented with glaucous sedge or carnation grass to give it its old English name. The cowslips were also prolific on this shorter grass but are past their best at the moment. Small blue butterflies could be seen but look more like black when seen on the wing.

Where we turned back westwards towards the car park a small area of field fleawort could be seen along the side of a large ditch. Butterflies such as peacock, grizzled and dingy skipper and brimstone flew in this area. We also saw an Adonis blue but it was the only one we saw on the day. Adonis blue are recognisable as the most blue of the blue butterflies and once seen are not forgotten.

Heath spotted orchids are starting to flower but the only other orchid we saw was the early purple which is starting to die off at the moment. We came across an area of crosswort and a few common gromwell which were starting to flower with their minute lime green five petalled flowers. The yellow rattle was starting to come into flower. The yellow archangel which we saw in the wood across the road and looks, superficially at least, like yellow rattle has been in flower for some time.

While looking for butterflies we came across a day flying moth which we later identified as a burnet companion moth. A common whitethroat was seen singing in one of the bushes on the downland and several could be heard in the woods across the road.

We enjoyed our visit to Martin down which is an archetypal downland and seems to change every time we visit. There is always something different and interesting to see. Long may it continue in its present state.

Waterside goes to Micheldever Woods

Micheldever Woods lie to the east of the M3 motorway as it bypasses Winchester. The purpose of the visit was to see the bluebells but we were about two weeks too late to see them in all their glory. Trying to predict when flowers will be at their best is always difficult when you have to plan a year ahead. Some of the bluebells were still in flower in the cooler parts of the wood but the great swathes of blue have been replaced by brambles and green vegetation. When we went about two weeks ago the blue carpets were illuminated by the sun shining through the emerging lime green leaves of the beech trees. Now however the canopy has become more dense so the light is poorer and the bluebells seem to take this as a signal to fade away and let something else have their turn.

The bluebells are true English bluebells which you can tell by the way the flowers lie on one side of the stem and droop over at the top. Spanish bluebells are more hyacinth like in that they grow in an upright spike. Spanish bluebells also come in a variety of colours from white, pink and blue but English bluebells are almost exclusively dark blue. There are occasionally some white English bluebells but they are pure white.

The bluebells are being supplanted by other early summer flowers such as yellow archangel, stitchwort, wood spurge, wild strawberry and bugle. Every year I get confused between bugle, self heal and ground ivy. Bugle does not have an upper lip on the flower and the leaves have no stalks. Self heal has stalks on the leaves and does not flower until later in the year. Ground ivy has ivy shaped leaves with serrated edges and stalks with a small upper lip on the flower.

We also spent some time trying to identify a thistle which was made more difficult by not being quite in flower. We narrowed it down to either a spear thistle or marsh thistle. Similarly the yellow pimpernel is easy to confuse with creeping jenny.

Other flowers included Herb Robert, solomon 's seal, pignut, bush vetch, cuckoo flower and birdsfoot trefoil. Aquilegia is in flower in one area of the woods. There is a good covering of ferns on the floor of the wood, mainly male fern and lady fern. The wood itself is predominantly beech from the car park but eventually changes to semi mature mixed deciduous with some patches of conifer and larch. A number of the rides are grass covered and some areas of cleared conifer have been left as open spaces which are gradually turning to scrub. Yellow broom is colonising some of the clearings and looks quite spectacular at the moment.

Butterflies are frequently seen in the sunny glades including speckled wood, peacock, holly blue, orange tip, small and large white. We also noticed several insects; scorpion fly, silver ground carpet moth and the froghopper and cardinal beetles invite themselves to be seen. We spent some time watching the antics of a bee fly and several snipe flies were seen apparently feeding on the bark of ash and sycamore trees.

Birds are difficult to spot with all the green leaves and vegetation but we heard songthrush, chiffchaff, chaffinch and woodpecker as we walked round the woods.

Micheldever turned out to be a beautiful woodland walk which would be a pleasant experience at any time of year.

Our next outdoor meeting will be to Old Winchester Hill. Meet at Oak Road car park Dibden Purlieu at 10am on Sunday 15^th June.

Our next indoor meeting will be at St. Andrews centre, Dibden Purlieu at 7.30pm on 23^rd June. Our speaker will be John Durnell and the topic will be A Journey up the River Test.

All visitors are welcome to indoor and outdoor meetings. Contact the Secretary on 02380893803. Any comments to mharrison67@btinternet.com.

        Noar Hill

On Wednesday 14^th May we went to Noar Hill. Noar Hill is a nice place, everybody says so-and it is. Noar Hill is located near nowhere in particular but is quite close to Selbourne in Hampshire. It is one of the few places where you can go for a walk by standing still. Well not quite but everyone you meet is standing looking at the butterflies or flowers that you get the impression they have not moved all day. Noar hill as its name suggests is a hill made of chalk that has been quarried sometime in the distant past by digging saucer shaped depressions in the chalk. Nature has since taken over the job of looking after the site by covering it with lime loving plants and their associated wildlife. The saucer shaped depressions leave a series of oases like the displays at Chelsea flower show, each with their own plants and insects.

We parked at the end of the lane and walked up to the main entrance. On our left was a field left as a meadow which at this time of year is covered in buttercups. There are a number of different buttercups and they frequently grow close together. Meadow buttercups which are quite tall obviously grow in the meadow but creeping buttercups and bulbous buttercups grow in the lane. You cannot tell if a buttercup has a bulb without digging it up of course but they conveniently use their stamens on the flower to point down to the bulb which gives you a good clue.

Walking in at the main entrance you soon notice the woodland plants of sanicle and woodruff under the trees and wood avens or geum are just coming in to flower. The main flower you notice all over the grassland however is the cowslip which is really prolific on Noar Hill. They apparently have a slight smell of apricots and have an apricot colour too. The only orchids in evidence at the moment are the early purple orchid and the twayblade. Early purple orchids have spotted leaves and an upturned spur on the flower. Twayblades are evident by their two leaves, hence their name, and are almost as prolific as the cowslip.

The main attraction at this time of year is the Duke of Burgundy Fritillary butterfly which is rather scarce but locally common on Noar Hill which attracts a number of visitors to see it.

The butterfly is not a Fritillary despite its name and does not look like the Duke of Burgundy either. It is in a class of butterflies on its own in this country but closely related to the blues. It lays its eggs on the cowslip which is probably why it thrives on Noar Hill. Other butterflies seen included orange tip, peacock, brimstone, small heath, speckled wood and at least two dingy skippers.

We also saw two broad bodied chasers, one of which appeared to have just emerged as it looked in pristine condition, a good indication that summer has arrived. Another indication is that the birds foot trefoil is just coming in to flower which together with the salad burnet and bedstraws are all good plants for the butterflies.

We spent a lot of time standing and looking but eventually managed to walk back to the car and home having enjoyed a warm sunny day in the best of English countryside.