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Surrey

30 Days Wild Day 27: A visit to Sheepleas, Surrey

Another trip to another spot we’ve never been to before – Sheepleas in Surrey which lies in between Guildford and Leatherhead. Sheepleas is a nice spot for a walk (buggies are doable in the woodland as long as it’s not muddy) as it takes in both chalk grasslands with its flowering meadows plus the forests. There isn’t a cafe here, but there are two car parks to use free of charge.

We only had to wander in a few metres before we started seeing butterflies, bees and pink orchids in bloom. The Surrey Wildlife Trusts say the draw here is because of the stunning wildflower meadows that bloom in spring and summer.

The meadows used to be used for grazing but have now been left for wildlife to recover, leaving a lovely, slightly secret couple of meadows hidden in the woodland. Violets and primroses come in March. You’ll see bluebells and cowslips in April and May brings the orchids. In July wild marjoram, St John’s wort and harebell are in bloom.

Sheepleas in bloom

Sheepleas

June 30, 2019 0 comment

Environment Nature Surrey Wildlife

30 Days Wild Day 25: Exploring Newlands Corner, Surrey

Though doing smaller nature activities has definitely grown on me during this month, my favourite thing to do with the kids is still to just get out into the fresh air to enjoy somewhere new and to roam around a bit to see what we can find.

Today we visited Newlands Corner, a nature reserve managed by Surrey Wildlife Trust, which sits just east of Guildford. There’s a car park (have to pay), cafe, information centre, toilets and small playground there, which all help when visiting with young kids. There’s also another larger cafe across the road too.

At Newlands Corner there are lots of walks you can do, including a circular one that takes in eerie Silent Pool, but we just chose to admire the view over the Weald towards the South Downs for a while, then descend down and across a lovely meadow into some woodland, before returning the same way.

We say plenty of butterflies including a cabbage white and a ringlet. B is now getting very excited when he spots one, though trying to take a photo is another matter. We also found plenty of lovely wildflowers and grasses in the meadow.

Small playground, Newlands Corner

Large dandelion clock

Meadow grasses, Newlands Corner

Newlands Corner

June 30, 2019 0 comment

Environment Nature Surrey Wildlife

30 Days Wild Day 19: Exploring Whitmoor Common

Whitmoor Common is looked after by Surrey Wildlife Trust. It’s just north of Guildford. We’ve been enjoying searching out new places to explore as part of the 30 Days Wild Challenge so thought this would be a great place to come for a walk and to see what we could find.

Whitmoor Common is a really diverse area, with heathland, pine, oak, holly and hazel woodland. Further in there’s a wetter, boggy area (which reminded me of that bog in The Labyrinth) and a waterlogged channels and ponds.

There are two car parks and I think a mobile cafe comes sometimes. It’s free to use now but parking charges are to be introduced very soon in 2019. There are two self guided trails, one hour and two hours, or a number of criss-crossed trails, bridlepaths and footpaths to take. We did a bit of meandering really, with the help of google maps to navigate which way we were facing. I probably would have gotten a little lost without it, but if you stick to the trail markers you’d be fine.

The path, particularly around the heathland, is fine for buggies, though better suited to trail type or lighter ones. As you head inland into the bogs, there’s a narrow walkway, which my buggy could manage as I’ve only got a foldaway MacLaren now but would be too narrow for anything larger.

B is a pro at looking for beetles now

We started off in the heathland, looking around for beetles, bugs and butterflies. We found quite a few centipedes (I think), some very pretty clover and gorse, now in bloom. When we visited Headley Heath two weeks ago it wasn’t in flower. We also found a very large mushroom. I’m no expert and even after searching online at home I have no idea if it is poisonous or not (even though F and I have been wild food foraging).

I wanted to find one of the ponds as Whitmoor Common is a very good place to spot dragonflies. 19 species have been seen here including the emperor dragonfly. We bumbled around a bit and ended up at the train crossing, which B loved. We even got a beep and a wave from one of the trains.

Finding our way again we headed into the swampy area and to the largest pond where we sat for a while contemplating life and all that. No dragonflies unfortunately, but we did see many dogs and their friendly owners!

We also heard lots of birds. There are many nightjars here and also Dartford warblers. Using my birdspotting app I think we heard some good old blackbirds! One day I will go with a guide for sure so I can improve my birdsong listening skills.

We then began heading back towards the car park, through many muddy puddles and boggy bits, back out onto the heath. B was very pleased he had his wellies on so he could do a spot of puddle splashing.

We spent a good 2.5 hours at Whitmoor Common. Exploring new places with my children is definitely my favourite thing to do., especially when you find gems like this. I do have to bribe B a little with a promise of cafe or playground visit, but he honestly has a great time when we get to wilder places. He loves looking for minibeasts and wandering about, splashing in boggy mud and waving at other walkers. And I think now we are beginning to know a little more of what to look out for or of fun activities we could do out in nature it’s even more enjoyable.

Quick snack stop overlooking the heath

Grumpy centipede under log

B at the start of the walkway into the bog

Whitmoor Common

June 21, 2019 0 comment

Environment Nature Surrey

30 Days Wild day 9: Exploring the British Wildlife Centre in Surrey

The British Wildlife Centre is in Lingfield, Surrey, but only open on weekends and holidays. We’d never been before so we headed over there at the weekend to see what it was like. The British Wildlife Centre is home to over 40 native UK species including otters, badgers, foxes, deer, red squirrels and owls. It was set up in 1977 by dairy farmer David Mills, who was passionate about our native wildlife.

We were greeted with an enormous hedgehog – Snuffles – which the boys thought was funny. We bypassed the cafe and shop and headed straight for the home of the red squirrels where a talk was about to start. The red squirrels aren’t keep in captivity, they are free in the trees. We had to enter a small woodland area through two doors which took us onto a walkway around the woods.

The keeper told us about the squirrels. There are about 12 here now, along with a couple of muntjac deer. They are fairly new and are very shy and not used to humans yet, so unfortunately we didn’t spot any though we did do a couple of circuits peering up into the trees.

Red squirrels are still found in the wild, up in Northumberland and Scotland and also on Brownsea Island in Dorset. Some have recently been released onto one of the Scilly Isles too, Tresco. They used to be prolific here but unfortunately due to the release of grey squirrels into the country from America, numbers have dwindled. The grey squirrels carry a virus which they are immune to, but the reds are not. Deforestation and fragmentation of forests are also causes of decline.

The red squirrel is more agile than the grey and spends more time up in the trees than its relative. Squirrel apparently means ‘to sit in the shad of your own tail’, which is what they do when it’s chilly. Very sweet!

After the squirrel lesson, we headed up to Pip’s corner, a mini natural playground for kids, which my two loved. It’s a peaceful spot overlooking the deer, with various wooden play equipment, a sandpit and tunnel under a grassy hill. There’s also a picnic area if you want to bring a picnic with you.

Pip’s Corner playground area

We peered in on a couple of otters fast asleep in the observation room, an adder and grass snake, then over to the aviaries to see lots of owls. One keeper had an eagle owl out which my boys were actually a bit scared of. Their talons are very long up close. Over to say hello to the very tame foxes mooching about before we stopped for a rest and some lunch in the cafe.

After lunch, we went into The Hedgerow for all the mini species. I liked this bit the best, as did my two children. They loved peering in to look for hazel dormice, rats, field voles and weasel. They also were really interested in the honeybee hive, where you could see all the worker bees going in and out of the hut, hard at work!

British Wildlife Centre, keeper holding an eagle owl

One of the keepers with an Eagle Owl

British Wildlife Centre, boys look at beehive

Fascinated by the bees

The Nocturnal House and badger sett was another top experience, as we saw four badgers asleep all curled around each other, and a hedgehog curled up in the corner resting.

Finally we had a run around The Dell where kids can run up and down a small dell and balance on a fallen log.

We spent about half a day here, but you could spend longer, particularly if you listen to more of the talks. It’s a lovely place, where conservation and education come first rather than it being a place for kids, but there’s lots for kids of all ages to enjoy and we’ll definitely return.

The British Wildlife Centre is quite pricey to get in, but money does go towards the upkeep of the centre so it’s a worthwhile spend. It’s £12 for adults and £8.50 for 3-15 year olds. If you live close by you can join for the year at £60 for adults and £35 for 3-15 year olds.

British Wildlife Centre

June 11, 2019 0 comment

Activity Adventure Environment Explore Parks Surrey UK Walking Woodland

30 Days Wild Day 5: Exploring Headley Heath in Surrey

I have two days off work to spend time with my littlest, so we decided to try somewhere new. We drove over to Headley Heath, partly in search of butterflies, but also to just have an enjoyable walk around somewhere we’d not been to before.

Headley Heath in the North Downs region and is about 300 hectares large. It’s obviously heathland (which I love) but also there’s pockets of woodland and dry chalk grassland, plus a good viewpoint out over the Downs from one point, so very interesting to visit. There’s lots of wildlife to look out for here including butterflies, birds, insects and lizards.

The info leaflet that I picked up told me that ‘lowland heath is one of the most endangered habitats in the world, even rarer than the rainforest’, which amazed me. And how fortunate we are to live so close to this site.

Headley Heath has a useful 3km ‘lizard trail’ that is suitable for families. I’d say it’s also fine for buggies in the summer months too. It’s quite undulating in parts but definitely doable. There’s two car parks which are free for National Trust members. No cafe or facilities so bring a picnic and cross your legs.

We head off in the direction of the Belted Galloway cattle which graze on the heathland. Apparently they have a vital role in maintaining the heathland habitats. (We visited the Romney Marsh earlier in May and the sheep which are farmed down there are also vital in maintaining the landscapes and rare flora and fauna down there too).

B loved watching the cows. They are an easy win for children as easy to spot! I didn’t want to get too close though.

Having fun in our nature playground

Then we wandered through the Heath, keeping the orange trail markers in our site, though as the site is fairly small it doesn’t really matter if you veer off onto a different path, it’s tricky to get lost here.

B did better than me and found a colony (?) of ants looking busy going in and out of a small hole, plus a bright purple/red butterfly – possibly a peacock butterfly. We also both spotted a white butterfly, which I think is the most common here – the cabbage white. We’ll try butterfly spotting again soon, but here’s a useful guide to butterfly types.

We also saw a foxglove, which are common here in summer and attract the bees plus lots of gorse, and these pretty white flowers (my knowledge of flowers is quite poor I’m finding!) which were also attracting the bees.

Ants busy making a home

Headley Heath, foxglove at Headley Heath

Foxglove at Headley Heath, a food supply for bees

Headley Heath, bee on flower

We stopped at Brimmer Pond for a rest, to look out for newts and dragonflies (didn’t see any) and to listen for birds. I think we partly had trouble as my toddler is RATHER LOUD. If you take a listen to the short video you’ll understand! I tried looking up what birds were singing when we got home, using the Warbler app (£4.99) and it told me it was possibly a Great Tit, Common Blackbird or Great Spotted Wren.

Brimmer Pond at Headley Heath

Notice about the newts at Headley Heath

We also had a poke about for insects. Looking under old bits of wood is a good idea if you are searching for insects. We found a few disgruntled woodlice plus a couple of large beetles. They scuttled away before we could look any closer at them unfortunately.

Searching under logs for insects

Admittedly I did have to take B to a playground before we went to Headley Heath, but once we arrived and were exploring he really enjoyed it and didn’t want to come home, so I’m now going to describe any outing to a wilder area as a trip to the nature playground!

Headley Heath

June 6, 2019 3 comments

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