Walk – Page 20 – Neil Baldwin's blog : Warning contains walking, technology, photography, holidays.

Big duck

A relatively early start but in spite of dire weather warnings it was dry so we headed to Braunton. According to where to watch birds this should be a mecca for waders. It took 35 minutes to get there we parked and walked down the track to the end of the dune area called Rock Point. There were loads of birds about, and the weather was holding out. We came across quite a few areas where there were lots of orchids, I counted at least 3 different species, but don’t ask me to identify them.

We got to the end and stopped for lunch, then walked round the point, where a man and his were flying an electric glider. As we rounded the point we heard a large straining engine and spotted a duck, not the feathered variety but an amphibious vehicle but it was clear from the plumage (written on the side) that it was a royal marines vehicle. I got it on video before it disappeared into the sea. We finally spotted our first wader, a curlew flying past. We continued along the beach and added dunlin and little ringed plover to the list. We then spotted more military activity, some sort of sea exercise with landing craft and inflatables. The weather then caught up with us, luckily we noticed lundy disappearing and had time to get the waterproofs out. A long soggy walk back to the car park.

It was still early, 1430, so we thought a drive back via Illfracoombe was in order. We had stayed in the seaside town about 15 years ago, we remember it well because of an Italian restaurant we found and ended up eating there too many times. We had a pasta course followed by a pizza on three occasions, I vaguely remember having a desert on one of them.

We parked up down at the harbour and decided a coffee was in order so we found a trendy looking place on the quay side. We had a hot chocolate, a cappuccino, and a piece of cake between us. I noticed that there was quite a bit of modern art around the room, a painting made up of coloured dots, another piece made up of fish in formaldehyde, and a couple of abstract pieces made from butterfly wings, something seemed familiar to me. When the waiter came over I asked about the art, he told us that the cafe/restaurant was owned by Damien Hirst, and he owned a couple of others in the area.

The rain still poured but was not a problem as helen was keen to visit the aquarium. It was small but well laid out featuring creatures only local to north devon. A keeper was feeding the baby rays with prawns held in chopsticks and keenly volunteered some fascinating information about local fauna, which was great. We then headed back to the hut stopping at least three time in search of the most elusive wholemeal rolls for tomorrows walk.

After cleaning the huts washing machine. We went up town to The Queens pub in Lyton centre for some grub. It is very popular and we had to wait for a table to be vacated by their queuing system. The great food made the wait worthwhile, and the real ale was well kept.

Porthleven to Poldu Cove

Very sunny morning after rain over night, might need the poncho today as showers are forecast. We drove to Poldu Cove to catch the bus. It is a lovely little beach and the waves were rolling in, they looked surfablen and the sign about surfing etiquette confirmed that it is a surfing beach. We spotted our first sand martins of the holiday, nesting in the sandy edges of the beach as well as skimming over the stream that runs down the beach.

The bus was late but we expected that the one we got the other day left Lizard on time but was late to Mullion. There were a couple of people I recognised from the bus the day before. We were soon in Helston high street which has a feature you don’t see very often. Each site of the road between the pavement and the rod there is a foot wide stream of flowing water. The bus stopped very close to a taxi rank, and one was waiting and took us to the car park near Penrose house.

From the carpark we walked through the park attached to the house, which is very mature woodland, but not many birds. The path runs along the edge of the body of water called the Loe. It is I guess what used to be an estuary which has been blocked over at the sea end by a sand bar. The pebbles on the bar were really polished.

The wind was blowing strongly not really tshirt weather, but the sun was shining bright. We walked along the cliff above the beach to Baulk point, where we had lunch. Helen made phone call on her mobile and claimed that Marconi being near by had something to do with the excellent signal!

We meandered on past Green Rock and on to Church Cove where we had a look at a small church, called Church of Storms, nestled behind the rocks. The wood work in and around the church was carved perhaps reflecting the carpentry skills of boat builders who would have been around in years gone by. The roof itself looked a bit like the inside of an upturned boat hull.

Round the next headland was Poldu Cove our walk was over quicker than we had anticipated. The weather held out for us, I think we were very lucky, at one point we had a shower to the north and a shower to the south. As it was still early afternoon (1430) we decided to have a look at Porthleven harbour.

We parked up for free in a side street in Porthleven and walked round the harbour, I got a couple of panoramas for processing later.

Whilst on Loe Bar I found a bird ring GB 11 S 42133, which it turns out is for a homing pigeon, I submitted the details and got back very quickly details of the owner who lives in Redruth. At least he knows that his bird was lost in action.

St Anthony in Meneage circular walk

Not such an early start this morning, we thought a more leisurely day was in order. We drove to St Anthony in Meneage to do a circular walk via Helford, which is near Frenchmans Creek made famous by Daphne Du Maurier. Getting to the start was a mini adventure we had to do manoeuvre round a dust cart and turn back due to a closed road. The roads in Cornwall can be unforgiving with their walls on each side so it is best to give them plenty of space.

After parking up (£2) we headed off up the river bank until we could no more, then joined the very narrow road. It made a change to be in very lush habitat that you find around valleys with streams at the bottom. In Manaccan we stopped at a coffee shop recommended by a talkative, and friendlky lady we had met on the way. 2 cappucinos and a pain au chocolat £5.80 reasonable.

More woodland valley followed on the way to Helford where we assisted some lost walkers. At Helford the heavens opened and we had to take shelter under a tree for a while, which gave me the opportunity to get this blog entry up to date. From Helford we headed along the permissive path along the head land which is part of the Maenporth estate. It is wooded and we finally added coal tit and long-tailed tit to the holiday list. The path dropped don to sea level many times and we stopped at one beach and had our lunch, cheese sandwiches again.

A bit further on a beach was invaded by a landing part of children in sailing boats being towed by two power boats. Towards the end of the headland we ended up doing a bit a circuit where the path is not very well signposted. Luckily the walk had been fairly short and we were not tired, so the extra walking was not an issue. We eventually got back to the car where I took a panorama picture of the river which was not full of water.

On the way back we took a detour to have a look at Coverack. Once back to the hut we went to the pub for a pint but it was closed. I took another panorama from the opposite side of the valley.

Mullion to Lizard Point (11 miles)

Woke up this morning to very bright sun, however the weather is supposed to turn a bit later. We were up relatively early made sandwiches and drove down to the green at Lizard to catch the bus to Mullion then walk back to the car.
The bus was a popular choice the people waiting more or less filled it up. After stopping at a couple villages and doing three point turns, we arrived at Mullion cricket pitch. There followed some confusion I had decided to leave the map at the hut but take a photo of it, trouble was I missed Mullion.

After asking 3 people we eventually found the coastal path. The weather was great the sun was out but there was a breeze to take the edge off the heat. We followed the path Helen spotted a seal.

We stopped for lunch at a place with a view, the cheese sandwiches tasted all the better for it. A bright green beetle landed on Helen and was not in a hurry to fly away. I got some photo’s and video of it. It really was tucking into the grape I dropped.

At one point I had a look over the cliff edge and spotterd some movement, through the bins I could see bird of prey chicks. We debated them into Peregrins but when an adult Kestrel turned up and fed them it settled the argument.

We were getting very tired as we approached Lizard Point but we found the time to have a look for the Choughs and were rewarded with cracking views followed by a fly past. The cafe was welcome we had a soft drink and shared an ice cream. We then headed back to the car via a less troden path.

We took the opportunity to whizz over to Helston sainsbury’s to get a card reader and the car washed. A long day but very enjoyable.

Cadgwith to Lizard Point and back (8.7 miles).

Holiday really starts today, the first day when we would normally be at work, didn’t get up till 830. After had some breakfast and coffee, was soon diying to get out and away from day time TV.
The aim was to walk towards Lizard Point and see how far we could get.
The coastal path is quite hard walking but the rewards, in terms of views and wildlife are well worth the effort. Some highlights included, Linnet, Stonechat, Sedge Warbler, and Whitethroat. By about 12 we had got to Housel Bay Hotel the cappucino is highly recommended, don’t forget to dip your biscotti for the sugar rush. Next stop was to be the light house.
We found a quiet space before Lizard Point to have our sandwiches and to test out the Moomins flash. Sandwiches were lovely and the coffee was still hot enough. At Lizard Point there was the usual tourist shops and tea establishments, the RSPB were doing a Chough watch, apparently there were three young, we hung around for a bit and saw the parents return to feed them.
From the most southerly point we headed in to Lizard village where there are more shops and we manged to pick up some rolls and bread for sandwiches later in the week. On the way past a farm we spotted a bird of prey sat on a hedgerow we could not decide what it was, eventually it took off and it was obviously a Buzzard we had tried to turn it into all sorts of other exotic things!
Eventually we turned and headed back to the coast, and when we took a rest to eat our last roll, we spotted another Chough, it is always far more rewarding to find them yourself that to have them pointed out.
We were then soon back at the hut, for a well earned rest, it was blissful to get the boots off. We plan to go to the pub for some food later, watch this space for a restaurant review.

Up the grim north

Weekend at my brothers. We headed off at 16:00 and had a good journey up the M1 and got there before 20:00.
On Saturday the weather was showers and grey skies, we pottered about the house, had some lunch then headed off to The Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) to have a look at the latest exhibition. On the way there we stopped at Go Outdoors where a purchased a couple of tops to replace the one I lost walking to work.
The YSP was good as usual, I can’t remeber the artists name but heads of various sorts figured a lot, mapny of them made fro welded characters. There was one room with some very big gongs to bash, we felt like the man off the rank signature clip. The weather held out for the rest of the after noon. We had pizzas for tea.
Sunday weather was worse, we went for a swim then had lunch, follwed by a quick walk. Helen and I headed off at 16:30 and got back in good time despite the traffic. We saw a couple park their 4×4 on the two lane contraflow to let their kid have a pee!
We got back in time for a pint and something to eat at the pub that is set up in Buckland Village Hall every year on the may bank holiday. We sat with the Reverend and other church goers who had popped in after even-song.

Dancersend NR more butterflies

Thought I would try out my newly found butterfly id skills, so Helen and I took her mum up to Dancersend NR, to see what we could find. We parked up at the pumping complex car park, and headed into the reserve. Dancersend is notorious for Duke of Burgundy butterflies so there was the potential to see a very rare one.

We headed round the reserve taking our usual route along the field to the bottom of the hill with steps, then turn left at the top[ and come down into the reserve via the foot path and over the large log. We stopped to take some pictures of some of the wild flowers for later identification, although I think Nancy had already figured out what most of them were. We did not see too many butterflies but I spotted a Cardinal Beetle. There were lots of Blackcaps or Garden Warblers singing.

There were some volunteers working in one of the paddocks, it looked like they were chopping the young hawthorns back to stop them taking over. We then headed back up hill back toward the car and got a few of the butterflies I learnt about yesterday. We sat for a wile on the Susan Cowdy bench, she was obviously an important person in BBOWT as there is a hide at Weston Turville reservoir. We then headed back, but on the way there was a spot that seemed protected, we could see two types Orchid growing, one was Fly Orchid.

We were soon back at the car, the weekend almost over, although I had one last appointment with my camera and the church, I needed to get a complete 360 degree panorama of the church, watch this space for the results. The final tally of butterflies was Common Copper, Common White, Orange Tip, Green Veined White, Brimstone, Peacock, Blue something, Grizzled Skipper, Speckled Wood, and finally Red Admiral.

The night before the Royal Wedding

I’m not really one to go crazy over royal weddings, I was probably Elite on my BBC computer when the last one was on, but I do enjoy big events. I floated the idea of going up to London on the night before with Helen but she does not like big crowds. On Thursday morning I thought sod it I’ll leave work at 1600 (I had been there since 0730) and head up to the big smoke and have a look round. I might even link up with A&C who had decided to spend the night outside the Palace to ensure a view of “the kiss”.

I needed to get the car so I went home at lunch time and would you believe the Golden Plover I had see earlier on the way to work was still there so were 2 Curlew. Any way I got the car and grabbed my camera and went back to work. I managed to get to a mile stone in a project I am working on at work so did not feel guilty about skipping off.

I got to Berkhamsted, found a place to park and was on the 16:30 train to Euston. I went for a 30p pee, grabbed a sandwich and headed for the Northern line and headed south to Charring Cross. My plan was to head straight to Westmister Abbey then kind of follow the route back to Buckingham Palace where A&C were under canvas with the Canadians. There were plenty of people about but it did not seem more busy than usual.

At the abbey things were a bit tighter there were people camped out on the pavement with chairs and tents, it was hard to get by we had to go single file. I got a few pictures of the tent city, and then headed back to Parliament Square to get a picture of Big Ben surrounded by flags. From there I headed the park that is next to The Mall, there was not much space left at that point, you could have fitted the odd tent in but it was clear that if you wanted a space earlier Friday morning would be too late.

I wandered down The Mall taking in the party atmosphere. At the end opposite the palace were the usual media village that gets erected for these occasions. It was a very busy place lots of traffic, and people out to see what it was all about just like myself.

It did not take me long to track down A&C the Canadian Maples were easy to find. They seemed pleased to see me and it was good to catch up with the Canadians again. I was offered a seat and settled in for an hour or so chatting and watching the world go by. From time to time some darkened windowed cars went past often followed by Range Rovers. We had lots of enquiries by Canadians asking us from which province we came, they had never heard of Buckinghamshire province!

I made my excuses and headed back down The Mall, when I got to the entrance to Clarence House there were lots of police telling people to keep out of the road, it soon became clear that someone was going to leave or arrive. I hung about and to see what was going on. First a very large Mercedes pulled up with Canadian flags on the dash board, a police man stopped the car and spoke to the man in the from who wound down the double glazed window. The policeman then called back to base to report that the Canadian Governor was coming through, and should he be allowed. After a mexican stand off as the car edged towards the policeman waiting for instructions, he eventually go the OK and the policeman stood aside.

A few minutes later the police got a bit stricter and some more turned up then all of a sudden a car left, then a few minutes later another and then another, I tried to get videos of the cars going past but the results were not very impressive. I had enough of seeing large cars with darkened windows at that point so headed back to the tube station, but not before using a portaloo, I was not about to pay another 30p to pee. I was soon back on the tube and heading towards Euston.

I had just missed the 2024, but the next train was at 2034 so just had time to grab a snack before heading to platform 8. When I got there confusion reigned there were two trains on the same platform, one was the 2024, which had the 2034 queued up behind. It turned out I could get on either so I chose the front train, and was soon back in Berkhamsted, where I found the car a drove home. All in all a great adventure.

Purple Heron Wilstone

Weather was still great so we thought we would have another trip out. After some discussion and a phone call to Hillside, we eventually settled on Otmoor again as we felt we had not done it justice last week. We set out and got as far as the holiday in when we got a phone call and had to do a u-turn and go and pick up John, who preferred out trip to the other trip that was on offer, basically a day at Hughendon grounds sat in a blanket.

We went the usual way i.e. down the A41 then left at the Brill turn off, then cross country to Beckley where you turn off the main road to get to the reserve car park, where we were lucky enough to find a space. We decided to do the walk that skirts round the outside of the reserve. The countryside different to the Chilterns, very flat and open pastures basically a flood plane. The birds were really singing Whitethroats were everywhere, Helen could heard Grasshopper Warbler, and we saw the odd Reed Bunting. The walk round the reserve took about 2 and a half hours and as it was the middle is the day really hot. We wanted to stop for sandwiches but could not find a place in the shade until we got to the new hide.

Suitably refreshed we headed back to the car park, we heard Cuckoo and saw 4 Hobbies flying around our first this year, and a few Sedge Warblers doing their stuff in the reeds. Whilst we were walking back I checked my phone, would you believe it there was a Purple Heron at Wilstone Reservoir.

Wendover woods with the Bucks Bird Club

We noticed in the new hide at College lake a Bucks Bird Club outing to Wendover woods, the start time was 08:30 a bit early for a Sunday but it is only 10 minutes drive so we got up, and got ready. Helen did really well 40 minutes up and out of the door a new record.

We meet the birds at the free car park end. It turns out the guy leading the group had lead another party at 05:30 the same morning that is what I call dedication. We set out down the road toward the cafe but went straight on at the 90 degree bend and made out way down to the scrubby area at the bottom of the bowl on the hale side of the woods. On the way down people were hearing Gold Crest and Marsh Warbler, and even Crossbill.

The group was about 8 people in the group and all the eyes and ears available to us we had a lot of success. In the scrub we got Garden/Willow Warbler, Goldcrest, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Wren, Marsh Tit, and Sparrow Hawk.

We then headed up the hill again then took a detour via Go Ape where a Firecrest had been seen earlier. On the way we saw what might of bee a Green Finch but somone said it sounded like a Siskin, and there it was at the top of a tall pine looking very greeny yellow, a Siskin alright. When we got to the Go Ape area and Rob heard a Firecrest we all got our binoculars out and searched, then eventually it was spotted by Helen it was trying to pull a bit of string or plastic from a branch, presumably for nesting material. It was surprising to see the bird so close to humans it was literally just above one of the Go Ape platforms attached to the tree.

We then headed back towards the car we saw some wild strawberries in the grassy area that overlooks the bowl. We were soon back to the car. We really enjoyed ourselves and would return again.