Saturday 18th
October 2008
Newdigate brickworks nature reserve
After a very heavy
week's work I was far too tired for a long walk, so instead we had a small
exploration of the nature reserve at the old brickworks at Newdigate, before
strolling on to an open day of the
Surrey Barn Weavers to see how to spin wool and
weave it.
The last time we came to the brickworks was as trespassers years ago when it was still private
land. That time we got in via a hole in the fence. Now it is a welcoming reserve
that contains two lakes, one of which has an island and a wooden jetty and a
smaller one that is more overgrown and secluded. We watched a kingfisher on the
edge of the main lake as it repeatedly dived into the water to catch fish. We
also found a hornets nest in a hole in a Sweet Chestnut tree (Castanea
sativa). We stood as close as we could with these large tawny and yellow
insects flying around us, but they seemed very peaceful and only got upset when
another insect came close to the nest entrance. We mentioned the hornets to the
elderly couple at Horsielands Farm who sold us some Surrey honey (Oh yes, we had
stepped over the border once again). They told us that hornets (which often raid
bee's nests) cannot fold their wings like bees, so the small entrance hole to
the farmers bee hives stops them from getting in.
The weavers open day was really interesting, particularly their store cupboard
which was full of fascinating old wooden tools and contraptions. Weaving seems
to be a very difficult, complicated affair that takes an eternity to set up
before you even get round to doing any weaving. It looks like there would be a
lot of swearing involved too.
We parked at St Peter's church which was being decorated for a wedding
Common puffballs in the churchyard
.JPG)
A perfect autumn day on the reserve
The main lake at the reserve. It was
teeming with fish and we could clearly see schools of rudd.
Here is the smaller lake, the fringes of
which were full of birds.
.JPG)
A trooping funnel (Clitocybe geotropa). It looks scary, but it's actually
edible.
Um....?
A hornets nest that we found in an old Sweet Chestnut