Heron

We were out for a walk last week when we heard an almighty racket coming from a garden ahead of us. On looking through the hedge I could see a heron standing in a garden pond.

There was a cat watching it. The heron was yelling at the cat!

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I went into the garden and shooed away the cat. The heron did not move. I went closer. It then tried to take off, but failed. It had a plastic net wrapped round a foot. The net was stuck down to the pond. So the heron crash landed again.

The cat started to sneak back.

I knocked on the door of the house. No reply, so I rang the police and asked if they could contact the RSPB. In the meantime my wife went next door and roused the neighbours.

Soon there were six of us standing around watching the heron when the house owner emerged and asked what was going on. She did say it explained why the cat hadn’t come in for its tea.

At this point the neighbour’s wife turned up with a tea towel, suggesting she could throw it over the bird’s head while one of us took the netting off its foot. I took a look at the beak on the thing and suggested we should just wait for the RSPB. The owner said that if it was still stuck when it got dark she would ask her husband to cut it free so foxes didn’t attack it in the night.

We continued our walk. On the way back the heron was standing in the pond again.

We got home much later than planned and were just about to eat our evening meal when my phone went. It was a wildlife protection officer from the RSPCA – the RSPB had passed the call on! She was over an hour away and wanted to know what was going on. So I drove round to the cottage where the heron had been and found that they had cut the plastic so it could fly away.

However, it still had the netting stuck to its foot. But now at least it could peck it free without being bothered by cats or foxes. So I called the RSPCA officer back told her not to bother coming out.

Walk on the Roman Road

Yesterday evening we went on a different walking route for our exercise regime. We followed the map to the supposed route of the Roman Road at Blackmoor.

This photo shows the road alongside a field of sweet corn (maize). The grass is parched over the route.

This is the route towards the church from the road.

Pictures of the water gate after “repair”

Below are some images of the pond gate after I put the wood back in the slots.

Water starting to build up… but still leaking through.

Note the rocks where the vandals broke down the sides of the channel.

Mindless Vandalism

We went for an afternoon stroll yesterday evening, taking our usual route over the golf course to where the Roman Road supposedly runs (see my post of 4th May). Just as we started to cross the golf course we encountered a group of teenage boys - 5 of them. They stopped to drink from a water fountain provided for the golfers. Suddenly a man on a bicycle came speeding down the path. He was yelling and cursing. "I'm gonna get you...you little...&^%$£$%!" The boys scattered in all directions but the man chased after one in particular over the brow of a low hill in the direction of the club house.

We waited for a minute or so, but there were no screams of pain or anything and the surrounding golfers went back to their game.

A few minutes later the man cycled back up the path - a bit slower now. We asked if everything was okay and he replied "yes, I got them" and rode on.

A short while later we came to where the path goes by the "monastery fish ponds". There is a sluice gate here: a concrete channel leading under the path, where two pipes take the overflow water down to the stream nearby. The channel is blocked by a wooden barrier. So to drain the ponds you just remove the barrier.

Yesterday we found that the wooden barrier had been pulled out and broken up into separate planks. The ponds were draining fast.

I climbed down into the channel and retrieved the slimy planks. I then managed to lift them into the groove in the channel where they were supposed to sit. It wasn't water tight, but it was a lot better than it had been. Water started to build up again behind it.

There was the blade of a garden trowel wedged into the wood. I seemed to have been used to lever the planks apart and to lift them out of the groove.

Hopefully not too many fish had died.

We assume the teenage boys had something to do with it. Had the man on the bike seen them or had they done something else to him?

The day before (Wednesday) when we did the same walk there were 4 teenage boys hanging around the same place at about the same time. They were very interested in the sluice gate channel. I wondered at the time if they were going to fall in to the pond and get into trouble with their parents. I didn't think anyone would be so stupid as to break up the barrier and drain the pond.

The man on the bike was not around. Had the boys drained the ponds and then gone on to do some other mischief that upset him? What did he do to them over the hills of the golf course? Will my repair to the sluice gate hold? Are the boys innocent?

More information and maybe a photo later on!

Chinook over Blackmoor

There was a Chinook helicopter flying low over Blackmoor yesterday. The cloud cover was low too. It circled over the village a couple of times before heading towards RAF Odiham where they are based. Kinda noisy!

Roaming after the Romans and Little Birdies

We went out for our usual walk on Sunday afternoon. We had a mission this time though. There is a Roman Road that runs from Neatham (near Holybourne, outside Alton) to Chichester (or vice versa) via Iping. It crosses over the Blackmoor Golf Course near us and joins the lane near Oakhanger by the Satellite Ground Station. Before we set out we researched the route, looking at the County Archaeological Records to find out what they knew and comparing that to the Ordnance Survey map.
The road starts at Iping, which is near Midhurst and then exists as the main road in the Longmoor Army Camp and then was visible many years ago south of Woolmer Pond. It then crosses the main road (A325) and bends slightly, passing Blackmoor and Oakhanger as it heads North. Longmoor Army Camp is MoD property and apparently the Woolmer Pond section is no longer visible. Most of the rest is on private land except for where it emerges from the golf course. It crosses near Blackmoor House which is where the Selborne Cup was found.

Map

Location Data

OS X (Eastings) 477180
OS Y (Northings) 134680
Nearest Post Code GU35 9JD
Lat (WGS84) N51:06:22 (51.106233)
Long (WGS84) W0:53:56 (-0.898970)
LR SU771346
mX -100072
mY 6606829

We walked over the course (on the byway/footpath) until we reached the junction with the Oakhanger Road. There are some ponds here. During our research we had found that they were Medieval fish ponds associated with Oakhanger Monastery. This was odd as we could find no other references to a Monastery in the area. There is a Priory at Selborne, so maybe this is what was meant. The houses here are in a circular enclosure with a bank and ditch round it, so maybe the Monastery was actually inside this bank and ditch.
There was no sign of the Roman Road, just the straight path in alignment with the Oakhanger Road which runs across the front of the houses alongside the fish ponds.
We walked back over the golf course. The line of the road is visible from the public footpath in the distance as a line of trees and bushes crossing the course.
We will have to look into some of the other public locations.
As we came back I saw some odd birds on the course. I only had my phone with me, not a decent camera, so the pictures are a bit grainy. I haven't identified the birds yet.

Blackmoor walk

We went to church this morning (15th Oct 08) - Maria sang solo in the penultimate hymn which went down very well I thought. I went to the DIY shop and picked up the paint for the toilet. On the way home there was a huge queue of cars waiting to use the recycling centre in Station Road, so I rand the "101" service when we got in. They said they'd send the police round if they were free. Later on we went for a walk and I took these pictures of the autumn leaves, St Matthew's church and one of a local dog wearing a florescent jacket. I emailed the picture of the dog (Jack) to Beth. She loves florescent jackets.

On the way back we met Mary. Turns out she had been hassled by an inconsiderate driver while out walking. I told her to report it to the police/council using the "101" service.

Blackmoor Apple Tasting

We went to the Blackmoor Estate Apple Tasting on Sunday. Apparently they have been doing it for nearly 40 years now. We think that it is just the right sort of community event, not over-pretentious or trying to do anything else like carry a political agenda. Local stall holders, craft fair, community groups and activities for children. What more could you ask for?
It was a lovely day. We walked through the woods behind the church to the estate and then joined in the tasting. We'd waited until about 3 pm so the queues for tasting weren't too bad. Maria's favourite was the Reubens variety which I liked too, but I preferred the pears.
We bought some earrings for Maria at a craft stall, some local honey and some (Lyme Bay) fruit wine too.
We sampled the other English wine, which wasn't that good really.
They had sold out of Reubens in the shop, but we got some other apples and pears