42: Some of Wiltshire's Nature Reserves

Hidden Wiltshire Podcast

We’re back. After a break of what feels like years, but may only be about five months, we’re reinvigorated and ready to beguile our audience with more Hidden Wiltshire nonsense.
Towards the end of 2022 Glyn and Paul had reached burn out after 41 episodes. We needed a break to think about what to do and where to go next, whilst sticking firmly to Wiltshire. Whilst we were away from the podcast we continued to pepper the Facebook page and website with blogs. But if we’re honest our survival was mainly due to the new member of the Hidden Wiltshire family – Elaine Perkins. Elaine has been posting blogs for some time now and has brought fresh impetus to what we do. But we weren’t going to let her get away with just that!
So, please welcome Elaine to the podcast. This is her first and she took to it like a duck to water.
We had planned to record this episode on location at Morgan’s Hill to the north of Devizes. But with winds of 60mph and heavy rain forecast we decided the top of a hill was not the most sensible place to be! As it was, despite being ensconced in a spare bedroom at home, Paul still sounds like he was recording in a wind tunnel.
As usual we began this episode by looking back at what we’ve been doing since the previous episode. And since that was in November 2022 the answer is - quite a lot. So we had a not so quick run through the blogs. You’ll find links to them below.
Firstly, Elaine revisited Vernditch Chase in an effort to find the mythical Kitt’s Grave (spoiler alert – she failed). Different maps show the grave in different places so is it any wonder it is so difficult to find? Folklore says it is the grave of a young woman who killed herself and, as was the custom, was buried on the parish boundary at a junction of tracks. Others say that it is a prehistoric long barrow, and one person at least claims to have found it in the adjacent wood. Will you find it?
Next Elaine wrote about her visit to Great Durnford and Ogbury Camp, an Iron Age univallate hill fort south west of Amesbury located above the Woodford Valley. The manor of Great Durford has existed since the 11th century and whilst in the village church Elaine believes she may have found evidence of a 16th century murder!
Then Elaine ventured to Clarendon Palace and the forest, which she visited shortly after Storm Eunice. A hunting ground for Saxon and later Norman kings, it would once have formed part of a much larger area of forest but it is now little more than a wood.
Next it was Paul’s turn and in February he returned to Fisherton de la Mare for the first time in nearly 30 years, where he met the current owners of a house he so very nearly bought all those years ago. From here, it was a walk across the flood plain of the Wylye River, along the road then up to the small National Nature Reserve of Wylye Down.
During Valentine’s week Elaine decided on a walk to Lover, Bohemia and Paradise all in one day! Lover is famous for its Valentine’s Day stamps that can be bought and posted from the village for those of a romantic disposition. It transpires that Paradise was misnamed, it being a wood plastered with “Private” signs.
Then Paul (together with his trusted walking buddy Stu) undertook what turned into an epic walk taking in West Lavington, Market Lavington and the Wessex Ridgeway. In heavy snow it felt like an arctic expedition. Plans to visit the churches in both villages were thwarted as they were both locked. Which is a shame as All Saint’s Church in West Lavington contains a stunning engraved window, the work of Simon Whistler nephew of the artist Rex Whistler. It can though be seen from the A360 below as you sit in queues of traffic trying to squeeze through the narrow bends to the south of the village.
Finally, Paul did the relatively short George Herbert Walk in Salisbury, following in the footsteps of poet, rector, writer and musician George Herbert who, in the early 1630s, walked twice a week from his parish in Bemerton to Evensong at Salisbury Cathedral. Modern development means it is impossible to follow what was his likely route precisely but on a warm dry day this is a delightful walk across the water meadows by the Nadder.
Eventually we got on to the main subject of this episode of the podcast. Glyn, Elaine and Paul wrote a joint blog about some of their favourite Wiltshire nature reserves. It was neatly divided up according to the volunteering that three of us do.
Paul is a volunteer for Natural England who are responsible for six National Nature Reserves in Wiltshire. Paul focused on his three favourites, all of which he has worked at as part of his volunteering duties – Pewsey Downs, Prescombe Down and Parsonage Down.
Glyn is a volunteer at Wiltshire Wildlife Trust who have nearly 40 reserves in the county. Glyn does livestock checks for them at Dunscombe Buttom but in the podcast (and in the blog) he focuses on Morgan’s Hill, Blakehill Farm and Stoke Common Meadows.
Finally, Elaine takes a look at Wiltshire’s two RSPB reserves - Winterbourne Downs and Franchises Wood. Elaine is a volunteer at the beautiful Winterbourne Downs reserve outside Newton Tony and is also helping a PhD student at Southampton University who is doing a thesis about chalk streams. This involves Elaine visiting the River Bourne, a winterbourne that flows through Winterbourne Downs and Newton Tony, on a regular basis. Francises Wood is a relatively new and small reserve close to the New Forest.
Then on to the wrap up for this episode:
There are one or two copies of the first Hidden Wiltshire book together with a few more of the second book on the website.
Thanks as always go to Steve Dixon for the music. As usual the piece at the beginning and the end of the podcast is called “The Holloway”, whilst the piece in the middle is a new one from Steve entitled “Wansdyke”. Because of course we had planned to record this episode on a hill looking down on Wansdyke!
Links:

Elaine’s blog about Kitt’s Grave can be found here Searching for Kitt's Grave Revisited

Elaine’s blog about Great Durnford and Ogbury Camp can be found here Great Durnford, Ogbury and the Flood

Elaine’s blog about Clarendon Palace is here Clarendon Place After Storm Eunice

Paul’s return to a French outpost in Wiltshire (it isn’t) can be found here A French Enclave in Wiltshire?

Elaine’s search for romanticism during Valentine’s week can be found here Lover, Bohemia and Paradise

You can read about Paul’s arctic adventure on Salisbury Plain here The Lavingtons and the Wessex Ridgeway

And finally, Paul’s attempt to retrace the steps of George Herbert can be found here George Herbert Walk

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer for Wiltshire Wildlife Trust you can contact them here Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Volunteering

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer for the RSPB you can contact them here RSPB Volunteering

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer for Natural England they tend to do it on a reserve by reserve basis so we’d suggest contacting Paul via the Hidden Wiltshire Contact page on our website at Hidden Wiltshire Contact Us

Glyn’s photographs can be seen on his Instagram feed @coy_cloud

He is also very active on Twitter where his username is @Glyndle
Paul’s photography can be found on his website at Paul Timlett Photography and on Instagram at @tragicyclist

Steve Dixon’s sound art can be found on Soundcloud where his username is River and Rail Steve Dixon River and Rail. His photographs can be found on Instagram at @stevedixon_creative and his graphic design business website is at Steve Dixon Creative

And finally you’ll find the Hidden Wiltshire online shop here Hidden Wiltshire Shop
and a link to Glyn’s blog about the latest book and how to purchase a copy here Hidden Wiltshire from near and far