Last Tuesday we went for a walk on Witley Common. It is just a few minutes walk from my parents house and we often walk there when we visit.
As usual Kieran and Sean had to find staffs (big sticks to the rest of us!) and pretend to be in Lord of the Rings...
It was quite nippy in the air and the sun was low in the sky, giving long shadows and a real light and dark contrast.
It's a lovely place to walk, though I have to say I am a little sad at the way the National Trust is developing the common. They apparently wish to return it to heathland- a point that irritates us is that my Dad is in his 70's and says that it was never heathland in his whole life. Anyway this involves removing most of the existing woodland, and presumably managing the regrowth to prevent the re-establishment of trees, in the past this would have been done by grazing livestock, but will now have to be managed by man. So at the moment the trees are being chopped down and heather is running rampant. Ultinately this will make the soil poorer and increase the acidifcation of the soil. What a shame as it was a beautiful stretch of woods, and there is plenty of heathland in the nearby areas of Frensham. Whilst heathland might be rarer than it used to be, there is also value to woodland.
I have grown up enjoying the woods, walking and playing on the Common. I love to come back here...
It's a place we always go as a family when we visit.
Witley Common, 2013.
Until next time
Gillian
No comments:
Post a Comment