New gate to nowhere!

Joined : 18 Jan 2008 Posts : 154

I tried to visit Swallowhead the other day and found it almost impossible. The bridge over the river was flooded, the field was flooded, the 'stepping' stones were submerged, so I tried to go down the side of the field by the closed off parking bay opposite Silbury. There is a nice new shiny gate there, calling out to be used, so I obliged, only to find that the only place you can go is an extremely soggy field surrounded on 3 sides by very fast flowing river. The old gate to the right of the new gate has now become a barbed wire fence, but undeterred I fought my way through (ripping my jeans!) and eventually made it to the other side of Swallowhead.
It did make me wonder what the new gate is for though - any suggestions?

Subject: Gate Fri Jan 18, 2008 7:35 pm

Hi Rose,
yes this is a bit of a puzzler.
I watched the area being renovated over the last few months.
The only thing I can think of is that the kissing gate is in the wrong place?
PeteG

Guest

Don't know. I was there on 24th November with Amanda Chadburn who is an English Heritage inspector of ancient monuments. It was all new to her too. As you say, the nice new expensive gate goes into the field and nowhere else. She guessed that Farmer Hues had put it there for his own purposes.

Seeing that you got to Swallowhead, I suppose that you found the main spring running this year, as it did last year after some dry years.

Subject: Re: New gate to nowhere! Fri Jan 18, 2008 8:11 pm

The amount of water in his last year has been extraordinary. I visited Silbury one Saturday in late July and the moat was as full of water as it would normally be in February. Even walking in the field north of the hill, the water came over my wellies! I met some people who'd tried to get to the Long Barrow but failed. They said there was over a metre of water at the bridge. Some Dutch people on holiday had swum across to see the Barrow!

Joined : 18 Jan 2008 Posts : 154

It certainly is extremely wet around there at the moment! The gap that the farmer has left in the fence around the river (presumably for tractors to cross) has now become a new offshoot for the river. I had to wade across what seemed to be the shallowest part, but the current was really quite strong. Could the river be changing its course as a friend recently suggested to me?

Guest

I saw loads of people trying this route to nowhere whilst sitting in my van recently. Any news on its "meaning" yet.

Subject: Re: New gate to nowhere! Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:32 am

its typical local planning.
Someone probably decided its the shortest route to the swallowhead from the layby without noticing there is a river in the way.
You get used to this sort of thing around here after a while.
PeteG

Joined : 18 Jan 2008 Posts : 154

Does anyone know any more about this useless gate yet?
Went to Swallowhead recently and its still the same, but the gate and surrounding land is getting overgrown now.
scratch

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

I dropped by the WKLB last week but didn't bother making the climb

Walked to the Swallowhead instead... Wild flowers in abundance. Lovely...

I was amazed at the quantity of Timothy Grass I found. It was everywhere.
Then I remembered that it was a 'fodder grass' and would have been sown.

Took lots of photo's of the flowers and moved on..

Tony

Prunella

Joined : 07 Jan 2008 Posts : 471 Location : Wiltshire

Just seen your beautiful pictures Tony, the downland wild flowers and grasses never fail to please. Last weekend I did a Ridgeway walk with a local Ramblers group (forgot my camera though) and car-shared out to the Chilterns - saw pyramid orchids along by Grim's Dyke, fields of cultivated poppies which were astonishing, patches of pink grass (Timothy grass?), fox-gloves, cornflowers and loads of what I found out later to be greater knapweed - which looks a lot like a cross between a cornflower and a thistle.

At one point, when we were near Nuffield we could make out your North Downs in the distance - the walk leader told me that the downlands go all the way up to Scarborough becoming the wolds in Norfolk and Lincolnshire.

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

Joined : 18 Jan 2008 Posts : 154

Tony, your picture of Prunella looks just like what I saw up on Morgan's Hill this week, and I also have lots in my lawn. My rubbish little flower book calls it Self-heal and said it was used medicinally. Could it be the same thing? Do you know anything about the uses it would have been put to?

Also, the pic of Knapweed is the same stuff I've been admiring around the area lately and have been thinking of as some sort of Cornflower. Are they related?

Thank you in advance!

flower

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

Joined : 07 Jan 2008 Posts : 471 Location : Wiltshire

Knapwood is also known as Centaurea nigra and is an attractive nectar source for butterflies of various species.

I love the little red spider in your other picture Tony - very well captured.

Subject: Re: New gate to nowhere! Sat Jul 19, 2008 10:00 pm

Oh fer god's sake don't start Tony on Spiders!

Tony, please mate, if your going to start a Spider thread please put a warning sign on it!

affraid

PeteG

Joined : 07 Jan 2008 Posts : 471 Location : Wiltshire

Ha! Pete are you arachnophobic and well as insomnic. Not going to say what my phobia is but there definitely is one .....

Subject: Re: New gate to nowhere! Sat Jul 19, 2008 10:37 pm

Not at all June.
I used to have a pink toed tarantula but I've seen Tony's collection of spider photos on another forum and he's made grown men whimper!
PeteG

Joined : 12 Jul 2008 Posts : 321

Horses. I run away from em. Brrrrrr affraid

Subject: Re: New gate to nowhere! Sat Jul 19, 2008 11:13 pm

Joined : 12 Jul 2008 Posts : 321

NOT A CHANCE IN HELL.
Im dreading the ridgeway walk.

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

Match attendance at QPR.

Half time tasks involved walking the Pitch, replacing divots etc..

Getting on to the Pitch involved passing the Police Horses and Riders. They stood side by side across the entrance... I hated it. I would shout to the Coppers that we had to come though. They would shout back "just push your way through" The moment you moved between them, they would turn their heads to look back at you (The horses, that is) and slowly edge closer to each other. They never hurt us but it was always a fight to get pass them.

Coppers thought it hilarious though.

Tony

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

A few more from the Swallowhead

Burdock

Ox eye daisy

Woody Nightshade - Often confused with deadly nightshade;..

And, errr... what's it...

I can't remember this morning - sigh.

Joined : 18 Jan 2008 Posts : 154

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

Back in the eighties I was really good at this stuff...

It seems as though I might have forgotten some now..

Sigh.

Tony

Guest

Joined : 07 Jan 2008 Posts : 471 Location : Wiltshire

Wonderful pics Tony - wild flowers out at Avebury are a bit of a passion of mine. Some months back when I had first started posting on this Forum I asked where all the wild flowers hung out. Someone answered that there were daffodils around the one of the Stones ...... you have captured what I was on about. I walked up to Windmill Hill for the first time today and took pictures of knapweed and cornflowers but won't post them here as yours tell the story.

Wonder if anyone knows what this is (taken at the top of Windmill Hill). The closest I can get is 'wild mignonette'.

Joined : 18 Jan 2008 Posts : 154

Lovely pic June.
Looks almost exactly like whats currently flowering on Morgan's Hill. I hope someone can identify the yellow stuff as I was wondering too. If its the same stuff it had tiny flowers, in almost dust-like clusters.

There was something on the telly the other day about red and white clover. Apparently some bees need long flowers and others short and the clovers oblige thus supporting two different species of bee.

Isn't Mother Nature clever!

flower

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

It's not one I know...

Tony

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

Subject: Re: New gate to nowhere! Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:14 pm

I saw a lot of this at Silbury yesterday.
Yellowious Stufficus
PeteG

Joined : 07 Jan 2008 Posts : 471 Location : Wiltshire

Don't ever let this forum get too serious - all of the time.

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey

Man's a fool..

That's Yellowish Stuffyii..

Tony

Sigh

jocolor

Subject: Re: New gate to nowhere! Sun Jul 20, 2008 9:18 pm

This is Yellowish Stuffyii

Joined : 15 Jan 2008 Posts : 850 Location : Surrey