Wilmington, Lullington, Jevington.

As we walked over Windover Hill we were serenaded by a skylark.  It attracted the attention of several walkers who stopped to listen to it.  At Winchester's Pond the surrounding scrub was full of Chaffinches and Goldfinches and a Chaffinch.  There was no sign of the Great-crested Newts that we had hoped to see, but the pond was full of water and looked in quite good condition.  Recent conservation measures seem to be working.  There was a lot of water Crowfoot sprouting up and even a few early flowers.  

There has been a lot of conservation effort through Deep Dene too, with extensive scrub-bashing.  Hopefully they will be able to maintain this important area of chalk grassland.  I look forward to going there later in the summer when there are more flowers to see.  

Lullington Heath is another area where there have been programmes of scrub-bashing in recent years and it now looks very different in places with less gorse and more grass.  

We paused in a patch of woodland on the way to Jevington and while faint aroma (faint because it isn't in flower yet) of wild garlic wafted up the bank we listened to Blackcap, Blackbird, Jackdaw, Chiffchaff, Chaffinch, Blue tit, Robin and Wren.