The idea of the RVCWG monthly wildlife walks is to provide an opportunity for like minded nature
lovers to meet and explore their local patch together. There is no designated leader on these walks –
a meeting place is defined but the destination during the walk is decided by the group. People are
free to join in as much or as little as they please with the proviso that if you see something
interesting then share it with the rest of the group.
On Saturday, 11 of us met at the Gatten Marie Curie Car Park – with a donation for parking – and
chose to complete a circular walk that took us along the main road running through Gatten, past the
Gatten Lodge Lake where we discovered frogs and toads mating, a patch of otter spraint that we
took turns in smelling and botanical highlight of Potamogeton crispus or ‘curled pondweed’. We
ventured up through the woods and stopped to admire a veteran alder tree whose girth measured
upwards of 4meters. At this point we were surprised by a disgruntled tawny owl who popped up to
glare at Rob and Geoff who were measuring the tree and had obviously disturbed its slumber.
At the top of the hill, we spent some time looking at elm flowers in detail, searching around the
pond we found Ranunculus omiophyllus or ‘round-leaved water crowfoot’ and admired the view
over the valley to Ratlinghope. Once we had circled back round to the main track, we looked in detail
at some fungi called the ‘cushion bracket’ Phellinus pomaceus – that often appears on trees in the
plum family. On the final stretch we rescued some frog spawn from a drying puddle and placed it in
a nearby water body – all in a good day’s work!
