Trip reports
Mid-week Walk to Stoke Park, Burpham - by Peter Hambrook
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Amazingly, seven of us turned out on what began as a very wet morning indeed with heavy rain on route to Burpham, however this had reduced to an annoying drizzle by the time we sallied forth from the car park. From the signs we discovered that this area is now officially known as the Riverside Nature Reserve. Unfortunately it still lies alongside the A3, so is not the quietest of places but there is a good range of habitat and a moderately large car park, access to which is just off the Burpham to Jacobswell road on the left, just after crossing the A3 on leaving Burpham proper.
Before leaving the car park we had a small group of swallows hunting at low level, presumably on their way south. We started our walk by following the path down to the Wey Navigation, following this towards Guildford and hoping for something of interest either on the water or in the rough grassland on the opposite bank but apart from passing cormorants and Canada geese the most notable sightings were of a fair number of jays flying in and out of the numerous oak trees in this area, presumably transporting acorns to safe storage for winter use.
Just before reaching Stoke Lock we headed left across a short boardwalk to the lake, which held mainly mallards, including a mating pair, plus a couple of male wigeon, a male and female tufty, a pair of Egyptian geese, several cormorants and a grey heron on the overgrown nesting raft, Canada geese, a great crested grebe, moorhens, coots and a pair of swans with a very large family of well grown cygnets.
Having completed our inspection of the lake we headed across the rough pasture towards Guildford, hoping for a stonechat, skylark or meadow pipit, without luck, and being completely ignored by the bored-looking cattle. Reaching the Wey again after about a quarter of a mile, a scan of the rough marshy grassland on the opposite bank produced a brief glimpse of what may have been a water rail, plus a kestrel but not much else, so we turned right and headed back towards Stoke Lock, being over-flown by what looked like a grey wagtail but could not be positively identified in the poor light. Crossing back to the lake, we followed the main path along the north shore, without finding anything more of note except for a couple of goldfinches and a male great spotted woodpecker. Eventually reaching the path along the Wey navigation again, we followed this towards Bowers Lock, encountering a green woodpecker and a fairly large group of hunting house martins en route, before turning right up the road and heading back to the car park.
This area has changed a fair bit since our last visit about ten years ago, with the height of the trees around the lake being particularly noticeable. Unfortunately most of the boardwalk that crossed the marshy areas has fallen into disrepair and there has been little habitat maintenance done here, so it wasn't at all productive. The lake shore used to be a good bet for wintering water pipits but they haven't been reported for some years now. This can be a good spot to watch migration as birds follow the A3 and there are also several buzzards in the local area but the poor conditions put paid to any chance of seeing them.
My thanks to the intrepid adventurers who joined me on this voyage of re-discovery. Perhaps we will visit on a sunny spring day next time ......
Peter Hambrook