The Friends of The Ridgeway is an Association of people committed to preserving The Ridgeway as an ancient greenway for quiet enjoyment by the public.

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Spring on The Ridgeway

If the fickle weather is kind, Spring can be the best season of all for walking The Ridgeway, as walkers to Segsbury Camp before the AGM observed!  Warm sunshine is tempered by the cool air, and signs of new life are all around in the hedgerows, at the base of the hedges, and in the fattening buds and fuzzy outlines of the trees.  This can be a good time to enjoy the varied and more wooded scenery north of the Thames, where drifts of bluebells or wood anemones cover the ground under the beech-woods.  Don’t forget to enjoy the early snowdrops and aconites in the church-yards of St Botolph’s at Swyncombe, right on The Ridgeway, and elsewhere; and the open days offered by many parishes to view them.  Enjoy the sunshine, but remember that the wind is often keen, and beefy showers can catch out the unwary!

West of the Thames, on the high downs, early spring on The Ridgeway is a muted affair compared to the sheltered valleys and suburban gardens, full of daffodils and cherry blossom.   Few plants are in flower by April, but look more closely and plantains are starting to put out leaves, hugging the ground closely.   Blackthorn bushes in the hedgerows are starting to show their pretty white flowers; the hawthorn blossom will not be out until May, when the bluebells will be on show in the woods.

Rooks nest earlier than other birds, in their communities of large untidy nests in the treetops.  Come too close and they rise up together, 60 feet above you, circling and chattering in indignation.  By day they are busy in the fields searching for food, returning each evening to the roost and continuing their gossiping for sometime before settling down for the night.   

On a still day on the open grasslands larks are already singing high above.  Birds of prey may also be seen, but the migrants will not arrive until May.   In the woods and the lower parts of The Ridgeway, garden and hedgerow birds are exploring nest sites and getting ready to breed.

Barbury Castle Country Park is a good place to park and walk.  The café is open every weekend of the year from 9am until sundown, and after Easter it is open every weekday as well, from 10am.  

A Spring Walk Suggestion

Many thanks to “A Member” for sending us his Bluebell Special walk from Nuffield.  Click here for more details and maps.  The Saturday Times of 21st February, in its Weekend supplement, recommended a shorter version of this walk, based on the King William IV pub (the King Billy), at Hailey.

Photographs: copyright Friends of the Ridgeway / a member