A Wander on the Wildside: Bronze DofE: Practice Expedition, North Downs

When I applied to DofE, I expected nothing short of a lot of hard work which would ultimately be great fun. On the 19th May, I arrived at school at 07:30am sharp ready for our practise expedition for our bronze section, where we had to complete a round trip of around 30km and one night camping in the North Downs. We arrived at Ranmore Common car park at just before 09:30am, where we met our guide in preparation for a long, enjoyable weekend of walking, camping and orienteering around the countryside with nature surrounding us.

We started our walk, with me leading, at around 10am where Marsh Tits were singing as were Blackcap and much more. It didn't take me too long to get lost - it must come naturally to me - so i handed the map to someone else. This meant I could look for some more birds. Thumbs up.

The first 2 hours went by pretty quickly, as we saw few things and it became very hot. We entered a part of the wood near Effingham Forest where singing Firecrest caught my ear, amongst the tons of Chaffinch. At least 3 singing males were heard in the next 30 minutes, and soon after we stopped for lunch. After eating, with Marsh and Coal Tits singing everywhere, a Firecrest started up just across from where we sat and I could even see it int he tree. So I leaped up, ready for some pictures, to find that the viewfinder had become blurry. I was in utter dismay, and by the time someone in the group, who was great with cameras, had fixed it the bloody Firecrest sang from some dense woodland. The rest of the trip everyone wound me up about it, as they do, but it was pretty annoying.

Walking on we went through a lot more forest, and many more Firecrest territories, before we reached the town of Shere. We navigated our way around the town, we made a way for a pathway and I heard a 'sip.' After an incredible, terrible winter with tons of Hawfinch which I didn't see, it was actually a nice, unexpected thing to see with its dashing white wing bars as it flew over the houses. Steve G has suggested it was a local breeder, which is pleasing to know.

We continued walking, and then stopped for a short break near a field with rabbits in and swifts soaring overhead. A Barn Owl flew over quickly, and a Hobby did a quick circuit. A highlight of the trip was hearing a purring Turtle Dove - my first ever - in what should be its common habitat. It's decline is shocking to be frank, and needs desperate help. As planned as soon as we saw another group approaching we packed up and walked on.

The next 2 hours were quiet, with very few birds seen and a singing Cuckoo the only bird to note. Warblers were present for most of the day with nearly c.100 Blackcap(!), 3 Garden Warbler and 30+ Chiffchaff. So I'll save you the reading and post a few pictures of where we went and what we saw on the first day's walking of 15.5 km.