{"id":1862,"date":"2014-11-10T23:45:06","date_gmt":"2014-11-10T23:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.richardmudhar.com\/?p=1862"},"modified":"2014-11-12T12:52:08","modified_gmt":"2014-11-12T12:52:08","slug":"mill-stream-nature-reserve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richardmudhar.com\/blog\/2014\/11\/mill-stream-nature-reserve\/","title":{"rendered":"Mill Stream Nature Reserve"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part of the nature reserves<\/a> series<\/em><\/p>\n

Mill Stream is a local nature reserve running along the boundary between Rushmere St Andrew and Foxhall Heath, starting from Rushmere Golf course and running through to Foxhall Road dip, opposite the Nuffield Hospital. I started from the Brendon Drive access parking my bike there – there is no car parking for this local nature reserve, and followed the Jubilee path marker 12<\/p>\n

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There’s some interesting local history – the large Oak trees mark the boundary between the parishes.<\/p>\n

[osm_map lat=”52.054″ lon=”1.223″ zoom=”14″ width=”600″ height=”450″ control=”mouseposition,scaleline” map_border=”thin solid blue” theme=”ol” marker=”52.05765,1.22022″ marker_name=”wpttemp-green.png”]<\/p>\n

Goldfinch flock feeding near the old shooting range<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.richardmudhar.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/141110-1315_goldfinches_LS101671_trm.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Further towards Bixley there was a Boer War\/WW1 shooting range, with the large sandbank there to catch any stray projectiles. Apparently brave souls hoisted targets above the wall that gave them some protection.<\/p>\n

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This extended bank absorbed stray WW1 projectiles from the shooting range<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nhttp:\/\/www.richardmudhar.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/141110-1257_mill-stream_robin_LS101667.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Robin, with long-tailed tits flock at the start<\/p>\n

The reserve is surprisingly quiet, particularly at the northern end, though you’re never that far away from human habitation here.There are some muddy parts to the path where it runs close to the stream, particularly at the Rushmere common end.<\/p>\n

It gets noisier towards the Foxhall Road Dip – the path does carry on across the road but it’s a fast road and visibility is dreadful.<\/p>\n

This was a pleasant little gem – I’d driven past the Foxhall Road dip many times for years without knowing this was here<\/p>\n

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Sightings<\/h4>\n

If I will show up at noon I’m not going to see\/hear that much \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n