Forty Years in Chandler's Ford - a Journal (Part 69)

Several field trips; a couple of new birds; “Adventure lit their star”; a Nightingale competes with Southampton’s traffic; with Brother and Fin in The Forest; the Habs at Beaulieu; country buses and painting flowers to capture memories.

On March 30th 1955, Gran, with Adrian on her mind, writes:

During the evening I listened to a beautiful but poignantly sad play, “Autumn Crocus” by Dodie Smith, and have come to bed dear, with my soul wrung by it and living again its own anguish. But, as with Fanny, the beauty remains and nothing can take that from me even though I grow old.

April 2nd:

I caught a bus into Southampton just before eleven o’clock this morning and there met Hazel Bidmead, a member of B.E.N.A. and Southampton Natural History Society, and we went together to Hill Head, on the coast, changing at Titchfield.

Gran describes many birds that they see on the sea and shoreline adding that:

…all this time a swan had been causing much interest and speculation, for it was behaving in a manner quite unlike the Mute further up the river…I was immediately struck by its attitude, for, unlike the Mute, it did not arch its neck, but kept it straight upright. Also, it appeared greyish and not brown-flecked as would a juvenile Mute… Although there was no yellow on the bill…there seemed no doubt that it was a Bewick’s Swan, and new bird for both Miss Bidmead and myself.

A party of Bewick’s Swans, including a single juvenile like the one Gran saw. Image by Ken via Flickr.

She is particularly pleased to see this bird, having missed one by a few days on her recent visit to Brent Reservoir. She is equally excited to see her first Spring migrant of the year – not the usual Chiffchaff (that comes the next day, in Cranbury Park) or Sand Martin, but a Swallow.

Three days later, with Diana Fowler, she attends a Natural History Society lecture in Southampton – “one of the most enjoyable we have had at our meetings”, she writes, “Mr D.W. Young, late Deputy Surveyor of the New Forest, spoke to us on “the Natural History of the New Forest through the eyes of a Forester”.

As usual, Gran must have written copious notes during the lecture, for over several pages she imparts many interesting nuggets of detail given at the talk, including that for a long time the Commoners deliberately kept only 800 cattle in the Forest, as opposed to 1200 ponies, because the former were too prone to contagious abortion. After a law was passed to make inoculation of the cattle compulsory, the numbers of cattle turned out into the forest increased to four thousand.

She adds, “regretfully our speaker disillusioned us upon the supposed wonderful quality of the New Forest Oaks…” Apparently the poor soils and high water table in many places prevented proper development of the trees’ tap roots, and consequent reliance on side shoots for anchorage caused the trees to sway and wave too much in the wind, often resulting in cracking in the trunks which were then invaded by fungi. “In 1608”, she writes:

…of three hundred and fifty thousand loads of oak trees offered to the Navy for ship-building, only a small proportion were accepted, the Admiralty saying they were “punky” wood.

“Punky Wood”? – oaks in the New Forest. Image by als_bi via Flickr.

April 7th:

The Wild Daffodils on my front bank are coming into flower and already someone has roughly grabbed some of them. I suffer agonies every year on their account but am loth to transplant them into the garden because they look so very beautiful in their present situation when left alone and so many people enjoy them.

Barry, Jock and the two boys spend Easter at Chandler’s Ford, I think basing themselves with Jock’s parents at 99 Kingsway, because, for instance, Gran tells us that Barry comes round to borrow her bicycle; that she meets them on their way to church while she is coming home from early service, and that they sometimes come to The Ridge early for breakfast. During the holiday, Dad has to leave for London, …”whence he had been”, Gran writes on his return:

…to go out with the Natural History Society of Haberdashers’ School…on one of the Reservoirs at Staines he had seen a pair of Goldeneyes. But the sewage farm at Perry Oaks, not far from London Airport, gave him his greatest delight, for here he saw his first Little Ringed Plover…

Little Ringed Plover, now known simply as Little Plover. I read of this species’ post-war colonisation of the UK in a book of Gran’s written by the late Kenneth Allsop, entitled “Adventure Lit Their Star”. Image by Tony Morris via Flickr.

We get a glimpse of Gran’s Spartan existence at this time, shortly after Barry and the family have returned to Mill Hill. She and Jane cycle to the Alma Hotel in Lower Upham in order to discover the best way there for a B.E.N.A. field meeting in two days’ time that she wishes to attend. She writes that on the way home, they stop, “in a beautiful copse for some light refreshment in the form of nut and fruit chocolate!” It sounds like her first experience of a Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut bar.

The field trip is described in detail and includes records of spring-flowering plants and new birds for the season. She cycles there with Jane, arriving in plenty of time, adding:

Eventually there were six of us – quite enough for my liking, and Miss Bidmead being the only one without a bicycle – she had come by bus – Mr Roseweir gave her a lift on the back of his as far as the chalk-pit.

Book 50

April 23rd:

This afternoon was largely wasted as far as I was concerned, for it was spent in town, Southampton, in a milling crowd of people searching for curtain material. Jane was with me and we did at length find one pattern which was grudgingly approved, but we also obtained a summer dress for Jane, which, I must admit, suited her admirably… Even so, she had tried on three or four others in different shops, which had not fitted her at all! And I do so hate shopping, except for books or artistic materials and such.

Later she writes:

I would like a fine day tomorrow – Brother is coming from London to take me to the new Forest for the day and Barry is, from today, camping at Beaulieu Road with some of his boys. Here’s hoping!

Brother Norris arrives next day after ten o’clock:

…bringing with him Finuala Murphy, commonly known as Fin, who, as her name suggests, is Irish, and a keen naturalist, and whom he met when in Dublin a year or two ago. She is now a qualified physio-therapist, working in London, so he is able to keep a fatherly eye upon her and take her occasionally on outings to favourite haunts. Her chief interest is birds, though she is keenly observant of everything, a little younger than Barry, I should say, and very easy to get on with.

They have a good day in the Forest, Fin hearing her first Nightingale on the way at Baddesley (there still seem to be plenty about in the Chandler’s Ford area in the summer of 1955) and adding more summer migrants to Gran’s year-list, including Tree Pipits and numerous Wood Warblers. An unidentified raptor is seen over the heath, which Norris, after consulting his books a few days later, confirms to Gran as her first Marsh Harrier, a female. They find the tents of the camping Haberdashers but not the boys themselves. “In all our wanderings within the real Forest today”, Gran writes, “we saw no more than three people, but oh, the crowds on the roadsides!”

A female or immature Marsh Harrier – relatively numerous in the UK today but extemely rare in 1955. Image by Jo Garbutt via Flickr.

Ten pages later, she finishes with, “Brother and Fin left for London just before eight o’clock, Fin in ecstasies over her first sight of our much-loved New Forest… What a grand day we’d had!

On the 27th, after first inadvertently dropping her glasses onto the concrete path below her bedroom window while watching Whitethroats amongst the heather in the garden, and then finding a cat – “the little black devil from the garden at the bottom of ours” –up in her macrocarpa cypress at a Blackbird’s nest, she takes the bus to Southampton. There, she sees Jane, travelling with Jill Fowler, Diana’s sister, off to Eastbourne for the new term. John Fowler, the girls’ brother takes Gran on to Bassett, by car:

John, my Godson, incidentally, passed his driving test yesterday, and has also, during these holidays, qualified as an Air Pilot, having won a flying scholarship from Cheltenham, where he is at school. He is seventeen and hopes to be a doctor.

A B.E.N.A. field meeting to the Brockenhurst area of the New Forest, organised by, but not led by Gran, takes place on Mayday afternoon, during which it rains heavily. Gran travels by bus and the only other member to turn up at the meeting place is Paul Bowman, who cycles.

But having come so far, Paul and I decided to do the ramble and I, for one, was very pleased that we did so, the only snag being the difficulty of conversation owing to Paul’s almost complete deafness.

Paul, mentioned several times in Gran’s writings, had contracted meningitis at the age of 15, which resulted in his deafness. The pair of them see much to interest them, Gran finding Large Bittercress, a new plant for her, and also a Crowfoot species, which Gran later sends to Kew for identification, but they both become uncomfortably soaked by the rain. After a full afternoon, Gran waits for the homeward bus at Brockenhurst, writing, “As my ‘bus came along, the indefatigable and undaunted Paul set out on his bicycle for Beaulieu, by which route he intended to cycle back to Southampton – and it was still raining!”.

May 3rd brings a letter from Barry with news of his camping expedition at Beaulieu, and Gran recounts the main items of interest:

They got though a considerable amount of work and hope to return in the Summer. They made a good survey of the Spring flora in the area, finding, among other things, Pillwort and Lungwort, and catching Ten-spined Sticklebacks in Denny Bog and [River] Lampreys in the Beaulieu River, besides various water bugs, water beetles, caddis and such. Curlews and Woodlarks wakened the lads each morning and they found two Woodlark’s nests too – and they saw all the local birds, Buzzards, a few Crossbills, Woodcock, Wood Warblers, and several Whinchats on the heath. On the Monday, they went to Keyhaven and found several Peewits nests and one Ringed Plover’s.

Of the children, Barry told me that Ricky can now pull himself up – he is four months old today – and Julian can sing “Billy Boy”. How I long to see them again.

Early in the afternoon of May 4th, Gran goes to Southampton to meet Hazel Bidmead for a trip to St Leonards. She records:

Mouse-ear Chickweed (Cerastium vulgatum) was in flower on a bombed site and, to my amazement, a nightingale was in full song in a derelict garden on the corner of Hill Lane and Commercial Road where traffic was incessant and the noise continuous!

At St Leonards, Gran and Hazel:

…alighted from the bus at the Great Barn, after arranging with the driver to be picked up at 5.25, and, as he gave us a cheery wave of the hand, we set off towards Gins Farm.

The Great Tithe Barn at St Leonards – said to have been the largest in England. Image by Jim Champion via Flickr.

They bird-watch and botanise on the windy coast, not seeing anything out of the ordinary and later:

We returned to the Great Barn, where our bus pulled up to collect us and the driver greeted us like old friends. I like these little country buses – no rush or scramble, a leisurely journey and a friendly driver who treats everyone as a friend and neighbour and does not mind stopping anywhere.

On May 7th, after visiting the Village in the morning, noting a single Cuckoo calling, and recording Marsh Marigolds – “never have I seen them finer nor in greater numbers” – Gran spends the whole afternoon indoors:

…painting a card for Jane’s twenty-first birthday next Friday, and I must admit that I was delighted with the result. In the right hand bottom corner I did the figures 21 in deep rose, with a golden key, tied with a pale blue bow, across them. Across the top-left, a spray of half-open Apple blossom seemed just right for a Maytime birthday. A small bluebird carried a single blossom from a smaller spray inside, and an appropriate verse completed it. So engrossed did I become that I forgot all about tea, until I wondered why I felt so hungry!

This marks the beginning of a period of intense flower-painting activity for Gran. She seems to be determined to paint, as a record from which to conjure happy memories, every flower species that she sees. She estimates that she will “have to paint one flower every day for nearly two years to represent those already on my list of finds”. The next day, before cycling to church in the evening, she makes a start on “painting a Wild Arum Arum maculatum, but I did not have time to complete it”, she says.

Of the church service, she records:

The Master of St Cross took the Service this evening and spoke about the work of the Missions, stressing the unchristianlike attitude of the colour bar as compared with St Paul’s teaching that we are all one in Christ, and how Christianity has stepped over such hurdles as colour and race, and united all peoples within the Church. Special mention was made of the Church in Southern India.

And “This afternoon”, she writes on the following day:

…I went to Winchester to a meeting of the Christian Mission Society, at which a most interesting and inspiring film was shown – on the Church in Southern India. It gave a clear insight into present-day life in India and the immense contrasts which exist in the country. But it made me feel very inadequate. There is so much to be done.

A communication from Kew confirms Gran’s Crowfoot species, collected on May 1st:

It was an exciting find, Ranunculus lutarius, [now R. tripartitus] a rare plant of muddy ponds in southern England, recorded from localities in the neighbourhood of Brockenurst. Incidentally, I feel quite pleased with myself, for, though by no means a real botanist, I had already identified my find as this plant, but did not trust my own knowledge sufficiently to record it without confirmation.

Gran – self-deprecating as ever.

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Tags: Chandler's Ford, Chandler's Ford Today, family, Hiltingbury, Hiltingbury Road, history, Joan Adamson, Joan Adelaide Goater, local interest, memory, nature, writing

Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 69)

Several field trips; a couple of new birds; “Adventure lit their star”; a Nightingale competes with Southampton’s traffic; with Brother and Fin in The Forest; the Habs at Beaulieu; country buses and painting flowers to capture memories.

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Several field trips; a couple of new birds; “Adventure lit their star”; a Nightingale competes with Southampton’s traffic; with Brother and Fin in The Forest; the Habs at Beaulieu; country buses and painting flowers to capture memories.

Book 50

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