Upcoming BOC Field & Indoor Meetings

Tuesday 14 July – Wraxall Three miles Leader: Jean Oliver

Meet in the National Trust car park at Tyntesfield (charge for non-NT members) Walk mainly across fields one stile plus one incline. Always a possibility of mud.

Saturday 18 July – Forest of Dean Note. Evening only meeting:Leader: Caron Thornton-Trippit

Meet at 19:00 at Speech House Woodland Car Park. We will go up Crabtree Hill looking for Nightjar and Woodcock.Insect repellent, a hat and closed footwear is recommended. Expect to be in the forest until well after 22:00 for the Woodcock, so bring a torch and a bat meter if you have one. Please contact Leader if you have any queries. There are plenty of birds to see at Nags Head and Cannop Ponds Stone Works if you arrive earlier. Important. Please inform the leader if you intend to join this walk .

Tuesday 21 July – Pill, Foreshore Marsh, River Avon Three – four miles Leader: Graham Blacker

Park in Watch House Road, Mount Pleasant or close proximity and we will meet on the green. This is a there and back again walk beside the river towards the Avon estuary. Rather noisy as close to M5 and the Docks although a pleasant walk. Wellingtons may be needed.

Sunday 26 July – Oldbury Power Station Leader: Di Bunniss

Meet in the free car park of the power station at 09:30 for a gentle walk past the lake and reed beds, along the Severn Way, and back round the power station. Hope to hear plenty of warblers among the reeds. May be muddy after rain. One five bar gate to climb or alternatively use a gap through hedge to access Severn Way path.

Tuesday 28 July – Woodchester Park (Picnic Walk) Leader: Di Bunniss

Picnic Walk. Meet at the National Trust car park (postcode is for the Mansion) where there is a charge of £3 (NT members free). Woodchester Park is a National Trust property signposted off the B4066 Dursley to Stroud Road. There are breakaway points for anyone who needs to leave early. With a mixed habitat of woodland, pasture and lakes we hope to see and hear plenty. There may be muddy patches. Do have a look at the NT Woodchester website if you do not know the valley.

Tuesday 04 August Felton Common (Picnic Walk) Leader: Melanie Patch

Meet in Felton Church car park on Felton Common. Follow the A38 down the hill towards Lulsgate Bottom, turn left into West Lane, which is before the traffic lights near the airport roundabout, and then turn immediately right between the trees, into the car park. The post code for the location is misleading as the left turn is before its location. If you get to the traffic lights, you have gone too far and will need to use the roundabout to go back to West Lane.

Saturday 8 Aug – Cotswold Water Park Leader: Peter Bryant

Meet at 10:00 at the northern end of Mill Lane in Somerford Keynes just off the B4696 (Spine Road West). Either park on main street or at Neigh Bridge CP car park (where charges apply, 250m away). Lunch to be carried. The walk will take in several bird-oriented pits with a visit to heathland between pits 38 and 29. We will return via the Thames Path and the Lower Mill Estate. We will look for waterfowl, hobbies and dragonflies en route. Café & toilets at Lower Moor Farm NR, 1 mile away.

Tuesday 11 August Frampton Cotterell (Huckford quarry) Leader (Peter Bryant)

Meet at the layby on A432 South West of Coalpit Heath close to Park Lane and the Kendleshire Golf Course (the A432 bridge over the M4 has now reopened). We will take a footpath to southern end of Frampton Cotterel, then via some green spaces to the River Frome at Nightingales Bridge along a partially paved footpath; next, south along a river path paying a visit to the under-reported Huckford Quarry LNR. Finally, back via the paved Community Forest Path. Good for warblers, butterflies, and dragonflies as well as riverine species, plus views of the impressive Winterbourne viaduct

Tuesday 18 Aug Velvet Bottom Leader: Graham Blacker

From Bristol, take the A38 south to Churchill, turn left at the traffic lights, first right up Burrington Combe, continue along and take the first turning on the right by Paywell Farm, then first left. Meet in the small car park at the end of the lane which runs alongside the Charterhouse Centre – not the centre car park itself. Please note that car parking is limited and car share if possible. Fairly hilly.

Saturday 22 Aug – Blagdon Lake Leader: Nige Milbourne

Please purchase a permit from the Bristol Water website or from Woodford Lodge before attending. Meet at 11:00, at the fishing lodge, near the south end of the dam. The lodge can be accessed via Park Lane out of Aldwick (the permit gives you the access code for the gate). This walk will consist of a there-and-back walk from the lodge to the top end (4.2 miles). Lunch to be carried. We should encounter waterfowl, woodland birds, waders and raptors.

Tuesday 25 August Wavering Down/Kings Wood Leader: Clive Burton

Meet at the National Trust car park at King’s Wood which is off the A38 to the right going south, immediately after a filling station about a mile after the traffic lights at Winscombe/Sidcot. Car share if possible as
parking is limited. The walk is through King’s Wood and onto limestone grassland and scrub on the Mendip Hills, returning through Kings Wood. Some hills and may be muddy in places.

Saturday 29 Aug – Sodbury Common Leader: Mike Jackson

We will meet at 09:00 on Hatters Lane, at the edge of Chipping Sodbury, where roadside parking is permitted (next to the allotments). The A432 bridge over the M4 has reopened which may help those who live in south Bristol. We will mainly be looking for returning summer migrants and resident passerines on the common, which is rated as a rarity hotspot. It is uneven underfoot with possible standing water after heavy rainfall. Cattle are likely to be freeroaming, we will look for Yellow Wagtails. There are no stiles or gateways to negotiate.