Fraser Down Wildlife Wander - June 7

Nestled on the slopes of the North Downs is a chalk grassland nature reserve as well as a small woodland, mostly made up of yew.  It is a haven for flowers and fauna, managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust and a group of volunteers headed up by Simon Humphreys. It’s not normally open to the public, so it was a privilege for a group of us to be led on a 2.5 hour guided walk by him. 

There is a vast number of flowers currently bursting into life providing a kaleidoscope of colour. However, with the current weather (I’m sitting writing this with torrential rain drumming on my window sitting in my thick jumper!), you wouldn’t blame the plants for being slightly confused, and wondering if they had popped up in the wrong season!
Simon has an encyclopedic knowledge of anything “nature”, which made the walk educational, informative and fascinating in equal measure. It was also lovely to be able to meet fellow contributors of the Betchworth Nature What’s App group and put some names to faces as well as enjoying some pretty good views across to the South of Betchworth.

So what were my takeaways from the walk 🤔

• The symbiotic relationship between flowers and fauna and why it is so important to provide habitat that allows them to co-exist.
• The penny dropping moment, that wild marjoram is also known as oregano, which is why I hadn’t found any recipes to use the vast amount of it growing at my allotment 😃. 
• All this wouldn’t exist without the work of dedicated volunteers who help manage the site, so if you can spare a few hours, I am sure Simon would be very pleased to hear from you. You can reach him at [email protected]
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And finally a huge thank you to the Re-Betchworth team for arranging this and many other events. They are brilliant!

​Cathy Honey
Community Biodiversity Park Champion