Walk on Thursley Common

We had heard that there were sundews to be found in Surrey and one of the best areas is Thursley Common. Thursley National Nature Reserve is one of the most important lowland heath and bog sites in southern England and is about 8 miles south west of Godalming.
From Natural England: ‘The reserve's mixture of mire and wet heath is one of the finest examples of its type in southern England. The site contains bog pools, sphagnum lawns and, in drier areas, tracts of cross-leaved heath on the sandy soils.
Damp areas support carnivorous plants such as sundew and bladderwort, and bog asphodel and marsh orchid may also be seen.
Large populations of silver-studded blue, grayling and purple emperor butterflies can be seen here alongside 26 recorded dragonfly species. Sandier sites on the reserve provide homes for many species of solitary bees and wasps.
Notable birds seen at the site include woodlark, nightjar, hobby and Dartford warbler. The reserve is the only regular curlew breeding site in Surrey and in the winter the great grey shrike is a regular visitor. Merlin, peregrine and short-eared owl have also been recorded at the site.’
We drove to the entrance at the Moat and then followed the posted walk known as the Heath Trail. This took us across the boggy areas on board walk and very quickly we found sundews growing in profusion – both Drosera rotundifolia and Drosera intermedia. There were also sand lizards basking on the planks of the board walk which scurried away if we dared too close with the cameras. Many damsel and dragon flies flew around us with some small unidentified butterflies. Away from the marshy ground, we climbed a little passing into the heather clad hills where the devastating fire of 2006 had wreaked havoc across the landscape. It is recovering, but the heathers still look dried and sere, with some brave new plants providing flashes of purple and green across the rise. There are charred trees sticking black fingers up to the sky and new shrubs looking bright and vigorous above the orange undergrowth and a colourful stonechat was spotted.
Away in the distance we could see the belted Galloway cattle that have been introduced as grazers to maintain the heathland. There is a problem that shrubs and trees self seed, changing the heath landscape if these are not controlled. The heathlands provide much needed habitat for the diverse fauna and flora that live there. The UK has 20% of the world’s total heathland habitat. But what we have left today is less than 20% of that which existed in the UK 200 years ago. Lowland heathland is an open landscape generally found in poor, acid sandy soils less than 300 metres above sea level. It usually contains dwarf shrubs of the heather family, notably ling (Calluna vulgaris), bell heather (Erica cinerea), cross-leaved heath (Erica tetralix) and bilberry. However the term ‘heathland’ can also be used to describe a type of landscape, which may include areas of gorse, bracken, acidic grassland, valley bogs, bare sandy or peaty ground, scattered trees and shrubs and open water habitats. (Surrey CC)
As we completed our circular walk we came to the Moat Pond where we found some waterlilies growing near the edge. We discovered that the name Thursley comes from the "sacred grove of Thunor". (Thunor being the Anglo-Saxon equivalent of the Norse god Thor.)