Walk 22nd February 2017 Norbury Park - Polesden Farm - Fox cottages

Start point:- TQ151548
Distance:- 13.90 km; 8.64 miles
Time taken:- 2 hours 55 minutes
Route:-

Youngs St (Top) CP - Admiral's Road - Connicut Lane - Preserve Copse - Polesden Farm - Fox Cottages - Bagden Farm - Chapelhill Wood - Chapel Wood - Crabtree Cottages - Bookham Wood - Denshire Hill - CP

The National trust has started work to restore field just before reaching Bagden Farm to original Chalk grassland.

Calcareous grassland is an ecosystem associated with thin basic soil, such as that on chalk and limestone downland. Plants on calcareous grassland are typically short and hardy, and include grasses and herbs such as clover. Calcareous grassland is an important habitat for insects, particularly butterflies, and is kept at a plagioclimax by grazing animals, usually sheep and sometimes cattle. Rabbits used to play a part but due to the onset of myxomatosis their numbers decreased so dramatically that they no longer have much of a grazing effect.

It existed for hundreds possibly thousands of years and is a very rich grassland.
Ancient chalk grassland is now very rare. In the last sixty years, it is estimated that 80% of chalk grassland in Britain has been lost. There is estimated to be about 40,000 hectares of chalk grassland left in Britain today, which may represent about half the chalk grassland in the world.
Chalk grasslands support an incredibly rich and diverse flora. Originally created when the woodlands were cleared, this grassland now relies on grazing and cutting to maintain biodiversity. The thin, lime-rich soils of this grassland habitat are derived from the underlying chalk or limestone rocks, and attract plants that don't grow in other soils. Home to many beautiful orchids and wildflowers, and the insects they attract including rare blue butterflies, chalk grasslands have been in decline in the UK for the last 50 years. The best examples are found in Wiltshire, Dorset and the South Downs.

http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife/habitats/lowland-calcareous-grassland