BEDFORDSHIRE
MAX MILES ON FOOT: 2 MIN TIME : 3 HOURS
Search for migrants on the Chiltern Hills
Totternhoe Knolls is on a northern outcrop of the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, overlooking checkerboard arable farmland of the Vale of Aylesbury to the west. Chalk deposits have been extensively quarried down the centuries and provide suitable bare slopes for a myriad of calcareous-loving flowering plants and herbs, typically orchids and their associated insects, including the Duke of Burgundy butterfly. The county Wildlife and National Trusts are both involved in managing the Knolls, while a Beech hanger, arable farmland, paddocks, hedgerows and green lanes all provide a diversity of habitats suitable for both resident and spring migrants.
WHERE TO WATCH
1 Open arable farmland still supports a few Sky Lark, Meadow Pipit, Grey and Red-legged Partridges and Corn Bunting, along with a slim chance of a Yellow Wagtail in spring around the field margins, plus a few Wheatears or a Whinchat or Stonechat on passage. The likes of Bullfinch, Linnet, Yellowhammer, Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroats frequent surrounding hedgerows in summer. Check the fields during ploughing operations for passing Lapwings, gulls, pigeons, doves and corvids coming down to feed, when often Red Kite and Buzzard are present. Kestrel and Sparrowhawk hunt open country and scrub respectively.
2 The track skirts a patch of woodland where Blackcap and Chiffchaff are commonplace in the breeding season, and where Buzzard and Sparrowhawk are often seen. Scan trees around the old quarry margin for a chance of a summering Turtle Dove, Cuckoo or Hobby. The barley fields in this area have been good for Quail in the past.
3 Scattered Hawthorn scrub on the old quarry site supports a few pairs of nesting Linnet, Bullfinch, Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat, and Willow Warbler. A good spot to observe visible migration in spring and autumn, affording scope views along the Chiltern Hills, where Raven and Peregrine can often be seen. In summer, the sheep grazed slopes are covered with wild flowers with their unique supporting cast of insects, including numerous chalk downland butterflies.
4 Check the scrub around the car park in spring for Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroa
