#ewellspring

Just had my first AstraZeneca vaccine! Did not expect it so soon. Full marks to the NHS and to Fitznells Manor surgery. The set up with an outside 'marquee' was so impressive with places to sit and wait and 8 vaccine stations and they are ahead of targets (why I was so surprised to get the text to book an appointment 2 days ago!). It was a nice walk by the river Hogsmill to get to the surgery. Since I was a tad early I paused by the 'upper mill pond' stretch to see a Kingfisher dive into the water and catch a fish! It felt like such a symbol, with spring on the way and the vaccine programme rolling out. This second lockdown has been so disheartening at times, not helped by the dull and damp weather that dominated since early November in the SE. I have always believed in George Bernard Shaw's quote .... Life is no Brief Candle but a Splendid Torch. At times recently it has felt like a flittering candle .... now it feels like that torch is slowly starting to burn bright again! #fitznellsmanorsurgery #ewell #ewellspring #hogsmillriver #astrazenecavaccine #kingfisher #kevthenatureguide (at Ewell) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLgzlbSD62N/?igshid=1kqzonkwud4wy

Bourne Hall in autumn. Have the Martians landed!? Ewell may be part of the outer suburbs of the London sprawl, but the village is very old. Henry VIII built Nonsuch Palace nearby that the mistress of Charles II let go into ruin with gambling debts. Ewell is a Saxon name for well/spring. Stane street, the Roman road from London to Chichester first headed to the spring. The Celts were here and probably a human presence much earlier with the spring that provides water year round (hunters at the end of the ice age?). Named after the original Bourne Hall on the site (the country house/estate in Ewell next to thespring and the start of the Hogsmill river), this early 70's building includes a library, function rooms and a dance floor and looks like a space ship or flying saucer that has landed. With the look of the place, and the history, it would be a great location for a Doctor Who episode! #Ewell #ewellspring #BourneHall #hogsmillriver #hogsmill #kevthenatureguide #spaceship #flyingsaucer #drwho (at Bourne Hall Ewell) https://www.instagram.com/p/CG4zVHIjtLL/?igshid=a7wr2utcrah8

With recent wet and windy conditions the trees are starting to lose their leaves. Winter is coming. #ewellspring #Ewell #hogsmillriver #kevthenatureguide (at Ewell Springs) https://www.instagram.com/p/CG0Gi4cDaYi/?igshid=1veykmi8cbgtr

Cycled the whole length of the Hogsmill from Ewell Spring to Kingston and back. I know it well and it may only be 6 miles, but it is the first time I have been along the whole length. Ewell spring was where the main Roman Road from London (Stane Street) headed to before continuing, SW, to Chichester. And Kingston, where the Hogsmill joined the Thames, was where various Saxon Kings were crowned. As a kid young kid I used to explore the river and used to wade along the river under the short tunnel under the railway at Ewell, trying to catch fishike Stone Loach and Gudgeon and imagining I was on some big adventure going through the tunnel. Now there is a wooden boatdwalk through the tunnel, but you could say my urge to explore started on the Hogsmill. It has just taken c55 years to do the whole length! I do wonder what words of wisdom I would give if I came across 7 year old me paddling in the river! Over the years the river was polluted and controlled with concrete banks. But they have put back rapids and eddies, the water qualty is much better (and good numbers of Chub under the 11th century Clattern bridge in Kingston, and they are just about to reintroduce Water Voles! #hogsmill #hogsmillriver #hogsmillnaturereserve #ewellspring #kingston #hogsmillopenspace #clatternbridge #hogsmillsteppi gstones #watervoles #stanestreet #kevthenatureguide (at Hogsmill Riverside) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFai30oDOva/?igshid=idw7lwjkbrye

My small local river, the Hogsmill. The spring is in Ewell (from the Saxon 'Aewiell') on the edge of the chalk downs. The river heads through the London clay to the Thames at Kingston. The Kingstown where Saxon Kings were crowned. #hogsmillnaturereserve #ewell #ewellspring #kevthenatureguide (at Hogsmill River Stepping Stones) https://www.instagram.com/p/CBXmBZMDoCK/?igshid=1fjdq2e8shboq

On my walk around my nearest green space, the Hogsmill river, came across these two Canada Geese holding up traffic near the spring in Ewell where the road croses the start of the Hogsmill. Normally it is far too busy for them to do this. This is the road to Chessington and in the 1930s, before suburbia reached Ewell, it was a ford. #ewellspring #hogsmillnaturereserve #naturalexplorer https://www.instagram.com/p/B-H0sDADh2y/?igshid=cskx6dsozhu9

Bourne Hall, built in the early 70's, looks like a spaceship had landed at the spring in Ewell. The original hall goes back to c1770 and Ewell has been around long before suburbia. Henry VIII built Nonsuch Palace nearby. Where the Hogsmill came out on the Thames at Kingston, there was a stone where Saxon Kings were crowned. The Roman road from London goes to the spring and there is evidence of Bronze Age settlement. And since the spring flows out of the downs (Epsom Downs of the original 'Derby' horse race), I guess people were here at the end of the ice age, sharing it with bears, lynx and wolves! #BourneHall #Ewell #naturalexplorer #hogsmillnaturereserve #ewellspring https://www.instagram.com/p/B-FdhP2DSNa/?igshid=1g1gkosxp0bl1