Forest Church has been out of action for some time. I considered it was a good time to plan for one and get it going again in the local area.
It all started with news of a Firecrest (Regulus ignicapillus – written about before here) in the churchyard at St Mary’s Worplesdon. The news of the invidual came via the birding grapevine.
The day was blustery and damp back in May. I had some time at the end of a job so I headed up to see if I could see or hear any sign of it. I am not familiar with the firecrest call but I know the goldcrest (Regulus regulus) song and thought I could probably detect the difference. I wasn’t disappointed. There was one calling in the holly (Ilex aquifolium). The hardest thing is actually trying to locate them when heard as they are one of our smallest British Birds along with the goldcrest. I detected movement in the trees near the holly and eventually had a good sighting through my binoculars.
During the walk around the churchyard was when the urge to do Forest Church came back to me. I have done one in the churchyard before and thought it was a good place to do it again. In the end I decided on a route which included both the churchyard, the adjacent field and Whitmoor Common.
Before the actual event I usually check out the place for interesting features, things that catch my eye which include flora, fauna and landscape. The idea of moving through three different habitats appealed to me and a linear route came into being. The route was along down along then up and then the same in reverse. A view in the middle of the walk was to be a central stopping place.
On another rather blustery wet day, a friend and I went out to follow the route. Even though the conditions weren’t favourable it was exhilarating in the wind. A lone Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) was circling under some tall silver birch (Betula pendula) on the hillside where it was more sheltered. A nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus) called through the woodland below us and a woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) flew low over our heads trying to avoid buffeting from the wind. This reconnaissance and the previous one clinched it for me and I was more convinced than ever that this was the route.
After a couple more checks including the week before the main event I was ready. The penultimate walk was disappointing in as far as no nightjar was present. It had been a rather wet day and the sun hadn’t come out until the evening. (At home I discovered that they migrate in late June early July so I thought that was it). Prior to that, I had three really good sightings. One on a dead tree which is not something I have seen much of. The individual was very obliging and I stayed around enjoying it for around fifteen minutes. On the way back I saw two flying together near where there is a crossroads, again not something I have witnessed often as far as nightjars are corcerned.
The day came for the actual event. The forecast looked good and it didn’t disappoint. It was the evening of the England v Ukraine quarter final for the European Cup. Nine people including myself had initially signed up but 5 in the end had to pull out for health reasons. The car park was empty when I arrived and a party was going on loudly nearby as pop music blared out on the still air. A kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) glided over me as I waited and an anxious great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopus major) chip-chipped at the top of a tall dead branch in the background.
The three other participants turned up in reasonable good time. We started with the welcome prayer which we have often used in the past at Forest Church. Not having done it for a while it was a little confusing! We went through it twice as two of the walkers present hadn’t done it before. The prayer is based on some writing by David Adam from his book Encompassing God. The prayer goes like this:
Christ before me (face east with arms out in welcome),
Christ to my right (face south with arms out in welcome),
Christ behind me (face west with arms out in welcome),
Christ to my left (face north with arms out in welcome),
Christ above me (reach arms above head stretched out),
Christ beneath me (squat down or bend over with arms out and finish with)
Christ within me (standing up and placing hands over one’s heart).
After some short instructions about looking out for roots and overhanging branches and covid aware safety we headed off along the main path of the churchyard.
A couple of questions were suggested to reflect on out loud with each other or for quiet inward thought. One on how nature had helped us through the last year and how the Bible had spoken to us in any way as well. Also to consider what we had lost and what we had gained.
Not long into the walk we began to engage with what we were seeing and had some conversation about some of the species such as the monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana), other trees and a delightful stand of mainly white but also pink foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea).
Photo by Petr Ganaj on Pexels.com
The path that leads out of the churchyard, has a place where you can look towards a gap in the trees round the perimeter and enjoy a view towards Guildford cathedral and The Hog’s Back (the colloquial name for a feature of the landscape which the A31 traverses).
The churchyard path opens out onto a grassy field where I read to everyone two poems whilst carefully walking backwards:
The Bright Field by R S Thomas
I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the
pearl of great price, the one field that had
treasure in it. I realise now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying
on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.
and
Consider the lilies of the field by Christina Rossetti
Flowers preach to us if we will hear:–
The rose saith in the dewy morn,
I am most fair;
Yet all my loveliness is born
Upon a thorn.
The poppy saith amid the corn:
Let but my scarlet head appear
And I am held in scorn;
Yet juice of subtle virtue lies
Within my cup of curious dyes.
The lilies say: Behold how we
Preach without words of purity.
The violets whisper from the shade
Which their own leaves have made:
Men scent our fragrance on the air,
Yet take no heed
Of humble lessons we would read.
But not alone the fairest flowers:
The merest grass
Along the roadside where we pass,
Lichen and moss and sturdy weed,
Tell of His love who sends the dew,
The rain and sunshine too,
To nourish one small seed.
After finishing the poetry we were treated to a roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) leaping over and through the long grass about 5m away. We paused to admire the tall and broad incongruous London Plane (Platanus x acerifolia, syn. P. hispanica) as it stands alone by the path in the middle of the field. Two kestrel’s flew out from the trees around the edge of the field and headed towards the edge of the church yard. A song thrush (Turdus philomelos) sang in the background.
We began to head gradually up Jordan Hill, the highest part of Whitmoor Common at 50m above sea level. The strong smell of bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) increased as we went higher. The trees thinned out as we reached the top where it opened out to a view towards the west. The sun was not quite ready to set. On reaching the top we spent around half and hour just enjoying the sunset, listening to the quiet and the occasional stonechat (Saxicola torquata) and roding woodcock. The latter bird we could see circling around the treetops in the distance. At one point two came low over near to where we were standing. More often than not we heard its raspy whistle before seeing it. On a previous visit I had heard one croaking as it passed over.
I read out a portion of Psalm 24 and 148 as they both were appropriate to what we were seeing. It was good to remind ourselves of The Creator’s presence as we participated with creation in His praise.
We talked about some of the birds we were hearing and of one I wasn’t hopeful in hearing which was the nightjar as I honestly thought it had migrated. Five or ten minutes after saying this one started churring behind us quite close. We cupped our ears with our hands which brought the sound much closer to our attention. I thought maybe we could get closer so we slowly started to move towards it. I spoke about waving a clean white handkerchief in the past – not a good idea in these days of Covid! In the meantime the individual had stopped and moved without us knowing as it started churring in the opposite direction to where we were headed! So we headed towards the sound. As we drew close it stopped again and then it flew over the path from the opposite side to where we were looking. Very exciting!
As the sun had set I suggested we make our way back in the twilight to make it back in good time. A harsh cry came from behind us as we left, we turned to see a grey heron (Ardea cinerea) flying low over the trees in a hunched up manner. We began to look out for bats and detect their sound with the bat detector. They were flying high up in amongst the silver birch. The other participants were rather taken with their presence and needed to be urged to move on.
The last part of the walk back towards the field was spent in relative silence. On reaching the churchyard path we heard the sound I had mentioned to them on the journey out. The sound was a less developed sound than that of the clip here. There was a young tawny owl calling. We couldn’t locate the sound very easily. In the end we came off the path. I shone my headlamp into the trees and where the light glinted off the owl’s eyes. I beckoned them all over and pointed and everyone saw the bird.
It had been a delightful evening everyone was really happy and said it had been really special. We ended by saying a prayer together which is a leader and follower response prayer; everyone could join in using the phrase Scatter us God pretending we were sowing seeds. This prayer comes from Worship in the Woods by Sam and Sara Hargreaves.
The evening was underlined when we found out that England had beaten Ukraine 4-0 in the European Cup!