With a lot of poor weather from May to August we have done much less walking than usual. With a clear blue sky this morning Mrs Oregano and I decided to go on a downland walk. I duly got out my 1:25 000 OS map and searched for a walk in a new area. We settled on a promising loop (about 8 km) in the Hampshire Downs at Upton near Hurstbourne Tarrant.

The loop is to the south and west of Upton and rises up to an elevation of 230 metres. The walk alternated between going through fields and woods. On the upward leg we disturbed numerous pheasants (actually for the rest of the walk too!). They are bred and fed in order to be shot later. I have nothing against shooting game - actually enjoy eating most game - but the number of pheasants we saw today was obscene and absolutely unnatural.

A highlight was coming across a slow worm basking on stones on our path. I have never seen such a big one (not seen many anyway!) but it was at least 25 cm maybe 30 cm long. It was aware of us and moved its head but was obviously content soaking up the sun. In East Hants in my childhood sandy glades in the woods were always at risk of being places where adders would sunbathe too. If the slow worm was snoozing it was living dangerously. I know buzzards are partial to a slow worm (or even an adder) and there were plenty out soaring today. Sadly my digital camera developed a fault a week or so ago so I can offer no photo

Our walk took 2 hours and the amazing thing was that after 45 minutes we did not see any house or sign of civilisation for a further hour. OK, we walked on about 300 metres of single track metalled road. It was unbelievably peaceful apart from panicking pheasants. There was frequently the cry of buzzards and we saw up to three at a time.

I always used to think that mid September was the beginning of the blackberry season. In our lane at home blackberries have been ripening since the second week of August. There were a lot of blackberries to be seen today but many were past their best.

Now we are reminding ourselves of our holiday in Portugal with a glass of vinho verde!