Common Collage

I enjoyed a sunny walk on Bookham Common this morning. It is beginning to look wintry. Up on the chalk downs the Surrey beeches still have some colour and they have been brilliant this year. But Bookham Common is on London clay where the oak trees flourish. They are not as glamorous as the beautiful beeches but their strength is impressive. It is said that oaks from Bookham Common built the ships that beat the Spanish Armada. Now the Common is a cherished National Trust site and an SSSI, with nightingales and purple emperor butterflies being amongst the species we treasure.
No one picture was right for a blip, but put together they sum up this special place.