Tower and Town, June 2020 (view the full edition)Marlborough College Nature TrailAfter three months of lockdown, many Marlborough folk will already be very familiar with Granham Hill and the beautiful views over the town and far away towards Four Mile Clump and Barbury Castle. Less well-known is the College Nature Trail, much of which is accessible to the public (please note that the sections numbered 1-9 and 37-40 are not accessible to the public). Especially beautiful at this time of year, the well-marked trail leads you through various habitats including the lush water meadows of the river valley, semi-ancient oak woodland, wildflower-rich downland and a shady beech wood. The trail, which takes about an hour to walk around, is indicated by 40 numbered posts, the majority of which mark different tree species. Using the map below, you can pick up the trail at various locations but the most obvious is the footbridge leading to Preshute Church where you will find Number 10. Children will enjoy the challenge of following the route using the numbered posts and arrows which indicate the direction to take. Adults can test their knowledge of trees by identifying those numbered 11-24 and 26-35. Another challenge is to find some of the thirty nest boxes, all of which are located close to the trail. These boxes are checked on a weekly basis; at present half of them contain Great Tit nests, nine are occupied by Blue Tits and one by a Nuthatch. The record number of eggs this year is 13 (Blue Tit) and the first chicks (eight Great Tits) were found on May 4th. In the next few weeks, the adult birds will be extremely busy delivering food to their insatiable offspring. If you pause in the vicinity of a nest box, it shouldn't be long before you see an adult delivering a tasty morsel.  Marlborough College Nature Trail  Looking east through the beech wood at the top of Granham Hill  Heading South-West up the path to get onto Granham Hill past tree number 24 (oak) Seán Dempster |