Burley walks - New Forest
Check out these great Burley walks.
All can be started from Burley village centre and they are therefore convenient for users of local bus services including, in season, New Forest Tour buses. They also pass close to, or through, Forestry Commission or other car parks situated on, or near, the main walk routes, which provide convenient alternative start points.
The walks are of broadly similar length - 3 to 3½ miles (around 4.8 to 5.5 kilometres), excluding the distance from the village centre to the main start points. There are no really steep gradients, and few stiles over which to climb.
Please note: Charges apply for use of the car park near the Queens Head in Burley village centre. Free parking is, however, available in Forestry Commission car parks.
The walks
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Silver-washed fritillary butterflies brighten many woodland rides.
Bird song subsides as the annual moult begins - old worn feathers are cast off and new replacements grown.
Wild gladiolus plants bloom. (In the UK, this species is found only in the New Forest).
Dragonflies and Damselflies take to the wing in ever increasing numbers.
August
Heather blossom produces huge swathes of heathland colour, adding to the pinks and purples of earlier flowering cross-leaved heath and bell heather.
Fallow, red and sika deer antlers, when fully grown, are cleaned of velvet in preparation for the autumn rut.
New Forest pony drifts - the annual round-ups - begin.
Marsh gentian blooms add splashes of blue to some of the wetter heathlands.
Sadly, 58 animals were killed - 35 ponies, 13 cows, 8 donkeys and 2 sheep, whilst a further 32 were injured - 3 pigs, 9 donkeys, 11 cows and 9 ponies.
(Forty-three accidents occurred in daylight, 15 at twilight and 101 in the dark. Twenty-seven accidents were not reported by the driver involved).
Here's just one horrific example - Three donkeys killed in collision with van at notorious New Forest blackspot (Advertiser and Times)