Thursley Common

Thursley is a village and civil parish in southwest Surrey, west of the A3 between Milford and Hindhead. An associated hamlet is Bowlhead Green. To the east is Brook. In the south of the parish rises the Greensand Ridge, in this section reaching its escarpment near Punch Bowl Farm and the Devil's Punch Bowl, Hindhead.

South West Surrey is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Since 2005, the seat has been represented by Conservative MP Jeremy Hunt, the current chancellor of the Exchequer and the former Culture Secretary, Health Secretary and Foreign Secretary. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the constituency will be subject to major boundary changes. The western part of the seat, including the towns of Farnham and Haslemere and comprising the majority of the electorate, will be combined with parts of the District of East Hampshire, including the town of Bordon. As a consequence, it will be renamed Farnham and Bordon, to be first contested at the next general election. Godalming and the area of the North Downs to the south will be included in the newly created constituency of Godalming and Ash.

Thursley, Hankley and Frensham Commons is a 1,878.5-hectare (4,642-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Godalming in Surrey. Thursley and Hankley Commons are Nature Conservation Review sites, Grade I. An area of 115.1 hectares (284 acres) is a local nature reserve called The Flashes and an area of 180 hectares (440 acres) is the Elstead Group of Commons, a nature reserve managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust. Thursley Common is a national nature reserve. An area of 265.7 hectares (657 acres) is the Thursley & Ockley Bogs Ramsar site. The site is a Special Protection Area and part of the Thursley, Ash, Pirbright & Chobham Special Area of Conservation.This site is of national importance for its invertebrates, birds and reptiles. It is mainly heathland but the valley mire on Thursley Common is one of the best in the country. Orthoptera include the nationally rare large marsh grasshopper. The site is one of the richest in southern England for birds and of outstanding importance for reptiles, such as the nationally rare sand lizard.

Elstead is a civil parish in Surrey, England with shops, houses and cottages spanning the north and south sides of the River Wey; development is concentrated on two roads that meet at a central green. It includes Pot Common its southern neighbourhood. Hamlets in the parish, marginally separated from the village centre, are Charleshill and Elstead Common, both rich in woodland. Elstead lies between Farnham and Godalming on the B3001 road about 2.2 miles (3.6 km) west of the A3 Milford interchange.

Hankley Common is a 560-hectare (1,400-acre) nature reserve and filming location in the south-west of Elstead in Surrey. It is owned by the Ministry of Defence. The site is part of the Thursley, Hankley and Frensham Commons Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area and Site of Special Scientific Interest. The site has woodland and lowland heath with heather and gorse. Birds include nightjars and Dartford warblers and there are other fauna such as adders and common lizards.Access is subject to the needs of military training, with frequent training exercises and multiple buildings present.

Charleshill SSSI is a 10.1-hectare (25-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Elstead in Surrey. It is part of Thundry Meadows nature reserve, which is owned and managed by the Surrey Wildlife TrustThis site has wet and dry meadows with a very wet area which has quaking mire. The mire is dominated by bottle sedge, marsh cinquefoil and bog-bean, together with white sedge in the wettest part. There is also some wet woodland.There is access from Farnham Road.

Hankley Farm is a 2.4-hectare (5.9-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) west of Elstead in Surrey.This sandy arable field has been designated an SSSI because of its large population of a nationally endangered plant, red-tipped cudweed. This was formerly a common weed on arable fields, but it has been in sharp decline since the 1960s. The colonies in the site and neighbouring fields may represent as much as 50% of the British population.The site is private land with no public access.

Thundry Meadows is a 16-hectare (40-acre) nature reserve in Elstead in Surrey. It is managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust. Part of it is Charleshill Site of Special Scientific Interest.This site on the north bank of the River Wey grassland alder carr, wet and dry woodland, ditches and springs. The meadows are maintained by Belted Galloway cattle, providing suitable conditions for harvest mice. An unusual habitat is quaking mire, a mat of vegetation floating on liquid peat.There is access from Farnham Road.

Witley Park, formerly known as Lea Park, is an estate dating from the late 19th century between Godalming and Haslemere in Surrey, England. Its landscaped grounds include three artificial lakes, one of which conceals an underwater conservatory and smoking room. The mansion house, rebuilt for the swindler Whitaker Wright, was gutted by fire in October 1952 and the ruins were demolished in January 1954. In the early 21st century, a new house was built on the site. At its height, under Wright's ownership at the start of the 20th century, the estate covered 9,000 acres (36 km2; 14 sq mi). Following his death in 1904, it was sold and became increasingly fragmented. Much of Hindhead Common, Witley Common and Thursley Common was bought by local residents and presented to the National Trust in December 1905.

Elstead Group of Commons is a 180-hectare (440-acre) nature reserve east of Elstead in Surrey. It is composed of Royal, Elstead and Ockley Commons, which are owned by the Ministry of Defence and managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust, and Bagmoor Common, which is owned and managed by the Trust. The site is part of Thursley, Hankley and Frensham Commons Special Protection Area and Site of Special Scientific Interest.This site has heath, woodland and dry acid grassland, with scrub controlled by a herd of Belted Galloway cattle. It is important for saproxylic (dead wood eating) invertebrates, such as stag beetles. There are several ponds with a population of around a thousand toads.There is public access but the site is an active military training area.

Witley Military Camp, often simplified to Camp Witley, was a temporary army camp set up on Witley Common, Surrey, England during both the First and Second World Wars. The camp was about 40 mi (64 km) southwest of London.Camp Witley was one of three facilities in the Aldershot Command area established by the Canadian Army; the others being Bordon and Bramshott (nr. Liphook). Wilfred Owen penned a prelude to his ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ whilst stationed at the camp.Witley Camp was the headquarters of the Polish Resettlement Corps.

Witley Common is an area of woodland and heath, close to Witley, Surrey, in the United Kingdom. It is part of a much larger Site of Special Scientific Interest. The land has been occupied since the Bronze Age — it features ancient burial mounds which have been dated to this period. It has been used as common land by many generations over the centuries — particularly for grazing, turf-cutting and, during the 16th and 17th centuries, for iron workings. Witley Common again proved useful during the First and Second World Wars when the land was used by the army as a training camp (Witley Camp) with up to 20,000 soldiers based there at one point. In the late 1940s, it was gradually restored to its pre-war condition. Today it is managed by the National Trust, to provide a mixture of habitats for wildlife, with birch, oak and pine woodland, as well as open heathland. Birdlife includes nightjars and nightingales. The area is populated by many rare species and has a broad range of both deciduous and evergreen varieties of trees. The area is a water catchment for the upper reaches of the River Wey.