. . . .
SATURDAY
DECEMBER 29 - 2018 - Warblington - Nore Barn
Report from
Fay Durant
A good number gathered for the first walk after
Christmas , eleven in all .
We parked by
Warblington church , walked through the church yard
and made our way to Nore Barn . The tide ,
unfortunately was well out .The first notable sighting
was a song thrush singing at the top of a tree in the
cemetery . Caroline saw a mistle thrush then most of
us had sightings of a green woodpecker flying onto a
tree , lovely flash of green . Then five red wing were
spotted resting at the top of a tree .
There were a number of
egrets in a field to the left and on the way back we
were delighted to see one cattle egret , Neil had seen
two earlier .
Looking over a gate to
the right Caroline heard sky larks and a flock of
lapwing flew over . Further on , we wandered up a
track to the left towards Emsworth but saw nothing of
note . Reaching the famous spotted red shank stream ,
there was no sign of the famous bird . The predominate
birds were Brent geese , a lone red shank , curlew
further over and , following the coastal walk ,
widgeon and shell duck . Walking through the woods ,
great and blue tit were spied .On the return journey ,
a seldom seen grey wagtail was spied in the stream .
Then, over to the right another group of red wing in a
tree . There were also plenty of collared doves in a
tree and on the ground , plus a moor hen and a couple
more red wing , keeping the egrets company .Several of
us went to check on a field below the cemetery for
curlews but found only two , whilst the others
discovered gold crests flitting between the yew trees
.Other birds seen were black bird , Robin , pied
wagtails , gold finch , green finch ,crows , rooks ,
starlings and a chaffinch .Just a few flowers : white
dead nettle , yarrow , gorse , dandelion , bristly
oxtongue and Tony spied a flower on the butchers broom
!A short walk but an enjoyable one with some nice
sightings , helped by Caroline's scope- thank you . A
Happy New Year to one and all .
The
Fox and the Harrier
Derek Mills
got these cracking images from the walk a week before
Christmas showing a Fox jumping to try to bring down a
Marsh Harrier that was mobbing it - it failed!
SATURDAY
December 8 2018 - Nutbourne
Tony Wootton
reported this morning's walk
9 of us met on a blustery morning, feeling cooler than
it actually was but nowhere near as cold as it could
be in early December. We were greeted with a sparrow
hawk and a few fieldfares were on the top of distant
high trees. They were the first any of us had seen
this winter. Off to the waters edge we went where
approx 50 avocets were waiting for us. They gave us
just enough time for all of us to get a good view then
they were off in the direction of Thorney battling
against the wind.
Also there were,
turnstones, dunlin, wigeon, brent and a solitary grey
plover. House sparrows in the hedge and ring plovers
in the field. No godwits or curlew.
We walked to Prinsted
and then back through the fields. Seeing very little
except a swarm of pale green thrip like flies and a
wasp. No woodpeckers nor raptors.No Ros or Dave meant
no plants except some late or second flowering
rape.
I have been out with
this group for 18 years and everytime we go on this
walk somebody always says "we always used to see snipe
here", well in 18 years I never have. Just as we got
back to the cars, eagled eyed Heather found us 3
snipe. Great excitement and a perfect end to the
walk.
SATURDAY
NOVEMBER 24 - 2018 - Chichester Gravel Pits
Fay Durant
reported on this morning's walk by the Havant Wildlife
Group
Six very gallant souls met at North Munden car park on
a wet , grey morning with limited visibility ! The
general consensus was that we would walk for an hour ,
having made the effort to meet and then return to the
shelter of our cars for coffee .Amazingly , with the
help of Diana we , in fact , saw quite a selection of
birds , small and water foul . The first espied was a
flock of tits and gold crests , quite a number of the
latter - these are becoming quite common ! Other small
birds were long-tailed tits , great and blue tits ,
dunnock , and Robin . Ros thought she heard a water
rail . Other birds on the water were numerous tufted
ducks , shovelers, Pochard , gadwall , coots, moorhen
, a number of herons , little egrets in the trees ,
swans and a large group of great crested grebe
.Limited flowers : oxeye daisies , daisies , white
dead nettle and ragwort .Well done to everyone who
attended , your support was much appreciated
.
SATURDAY
NOVEMBER 17 - 2018 - Walderton
Steph Dale
reported on today's walk . . .
We had a brilliant turnout today of 14 for our
circular walk from Walderton taking in Watergate Park
and Watergate Hanger. We had a cool grey start but the
sun soon came through to improve our views over the
autumn countryside. While standing in the parking area
we saw goldfinches, dunnocks, robins and chaffinches
in the nearby horses' field. On the little path to
Cooks Lane, we saw some pretty pink musk mallow and
white deadnettle.
Further on Caroline
spotted a red kite and we had a lovely view of it
circling around. Along the bridleway bordered by
hedges we saw yellowhammers, chaffinches and a meadow
pipit. Later on we saw and heard 2 ravens.
At our coffee
break we noticed dead man's fingers fungus growing on
an old beech branch.
We later took a bit of
a detour along the top of Watergate Hanger and were
rewarded with sightings of great tits, marsh tits,
buzzards and 7 fallow deer. The latter came out of the
woods and headed across the fields in front of us,
except for two which froze and then retraced their
steps into the hanger. Some of the group were able to
watch a treecreeper. After that we saw several
lapwings sweeping overhead. As we approached the
parking area we saw long tailed tits near the dry
watercourse of the River Ems.
Photos are courtesy of Sue. Thanks to all for your
company and expertise.
SATURDAY
NOVEMBER 10 - 2018 - The Witterings
Tony Wootton
reported on the walk:
What a nasty night last Friday was, which I suspect is
why our numbers were down this morning. But what a
morning the 5 of us had, one of those brilliant
mornings which will never be forgotten.
We set off down Eleanor Lane in a warm breeze and
lovely sunshine to be greeted by a green woodpecker
sat upright on top of a post looking for all the world
like an extension to the post, you had to look hard to
spot it.
We could hear longtails and blue tits but initially
couldn't see them. Then in the space of about a
hundred yards, with hedges on either side, not only
did we find them but also 15, yes 15, goldcrests. They
were spread out along both sides of the lane and
feeding happily. We could only guess that the warm sun
had brought out many insects after last night's awful
wind and rain.
Down to the water we went, passing 3 red admirals on
the way. There we found heron, little egret, 4 great
crested, dunlin, shelduck, redshank, black tailed
godwits, brent, curlew and a flotilla of 20 red
breasted merganser.
The big surprise though was a SWIFT. It passed over us
3 times in a 10 minute spell.
After a well earned coffee break we carried on,
continuing to see lots of species including,
goldfinch, greenfinch, cormorant, grey plover,
lapwing, mallard, teal, greenshank, robin, crow
magpie, starlings, woodpigeon, jackdaw, male and
female pheasant. Then while we were talking to a lady
who was walking the whole of the UK visiting every
lifeboat station a flock of 17 curlew flew over in
tight formation never to be seen again.
Plants courtesy of Ros were, wild parsnip, dandelion,
ivy, butchers broom, bristly oxtongue, smooth sow
thistle, white deadnettle, angelica, ragwort, daisy,
gorse, mayweed, catsear, alder catkins, yarrow,
hogweed and hawkweed. What a morning !
SATURDAY
November 3- 2018 - Staunton Country Park
Ros Norton
reports on this morning's walk
A group of 9 met at the Havant Thicket car park at
Rowlands Castle on a lovely sunny morning. We started
going west along a path north of Gipsies Plain (the
large fields planned to form part of a new reservoir
in the future) . We saw long tailed tits but came to a
barrier where there used to be a path leading to the
Avenue and retraced our steps. We then went along a
path through the centre of the fields and saw and
heard many skylarks, some stonechats and a buzzard. We
met up with The Avenue and went south to a large
curved carved seat for out coffee stop.
We then went around the main lake seeing a heron,
mallards, coots and moorhens. We then went back along
a path joining up with the Staunton Way back to car
park and saw a speckled wood butterfly on a path near
the car park.
Flowers were scarce but included marsh thistle,
creeping buttercup, hawkweed, catsear, butchers broom,
ragwort, smooth thistle and dandelion.
Birds not mentioned above included green and greater
spotted woodpeckers, robins and pied wagtail. A grey
squirrel was the only wild mammal. An absence of fungi
was likely due to weather conditions recently.
SATURDAY
OCTOBER 27 - 2018 - Langstone
Ros Norton
reports on this morning's walk
On a cold and frosty but sunny morning a group of 8
met at Langstone for a walk to South Moors and Budds
Mound. On an old wall in Mill lane we saw hartstongue
and rustyback ferns. A green woodpecker was on a pole.
We walked south along the Langbrook stream to the
shore and west along the path towards Budds Mound.
There were many birds feeding around the waters edge
including many brent geese. Other birds included
wigeon, oystercatchers, redshank, curlew, godwits,
dunlin, grey plovers, little egrets, little grebe,
black headed and herring gulls and red breasted
mergansers. Blue and long tailed tits were around the
bushes.
We walked up Budds Mound for a view over the pools
where we saw teal, shovellers, herons, little egrets,
tufted ducks mallards and coots. During the coffee
break we saw more birds feeding at entrance to
Hermitage and Brockhampton streams. retracing our
steps a dunnock was along a fence, a pied wagtail on
the ground and a kestrel on top of a tall pole.
We visited Langstone Mill pond where mallards, coots,
moorhens, herons, teal and little egrets . Other birds
seen today included woodpigeons, crows, blackbirds and
magpies.
Flowers were few but included Michaelmas daisy,
yarrow, bristly oxtongue, ragwort, dog rose and golden
samphire.
A few rabbits were seen in the fields.
SATURDAY
OCTOBER 19 - 2018 - Petworth Park
Steph Dale
reported on this morning's walk by the Havant Wildlife
Group
A
happy group of 9 of us met in the Petworth Park car
park on a lovely warm sunny autumn morning to see the
fallow deer rut. Initially we saw some groups of does
with one or two accompanying stags and heard a little
of the bellowing made by stags but later, after our
coffee break, we walked along another valley and saw
more dramatic behaviour with stags being displaced
from their harems by more aggressive stags. We watched
one group for some time as they were quite close to
us.
Further
on we saw a large group of deer under a stand of
trees. This group seemed to contain as many stags as
does and it was a very dynamic situation with pairs of
stags fighting, clashing antlers and then carrying out
the parallel walk. Often there was more than one pair
clashing at a time so it was fascinating to
watch.
There
was a lot of noisy bellowing from the stags.
Having
now read the information on the British Deer Society
website I think that this latter group were a 'lek'.
See . . . https://www.bds.org.uk/index.php/advice-education/species/fallow-deer
The colour variation in the deer's coats was marked
ranging from dark to very pale (almost white), with
others having the expected golden coat with pale
spots.
We
talked about delayed implantation which occurs in roe
deer to avoid the fawns being born in the winter. See
. . . https://www.bds.org.uk/index.php/advice-education/species/roe-deer
Our
coffee break was spent sitting in hot sunshine on
stone benches on top of the boathouse overlooking the
large lake. From this vantage point we saw, on the
water, Canada geese, greylag geese, pochards, tufted
ducks, coots, mallard and gadwalls. Several Egyptian
geese flew over as did cormorants. Elsewhere on our
walk we saw a large flock of goldfinches, great tits,
jays, a kestrel, meadow pipits and Caroline drew our
attention to the song of the woodlark.
We all enjoyed our walk on a beautiful sunny autumn
morning. Thank you all for your company. The lovely
pictures are courtesy of Tony W.
SATURDAY
13 October 2018 - Warsash
Valerie Mitchell
reported on this morning's walk. A group of 8 met at
Warsash car park just as the rain was clearing
We walked North along
Solent Way and watched a swift, we soon spotted
curlews, black tailed godwits feeding at low tide on
the river Hamble. The varied habitat on both sides of
the path meant we saw many birds, some quite close,
grey and ringed plovers, red and green shanks,
pippits, turnstones, dunlins, cormorants, swans and
gulls( one catching a crab) and on the East side
flocks of widgeon, teal, lapwings, about 10 herons and
many egrets, pied wagtails,and a kingfisher. Buzzards,
jays, kestrel and stock doves were seen overhead or
perched on dying trees.
On returning from the
Marina, we spotted the kingfisher again and as the sun
broke through at 2.5 hours before high tide, a
wonderful flock of 50 -60 golden plover landed, at the
reserve area, in lovely formation along the water's
edge, looking like shiny jewels- a real highlight of
the day.
A lone clouded yellow
and red admiral butterflies were also seen towards the
end of an enjoyable walk. Photos attached, thank you
Derek.
SATURDAY
6 October 2018 - Stansted Forest
Helen Penfold
reported on this morning's walk
Six of us met this morning at the Rowlands Castle end
of Stansted forest and we were pleased to have done
the first half of our walk, across the fields,
northwards, before it started to rain.
As we walked into the woodland, we were greeted by a
flock of long tailed tits, flying between the hawthorn
bushes. There were also several great tits and long
tailed tits in the bushes and we cold hear a nuthatch
but couldn't see it.
We then retraced our steps and took the path at the
edge of the woods, leading to the path across the
fields, where we were pleased to find a mass of
wildflowers, including black and greater knapweed,
dark mullein, wild basil, wild marjoram, toad flax,
field scabious, meadow vetchling, ladies bedstraw,
crosswort, red shank, wild parsnip, hedge mustard, red
clover, ragwort, hog weed, creeping and musk thistles,
red clover and white dead nettle.
A single deer was well camouflaged against the hedge
in the next field, but we had good views of it as it
ran further away.
By the time we reached the far side of the fields, it
was definitely raining and we were glad to take
shelter in the forest, walking over a carpet of beech
mast and sweet chestnuts. We didn't see may more birds
or flowers but we did see a whole variety of wonderful
fungi, of all shapes and sizes, including puff balls.
Ros thought that we did definitely see Coprinus
comatus, shaggy ink cap or lawyer's wig, but we were
less sure of the identity of many of the others. We
did look for the Earth stars where we had seen them
last year, but we couldn't find any.
A rather wet, but nevertheless an enjoyable
morning.
SATURDAY
29 September 2018 - Nutbourne
Heather Mills
reported on the walk
13 met this fine and sunny morning to venture around
the shores of Nutbourne. A first sighting was a
lonesome Swallow on a telephone wire as we parked up.
It was not in a hurry to move off and did not appear
to have any other birds about to accompany it.
A Stonechat hopped
onto the reed tops in the field adjoining the footpath
and plenty of House Sparrows sunned themselves in the
Hawthorn bushes. We looked for Yellow wagtails in
amongst the Belted Galloways that had several calves
with them, but did not locate any.
At the edge of the
footpath overlooking the rising tide we were pleased
to see a good gathering of Curlews and a few Whimbrel
which called later to help distinguish them from the
Curlews. Several Oystercatchers and Black Tailed
Godwits easily seen. A pair of Mute swans dabbled and
2 very dark signets close by. Caroline pointed out a
Common Gull. 6 Great Crested Grebes swam in the
channel. Proceeding in a westerly direction we
encountered a good number of Willow/Chiffchaff. A Reed
Bunting made an appearance and a Song Thrush.
A Great Spotted
Woodpecker also made his presence known. Close in
shore we had good views of at least 6 Ringed Plover
and a few Dunlin. One lone Grey Plover in changing
plumage from its summer coat was noted. However, there
were no Redshank to be seen. A dozen or so Turnstone
sheltered underneath one of the sailing boats. The
smartest bird on the block for many were the Whinchats
together with Stonechats. A male Kestrel looked very
noticeable perched on a dead branch, whilst the female
hunted in front of the group. In the distant field
could be seen 4 Roe deer, of which 2 gave good views
when we made our return later on. We made our way to
the seating area after really close views of the
Whinchat that had decided to come up onto the
footpath edge.
Outside the
scout hut we enjoyed our break. Looking South and over
towards Thorney in the hope of any of the 3 reported
Short eared owls, we had a welcome surprise of an
Osprey constantly hovering and dropping its talons
whilst in flight. Although it was very distant and the
markings were not fully discernible with certainty, we
think it could have been a juvenile. We retraced our
steps and saw 6 or 7 Meadow Pipits in the pony
field.
A few usual plants in
flower mainly White Deadnettle, Mallow, Red Valerian
and later a field of Yarrow with pink tinges, where a
flock of about a dozen Red legged Partridge trotted
out and flew off. Dave had a male Common Darter
attracted to his sun hat and we had views of 2 mating
close by. Others saw a Hawker not identified.
A good morning with
plenty of interest.
SATURDAY
22 September 2018 - Baffins Pond
Heather Mills
reports on the walk:
Three intrepid souls set off on a grey , damp morning
to walk round Baffins pond , then around the field to
Milton foreshore , around the lakes and back to the
car park . There were the usual cormorants on the pond
, some drying their wings and looking very impressive
. Numerous tufted ducks , mallard mixtures , coots ,
moorhens , a pair of swans and one white duck swimming
around and then , suddenly , a large fish jumped right
up in the air , very dramatic ! Walking round the
field , a large group of sparrows flew through the
bushes and on some feeders , great tits and blue tits
, pus long tails flying over .
The tide was in so
little to see out to sea but on the lakes were the
usual mixture of birds plus little grebes and one
gadwall . Cetti's Warblers were heard and numerous
robins ; Sue saw a kestrel . The highlight of the
morning was the numerous flowers : common mallow ,
bristly oxtongue , smooth sow- thistle , hawkweed
oxtongue , ragwort, , common fleabane , great willow
herb, greater bindweed, field bindweed , hemp agrimony
, oxeye daisy , a large low patch of mayweed , wheld ,
bird's foot trefoil , purple loosestrife, groundsel ,
wild parsnip , greater knapweed , red clover , spear
thistle , spurge , wild carrot etc . Of particular
note was : tansy , with aromatic leaves , black
horehound , vervain , covering a gravel area with low
growing plants , chicory , buck's-horn plantain ,
white melilot , viper's- bugloss and orache . Thanks ,
indeed , must go to Ros . The photographs supplied by
Sue , again , many thanks .A very worthwhile morning ,
inspite of the weather ! Thanks to my companions , Fay
.
SATURDAY
8 September 2018 - Pagham
Heather Mills
reported on the walk.
7 met this morning with slight drizzle and cloud which
did not last very long. Derek was taking the photo.
A Great Spotted
woodpecker called as it headed over us to the south
and another one was seen soon afterwards. As we headed
to the new hide a large flock of 40 plus Goldfinch
circled above. The highlight at the hide was a Little
Stint avidly feeding at some distance but eventually
gave better views through the scope.
Black-tailed Godwits
probed the pool around the edges and a Kestrel spooked
a flock of Lapwing into the air. A large flock of
Starlings swirled around in the distance. We were
pleased to see that a patch at the back of the hide
has been opened up with a few feeders hanging.This had
attracted a few Chaffinch with Blue and Great tits and
a Dunnock. We headed off on the footpath towards
Sidlesham eagerly expecting some migrants to be
visible after our talk from the warden. However, we
were not at all fortunate in this respect. We did
however have great views of Redshank, Whimbrel and
Curlew. It was a good morning to listen to the
Whimbrels' calls for good comparison to the Curlews.
A few summer plumage
Grey Plovers could be seen far out in the vegetation
looking east with Dunlin and Great Crested Grebes. As
we reached the head of the footpath looking north into
one of the fields, another Kestrel was seen on a dead
tree with a Jackdaw and Magpie for company.
After a welcome break
we ventured off in the direction of Halsey's farm to
find some migrants along the eastern footpaths.
Sea Aster and a patch of Feverfew, Evening Primrose
and Common Toadflax, Red Campion, Common Mallow, Black
Horehound and White Deadnettle, Willowherb, Stone
parsley, Herb Robert, creeping thistles and Fleabane
were noted.
After our fruitless migrant watch with yet another
Kestrel perched on a post, and one Jay which flew
close, we made our return. We commented on the good
numbers of Whimbrel to be seen now that the tide had
risen. A record considering our past walks and
numbered 20 + scattered over the clumps of vegetation.
A constant flow of Swallows and a few House Martins
flew above the incoming tide and gave a spectacle when
hawking for the insects. A few Heron about with Little
Egrets dotted over the harbour. A mixed flock of Long
tailed tits with Blue tits and a possible Chiffchaff
kept us company along the footpath and foraged ahead
of us. Large Puffballs were seen under the bushes and
a few other types of fungi were evident but not
identified. A Red Admiral and a few whites seen with
hawking dragonfly.
Quality birds not quantity this time.
SATURDAY
1 September 2018 - Farlington
Marshes
Ros Norton
reported on the walk.
A group of 9 did an anticlockwise circuit of
Farlington Marshes on a pleasantly warm and sunny
morning. The tide was low and although the numbers of
birds were low there were some interesting
species.
We saw flocks of starlings and goldfinches. A few
meadow pipits were in the grass as we approached the
lake. Here were teal, redshank, shelduck, black tailed
godwits, coot, moorhens, lapwing , a snipe, greenshank
and a common sandpiper.
There were a couple of
sightings of whinchats on fences. Coffee stop was at
the point where we had a distant view of a small group
of seals on the mud. Other birds in the harbour were
groups of Canada geese, a gathering of little egrets,
a lone heron, dunlin, black tailed godwits,
oystercatcher, curlew, grey plovers and ringed
plovers. A few yellow wagtails were under the feet of
the grazing cattle . At the Deeps we saw a kestrel,
sparrowhawk, reed bunting, shelducks and a common
sandpiper.
At the stream near the
hut a greenfinch was seen as well as many water birds
already seen .
A little grebe was
seen by some. Robins were singing in the bushes.
Flowers included bristly oxtongue, ragwort, fleabane,
sea aster and a lot of rock samphire along the sea
wall.
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