THURSDAY
JANUARY 16 - 2014
BROOK
MEADOW
Conservation
work session
I went to the meadow
this morning mainly to take photos of the regular
conservation work session. Twelve volunteers assembled
at the Lumley gate where they were briefed on the
morning's jobs by Maurice Lillie. The main job was to
clear the area to the south of the Seagull Lane patch
where the new tool store will be sited.
For a full report on
the work session and photos go to . . .
http://www.brook-meadow.hampshire.org.uk/bm-diary-2014a.html
Wildlife
There was plenty of
bird song around the meadow, particularly from Robins,
with bursts also from Dunnock, Great Tit, Wren and
Woodpigeon. Ralph Hollins has heard his first
Chaffinch song of the year in Havant, but I have yet
to hear one in Emsworth. I also saw Blackbird, Blue
Tit and Song Thrush, but no sign of any Firecrest or
Water Rail. Hazel catkins are now hanging
attractively from the small saplings near the north
bridge.
Brian Lawrence was on
the meadow looking for wildlife and it was good to see
Malcolm Phillips back again after an absence of
several weeks due to illness. They did not see
anything special, but Malcolm sent me this
Greenfinch he got on the south meadow. That's a
good start.
River
level
The River Ems still
running high and the path through Palmer's Road Copse
remains flooded. The path through to Lumley Mill from
Seagull Lane is also totally flooded.
HAYLING
BEACH
Chris Oakley was on
Hayling beach on a really blustery morning with a
rising tide making some dramatic breakers. The beach
huts along by the Beachlands amusement park have
really suffered through the storms, some entirely
destroyed. Chris noted that the Black-headed Gulls are
beginning to show signs of summer plumage and saw two
with complete black heads.
Dead
Guillemot
Chris found the body
of a Guillemot washed up with all the debris on the
beach.
Guillemot is a highly
gregarious seabird in the British Isles nesting mainly
on the coasts of Scotland and the north of England. In
winter can be seen widely off all coasts, but it is a
scarce winter visitor on the south coast. In the past
couple of weeks there have been several sightings on
the HOS 'GoingBirding' web site of single (live)
Guillemots at Hayling Oysterbeds and at the Langstone
Harbour entrance. So, the dead bird could be any one
of those. See . . . http://www.goingbirding.co.uk/hants/birdnews.asp
Whelk
egg cases
Chris says the Whelk
egg cases are back with a vengeance, hundreds were
lying along the upper tide line with the gulls and
crows gorging on them. One young Herring Gull seemed
to be trying to swallow his whole, not a very
appetising bundle it seems.
Ringed
Herring Gull
Chris spotted that one
of the young Herring Gulls on the bank above the
shingle had a clear yellow ring on the left leg with
the letters/numbers 5X0B engraved in black and a small
alloy ring on the other leg.
I looked up the ringed
Herring Gull on at the European Colour-ring Birding
web site at . . . http://www.cr-birding.org/
After searching through hundreds of Herring Gull
ringing schemes I discovered that it had been ringed
in this country by Jez Blackburn of the BTO Demography
Team. Chris has already reported it to Euring Web
Recovery.
WEDNESDAY
JANUARY 15 - 2014
Emsworth
Harbour
14:30 - I started at
Nore Barn and walked to Emsworth Harbour (east) this
afternoon with the scope. About 3-4 hours after high
water, so the tide was fairly low. A strong westerly
wind blowing but the rain held off. There was the
usual mixture of Wigeon and Teal on the mudflats and
in the channels at Nore Barn along with a few Mute
Swans and Brent Geese. There was no sign of any
Black-tailed Godwits anywhere.
First
Knot of the winter
Walking eastwards
along Western Parade I could see a large flock of Knot
feeding on the mudflats. They were clustered together,
a long way out and the light was poor, so counting was
not easy, but I would estimate there was at least 400.
They went up and flew around several times while I was
watching which was quite spectacular.
Knot are rather dumpy
birds and slow in feeding, quite unlike the frantric
sewing machine feeding of Dunlin. They are fairly easy
to pick out at a distance since they tend to cluster
together more so than other small waders ie in knots.
Here is a photo of a cluster of Knot that came quite
to the shore in Emsworth in January 2010.
Knot tend to turn up
in Emsworth Harbour at this stage in the winter. The
winter of 2011-2012 was a bumper one when numbers
built up from 47 on Jan 2 to a record 1,200 on Feb 13;
from that they declined to 50 on Feb 23 and were all
gone by the beginning of March. Last winter the peak
was 150 on Jan 2.
Brent
Goose breeding productivity
I counted 164 Brent
Geese in the eastern harbour, including 16 juveniles.
This took my overall Brent Goose breeding success for
this season to 7.08% - ie proportion of juveniles (84)
to adults aged (1186). This proportion is on the low
side as shown in the following chart, but certainly
much better than last winter when the proportion was
only 1.94%. The chart shows the proportion of
juveniles to adults in each winter from 1988 to 2013.
The Coot flock in the
main channel near the quay was up to 42, which was the
highest so far this year, but still well behind
previous years. Just 10 Lapwing were roosting on the
seaweed islands in the main channel.
Aldsworth
Pond
Chris Oakley took a
cycle ride over to Aldsworth pond this afternoon. He
was very pleased to see 12 Tufted Ducks, six each,
male and female, one Shelduck, several Coots and
Mallard. Best of all was a Peregrine Falcon, which
circled the pond and flew off to the south. The only
other bird was one hen Pheasant.
Chris said "the water
coming off the pond and under the road was really
roaring through almost to the top of the culvert. All
the streams, gulleys and ponds are full to the top and
what with the water table being at its highest for
many months there is nowhere for it to go except into
the Ems. No wonder the flooding has been so bad". The
water from the Brickkiln and Aldsworth Ponds runs into
the main River Ems complex at the mill in Westbourne.
The River Ems through Brook Meadow is still running
very strongly and Palmer's Road Copse remains flooded.
Clearly, there is lots of water still to come.
Hole
Punch Clouds
Leslie Winter took
this photo of a very interesting cloud formation over
Emsworth yesterday afternoon. It was actually featured
on the BBC South Today Programme last night just
before the weather forecast, but they used someone
else's photo!
I gather they are
called hole punch clouds and there are lots of very
dramatic photos of them on the internet. Wikipedia
says they are large circular or elliptical gaps that
can appear in cirrocumulus or altocumulus clouds when
the water temperature in the clouds is below freezing
but the water has not frozen. When ice crystals do
form this sets off a domino effect causing the water
droplets around the crystals to evaporate, thus
leaving a large, often circular, hole in the cloud.
Because of their rarity and unusual appearance, as
well as very little exposure in media, these holes are
often mistaken for or attributed to unidentified
flying objects.
Ladybird
flight ability
The remarkable ability
of ladybirds to fly at great height and speed has been
demonstrated by new research, based on the examination
of radar data. The discovery showed that ladybirds
travel at heights of up to around 1,100m and at speeds
of up to 60 km/h (37 mph). This may help to explain
why invasive insects to the British Isles, such as the
Harlequin Ladybird, have spread so rapidly across the
country. The study also suggests that ladybirds are
able to travel further in warmer temperatures,
suggesting that climatic warming could exacerbate the
problems posed by invasive species even further. For
more details see . . . http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=4166
TUESDAY
JANUARY 14 - 2014
Prinsted
to Nutbourne
Anne de Potier had a
good afternoon walking from Prinsted to Nutbourne
along the seawall and back from 1 to 3pm. She found a
colour-ringed Oystercatcher from the Netherlands in
the same field as she saw it last February, along with
10 others, 123 Brent and 33 Curlew. On the shore at
the end of the Nutbourne shingle spit were 34 Avocets
roosting, including one with double green on the tibia
of the leg it was standing on. They flew before Anne
could read the other leg.
The colour-ringed
Greenshank GY+GY which has been coming to Nutbourne
here for years was in the usual place in the stream,
but although Anne waited for the colour-ringed
Spotshank W+GY, which sometimes feeds there, it didn't
come. Anne also enjoyed a pair of Stonechats and the
many waders out on the mud once the tide had fallen.
But she thinks the Black-tailed Godwits have moved
again, presumably back to Pagham, though apparently
not on the fields.
Hayling
Godwits
Caroline French found
86 Black-tailed Godwits in the Texaco Bay North
Hayling at 14.15 today, including the following
colour-ringed birds. Y//R+BB, R//R+YN, B//R+GO,
B//R+LG, B//R+RN, R//R+BN, ROG+RLG. Of these R+YN was
fairly regular in Emsworth Harbour up to Xmas, but now
the godwits have gone, though they often do move
inland at this time of the year, particularly when the
weather is wet, presumably to take advantage of the
worms, etc. thrown up by the floods. I note that SOS
reported 600 Godwits at Pagham Harbour on Jan 5 and
13, so the Emsworth birds could have gone there. There
has been no news from Pulborough Brooks where Godwits
often go to in wet weather.
Emsworth
Chris Oakley took his
usual walk today from Westbourne through the meadows
behind Westbourne Avenue to Brook Meadow and on to
Peter Pond. The Kingfisher was on the table at
the northern end of Peter Pond, but shot off upstream
before Chris could get a picture. This has happened a
couple of times to me too! But this is a good spot to
get a shot of this colourful bird.
Chris noticed some the
tulips 'growing' on the swan island on Peter
Pond? He says, if you look closely at the photo you
can just see the stalks. Clearly, someone threw them
away and laying there in the sun the blooms had opened
and turned upward toward the light.
Chris took a couple
more pictures of the midges in Brook Meadow, in
the same place as last time and the result was the
same - all facing the one way. See Chris's previous
photo on Jan 12. Does anyone know why this is? Maybe,
they all fly round and round in a circle? Finally,
Chris got this sweet image of a couple of
Woodpigeons 'billing and cooing'.
MONDAY
JANUARY 13 - 2014
Nore
Barn
11:15 - 12:15 - The
tide was still well in when I got to Nore Barn (high
water was at 09:30). The stream was full of water, but
the ever faithful Spotted Redshank was present,
feeding on the foreshore. This was my first visit to
Nore Barn since Christmas, so I was pleased to see it,
though most of its 'friends' had gone.
It had moved into the
upper reaches of the stream when I returned about 30
mins later allowing me some nice photo opportunities.
The bird was feeding in the centre of the stream which
involved it dipping its head well below the surface.
I got one shot of it
apparently 'spurting' water from its bill.
See the special
'spurting' page for more details . . .
Spurting
behaviour
A single unringed
Greenshank was feeding in the stream along with the
Spotted Redshank, but that was all. There was another
Greenshank at the head of the Nore Barn Creek.
I walked along the
shore to the south of the woods from where I could see
about 50 Brent Geese swimming in the creek. I went
through them all with the scope but the Black Brant
was not among them. Apart from a few Wigeon and the
usual flock of 11 Mute Swans there were no other birds
on the water (except for the gulls).
Hogboy
News
Graham Petrie writes
to say the Hedgehog (Hogboy) that he is looking after
is doing well and now weighs over 700 grams. The lady
at Little Prickles sanctuary recommended that the
little chap should go back into the garage where it is
colder and see if he decides to hibernate which would
be best for him. The photo was taken a week ago.
SUNDAY
JANUARY 12 - 2014
Midges
query
Chris Oakley has
another query, this time about midges. He says, "Like
a lot of people, when out and about, I carry a camera
and I will snap at anything that's mildly interesting.
Yesterday, when I was in Brook Meadow I was being
pestered by flights of midges. As well as the usual
flapping and flailing at them I thought I'd take a
picture. Not my best effort, I must admit, but when I
saw it on the screen I realised that, curiously, the
insects were all facing the same way - which got me to
wondering, why? They were facing north. The wind was
very slight and from the south. The sun, which was low
in the sky was behind them. Any ideas? Perhaps others
could try the same and see if it was just a
coincidence. For anyone who wants to try, it's not
easy to focus on them, I fixed on the branch they were
hovering around."
This
is just a small section of the photo that Chris
took
SATURDAY
JANUARY 11 - 2014
EMSWORTH
Kingfisher
on Peter Pond
This morning I was
very pleased to meet up with Chris Oakley for the
first time on the Gooseberry Cottage path to the east
of Peter Pond. Chris said he was delighted to have the
community blog as a way of sharing his wildlife
sightings with others. While we were chatting a
Kingfisher flashed low over Peter Pond and flew up the
eastern channel between the reeds, the first Chris had
seen at this location. Alas, it did not perch on the
table at the head of the pond which would have made a
good photo opportunity. The two millponds are
excellent places to catch sight of Kingfisher in the
winter.
Green
Sandpiper
Chris lives in
Redlands Lane which is directly opposite the new
housing development at Hampshire Farm. During one of
his recent visits to the public open space area, Chris
saw a small wader on the attenuation pond with a very
pronounced white rump when in flight and having a call
like 'peep, peep, peep'. This was almost certainly a
Green Sandpiper which was a regular in the lower Ems
valley between Emsworth and Westbourne when I used to
do my surveys there in the early 1990s. It is good to
hear that they are still in the area and making use of
the new site.
Here
is a Green Sandpiper taken by Richard Somerscocks on
the deckhouses pond a couple of years ago
Fungi
on the A259 embankment - Velvet Shank
I had a closer look at
the fungi growing on an old tree stump on the roadside
embankment at the rear of Emsworth Surgery which I
discovered on a photo I took of the Winter Heliotrope
on Jan 8. Based on its bright orange colour and
general structure, Ralph Hollins thought the fungus
could be Spectacular Rustgill - Gymnopilus
junonius which had also recently been discovered
growing in Warblington Cemetery. Here is my photo of
the Emsworth fungi. The caps are bright orange in
colour, glistening and very soft and greasy to touch,
unlike the Warblington fungi which appear to be firm.
Ralph Hollins replied
- "Now that you have close up photos of both cap and
underside there is no doubt that the fungus on the
A259 embankment is Velvet Shank (Flammulina
velutipes) which usually appears in frosty
weather".
Here
is a photo of the stem and gills on the
underside
HAYLING
BEACH
Pink
Octopus solved
John Bogle answered
the query about the 'pink octopus' object that Chris
Oakley found on Hayling beach yesterday. He says, "it
is actually a fishing lure called a Muppet.
Often fished in sets of 3 in a line to try and catch
fish such as cod in the UK around wrecks or reefs and
I have used them in Norway to catch coalfish and
haddock quite successfully. They are also sometimes
put on the hook of a single large metal 'park' to add
a flash of colour and an extra attraction for the
fish. Cod are said to be attracted to red or pink. You
also see them in other colours such as black (which
Pollack are said to be attracted by), silver and even
ones that glow in the dark!"
John also said the
Weever fish swallowing another Weever that Romney
Turner photographed on Hayling beach on Jan 5 was, in
fact, a Sea Scorpion, presumably swallowing
another species of fish.
FRIDAY
JANUARY 10
BROOK
MEADOW
Robin
song
Brook Meadow was
distinctly spring-like when I walked through this
morning with Robins now singing their more vigorous
spring song, including this chirpy fellow that I
snapped on the brambles by the river.
Most of the singing
comes from males, though some females also sing, the
two songs being indistinguishable. The songs will
probably still be largely territorial, though pairing
should be taking place soon and friendly pairs will be
appearing in gardens.
Busy
Blackbird
I spotted a Blackbird
sifting through the dead vegetation on the river bank
just north of the observation fence looking for
morsels of food no doubt. I always look for the Water
Rail, but have not seen anything of it. I'm pretty
sure it's gone.
Oaks
retaining leaves
I have always been
puzzled by the fact that some apparently deciduous
trees retain their leaves over the winter period. For
example, the now quite tall Oak that you first see
when you go through the Seagull Lane gate onto Brook
Meadow, which was planted in memory of the husband of
Jenny a good friend of Brook Meadow, has never, to my
knowledge, lost its leaves in winter. Now I have
noticed the Oak sapling that I planted for the Jubilee
Year celebration - as shown in the photo - has also
retained its leaves, though the others that were
planted at the same time have lost theirs.
From the internet I
learned that this persistent leaf trait is termed
marcescence. There are quite a few members of Quercus
family that behave this way - as well as other
species, such as, Beech and Hornbeam. The Beech hedge
in Bridge Road also retains most of its leaves.
Wikipedia indicates some possible benefits of this
behaviour in that marcescent leaves may deter grazing
animals, help water balance and protect the plant from
cold injury.
River
levels
Maurice Lillie
commented that the River Ems and Lumley stream are
both very full at the moment. The Ems is leaching a
small flow over the sluice gate into the South Meadow,
while the Lumley Stream is forming a surprisingly
strong current through the mud of both Peter and
Slipper Millponds. The main cause will be an increase
in water coming from the aquifers on the chalk downs,
but Maurice also wonders if the housing development at
Hampshire Farm is contributing.
Maurice noted the
appearance of the 'sand bags' arranged to extend the
rebuilt brick wall in the northeast corner, presumably
put there by the Environment Agency to prevent the
river going over the top and flooding the gardens in
Lumley Road. However, I fear they will be destined for
the river once the lads get sight of them. Too
tempting by half.
OTHER
EMSWORTH NEWS
Millpond
Swans
The two pairs of Mute
Swans that now dominate the town millpond to the
exclusion of all others were confronting each other
when I passed this morning. What I assume were the two
cobs were circling around each other with wings raised
while the pens remained at a safe distance. There was
no physical aggression while I was there, but I can
see the situation getting more heated as spring
approaches and the hormones start to flow. But the
pond should be big enough to accommodate two nesting
pairs, though there is a severe shortage of natural
nesting materials as the resident pair found last year
when they constructed their nest largely from bits of
litter.
First
Sweet Violet
I spotted my first
flower of Sweet Violet peeping out from a mass of
leaves on the Lillywhite's path wayside by the large
brick wall at the back of the Old Flour Mill. Although
this was my first Sweet Violet in Emsworth, Ralph
Hollins has actually been recording them for a few
weeks in St Faith's churchyard in Havant. The Emsworth
flower was living up to its reputation as a shrinking
violet as lay partly hidden among the large glossy
leaves, which I needed to move for a photo.
HAYLING
BEACH
Chris Oakley took a
walk around Sinah Common on Hayling this morning, from
the golf course round to the Eastney ferry. He says,
"It was a stunning blue sky morning with those
incredible clouds that seem to come only with a
sea-scape. With a falling tide the gulls were taking
full advantage of feeding along the rim. Mostly
immature Herring gulls. There were two, or maybe more,
Common gulls in with the Black-headed and a smattering
of Oystercatchers. I don't count the number of birds.
I simply enjoy being among them, whether there are two
or twenty-two the pleasure is just the same for
me.
Most of the Starfish
are gone as are the sea slugs and anemones. Those
remaining are beginning to rot leaving waves of
pungent aroma. The Whelk egg cases, which I thought
had disappeared, seem to have been washed around the
corner into the Langstone channel, there are still
hundreds of them there. As you turn the corner there
is a huge bank of empty Slipper limpet shells. There
must be countless millions of them. They form a grey
path several hundred yards long"
On the lighter side,
Chris came across this unusual specimen which
(tongue-in-cheek) he suggested might be a
silver-spotted pink octopus. What is it?
THURSDAY
JANUARY 9
Nore
Barn to Warblington
Peter Milinets-Raby
had a good look around Nore Barn and the Warblington
shore this afternoon. He started at 12:25pm and spent
an hour walking around Nore Barn Wood and checking the
big field. The highlights were as follows;
After a lot of
searching of the low tide mud flats and gullies he
eventually found the Spotted Redshank out in the Nore
Barn channel with 2 Greenshank. In the 'stream' were
Common Redshank and Little Egret. 23 Brent Geese with
one solitary bird on the big field looking well and
truly lost! 52 Wigeon, 7 Grey Plover, 24 Curlew seen
heading inland, 2 male and 2 female Gadwall, 10
Shelduck, 37 Teal, 60+ Dunlin, female Red breasted
Merganser, Little Grebe. Goose and duck numbers are
well down on previous counts at this site indicating a
movement of birds inland to flooded fields.
Peter then drove
around to the Warblington shore (1:35pm to 3:20pm) and
found 4 Little Egrets in one of the fields next to the
farm. In the field south of the cemetery were 616
Brent Geese plus the Black Brant, which was probably
the same bird that Peter saw on the field north of
Nore Barn Woods on Jan 1.
On the mud off the
Warblington shore were: 254+ Dunlin, 16 Grey Plover,
27 Common Gulls with 150+ Black-headed Gulls (left
over from the storms), 1 Knot, 104 Lapwing, Greenshank
(one of the regulars with coloured rings RW/BtagY). In
the trickle of water in the channel were: 26 Red
Breasted Mergansers fishing in one huge flock with 2
Great Crested Grebes and 1 female Goldeneye.
Rare
fungus in Hollybank Woods
A rare (bracket)
fungus called Laxitextum bicolor has
been discovered in Hollybank Woods. Andy B tells me it
was found during a Friends of Hollybank Woods Fungus
Foray in November 2013. The walk was led by the
Hampshire Fungus group in memory of Tim, their late
fungus guru, who died last year. Although this was a
first for Hampshire, Andy says Laxitextum bicolor
has been recorded in various locations in
Hollybank Woods.
More details and a photo are on the web site . . .
http://www.hampshirefungi.org.uk/
Wayside
Fungus
Not nearly as rare was
the fungi I discovered growing close to the Winter
Heliotrope on the A259 embankment in Emsworth
yesterday. Based on its bright orange colour and
general structure, Ralph Hollins thinks it is probably
Gymnopilus junonius. He says Peter
Milinets-Raby found some of this fungus in Warblington
cemetery on or Nov 4 and Ralph has a photo of it on
his web site at . . . http://ralph-hollins.net/GYMJUNCLUSTERCLOSE.jpg
Skylarks
over Thorney
Maurice Lillie went
for a walk down the Wickor Bank on West Thorney
yesterday and heard Skylarks singing and displaying,
rising and falling together in perfectly coordinated
aerial acrobatics. Here is the best shot Maurice could
get of these fast moving birds, but the white sides to
the tails are quite distinctive.
WEDNESDAY
JANUARY 8
Emsworth
Harbour
10:30 - 11:30 - The
weather was so much better this morning that I was
tempted to venture down to the harbour with my scope
on my bike. A few waders were feeding in the low water
channel near the quay including 2 Grey Plovers and a
ringed Greenshank with a tag, though it flew before I
could read it. Generally, there was very little to see
with the tide right out and with the harbour virtually
empty of birds. Most of the Brents, ducks and Godwits
will be feeding on inland fields during this very wet
weather. Keith Betton reported on Hoslist today an
amazing variety and quantity of ducks and waders on
the flooded fields behind Pennington Marshes -
SZ321929. I suspect our birds will have found a
similar good spot.
Brook
Meadow
Coming back through
Brook Meadow I noticed a Great Spotted Woodpecker
prominent and noisy on the west bank of the river.
Song Thrush was singing, but nothing else apart from
Robins everywhere. Lots of small birds were darting
around on the river bank, but no Firecrests as far as
I could see. I met Brian Lawrence who had been
similarly out of luck on the meadow.
Other
observations
The water was low in
Slipper Millpond as the sluice gates were open to
allow the flood water to escape into the harbour. The
new wooden framework and wire construction on the
centre raft to discourage the nesting of the Great
Black-backed Gulls was clearly visible.
I counted 110 flower
spikes of Winter Heliotrope on the A259 embankment in
the centre of Emsworth behind the surgery. These
plants have been there for many years, well before the
verge became an official Emsworth wayside. There is a
cluster of orange coloured fungi growing on an old
tree stump on the right of the photo. Ralph Hollins
thinks it is probably Gymnopilus
junonius. He says Peter Milinets-Raby found
some of this fungus in Warblington cemetery on or Nov
4.
See Ralph's photo at . . . http://ralph-hollins.net/GYMJUNCLUSTERCLOSE.jpg
TUESDAY
JANUARY 7, 2014
EMSWORTH
Windy
walks
I had an afternoon
walk through Brook Meadow, down to Slipper Millpond
and round the town millpond. It was very windy on the
millpond promenade and I had a stop a few times to get
my breath. The only bird observation of interest was a
Kingfisher on the table at the northern end of
Peter Pond near the reedbeds - a regular perching post
for this bird.
I noted 16 wild
plants in flower during the walk, including the
single Greater Periwinkle still looking good on Lumley
Road and Winter Heliotrope now fairly abundant on
Brook Meadow, Peter Pond and elsewhere.
Chris Oakley also took
a short and very blowy walk this afternoon along the
harbour wall and on to Nore Barn. The tide being
nearly full there wasn't a lot to be seen except a
rather nice group of Oystercatchers near the
end of Kings Road.
With the water level
in the millpond low Chris noted the line of the
original embankment near the sailing club signal
tower. He asks if anyone knows when the existing wall
was built?
SUNDAY
5 JANUARY 2014
BROOK
MEADOW
Conservation
work session
I went over to the
meadow this morning for the first conservation work
session of the new year. The meadow was extremely wet
with large pools in parts. However, it was not raining
and conditions were quite good. The main jobs were
clearing up some of the damaged Crack Willow branches
that had been down, one of which was blocking the
river.
Meanwhile, over on
Peter Pond, David Gattrell was busy clearing debris
out the new channels he had created on the east side
of the pond.
Wildlife
observations
There was no much of
interest on the wildlife front. I combed the river
banks for Firecrest which we had at this time last
year, but there was no sign of it. No sign of Water
Rail either. But Great Tit and Dunnock were singing
for the first time this winter.
Better news on Peter
Pond where I spotted two Goldcrests busily
feeding in the reedbeds to the north of the pond. Here
is one of them. Sorry about the photo but they were
constantly on the move and my camera is a slow one! At
least, one can see what it is.
Hayling
beach combing
Following Chris
Oakley's discoveries on west Hayling beach (see Dec
25) Romney Turner also found several strange items
washed up on the beach, including this dead Weever
fish which appeared to have another Weever fish stuck
in its mouth! The spines would have made it difficult
to get down.
Romney also found what
she thought might be a Sea Slug though Peter Gray
subseqwuently identified it as a scale worm known as
the Sea Mouse Aphrodite aculeata. This
is a very appropriate name for this little creature as
its back is covered by a dense felt of fine grey
hairs. Coarser hairs and bristles run along the sides
of the body. Romney threw back it into the incoming
tide as it appeared well alive having been in damp
seaweed.
Lots of Starfish were
dead or dying, what the storm had not battered the
Seagulls had been pecking at. Romney also spotted this
Sea Anemone with its tentacles drawn back in which she
also put it back in the sea.
FRIDAY
JANUARY 3
Emsworth
floods
Torrential rain
combined with strong winds and exceptional spring
tides produced flooding at the usual sites in
Emsworth. The sea was coming over the millpond seawall
filling up the millpond which meant the water was
backing up the Westbrook Stream. The Environment
Agency, Havant Borough Council and local householders
were monitoring the situation, but as far as I am
aware there was no serious flooding in Bridge Road. As
for Brook Meadow, the south meadow was flooded as, but
not so deeply as it was on Christmas Eve. The bottom
of Queen Street was flooded as before with water
lapping around the Lord Raglan pub (and inside I
gather).
Wildlife
news
I have been away
visiting family over the New Year and have only just
got around to checking my e-mails for local wildlife
news. So here goes with a few items.
Westbourne
to Brook Meadow - Dec 30
Chris Oakley reports
on a walk he did from Westbourne to Brook Meadow on
Dec 30.
"It was a fine
afternoon after the mornings downpour giving that
lovely clear light you find after rain. I spotted a
fox on the far side, although it's not unusual to see
one, this was the biggest fox I have ever seen, at
first I mistook it for a German Shepherd dog. I had
just lined up my camera for a shot when two Herons
came up from the field and it beat a hasty retreat.
The Herons flew off over the motorway toward Brook
Meadow. A little later one returned and flopped into a
nearby tree. They are such ungainly creatures, I
always think there is an element of pterodactyl about
them. The store cattle which had been on the meadows
for some weeks are now gone leaving the grass very
churned and slippery, so I was glad to reach the first
underpass and so on to Brook Meadow.
The river water has
cleared nicely after the flooding. The fast running
water has scoured some of the bank exposing quite a
few burrows, I assume they are from the Water Voles.
There was also an Egret in the river just south of the
bend. The Alders are starting to show their tough
little catkins which gives the feeling that spring
cannot be too far away. I found another fungus, this
apparently is a Many-Zoned Polypore which is quite
common but I didn't know if it was on the Brook Meadow
list (it is - Brian). The Oyster Mushrooms (previously
seen on Dec 17) are now gone."
Nore
Barn - Jan 1
Peter Milinets-Raby
managed to get some birdwatching in at Nore Barn
before the weather turned nasty on New Year's Day. He
logged a total of 31 species: 23 Shelduck, 5 Gadwall
(that's unusual), 3 Pintail (male with 2 females),
130+ Wigeon, 80+ Teal, 3 Red Breasted Merganser, 200+
Dunlin, 5 Knot, 4 Grey Plover and the ever faithful
Spotted Redshank in the mouth of the stream. 760+
Brent Geese, a Black Brant and 21 Curlew were on the
huge winter wheat field west of Barn Close (viewed
from the footpath that heads north from Nore Barn
Wood).
Stoughton
- Jan 2
Caroline French did
her Winter Thrushes Survey at Stoughton on Jan 2 and
was surprised to come across so few thrushes: 8
Blackbirds, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Fieldfare and 1 Redwing.
They were nearly all around human habitat, which
Caroline rightly notes has a far greater diversity of
food sources than the surrounding countryside - an
argument I reckon in favour of more housing on
so-called 'green' fields?
Caroline said "The
highlight of the day was a pair of Stonechats,
catching flies from a wire fence running alongside a
grass/wildflower margin. I had really nice views as
they moved down the fence line ahead of me.
I also came across ten
Fallow Deer in Inholmes Wood, which eyed me with
suspicion before deciding to take the risk and cross
the path in front of me anyway! Most of the farmland
on my circuit is planted with winter cereal this year,
whereas last year it was mainly oilseed rape". Both
these pictures were digiscoped by Caroline - what
excellent images they are.
For
earlier observations go to . . December
1-31