SUNDAY
JUNE 30 - 2019
Brook
Meadow
I had a very
nice walk through the meadow this morning, mainly
keeping to the paths, but occasionally straying into
the long grasses to experience the full glory of the
meadow with its galaxy of wildlife. It is all so good
and full of life, give it a try!
Starting on the Seagull Lane patch, I was delighted to
see acorns now growing on the young Oaks that were
planted in 2012 (including the one I planted!). Also
on this site the first haw berries are now forming on
the large Hawthorn bush, green at first, bright red
later.
My best discovery of
the day was definitely a small patch of
Corky-fruited Water-dropwort on the north
meadow at Grid Ref: SU 75049 06197. A first for Brook
Meadow! Its flowers look very much like those of
Yarrow which is what I thought it was at first, but
the stem leaves are quite different, being quite
narrow and stringy in contrast to the feathery leaves
of Yarrow.
Corky-fruited
Water-dropwort is a native plant and is perennial, so
should be here for the future. The nearest place
locally I usually see Corky-fruited Water-dropwort is
on the Wickor Bank on West Thorney. It gets its name
from its corky fruits.
Two plants we appear
to have lost from Brook Meadow in recent years are
Goat's-beard and Hoary Cress both of
which used to grow on the Seagull Lane patch. I am
particularly sad about Goat's-beard which has a
particularly attractive Dandelion like flower and a
magnificent seed head. I always looked forward to
seeing them alongside the path to the north bridge. I
have not recorded Goat's-beard on Brook Meadow since
2013 and Hoary Cress was last seen in 2016 so I shall
remove them from the current Brook Meadow plant
list.
Another plant I am concerned about is the grass
Meadow Barley which despite a lot of searching
I have not managed to find on Brook Meadow since 2016.
I feel sure it is there somewhere, but finding it is
the problem. I think this is another plant that will
have to come off the current plant list.
A grass there is never
any problem finding is Timothy which is now
standing out handsomely with its smooth cylindrical
panicles contrasting well with the more ragged grasses
elsewhere. The very delicate Bent Grasses are a bit
difficult to find, as they tend to flower later than
most other grasses. However, our two regular Bents are
now out. Last week I found Black Bent-grass on the
Bramble path on the south meadow and today I had some
Creeping Bent on the north meadow.
Timothy . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creeping Bent Grass
Meadowsweet is
now starting to flower and will soon be emitting its
powerful sweet aroma from which it gets its common
name.
The orchids are now
dying down and almost invisible among the burgeoning
grasses, etc. But the multitude of crimson red
Great Burnet flower spikes continue to stand
out like jewels.
I had my first
Marbled White of the year on the Lumley area
with a photo. Lots of dark Meadow Browns two of
which I captured in this shot locked together in
mating. Needless to say, there was no sign of any
Painted Lady.
A single Brown
Trout was swimming peacefully in the warm sun
beneath the south bridge.
FRIDAY
JUNE 28 - 2019
Field
Cow-wheat
Jill Stanley
decided to go to Skew Road on Portsdown Hill this
afternoon to see if the rare Field Cow-wheat was in
flower, and it was. She found several patches of it. I
have not been to Skew Road for many years, so it was
good to know the plants are still going strong.
There was also a huge
patch of the yellow form of Ivy Broomrape. Jill
says there must have been a couple of hundred of
those! Here are Jill's excellent photos of Field
Cow-wheat and Ivy Broomrape.
Skew Road is the best
and probably only place locally to see this
spectacular plant. Skew Road is on the western end of
Portsdown Hill below Fort Nelson. I first saw it there
with Ros Norton and the rest of the Havant Wildlife
Group in June 2003 and I gather it has been there for
a lot longer than that.
Field Cow-wheat was originally an arable weed,
probably introduced into this country from the
Continent in the 19thC. It was notorious for tainting
cereal crops, making them distasteful and blue in
colour. Hence there was a big effort to get rid of it,
but clearly it survived in the wild (maybe with a
little help - see Ralph's comments below) though it
remains very rare. It is still present on the Isle of
Wight.
I am reminded of
comment made by Ralph Hollins about Field Cow-wheat at
the time. To quote . . .
"I
am not sure when it arrived on that site but I had not
heard of its existence when I found it in the summer
of 1997 but my enquiries soon found that it was
black-listed by the Hants botanists as an illegal
introduction by someone only referred to as the
'Portchester Postman'. Although it has been thriving
and extending its foothold there for at least seven
years they refuse to acknowledge its presence and
treat it as a garden flower.
In view of the many introductions of species in other
groups (Large Blue Butterflies, Red Kites, and
possibly Wolves) I cannot agree with this attitude.
Introducing any species into a new area is always
unpredictable and could have untoward consequences,
but if a plant arrives in an area, settles in and
thrives, I think it should be recorded (maybe in a
category of its own as an Introduction and not a
Native). To ignore its presence seems to be inviting
confusion (as has happened in this case).
It may be that the Small Yellow Foxgloves (that also
thrive in the area) were introduced by the same person
at the same time, and I have been told by the person
living at the corner of Nelson Lane that they have
been there since the motorway was cut through the
hillside in the late 1960s, so the Cow Wheat may have
been established for 30 years or more."
THURSDAY
JUNE 27 - 2019
Horndean
Road verge
I am grateful
to Kate Wheelwright for alerting me to the roadside
verge at the top of Horndean Road opposite the new
housing development on the old Southleigh Farm. As
Kate says, before the housing development and the
subsequent road widening works the verge was mown
grass with 5 mature maple trees and daffodils in the
spring. When the housing development started, the road
had to be widened to allow access to the site and the
verge was narrowed and ripped up, including the
daffodils (purchased and planted by local residents);
the trees were felled and stumps ground out.
Kate says nothing much happened to the verge until
early spring this year when three chaps turned up with
a rotovator and did some earth scraping. Now it is a
mass of flowers!
Well, to take up the
story, Kate asked me to have a look at it and see what
was growing there which I did yesterday (June 26). I
was astonished! I have never seen a verge like it.
There is certainly nothing like it in Emsworth.
Basically, it is a mass of Mayweed, of both Scented
and Unscented varieties with a number of other flowers
and grasses mixed in. I could smell the sweet Mayweed
as I walked on the verge. Quite an experience.
I decided to make a
list of the plants which you can see below: N = 28.
They include a couple of grasses which I think are
Italian Ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum)
and Black Grass (Alopecurus
myosuroides); I have not recorded either of them
previously in Emsworth.
The most interesting
flower was Grass Vetchling of which I noted
several examples. This is another plant I have not
previously recorded in Emsworth.
I called in to see
Kate who lives in one of the houses adjacent to the
verge and she accompanied me on a little tour of this
extraordinary verge. Kate was delighted to hear about
the range of wild flowers on the verge and I
encouraged her to enjoy it while it lasts and tell her
neighbours about it. It is important neighbours also
appreciate what a glorious galaxy of wild flowers they
have on their doorsteps which in turn provide valuable
nectar sources to butterflies, bees and other insects.
What a contrast to the boring 'bowling green' desert
on the other side of the road by the new houses.
As to the origin of
the plants this is unclear. The most likely
explanation is that they came in with soil for the new
verge. Maybe the Council will have more information? I
suggested to Kate that we ask Norse (Havant Borough
Council) to mow the verge as usual in later summer
once the seeds have set. That should set the verge up
for the following year and so let's wait and see what
comes up. How exciting!
List of plants
recorded on the Horndean Road verge - 26 June 2019 . .
. N=28
Black Grass, Black Medick, Bristly Ox-tongue,
Broad-leaved Willowherb, Cleavers, Common Orache,
Common Poppy, Corncockle (?), Cultivated Oat, Curled
Dock, Field Bindweed, Field Forget-me-not, Grass
Vetchling, Greater Plantain, Hairy Tare, Hedge
Mustard, Hoary Willowherb, Italian Ryegrass,
Knotgrass, Meadow-grass (?), Nipplewort, Prickly
Lettuce, Prickly Sow-thistle, Scented Mayweed,
Scentless Mayweed, Smooth Sow-thistle, Spear Thistle,
Yorkshire Fog.
Painted
Ladies
I had a good
response to my request for sightings of Painted Lady
butterflies. Brian Lawrence says he has had several
Painted Ladies on the Buddleja in his garden and sent
me photos to prove it!
Susan Kelly saw one on
bramble on the Emsworth shore on Tuesday. Christopher
Evans saw one along the track which runs from opposite
the western end of Thornham Lane toward the harbour
wall. Here is Christopher's photo.
I drew a complete
blank on on Painted Ladies on Brook Meadow Nature
Reserve this morning, but as so often happens, I saw
one fluttering around on the edge of pavement in front
of me as I walked up West Street in the centre of
Emsworth this afternoon. It certainly looked as if it
had just flown across the channel!
Morning
walk to Lumley
I had a slow
walk from home along the path to Lumley Mill and down
Lumley Road to the entrance to Brook Meadow. On the
way I noted a good growth of Greater Celandine
with its delicate yellow flowers in the usual spot at
the end of the path from Seagull Lane to Lumley Mill
just before the bridge where the River Ems divides
from the Lumley Stream.
Two Beautiful
Demoiselles were chasing one another beneath the
bridge, probably disputing territory. Also, involved
in the chase was this magnificent Large Red
Damselfly which stopped conveniently for a photo.
Walking down Lumley
Road past the cottages I spotted a male-female pair
of Beautiful Demoiselles chasing around. They
finally stopped in tandem mating position long enough
for me to get a photo.
I always check the
west side of Lumley Road adjacent to the Lumley Stream
as it is officially part of the Brook Meadow site. I
noted several plants of interest for this year's list
including Stone Parsley and an exceptionally
good crop of Feverfew.
False Brome
(Brachypodium sylvaticum) was prominent along
the edge of Lumley Road by Lumley Stream. As the name
suggests, this is a grass associated with shady areas.
It has softly hairy leaves and long spike-like
inflorescences on short stalks drooping at their tips.
It differs from Barren Brome which has very loose
panicles with long branches drooping.
It was here that I met
up with Tony Browne from the Brook Meadow volunteers
who pointed out plant protruding from the roadside
vegetation which I did not recognise at first. It had
multiple branches coming our at different angles with
seed pods appressed tightly to the stems. It was not
until I got home that I realised it was the very
common Hedge Mustard.
Brook
Meadow
Entering by
the Lumley gate I made my way down the Bramble path on
the east side of the south meadow, constantly on the
look out for butterflies, but all I saw a
Comma. The Marsh Woundwort plants are up
at the top of the path, though the flowers are not yet
out.
Further down the Bramble path I found some Black
Bent-grass (Agrostis gigantea) in the
regular spot. As indicated by its scientific name this
is a large grass, the tallest of the Bents up to 150cm
with panicles about 20cm. Its large size probably
allows it to survive among the tall vegetation along
this path.
I stopped near the main seat to speak to a couple
pushing a pram. They said it was their first time on
Brook Meadow and which was the best way to walk. Wow.
What must it be like to see the meadow for the first
time? I suggested walking up the main river path to
the north bridge and then back through the grassland.
Later I discovered the family having a picnic on the
river bank north of the bridge with one-year old
Alexander with bright blue eyes. Now that is a name to
be proud of!
WEDNESDAY
JUNE 26 - 2019
Painted
Ladies
Has anyone
seen Painted Lady butterflies so far this year? I
haven't, but Barrie Jay has had two at the same time
in his Waterlooville garden recently. Then today he
visited a nearby bramble hedge where he counted at
least a dozen along a 30m.length of hedgerow. Wow! We
may be having an invasion from the continent. Please
let me know if you see any.
There are a few listed
on the Hants Butterfly web site . . . http://hantsiow-butterflies.org.uk/news.php
TUESDAY
JUNE 25 - 2019
Hedgehog
in garden
My trail
camera picked the regular male Hedgehog on the back
patio last evening. There was no sign of the female
who does appear occasionally on camera. Here's a nice
close-up video clip of the male last night searching
around for the few scraps of food I put out for it. .
. . https://youtu.be/WnrY48b9wtM
Sparrowhawk
in garden
We had a very
brief visit from a male Sparrowhawk (small size and
rufous underparts) to the garden this morning, alas
too brief for a photo. It came down onto the grass
beneath the feeding station for a not more than a
minute. It did not appear to take any prey, though
after it had gone I wondered if it might have got the
tame juvenile Robin that has been hanging around for a
few days. But no, the young Robin was still there, so
the Hawk apparently went off empty clawed.
I have many photos of male Sparrowhawks in my files
but I have selected this rather nice one taken in his
garden by my friend Patrick Murphy who died a few
years ago. Thanks Patrick.
Emsworth
- Langstone
Peter
Milinets-Raby reports on his wander around
Emsworth and Langstone Mill Pond this morning (9am to
11:30am).
The
Moth Mullein brought me to Emsworth this
morning, as I discovered that In my tatty copy of the
Collins "Wild Flowers of Britain & Northern
Europe" the entry for Moth Mullein was not underlined!
So, any excuse to have a flower tick and see the
growing Great Black-backed Gull juveniles. Lovely
flower and the juveniles were very photogenic.
The
adult Great Black-backed Gulls did not mind my
approach, but as soon as I set up my tripod they were
up in the air and half bombing me! Great stuff.
Also
on and over Slipper Mill Pond were 3 Swifts (briefly
flew in and soon moved off), 2 Mute Swans with 3
cygnets, a female Mallard with six tiny ducklings, a
singing Reed Warbler and 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
over.
On
Peter Pond there was a Grey Heron on the raft and a
Reed Warbler singing from the reed bed.
Brian's note:
Regarding Peter's Swifts, we also saw what might have
been the same three birds flying over our house in
Bridge Road this afternoon. A rare sight indeed so far
this summer.
Earlier
at Langstone Mill Pond I had another hint that summer
is officially over in the form of the first sighting
of a returning Kingfisher, plus the Curlew numbers had
increased from 5 to 12!
The Mute Swan family were out in the channel away from
the pond and there were 6 cygnets to be seen, so
yesterday the extra bird was hiding on the back of the
pen!
Other species of note included 38+ Little Egrets (all
very grown up now), 3+ singing Reed Warblers, 2 male
and 3 female Tufted Duck (plus 3 ducklings briefly)
and a single Swift over.
Christopher Evans
got the following shot of the Mute Swan family
today
House
Martins in Funtington
Paul Cooper
reports that House Martins have returned to his home
in Funtington (Lynch Down). They have a nest under an
east facing eave, and at least two of Paul's
neighbours have nests also. Paul says last year's nest
collapsed (fortunately after the chicks had flown) so
they've had to build a completely new one this year.
But it looks to be a strong one, so hopefully will
hold up. Paul has reported House Martin nests in
Funtington several times in past years. Thank you.
Please keep us posted of breeding success, if any.
Has anyone seen any
House Martin nests in Emsworth or Westbourne this
year? They have been absent from Emsworth for many
years. I recall vividly House Martins nesting under
the eaves in Victoria Road when I used to walk my kids
to school; and we even had them nesting on our house
in Westbourne Avenue. But that was 50 years ago!
Caroline French did a House Martin survey in
Westbourne a few years ago with some success. Here's a
nice photo from Caroline of a couple of chicks peeping
out of the nest.
MONDAY
JUNE 24 - 2019
Hermitage
Millponds
On Slipper
Millpond, the two Great Black-backed Gull youngsters
were swimming on the water close to the nesting raft
at about 10.30am this morning. This will be their
first venture off the raft and they will stay close to
it until they are strong enough to fly short
distances.
One of the adults
arrived to keep an eye on the youngsters. See video
clip . . . https://youtu.be/3dPtCB6eHF0
Meanwhile, over on
Peter Pond the truncated Mute Swan family was
swimming peacefully with their three remaining cygnets
on the west side of the pond near the reeds. They may
be more cautious following the killing of their fourth
cygnet by a dog last week, but, unlike, humans, swans
quickly get over the loss of young and will just get
on with their lives. After all, they still have three
left!
I was interested to
find another two flowering plants of Moth
Mullein on the south side of the pond near the
road, making three in total.
There is a nice clump
of Hairy Tare in flower on the west side of the
pond alongside the path leading to Gooseberry Cottage.
Garden
Robin
It was good to
see a young Robin in the garden today. Its tameness
concerns me a little in view of predatory habits of my
neighbouring cats. But hope for the best.
Langstone
Mill Pond
Peter
Milinets-Raby reports from the pond . . .
. . .
The excitement of the morning was discovering that the
Mute Swan pair on Langstone Mill Pond had finally
hatched out 5 cygnets (Possibly 6 from one local). My
photos only show five, but as three of them never left
the back of the pen, there could easily have been an
extra one in there!
I had
truly given up on this pair, as the pen had not been
seen around the pond for ages. She looked worn out
this morning as if she has been on that nest for the
last month or so! She was ravenous and eating loads.
In fact, the last entry in my notebook was on 3rd May
when I could barely see the female on the nest through
the growing foliage. She was tugging at reeds on that
date. If she was struggling to lay eggs over the usual
two week period and then have the average 42
incubation period, then today's date is about right,
albeit a few extra days. Unusual, perhaps that she
seemed to never leave the nest, as many locals had
commented in recent days that the cob was always on
his own!
Also
around today were three Tufted Duck ducklings. They
didn't seem any bigger than the four seen five days
ago. So, is this a new brood? There were in total 4
male Tufted Duck and two females present this
morning.
Not
much else to report on a drizzly morning down
Langstone Mill Pond from 9am to 10:20am, And, by the
way, the fence by the mill was in the process of being
renewed and it was thus unusual to be able to view the
"full" mill from this direction.
SUNDAY
JUNE 23 - 2019
Hedgehogs
in garden
The trail
camera (which I had on the video setting) picked up
two Hedgehogs in the garden last night taking more
than a passing interest in one another! The male,
which has a slight limp, spent most of an hour or so
(from 22.12 to 23.36) circling around the female who
appeared to be keeping her rear end away from him. At
one point the male appeared to mount the female,
though the picture is unclear.
Two Hedgehogs in
garden 'sniffing' . . . https://youtu.be/9JiQtWlZHq8
The male circling the
female . . . https://youtu.be/bxU-UQ1498c
Hedgehogs mating? . .
. https://youtu.be/suf-oCpsxfY
Recreation
Ground
This morning,
after all the Hedgehog excitement, and as a change
from Brook Meadow and the millpond, Jean and I decided
to have a walk round Hordean Road Emsworth Recreation
Ground and what an interesting walk it turned out to
be.
We did not get off to a terribly good start as the
first thing we noticed as we approached the park was a
tall metal fence in front of the old pony field to the
west of the park. This area, which used to be part of
Cold Harbour Farm, has been targeted for housing
development for some years and it looks like it is
about to happen fairly soon. The field is now totally
unused and overgrown.
Sadly, such a
development would put the Greater Burdock
plants that grow on the grass verge on the only access
to the prospective site in great jeopardy. They are
already growing well for the new season. Maybe this
rare plant can get the development stopped? Only a
joke, sadly.
The presence of the
usual variety of nice grasses on the ever decreasing
piece of grassland immediately behind the bowling club
lifted our spirits.
The flower spikes of
Timothy grass are quite small at present, but I
expect them to grow. Later in the year it is possible
to distinguish Timothy from Smaller Cat's-tail which
has smaller panicles of the same shape.
In sharp contrast to
the tough cylindrical panicles of Timothy are the
intensely delicate panicles of Creeping Bent
which have a delightful reddish tinge. They are
always slightly later emerging than the other common
grasses. I have had doubts over the identification of
this grass in previous years but the presence of a
long ligule and the absence of awns suggests Creeping
Bent. This is my favourite grass (though I tend to say
that about most grasses). Sadly my camera does not do
justice to this lovely grass in situ, so here are a
few spikes in my hand.
I was also pleased to
find a reasonable crop of Meadow Barley which
the mowers had just missed in the usual spot by the
White Poplars. To think I have searched Brook Meadow
high and low for Meadow Barley and here it is in
relative abundance.
As we continued our
walk through the park we came across a lively family
event taking place called 'Roll up Roll up'.
The show was organised by the Spring Arts Centre in
Havant and had a marching band and strange
tractor-like machines
There were also
several posters of visual illusions which took me
right back to my days as a psychology lecturer in
Portsmouth. Here are a couple which you might like to
try. They work fairly well for me on the computer
screen. Overall the event was really good fun and nice
relaxed atmosphere.
I particularly like
this one.. . .
Thorney
Island
Steve Hooper
spent a couple of hours walking south from Emsworth
along the western sea wall of Thorney Island to the
security fence and back this morning and had a couple
of very interesting sightings that will be of interest
to people visiting the area including Peter
Milinets-Raby who has been keeping a close watch on
the Little Egret colony at Langstone Mill Pond. I
shall say no more.
Steve's report follows . . .
"In
the field between the Little Deep and the Great Deep
were a number of cows, and feeding in amongst them
were two summer plumaged Cattle Egrets. Perhaps
not entirely unexpected, given that several have
wintered around Warblington in recent years, but what
I had initially taken to be a Little Egret
accompanying them turned out on closer inspection to
be a recently fledged juvenile, which was later
seen to be fed by the adults on several occasions. The
plumage and rather weak flight of the juvenile would
suggest that the pair had bred locally, perhaps on
Thorney Island itself, and I would be interested to
hear if anyone else has seen or reported them in the
vicinity in recent weeks.
Also
of considerable interest was the fact that while I was
allowing a couple of first-time visitors to the island
to watch the Cattle Egrets through my telescope, they
asked me if I had seen the "small dark-coloured dog
with very short legs" which had briefly appeared ahead
of them on the path, before sliding into the water
beside the path and immediately diving down out of
sight! Unfortunately I hadn't seen it as I had been
engrossed in watching the Cattle Egrets, but after
questioning them more closely about the animal and its
behaviour, I was left in no doubt that they had seen
an Otter. This may seem rather unlikely, but
from the information they gave me I was able to
completely eliminate the possibility that it might
have been a Mink, and a friend of mine did see an
adult male Otter while he was fishing for trout on the
river Meon a few weeks ago."
Chichester
Peregrines fledged
David Shaw who
keeps a blog of the progress of the Peregrines nesting
on Chichester Cathedral reported today that all four
young birds from this year's brood have successfully
fledged. David has some great photos of the young
birds on his blog as well as a link to the live webcam
- though there is not much to see on it now the
youngsters have fledged.
Here is a sample
to whet your appetite
For more go to . . .
http://chichesterperegrinesblog.co.uk/
FRIDAY
JUNE 21 - 2019
Garden
Hedgehog
My trail
camera picked up the regular Hedgehog mooching around
in the garden last night. I think this one is a male
as the images seem to show a penis.
The video clips caught
the Hog scratching and also limping quite badly, which
I had not noticed before. I recall reading that too
much mealworm can damage a Hedgehog's joints so I
shall cease putting mealworms out. I have previously
used a small sprinkling of mealworms to attract the
animal to the camera.
Video clip of Hedgehog
limping . . . https://youtu.be/XH0SJUSBUKw
Video clip of Hedgehog
scratching . . . https://youtu.be/FuQ3mW3Nu3M
Fort
Widley
It was such a
nice day that I decided to have a walk on Portsdown
Hill before my early afternoon appointment at QA
Hospital. The hill was a truly wonderful boasting fine
views both north to the downs and south across
Portsmouth and The Solent to the Isle of Wight.
Looking north
Looking south. The
large building is the QA Hospital.
Most of all I enjoyed
seeing the myriads of wild flowers, grasses,
butterflies and bees. A truly great experience.
From my parking place
near the Churchillian pub, I did my usual walk taking
about an hour, round the back of Fort Widley before
crossing the road to come back via the lower slopes. I
did not see much in the way of birds, but the songs of
Blackcap and Whitethroat accompanied me throughout the
walk.
As for butterflies,
Marbled Whites were everywhere and I was
pleased to get a few shots of these beautiful
butterflies when they came to rest. Here is one on a
Ox-eye Daisy flower.
Other butterflies seen
included lots of Meadow Browns, a few Common
Blues and a single Brimstone. Here's a nice Meadow
Brown I caught feeding on a Common Spotted Orchid.
I think I was a bit
late for most of the Common Spotted Orchids
though a few were still looking good. The Pyramidal
Orchids were still showing gloriously on the lower
slope.
There was so much else
to see it was a bit overwhelming. I have just picked
out a few photos to present on this blog, but I have
lots more.
The large yellow
flowerheads of Rough Hawkbit on unbranched
leafless and very rough feeling stems were fairly
abundant on the slopes. They are typical plants of
calcareous soils like Portsdown Hill.
It was interesting to
see dark and pale versions of Knapweed
Broomrape next to each other, presumably at
different stages of development (or decay?).
A section of the lower
path was lined with Viper's-bugloss - I don't
recall having seen this dramatic spectacle before.
The grassland slope to
the west of the fort has swathes of Wild
Thyme.
I stopped to admire large clumps of Wild
Mignonette on the slopes.
Warblington
shore
Peter
Milinets-Raby reports breaking news!
"This
morning, I had the first wee hint of autumn with a
"politically covetous" increase of Herculean
proportions of 400% in wader numbers on the low tide
shore off Pook Lane. On Wednesday there was just one
Curlew present, today there were 5! Also off shore
were 3 Shelduck and a Common Tern.
This morning I had a two hour saunter around the
Warblington shoreline from 9am. Birds were having a
second wind of singing with Chiffchaff, Blackcap,
Linnet and Skylark heard around the fields to the west
of the cemetery,
A Reed Warbler was still singing on the mini reed bed
behind Conigar Point and two birds had beaks full of
food as they moved through the Tamarisk hedge. Off
Conigar Point were 2 Shelduck and 2 Buzzard drifted
over heading towards north Hayling.
At Langstone Mill Pond I counted 33+ Little Egrets
(mostly juveniles getting ready to fledge), There were
three juveniles in the last occupied Grey Heron nest.
a pair of Tufted Duck, 2 more singing Reed Warblers
and a distant Raven flew over heading towards Thorney
Island.
The last of the
Grey Heron juveniles
Cygnet
killed by dog
A rather sad
tale follows. During yesterday's work session on Brook
Meadow, Dan Mortimer told me that he'd seen the swan
family on Slipper Millpond down to three cygnets from
the original four. I was a little surprised, as I saw,
and reported in this blog, four cygnets only the day
before as shown here . . . .
However, all became
clear when I received a very apologetic and
self-reproachful e-mail from a local man who told me
his dog had killed one of the cygnets on Wednesday
evening. The dog owner has given me permission to
publish his e-mail as, in his words . . . 'there's a
lot of people who deserve to hear the apology'. So
here it is . . .
"I
just wanted to make you aware of an incident at
Slipper Mill Pond this evening. Regrettably, my dog
attacked and killed one of the cygnets there. My dog
was not on a lead at the time. I'm most ashamed, and
take full responsibility. I'm a local resident and
very upset that this has happened. This is a walk I've
done many many times in the past without incident. But
this was some time ago (I've just returned to the area
after a year living away) and possibly at a different
time of year. However, the last time I walked him
there a few weeks ago, at low tide, he did run off and
chase some ducks (he didn't catch them). At that time
I consciously thought that I need to keep him on a
lead in future, but this evening I simply forgot about
that incident. Rest assured he will be on a
lead/muzzled in that area from now on. Please
understand I don't feel I'm an irresponsible dog
owner, but regrettably for those swans this isn't much
help. I was given your name by my neighbour, and felt
you would be interested in hearing about the incident
- you probably have will hear about it from other
sources."
Let's hope this
experience will make other dog owners more careful.
Dogs must always be under control (on lead) when near
birds.
THURSDAY
JUNE 20 - 2019
Brook
Meadow
I went over to
the meadow this morning for the regular third Thursday
in the month work session attended by 15 volunteers.
The session was led by
Maurice Lillie who outlined the main tasks for the day
which included mowing the main paths with the power
scythe. I accompanied Tony on this task to make sure
plants of special botanical interest were avoided,
including the Strawberry Clover and the Hybrid Fescue
grass.
For the full workday
report and more photos go to . . . https://www.brookmeadow.org.uk/conservation-news/
Wildlife
observations
I was most
pleased to see my first Ringlet of the year on
the Lumley area, particularly as I did not see one at
all last year. That takes the total butterfly list to
16 seen on Brook Meadow so far this year. I also saw a
rather ragged Red Admiral along with lots of Meadow
Browns.
I had both male and
female Beautiful Demoiselles on the path behind the
Rowans.
Other
news
David Minns
told me about a single House Martin nest that
he saw on a building in East Street Chichester. House
Martins are such rare birds in our area.
Dan told me that the
Mute Swan family on Slipper Millpond was down
to 3 cygnets - I saw four there only yesterday.
Gordon told me that
the flock white doves that nest in St James
Church are causing some concern. Apparently, they were
released during a wedding reception several years ago
and are now established feral birds nesting/roosting
on the church.
They are, in fact, are regular visitors to my garden
in nearby Bridge Road where they do a good job in
mopping up seeds falling from the feeders. Here are
three of them I took today, though often I see 5 or 6
at a time.
WEDNESDAY
JUNE 19 - 2019
Hermitage
Millponds
I had a walk around the two millponds to the east
of Emsworth this afternoon. Here are some of my
observations with photos.
. .
. Slipper Millpond
The two Great
Black-backed Gull chicks on the south raft are growing
well, though they are some way off being able to fly
freely. As I was standing on Slipper Road I was
'buzzed' briefly by the parent gull who then
positioned itself on one of the chimneys.
The swan family with 4
cygnets swimming serenely on the pond. Cormorant
drying its wings on centre raft.
Crow Garlic
sprouting on east side Slipper Millpond. Tree
Mallow in full flower. Lovely sight.
Sea Club-rush
on the west side of pond. Lesser Sea-spurrey on
path leading to the kissing gate by Chequers Quay.
.
. . Peter Pond
Reed Warbler
singing from reeds opposite Gooseberry Cottage.
Small Tortoiseshell
on the path. Small hairy caterpillar with yellow
spot - possibly Vapourer Moth?
Buckshorn
Plantain on pond side at start of Lumley Road.
Wild Carrot just starting to flower.
Rough Chervil in flower opposite Gooseberry
Cottage. Hairy Tare on the path on west side
pond.
Perennial
Sow-thistle in on east side Peter Pond. Common
Ragwort in flower on south side by the road.
Moth Mullein
(Verbascum blattaria)
This uncommon plant is in flower on the south side of
Peter Pond by the road. It is fairly tall with large
yellow flowers and others in bud, widely separated on
the stem. I have seen this plant several times on
Peter Pond in the past, but not since June 2013.
In the Sussex Bird Report it is described as scarce in
West Sussex and occurring mainly on disturbed and
waste ground, roadsides, churchyards, etc. Both yellow
and white forms occur. The Peter Pond plants are not
recorded in the Sussex Bird Report.
MONDAY
JUNE 17 - 2019
Brook
Meadow
I had a slow
wander around the meadow on a very warm afternoon.
Lots of bees, both Honey and Bumble were feeding on
the Bramble flowers.
Honey Bee . . . .
. . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . Bumblebee
(Bombus terrestris?)
There were very few
butterflies apart from a Red Admiral and several
Meadow Browns on the orchid area. However, the best of
the afternoon was my first Large Skipper of the
year, resting, almost hidden, in dense vegetation.
Small Skippers always emerge a bit later than Large.
I got a good view of a
female Beautiful Demoiselle resting in the
vegetation near the main river path. This striking
insect has brownish wings which distinguishes it from
the very similar female Banded Demoiselle.
The deep red flowers
of Great Burnet are now standing out at the
south part of the main orchid area. Also Common
Knapweed is now in flower on the Lumley area.
I found what a could
be Smooth Brome (Bromus racemosus) -
with extra long drooping panicles measuring at least
15cm - on the path across the centre meadow. I have
found it in this spot in previous years. Grid Ref: SU
75103 06042. F. Rose in "Grasses, Sedges, Rushes and
Ferns" gives the range for Soft Brome as 5-10cm and
Smooth Brome as 7-20cm.
I had another look at
a white flowered Bittercress on the path down to the
Lumley Stream which I asked Ros Norton about during
the walk on Saturday morning. I think (hope) it is
Large Bittercress (Cardamine amara)
which would be a new addition to the Brook Meadow
plant list. I last saw this plant on the Southmoor at
Langstone in 2007 - identification confirmed by Ralph
Hollins.
Langstone
Mill Pond
Peter
Milinets-Raby had a short visit to Langstone Mill Pond
this morning.
Lots of singing around - like a second burst: with 2
Reed Warblers, a Chiffchaff and a Reed Bunting (see
photo).
Male Tufted Duck seen
along with the pair of Gadwall (see photo).
42+ Little Egrets
present in the Egret colony - About 75% of them
juveniles.
Just a Common Tern off shore
Baffins
Pond
Eric Eddles
writes to say the 6 swan cygnets are doing fine on the
pond. Also present on the pond are lots of insects
including a veritable orgy of mating common Shield
bugs.
And this rather fine
male Short-winged Conehead - what magnificent
antennae!
'Tales
from Brook Meadow'
Kevin
Richardson has just published a children's story book
based on his experiences in Brook Meadow which he
calls 'Tales from Brook Meadow'. Kevin now lives in
Australia, but spent the first forty years of his life
in and around Waterlooville and Havant. He says,
"One
of the places I used to like taking my children to was
Brook Meadow and teaching them all about the wildlife,
that's where the stories have come from. I wrote the
first three books before I left the UK and did nothing
with them. I moved to Australia in 2008 and now at the
age of 50 . . . I am changing direction in my day to
day life and concentrating on teaching bushcraft and
wilderness skills and writing".
Kevin has promised to
send me a copy of the book plus some fliers which I
shall circulate. If you are interested please see the
following links.
Kevin's website is now live and ready for pre orders
at . . . http://www.kevinrichardson.com.au
He also has a Facebook
page at . . . https://www.facebook.com/Tales-from-Brook-Meadow-387618462001894/
For
earlier entries go to . . . June
1-15
