Totton U3A Nature Watch: August 2006

Next meeting Blashford Lakes, 10am Friday 29th September.

What a smashing day for the ten of us who met up, as good as last year when we went to the Lower Test reserve for the first time. I leave Mike to send in his description of the day. The following is the information on the Nature Reserve sign I photographed.
Dense reedbeds flank the River Test as it meanders through the nature reserve. Extending over 30 hectares this is one of the largest reedbeds in southern England. The local name, Redbridge is derived from reed bridge. The reedbed provides an important source of seeds and insects for a variety of birds such as the Water Rail and Bearded Tit. In spring, large numbers of migrant birds including Reed and Sedge Warbler arrive to breed. Cettis Warbler, a small brown bird with a remarkable loud explosive song, is a year round resident.
Click the title to see the details of Blashford Lakes - this is in pdf format. So you need the free Acrobat software on your machine.

Mike's report of the morning.

Our walk on Friday 24 Aug 2006 started from the Salmon Leap pub (car parking with kind permission from the landlord) and on a very warm day again we walked northwards as far as the Salmon Leap bridge hoping to see the Osprey that been around for a few days but could not locate it on the dead trees out in the marshland. A Kingfisher was seen by a lucky few as it sped away upstream from the lower bridge but later, at the hide, there was no sign of the regular bird on the wooden perches.
In the reed-fringed scrapes 25 Teal dabbled away and a single Green Sandpiper snoozed, whilst from the hide we saw a further 6 Green Sandpipers feeding or sleeping and for comparison a lone Common Sandpiper called to announce its arrival when it dropped in between the islands, temporarily awakening a Snipe and a Greenshank.
A family of Moorhens, with bills of sealing-wax red, fed cautiously near a resting Heron which reacted sharply when another Heron dropped in over the reeds then veered away. We saw more than 25 species in total but always hope for more.

Next meeting, Friday 29 Sept 2006, 10am at Blashford Lakes; just north of Ringwood on the main road towards Fordingbridge.