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A New
Forest deer |
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The morning of 16th October dawned bright
and clear when eight members of the Waterside Natural History
Society set off at 7.00am from Blackwater car park along
the track towards Queen’s meadow in search of deer.
As they
walked along, they were greeted by a rosy coloured sky
and by a flock of redwings and fieldfares flying overhead.
A handsome fallow buck with a splendid set of antlers was
seen crossing the path ahead and soon afterwards a group
of does came over the heather and disappeared into the
woods.
In Queen’s meadow there was a group of fallow
does with a buck when suddenly another buck appeared.
However
he was chased off into the woods by the first buck and
they could be heard challenging each other.
Fly agaric
and some very large parasol mushrooms were seen and this
was a good time of day to observe many birds including
Blackbird, Blue tit, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Crow, Field
fare, Great tit, Green woodpecker, Grey wagtail, Heron,
Jackdaw, Jay, Kestrel, Long tailed tit, Meadow pipit, Mistle
thrush, Redwing, Sparrowhawk, Stonechat.
On 24 October at the indoor meeting, Clive Chatters from
Hampshire Wildlife Trust talked about the Dibden Bay campaign
and why Associated British Ports’ proposal
for a port on the site was rejected.
The Public Inquiry
lasted 54 weeks from 27 November 2001 to the 12 December
2002 and was the longest such Inquiry since that for Terminal
5 Heathrow.
The land had originally been reclaimed from
the intertidal area by the deposit of marine dredgings
made between the 1930s and 1973 and is approximately 240
hectares with a river frontage of about 2.1 kilometers.
Clive explained how the Inspector viewed this area within
the context of the New Forest and concluded that damage
would be done to the character and appearance of the New
Forest Heritage Area.
This alone did not sway the Inspector. He based his decision on the fact that this was a very
important area for nature conservation.
This habitat supports
wet and dry grassland together with saltmarsh vegetation,
saltpans, swamp, reedbed, scrub and open water. Clive described
some of the rare invertebrates that thrive on the unique
habitat that is Dibden Bay.
A total of 21 nationally rare
species together with a further 67 nationally scarce species
have been recorded including two very rare ground beetles, Amara strenua and Anisodactylus
peociliodes and a plant bug Stictopeurus abutilon which
before 1990 was thought to be extinct in Britain.
Five
nationally scarce plants have been recorded including
annual beard-grass Polypogon monspeliensis that
is more numerous here than anywhere else in Britain.Dibden
Bay is an important area for breeding lapwings with about
30 pairs in recent years and during the winter months,
large flocks of wildfowl and waders feed here.
Clive
ended his talk by asking us how much are we prepared
to plan and pay for the survival of Dibden Bay so that
the wildlife is secure for future generations? The Society’s next outdoor meeting will be on Sunday
20th November at Pylewell/Stotts Lane to
look for wintering birds.
Meet at Oak Road Car Park,
Dibden Purlieu at 10.00am (Strong footwear recommended).
The next indoor meeting is on Monday 28th November when
Julia Noble will talk about her Wildlife Sanctuary.
Meet
7.30 pm, St Andrew’s Centre, Dibden Purlieu. Visitors
very welcome at £2.00.
Contact 023 8089 7660 or 023 8084
5883
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