'Through the Ages' - Picture: Courtesy of Hampshire and Isle of WIght Wildlife Trust

The Waterside Natural History Society had originally planned a visit to  Stockbridge Down on Sunday 19th August, however the previous week's weather did not bode well for our chances of seeing many butterflies at the Down, so we decided to stay a little nearer home and visit Testwood Lakes instead.

Our visit coincided with the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust's 'Through the Ages' event, so there was plenty going on at the Lakes to keep us entertained for the day as well as the usual wildlife watching.

We began by walking around Little Testwood Lake seeing many wildlife flowers and plants including mallow, vipers bugloss, teasels, bird's foot trefoil, wild carrot, red and white campion, oxeye daises, knapweed and yarrow.  Birdlife seen here was a coot, a great crested grebe, swallows and a mallard with 7 ducklings on the lake.

There was a distinct sign of autumn approaching with lovely displays of rosehips, blackberries, sloes, gelder rose berries and elderberries. We arrived at the Study Centre just in time to see a Wildlife Trust presentation called 'A World without Wildlife' followed by a guided walk through the wooded area towards the bird hide.

During this walk we saw purple loosestrife, water forget-me-not, tufted vetch and three types of thistle - creeping, marsh and spear. We also saw a robin, chaffinch, house martins, swallows and heard goldfinches and a nuthatch.

From the hide looking across the scrapes and Meadow Lake we could see black-headed gulls, coots, a juvenile common tern, common sandpiper, Canada geese, mute swans, white goose, moorhen and chick, grey heron and a female tufted duck with 10 ducklings.

The highlight though was watching sand martins using the purpose built wall which is a relatively new addition to the site. After lunch in the hide we made our way slowly back to our cars stopping off at the Study Centre again to see the many displays and demonstrations at the Wildlife Trust event.