Dryad's Saddle

We met the volunteer reserve manager, Richard Headley, who immediately pointed out a group of sword leaved helleborines for which the copse is most famous.

Richard explained that when the copse was first planted up with beech, sycamore and Norway maple trees in 1900-05, the orchids were already growing in the hedgerows and were encouraged by the light shading of the young trees to spread.

The reserve is managed to maintain this light shade which also allows for scented flowers to grow including sanicle and scented woodruff which flourish on the thin chalk soil.

The sword leaved helleborines are cross-pollinated by yellow horned bees which nectar on the scented flowers and then try the helleborines. The helleborines do not offer any scent to encourage the bees and so other plants are important for their survival.

As we walked further into the wood along a sunny open ride, we discovered other woodland orchids among the hundreds of sword leaved helleborines. These were the broad leaved helleborine and the fly orchid.

It was difficult to see any birds in the leafy canopy, but we heard blackcap, chiff chaff, chaffinch, gold crest, jay, nuthatch and song thrush. Richard told us that the wood was home to a vast quantity of snails which is good news for song thrushes.

Butterflies accompanied us along the ride including speckled woods and holly blues. A seven spot ladybird was seen and a white-tailed bumblebee had a nest near a wayfaring tree.

Richard helped us to identify some of the colourful flowering woodland plants which were not familiar to us and between us we identified dogs mercury, eyebright, garlic mustard, herb Robert, lesser burdock, Solomon's seal, white bryony, wild strawberry, wood anemone, wood sedge and yellow pimpernel.

Grasses included cocksfoot, wood melick and meadow foxtail, usually found in open areas and great bent, a true woodland species.

We were amazed to see a large Dryad's saddle fungus as we walked towards the further end of the wood where ash and field maple have taken over from the beech. Richard explained that ash would be better able to cope with climate change on this thin chalk soil.

The far end of the wood is where the original Chappett’s Copse stood. This was coppiced wood pasture belonging to Westbury House and contains several specimens of Western red cedars and Wellingtonias as well a several yews.

We thanked Richard for a very enjoyable and informative morning as he set off to count some of the hundreds of sword leaved helleborines, which are struggling to survive in the rest of Britain due to the modern agricultural practice of ploughing up hedgerows and woodland edge fringes.

Back at the car park we met an orchid enthusiast who was down from London and he took us back into the wood to see a small group of birds nest orchids that he had discovered. They are rare this year because of the very dry spring.

After lunch we visited Shutts Copse, another HWT reserve off the A272 on our way home. We saw twayblades and yellow archangel in this ash and maple woodland which is also home to several dormice. We did see their nesting boxes.

At our indoor meeting on Monday 21st May, we were pleased to welcome back Brian Fletcher of Butterfly Conservation (www.butterfly-conservation.org) who talked about the butterflies of Hampshire.

Hampshire is the ideal county for butterflies as it receives plenty of sunshine and moderate amounts of rain and having so many different habitats including woodlands, heathland, old meadows and coastland.

However this is a strange year for butterflies as June butterflies were flying at the beginning of May. Brimstones are now seen every month.

Brian’s beautiful photography illustrated the various butterflies that live in each habitat and he explained their different life cycles. We must not be complacent however as there has been a decline of habitat in the county, with 95% of downland now gone over to agriculture and the butterflies are isolated in small pockets of land that are maintained as reserves.

The Society enjoyed an extra outing on Sunday 3rd June with a coach trip to Abbotsbury in Dorset.

In the morning we visited the Swannery and watched the swans being fed along with their cygnets and after lunch we had a pleasant stroll around the beautiful Subtropical Gardens.

The Waterside Natural History Society's next outdoor meeting will be on Sunday 17th June with a visit to the Itchen and Twyford areas to look for birds, butterflies, dragonflies and flowers. Meet at Oak Road Car Park, Dibden Purlieu for 10.00am (strong footwear recommended.) Visitors very welcome.

The Society's next indoor meeting will be on Monday 25th June, when we welcome Paul Toynton to talk about Gardening for Wildlife. Meet for a 7.30pm start at the St. Andrew's Centre, Dibden Purlieu. Visitors very welcome at £2.

Please phone for further details on either 023 8089 7660 or 023 8084 5883.