WNHS Members

Waterside Natural History Society spent a day at Blashford Lakes recently. The morning was taken up pond dipping and the afternoon by a walk round the reserve.

 

Blashford Lakes is managed by Hampshire & IOW wildlife trust that have provided a study centre and several hides over the lakes.

 

We were guided in our pond dipping by Jim Day and an extremely informative and pleasurable morning it turned out to be.

Pond dipping is usually associated with groups of school children but the society is young at heart if not body and got really involved with the activities.

 

The amount and variety of life in a small pond is really surprising especially when you consider that you can see very little from a casual glance. If man evolved from the water it was probably to get out of the way of all the pond life beneath the surface.

We used a net to sweep through the weed in the pond and emptied the contents in to a white tray. The first things that catch the eye are the creatures that try to survive by dashing about as quickly as possible such as water beetles and the bright red water mites. Then there are the creatures that stay still until prodded when they too dash about to escape such as the nymphs of the damselflies, dragonflies and crane flies.

 

Lastly there are the creatures that cannot move quickly and you have to look long and hard to distinguish them such as the ramshorn and pond snails. Some creatures have another method of evading capture and that is that they are invisible. Midge nymphs are one example that has a long thin transparent body with only the eyes and vital organs visible even under the microscope.

 

Blashford lakes

The weather being warm and sunny we spent the afternoon on a leisurely stroll round the reserve.

 

Blashford lakes reserve is fortunate in being situated between the New Forest, the chalk downland and the river so attracts a great variety of bird and insect life.

 

Bird hides have improved a lot over the last few years from rickety wooden huts to spacious cabins with one way windows and Blashford lakes is provided with several of these new hides.

 

The first hide overlooking Ivy Lake gives a view over the reed beds and water of the lake. Our interest was taken up by the sight of a kingfisher moving from perch to perch in pursuit of small fish and other food.

 

Most birds are drab and sedentary at this time of year but the kingfisher with its iridescent blue and red plumage is the exact opposite and puts on a grand display.

We next visited the Woodland hide which as its name suggests looks out on to a woodland clearing that is well stocked with bird feeders to attract the small woodland birds.

 

Birds such as the chaffinch, greenfinch, goldfinch, siskin and greater spotted woodpecker gave an ever changing display. The heavy use of the bird feeders by the birds demonstrates how important it is to provide food for the birds all year round in our own gardens.

The visit to Blashford Lakes took over eight hours and was time well spent with never a dull moment. Pond dipping is an experience to be enjoyed by children of all ages and is enhanced by the splendid facilities available at Blashford Lakes.

Our next outdoor meeting will be to Farlington Marshes. Meet at Oak Road car park Dibden Purlieu at 10am on Sunday 19th October.

Our next indoor meeting will be at St. Andrews centre, Dibden Purlieu at 7.30pm on 27th October. Our speaker will be John Cossburn and the topic will be on Bees and Bee keeping.

 

All visitors are welcome to indoor and outdoor meetings. Contact the Secretary on 023 8089 3803.

Any comments to mharrison67@btinternet.com