30th August - Fishlake Meadows, Hampshire

At this time of year you would expect to see Osprey moving through the county, but this year it has not been as prolific as it has been in previous years.  Not deterred I had arranged to meet Ian at Fishlake Meadows, one of the prime locations for Osprey over the last few years.  There have been sightings but very far and few between.  Yesterday an Osprey was seen to fly up the Test valley, which would have taken it through Fishlake so we were hopeful.

We walked around to the roadside viewing point first and scanned the dead trees, unfortunately nothing to be found.  Around the trees were a Great Black-backed Gull and Herring Gull.  On the trees were Grey Heron and Cormorants.

We could hear calls in the distance and we picked up a large flock of geese, that soon became Greylag Geese and they flew in and landed on the lake.

These geese were then joined by another flock and counting them all together it was just over one hundred geese.  One interesting thing we picked up was the amount of fungi at the base of the dead trees.  It was a long way off, but looked like Chicken of the Woods.

We returned to the canal path and walked north.  It was quiet a lot different to the last time I was here, when there were Chiffchaff, Blackcap,Sedge, Reed and Cetti's Warbler singing.

There was a Cetti's Warbler singing partially, and we managed to catch a quick glimpse.  By the first viewing platform there was another tree with a clump of Chicken of the Woods at the base.

A thick, fleshy bracket fungus, bright creamy yellow with bands of orange when young, fading to cream with age. It has succulent, soft and moist crumbly flesh. The upper surface is velvety, and underneath it has very small pores. It has a strong ‘fungusy’ smell.

Chicken of the woods is a vital species, supporting a host of wildlife. There are some specialist beetles which only feed on bracket fungi like chicken of the woods, including the hairy fungus beetle.

Chicken of the woods fungus is edible, although it does not agree with everyone. It has been known to cause dizziness and stomach upset in some people.  It is also thought to cause issues when growing on the very poisonous yew tree. Some sources state this is due to the fungus absorbing toxic alkaloids from the yew, while others report it's more likely due to the fungus not being cleaned properly before consumption.

Walking on we came across an unusual sight, a Great Spotted Woodpecker perched on the overhead cables.

Walking along the lateral path from the canal there was a large flock of feeding warblers.  They would dart around disappearing into the bushes.  We could see Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap and Long-tailed Tits, while behind us there were calling Whitethroat.

We walked down to the screens where it was a surprise to see a lot of water.  There were Gadwal, Mallard and Teal about all in eclipse plumage.  Common Tern flew around the reed bed and there was an immature Marsh Harrier quartering the reeds distantly.

A Great Egret came out of the reeds and flew across the water.

Strangely extending the neck rather than the relaxed 'S' curve normally seen.

It could have been that the egret had seen another and this was a threat.

There was another egret and they soon engaged around the edge of the reeds.

There was a group of House Martins flying over the open water and there were dark clouds away to the south that threatened rain.  We decided to walk back and when we reached the meadow in the north east corner of the reserve we were surprised to see so many Clouded Yellow butterflies around the plants and flowers.  The estimate was somewhere between twenty three and maybe thirty of these migrant butterflies, a concentration I have never seen before of this lovely yellow butterfly.  They were all distant and continually moving so we were never able to get a photograph.  The best we could do was this view of the meadow.

It wasn't any different walking back down the canal path, very quiet.  Looking from the viewing platform we could see a distant Great Egret on one of the dead trees, and it was then joined by three others, making four in total.

So no Osprey and very little else other than Great Egrets, but a chance to catch up, listen to some tracks and just put the world to right.