Category Archives: Walks

Birds At The Pond – December 2012

Plants and Animals, Walks

David Pottinger writes:

On Sunday 16 December, Peter Hutchins lead two bird walks at Fleet Pond Nature Reserve. The morning one (10 am start) was with members of the RSPB and the afternoon one (2 pm start) was with members of Hampshire Ornithological Society (HOS). Newcomers were also very welcome.

Peter has written an excellent article (including photos) on the morning walk for the December Newsletter of the Basingstoke Local RSPB Group. Here’s a sample extract:

Viewing northwards from the bay, as above, saw Magpie and Woodpigeon on the wing, Cormorant and Black-headed Gull on the distant islands and trees and the first Teal of the outing added, these however no more than hidden ‘preepings’ behind the willow and Alder carr. A bird that did however show, albeit briefly as it headed out over the reeds and trees, was a Snipe; another “You had to be there!” bird that just hinted at what might just be hidden out of view in the damper inaccessible areas. Another in the same category was a Little Egret that flighted eastwards just minutes later, once again only being seen by the few that had not already headed once more in to the woodland.

In total, nearly 50 species were recorded during the walk!

The full article can be found (p 31-41) in the newsletter which Peter has kindly allowed us to be made generally available and which can downloaded here: RSPB Newsletter December 2012.

The article is a very interesting read, as is the newsletter in it’s own right!

Regarding the second walk later in the day, of most note were a showy Water Rail in the north-east corner (two more being heard), the Drake Pochard and several Jays in an all too quickly darkening sky.

So, all-in-all, a very eventful and rewarding pair of bird walks!

If you have any queries on the above or the would like information on future similar walks, please contact Peter Hutchins directly:

Email: fieldfare@jaybry.gotadsl.co.uk or peter.hutchins@royalmail.com

Phone: 07895 – 388378 or 01256 – 770831.

For information and photos on previous (and very popular) bird walks at Fleet Pond lead by Peter, please see here and here.

Two Bird Walks At The Pond This Sunday

Walks

This is a reminder that Peter Hutchins will be leading two bird walks this coming Sunday (16 December) at Fleet Pond Nature Reserve. Both are free to attend and newcomers are very welcome.

The meeting place for both walks will be the car park on the north-eastern side of Fleet Pond (SU824553 OS Landranger map 186) – see here.

Morning walk, starting at 10:00 am with members of the RSPB

Afternoon walk, starting at 2:00 pm with members of Hampshire Ornithological Society (HOS).

Please see a previous post for full details.

Walks With Buggies – Fleet Pond

Walks

I came across an interesting article on the ‘Walks With Buggies‘ site (picture above) that features Fleet Pond Nature Reserve (select the Region Hampshire). The description of the walk is usefully detailed and the walk itself gets a 5 out of 5 rating!

The web site was set up because:

Marie and her family live in the beautiful county of Dorset. Marie founded the idea while walking in the Peak District in May 2007. She became increasingly frustrated with the lack of freely available information on walks suitable for those with access challenges and after some research decided to create www.walkswithbuggies.com

The site has been mentioned in The Sunday Times as well as BBC News.

Here’s a brief extract from the description of the walk round the Pond:

Walk to the end of this car park area and you will come to the road that you drove in on. Turn left and in front of you will see a trail marked with a red, blue and yellow post.

Walk along here on a compact path and you will come to a large lake. In front of you is a viewing area. This is the start and end of this circular walk. You need to make sure you take note of this place or you could miss your turning back to the car park at the end of the walk.

Turn right here and follow the yellow and blue trail, which is a walk around the lake. You will come to some steps on your left that leads up to the station. Walk past these and you will come to a small hump wooden bridge. This has a small lip on and off it.

The article on the pond walk was written in 2007 and there have been numerous improvements to the accessibility of the pond since then, including better bridges.

If you’ve taken a buggy around the pond recently, we’d be interested to hear your views (please leave a comment below).

Picture credit: here (taken from the web site above).

Would You Like To Go On A Bird Walk in December?

Walks

There will be two bird walks at Fleet Pond on Sunday 16 December, guided by local bird expert Peter Hutchins. Both are free to attend and newcomers are very welcome.

The meeting place for both walks will be the car park on the north-eastern side of Fleet Pond (SU824553 OS Landranger map 186) – see here.

Morning walk, starting at 10:00 am with members of the RSPB

Afternoon walk, starting at 2:00 pm with members of Hampshire Ornithological Society (HOS)

Peter Hutchins writes:
“I’ll be taking the two groups on a walk about the pond, taking in the woodland and other flanking habitats, looking primarily for water and woodland birds with special attention being paid to winter visitors.

Apart from the more expected species I’m hoping to locate, among others, Firecrest, Yellow-legged Gull, Mealy Redpoll and Water Rail, although not any of these are at all guaranteed!

On the latter walk we’ll also be looking for birds moving to roost, thrushes, finches, starling, gulls, wildfowl and buntings amongst those that could be heading to ‘bed’ as we continue the walk.”

If anybody would like further details about the walks, please contact Peter Hutchins directly via email or phone:

fieldfare@jaybry.gotadsl.co.uk or peter.hutchins@royalmail.com

07895 – 388378 or 01256 – 770831.

For information and photos on previous (and very popular) bird walks at Fleet Pond lead by Peter, please see here and here.

Bats About The Pond

Education, Plants and Animals, Walks
Pond At Twilight
Pond At Twilight

Michelle Salter writes:

On Thursday 17th September, Joanna Lawence (Fleet Pond Ranger) and Paul Hope (Basingstoke Canal Ranger and local bat expert) led a group of over 20 of us on an evening walk to look and listen for bats around the pond.

We walked up to the Dry Heath, where Paul talked about the 17 species of bat found in the UK and which ones we could expect to see at the pond. These included the pipistrelles, the Daubenton’s Bat, also called the ‘water bat’ as it feeds over water, and the Brown Long-eared Bat, known as the ‘whispering bat’ because of its very quiet echolocation calls. We could also expect to pick up the echolocation calls of passing Noctule bats at 25kHz as these can be picked up by bat detectors at a range of 200m.

The commonest bat in the UK is the pipistrelle; a single Common Pipistrelle can consume 3000 insects in one night. Its calls range from 40 to 60kHz, with a peak intensity of about 45kHz. Soprano Pipistrelles transmit at a higher echolocation frequency of about 55kHz.

Joanna handed out the bat detectors and some glow sticks for the children, and we headed into the woods to listen. All was quiet and very dark, so we made our way down to the marshy areas by the pony paddock. Here, we picked up the calls of both Common and Soprano Pipestrelles, and saw some movement but didn’t get a clear view.

Incidentally, as we made our way towards Boathouse Corner, we surprised a group of youngsters who had decided to pitch a tent by the side of the path. The Rangers pointed out that camping at the reserve is illegal (and you also run the risk of a large group of people with torches and bat detectors suddenly descending on you from the darkness of the woods).

On the jetty at Boathouse Corner, we picked up the calls of the Daubenton’s Bat at around 45kHz. We saw some movement over the water but didn’t get a clear sighting until we moved further along the path, up to the larger fishing jetty. Here, we could see the occasional Daubenton’s Bat suddenly swooping over the water to feed while the bat detectors still picked up strong calls from nearby Soprano Pipistrelles.

Daubenton’s Bats feed on insects by flying low over still or slow-moving water. They are also able to take prey directly from the water’s surface, using their large feet or their tail membrane as a scoop.

We had our best sightings from the jetty on the corner of Hemelite Bay, with the water illuminated by lights from the Waterfront Business Park. Paul shone his torch over the pond and followed the flight of a pair of Daubenton’s Bats, chasing each other across the water. It was a mesmerising sight, and despite the cold night we stayed for ages watching these fascinating creatures.

Photo credit: Michelle Salter