19 October 2017 Bolderwood

On a misty damp and overcast morning 11 members crossed the lawn in front of the Bolderwood car park to reach the cycle track that leads behind the deer sanctuary. Two Pied Wagtails were feeding on the lawn along with two Carrion Crows. Several colourful fungi were present in the pasture, Yellow Club Clavulinopsis helvola was identified and there were many small red coloured waxcaps.

Clouded Agaric

Along the track heavy browsing by deer and ponies was evident. Most of the trunks of the Holly had been gnawed and further on an area had been deer fenced. The Holly having been cut back to allow it to regenerate. Fortunately there was still plenty of Holly and Yew heavily laden with  berries and, although visibility was not good we saw Redwing, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush and Blackbird all feeding. In the distance we heard the bellowing calls of Fallow Deer bucks at their stands, and later on had a glimpse of just the head and antlers of one with two females as he circled around them. As we continued down the main track we found several fungi which were Common Earthball Scleroderma citrinum, Clouded Agaric Clitocybe nebularis and Bracken Map Rhopographus filicinus along with various Russulas and also an interesting Great Grey Slug. Then crossing Bratley Water we turned right to take a very wet track through mixed woodland leading to Sandy Ridge.

False Deathcap

Leaving the wood we walked across open heathland. Here there were views across the forest with its autumn colours, Cross-leaved Heath was still flowering and Meadow Pipits were flitting around along with Goldfinches and a single Red Admiral was seen. We entered  Bratley Wood with its many fine old Beech and Oak trees and  decided to take a  break under an old Beech where a cluster of Sulphur Tuft Hypholoma fasciculare was growing. Later we realised  that this tree contained a Hornet’s nest, but it allowed us good opportunities for photographs. Great Tit and Nuthatch could be heard calling.

Oak Bolete

From the wood we went down to Bratley Water again where Duncan identified an Oak Bolete Boletus appendiculatus. Finally we reached the main track leading up to the car park. Angela pointed out the small white male flowers of the Holly,  and Richard with a couple of others at the back of our group managed to see 5 Hawfinches, which was a highlight for those lucky enough to see them.

Other birds seen were Chaffinch, Jay, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Woodpigeon, and fungi were Yellow Stagshorn Calocera viscosa, False Deathcap Amanita citrina, Meadow Puffball  Lycoperdon pratense and Honey Fungus Armillaria mellea. 

Pam Poole 

Photos © Richard Coomber

Talk: Tuesday 10 October 2017 Clive Chatters:Saltmarshes

Saltmarsh:Clive Chatters

With saltmarshes on their doorstep, members of the society were delighted to hear Clive Chatters' talk, and the subject of his latest book, on this topic. Clive is well known as a botanist and a former chairman of the National Park and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust.

Saltmarshes are created when salt, water and vegetation combine. There are differing types of saltmarsh according to variations in these elements. In estuaries peat bogs can be formed when tides hold back the flow of fresh water and debris build up. The marshes at Kentra in Argyll in a sheltered bay are created from seawater strength salinity, while the marsh at Ainort on the Isle of Skye becomes less saline at times of heavy rainfall.

The salinity creates a tough habitat for vegetation, and plants need to be able to adapt to extreme conditions. Plants like the glassworts have adapted superbly, rather like desert plants, reducing flowers and leaves to simple scales. Annual and perennial plants can survive in saltmarshes. In areas of lower salinity trees like Alder and willow can survive but they die if the salinity increases. In the Lymington reedbeds there is evidence of the willows dying as a result of rising tides. Once a peat bog has formed, caused by the build up of land debris held back by the tide, the soil will become less saline and other species will be able to move in. Peat bogs were once a very common feature but now only exist in places like the Somerset Levels and Norfolk Broads. In fact London was built on a former saltmarsh.

Saltmarshes have long been used as grazing land. There is evidence of Auroch, Elk and deer grazing on the marshes after the Ice Age and this grazing is important to the quality and character of salt marshes. The quality of the grass is much better than much grazing land and the lack of parasites is an advantage to animals. The Lymington marshes are grazed to this day.

There is evidence for a salt industry as far back as Roman times. The pan evaporation technique is familiar from Lymington but saltmarshes are not confined to the coast. There is a notable inland one at Pasturefields, Staffordshire, which is a nature reserve, where water flows over salt deposits underground, and there is even a salt lake at Neumanns Flash at Northwich, where the land appears white.

One of the most abundant plants of the saltmarsh is Carex maritima but others include Sea Plantain, Sea Milkworts, Sea Heath and many varieties of sea lavender. The dominant grass in the Lymington marsh is Spartina anglica, a grass that didn't exist 200 years ago. It is a hybrid of Spartina alternifolia and S. maritima and in around 1840 it became a superweed and colonised the shores of the Solent. Because of its ability to raise the surface of mudflats it was exported all over the world, especially to China, to create more land for agriculture. However, it is not stable, it can grow fast but soon loses vigour.

Saltmarshes are always on the move. At Lymington it is reckoned that 10m a year is disappearing due to changing sea levels and urban pressures but the saltmarsh in the River Test estuary is increasing by 1.4m per lunar month, and in the more contained Langstone Harbour, where originally Eelgrass was replaced by Spartina, Eelgrass is now returning as the sea level rises and land becomes submerged again. The sea wall at Selsey has been abandoned and saltmarsh is returning, doing the sea defence job naturally and for free.

Charles Darwin, on his voyage on the Beagle, travelled to see flamingos and the salt works in the Andes and noticed the flamingos' food, the Brine Shrimp, living in waters of incredible salinity. He observed the ability of creatures to inhabit almost any part of the universe. However, unknown to Darwin, another species of brine shrimp (now extinct) was already at work in Lymington. They were used in the salt industry to clean ponds as part of the manufacturing process and were known as clearer worms. The sea salt industry collapsed in the 1860s as it became cheaper to mine salt and the Lymington saltmarshes became obsolete. Their importance was recognised and the land was purchased by Hampshire County Council between 1973 and 2006 and is now an important nature reserve. (AM)

Indoor meetings of the Society take place at the Lymington Centre throughout the winter months and field meetings take place all year round. See www.lymnats.org.uk for details. Visitors are always welcome.

05 October 2017 Tilery Road (Brockenhurst)

Overgrown clay pit

Speckled Wood

A bright sunny morning after a shower. Sixteen members walked from the Balmer Lawn Hotel in Brockenhurst, led by Angela, to the site of the Victoria Tilery and into Pignal inclosure. Balmer Lawn is a low lying area liable to flooding and one consequence is the appearance of many molehill-like mounds which are thought to have been caused by silt and debris building up following flooding. It is crossed by many drainage channels as the commoners are keen to improve the grazing for their stock, and underground there are probably drainage pipes made in the 19th century at the nearby Victoria Tilery. We inspected a pit where clay may have been removed to make the pipes and where there are some wild service trees, an unusual native tree.

Sulphur Tuft

Long-tailed Tit

Pignal inclosure was famous for its butterflies in Victorian times but butterfly collectors and bad management caused a big drop in their numbers. However, in recent years the Forestry Commission has done a lot of restoration work in keeping the ride edges clear and the Pearl-bordered Fritillary is making a comeback. We saw a number of Speckled Wood and Red Admiral butterflies enjoying the autumn sunshine. Southern Wood Ants were busy on their nests, foraging and rearranging the pine needles to their liking. Also enjoying the sunshine was a very small Common Lizard, warming up after a cold night. It was still quite comatose and kept returning to a warm spot on a log. It was warm enough too for a Common Darter to be patrolling the ride.

Tiger's Eye 

Among the birds we saw were a flock of Long-tailed Tits and some rather argumentative Ravens. There were a few fungi to be seen; a huge troop of Sulphur Tuft and Trametes versicolor at the car park, Green Elfcup, Tiger's Eye Coltricia perennis, and some Fly Agaric, but little else that we could confidently identify during the walk. (AM)

All photographs

© Richard Coomber