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Things are starting to stir in the Forest.
After a quiet summer the ponies are being rounded up for branding leaving single ponies dashing about in search of their lost companions.
Birds are starting to travel on their long migrations, pausing to stop in the forest for rest and to top up their food supplies.
Fruit on the trees is starting to fall on the ground followed by ever increasing numbers of leaves.
Admittedly many of the trees are suffering from lack of water which causes the leaves to fall prematurely.
Autumn has surely arrived.
Members of the Waterside Natural History Society enjoyed a fine warm autumnal day as they set off on their walk from Pigbush car park.
Very little rain has fallen in the past few months and the paths are dry and dusty.
The streams have almost stopped flowing leaving a string of pools along the river beds and the bogs are evaporating with an oily film on the surface of the remaining water.
The common heather or ling has finished flowering so the sea of pink has turned to brown leaving one or two flowers of the dark red bell heather.
This lack of pink has highlighted the blue flowers of the devilsbit scabious and the harebell growing amongst the heather and the few remaining bright pink flowers of the common centaury.
Some flowers are hard to find because they are so small but when viewed through a magnifying glass turn out to be very detailed and interesting.
The common sundew is one such plant which has sticky leaves to trap small insects and although it sounds exotic is quite common on the floor of dried up pools.
It is so small that the dark red colour is often overlooked; but once you have noticed one they appear all over the place.
Another small plant in flower at the moment is the coral necklace which is quite rare in this country being confined to the New Forest and the South west.
Again the small plant, which has pink and white bead like flowers around a long stem, is found on the floor of dried up pools.
Many leaves remain on the trees and the bracken is at its tallest making it difficult to see the birds.
Stonechats however make things easier by perching on the top of small bushes or the tallest bracken and are evident throughout the year.
Their close relative the Whinchat also has the habit of perching on top of a small bush and darting in to the air to catch flying insects.
Unlike the Stonechat however the Whinchat is a passage migrant but they seem to be particularly abundant this year.
They can be distinguished by the white stripe above the eye and the relative lack of a white collar.
Swallows and House Martins are starting to congregate before leaving on their migration south and take every opportunity to feed on flying insects above the marshy areas of the forest.
Swallows can normally be seen collecting on telegraph or electrical wires but these are few and far between around Pigbush.
It seems logical therefore that they should use trees instead but it was still rather a surprise to see twenty or so birds resting on the branches of a tall hawthorn bush.
Searching for and identifying fungi has become more popular recently and autumn is usually the ideal time but the recent dry weather means that very few fungi are to be found at the moment.
We did nevertheless come across a striking lemon yellow slime mould on an old tree stump which turned out to be Fuligo septica.
Sadly slime mould does not seem to have the attraction of its larger relative.
Many other creatures were seen on our walk including deer and hairy caterpillars which crossed our path all rushing here and there getting prepared for winter.
Why can summer not hang on for a while longer?
The next outdoor meeting is to Matley Wood.
Meet at the Oak Road car park Dibden Purlieu at 10am on 18th October 2009.
Non members welcome at no charge.
The next indoor meeting is a talk on Shakespeares Garlands by Gerald Ponting.
Meet at St Andrews Centre, Beaulieu Road, Dibden Purlieu at 7.30pm on 26th October 2009.
Non members welcome at a charge of £2.
Contact the secretary on 023 8089 3803 for membership details.
Any comments to mharrison67@btinternet.com |
