DAILY DIARY

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This morning I cycled down the old rail line from Havant to south Hayling and continued round Gunner Point at the entrance to Langstone Harbour. Nothing of great significance was seen but as usual there was plenty to hold my interest throughout the trip.

As soon as I reached the Hayling section of the rail line I began to hear Robins quietly singing or just ticking in the hedges on either side of the line - seemingly one every 10 metres or so! - and I guess most of these were newcomers setting up territories for the winter. In the Oysterbeds area I also came across my first autumn flock of Starlings which had arrived to feed on blackberries and insects - only around 30 of them but their presence was in contrast to their absence in the past few months.

After passing West Town Station and heading south down St Catherine's Road I passed a large, past its best and partially squashed by a vehicle tyre, Boletus type fungus growing in grass near the base of a couple of Oak trees. The best match I can find for it is Boletus appendiculatus which is associated with oaks and appears in late summer though that species should have a substantial stem holding it up off the ground while this specimen appeared to have no stem (that may have been the effect of being run over by a vehicle!)

At the very start of the shingle in the area south of the Hayling ferry carpark I am pretty sure that I heard the churring of a Dartford Warbler coming from a patch of blackberry bushes close to the Golf Course fence and while waiting to see if I could get a glimpse of it (no luck!) two other small birds did perch on the top of bushes making calls which I did not recognize before they flew up into the air in a way that reminded me of the bouncy vertical flights made by Bearded Tits before they take off from a reed bed to set out into the unknown (these birds were not Beardies but I have no idea as to what they were).

In the area south of the Golf Course, over which a Kestrel was hovering, I found Hare's Foot Clover in fresh flower and, even more surprisingly, the small blue 'balls' of Sheep's Bit flowers. I stopped here to look for any remnants of Nottingham Catchfly at the spot where I have found a small colony in previous years (so far as I know its only site on Hayling) and (while I may have been mistaken) I am pretty sure that a cluster of seed pods on tall thin stems arising from appropriate leaf clusters showed there had been a better than usual showing this year. Also in this area and still flowering was some Rose Campion (Lychnis coronaria).

I was more successful in finding the colony of Pale Toadflax still in flower (see pictures below taken with my back to the Toilet block that you pass as you approach the Inn on the Beach and the western Beachlands carpark).

Pale Toadflax site marked by my haversack on path south of public mini-golf course

Getting closer and closer to the flowers

Before heading back I added Cocks Eggs to my September flowering list

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This afternoon I went to see the roadside site where Brian Fellows found Wild Clary growing this summer and I noticed two things which might have contributed to its arrival there. The first is that the ground is on a slight slope and it looks as if soil might have been imported to smooth the shape of the slope. The second is that the road (Christopher Way) with its modern housing is at the top of the slope and there is a public footpath at the foot of the slope, giving the possible impression that the path was part of an ancient track and may have been there since Wild Clary grew in open land around the path. So far I cannot find any evidence for such an ancient path and am tentatively placing my bet on the origin of the plants being in soil imported to smooth out the slope. Whatever their origin there is a substantial colony of plants stretching for a dozen yards or more along the roadside with an isolated young plant at the west end of the stretch giving the impression that the colony is extending through natural self-seeding.

Before going to that site I had a wander around the Brook Meadow area where I was impressed by the number of insects attracted to the flower heads of a clump of Wild Angelica (among them a Comma butterfly) and surprised to see several flowering plants of what seemed to be White Comfrey (pure white flowers). I also discovered the lovely display of Purple Loosestrife in the grounds of Gooseberry Cottage by walking up the path along the east side of Peter Pond. I then continued north up Lumley Road to where the stream runs past the cottages just south of the rail line and here, on the brickwork of the canalised part of the stream, I found a lovely plant of Skullcap covered with its bright blue flowers. Returning down Lumley Road I gathered a specimen of some young Willowherb re-growth and found I had a much smaller than usual example of Hoary Willowherb with its cross shaped stigma and coating of long hairs.

Driving home I passed my first (for the year) find of Japanese Knotweed in flower.

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I had a stab at counting the Egrets coming to roost at the pond this evening but the afternoon high tide had been as late as 4pm and this had brought the Egrets in so that around 50 were present when I arrived at 6:50pm and during the hour before sunset several of them flew out to get some supper as the tide continued to fall. In the period immediately after sunset at 7:53pm some 20 birds did fly in and I suspect a few more would have come had I waited until it was too dark to see them but I headed home soon after 8pm.

My stay on the sea wall was not without interest and I had close views of a young Fox which I first saw sitting within 20 yards of me in the open Pony field north of the pond - later it moved around the edge of the field and eventually disappeared - following its progress I spotted a clump of Field Mushrooms which seem to be flourishing at the present. Overhead at any time there were a dozen or more Swallows catching insects rising from the pond area and on the mud two Teal were a foretaste of many to come as winter sets in. Best bird was not seen but clearly heard as it flew east towards Emsworth in the dusk - several clear 'Chewit' calls could only have come from a Spotted Redshank

Earlier in the day I had been in the Eastern Road cemetery where a single Common Dog Violet flower was a surprise, though Field Mushrooms, Field Scabious and Burnet Saxifrage were not

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In this morning's bright sunshine I walked to the Brockhampton stream, along the shore to Budds Farm and then home via Mill Lane and 'new' Langstone.

Highspot was watching perhaps 30 Yellow Wagtails on the South Moors and the supporting items were a troop of Brown Rollrim toadstools, flowers on cultivar Tamarisks and a Sweet Violet, ending with a fresh Small Copper butterfly on garden flowers when back in Havant.

Cutting through 'The Twitten' at the start I found a perfect specimen of Cocksfoot Grass and among the flowers noted elsewhere were Storks Bill, Small Flowered Cranesbill, Vervain, Pellitory of the Wall and Pigweed (Green Amaranth). At the west end of the South Moors shore (at the seaward end of the old IBM playing fields) a couple of Tamarisks were in full flower, not bearing the fairly sparse, pale pinkish, flowers you find on the old trees all round the harbour shores but the abundant bright pink flowers you get on the trees planted on motorway banks. Google tells me that there are at least 50 species or cultivars of Tamarisk but I have not yet been able to name the ones I saw today.

Budds Farm had Swallows, House Martins and at least one Sand Martin overhead and a large roost of Redshank over against the west end of the north wall. For a short time I watched the back end of a sleeping duck which drifted out from the bank and then back again - it was probably just a Tufted Duck but the large area of bright white under the tail made me think of our old friend the 'Fudge Duck'. In recent years this bird has I think normally returned in mid September.

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Apologies for the absence of Diary Entries for this week - the result of a combination of bad weather, an infection in one leg making walking painful, and the arrival of my daughter's family (including two young children and a dog). The family have departed for the weekend but have left me with the dog! Luckily the leg is now very nearly cured after a course of Penicillin.

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Now that the ground is starting become damp the larger and more prominent fungi that we associate with autumn are starting to appear. In my own garden a cluster of Red-cracking Boletes (Boletus chrysenteron) were seen this morning and their id was clinched by the downy/velvety coating on the cap of the young growth (this vanishes when they become mature and the cap flattens out)

In the afternoon I brought home the first two Field Mushrooms of the season from the short grass of the Havant Eastern Road cemetery and confirmed that there was no sign of yellow staining after cutting the cap or the stem (the Yellow Stainer species which has very attractive white caps and pink gills when young should not be eaten as it can give some people a nasty stomach upset though it is not fatal)

Also seen today when in the Warblington cemetery extension among the plants still flowering in the 'natural burial' section were examples of the two very different looking types of Swine Cress which I described in Monday's diary (Aug 16) when I found them in the Staunton Country Park. This time I collected substantial specimens of both types and looked at their seeds under my microscope - the smaller plant with its tangled growth had the seeds described for Lesser Swinecress (an upright stem bearing a pair of round, almost smooth, seed pods) while the larger plant with its leaves growing flat along the ground radiating from a central root, which I had guessed was Swine Cress, had very different seed pods (often with many more than two on each stem) with their surfaces covered with irregularly shaped protrusions reminding me of the Knopper Galls you may now see on the acorns of some Oaks. One Swallow does not make a summer and my two examples do not offer conclusive proof that I can use the obvious distinction that I saw in the size and growth habit of the plant leaves to be sure of the difference between Swinecress and Lesser Swinecress but I will continue to check the seed on the different looking plants to provide further proof or disproof of my method of distinguishing the two species.

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After another wet and windy day the evening was sunny and windless so I cycled along the shore to enjoy fresh air not expecting to see much as the tide was high but nevertheless there were one or two surprises to note.

First of these was a flock of ten Shelduck in the outflow of the main Warblington Farm stream - I think one of them was an adult but the others were all juveniles.

After rounding Conigar Point I stopped to look into Field V (see my map of the farm fields at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ralph.hollins/warblington.htm ). The wheat crop in this field had by now been harvested and out in the centre some 60 Corvids had gathered, among them being a good proportion of Rooks (normally any Corvids along the shore here are all Crows in a diffuse flock that can exceed 100 birds). I guess they had been enjoying the plentiful wheat grain still covering the ground, as had a single Reed Bunting which flew up as I entered the field.

At Nore Barn the Swan herd numbered 39 but there were no other birds visible on or around the waters (earlier I had seen a couple of Greenshank and a Common Tern in addition to the many gulls returning from inland fields to roost in the safety of the harbour waters).

Starting home along the broad path following the north side of the Nore Barn trees I noticed many plants of Garlic Mustard with flowers and back on the Emsworth Road in Havant I found the Giant Polypore which I first spotted on Aug 8 had increased considerably in size but had lost the bright yellowish tinge which caught my eye when it was young and could still be seen on a second growth which had just emerged at the base of the same tree.

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As the sun was still shining after lunch I took my camera down to the 'Lymbourne Triangle' wildflower garden site where I had seen Sharp-leaved Fluellen at the end of yesterday's walk and began by taking three shots of the site to show how easy it can be to miss things of interest as you walk by. The first shot is what anyone would see as they approach the Billy Line from Lymbourne Road area. The second shot focusses on the gateway that you pass on your right and the third on the foot of the right hand side of the brickwork around the wooden gate where I spotted the Fluellen.

Approaching the Billy Line from Lymbourne Road

The garden gateway beside the path

Sharp-leaved Fluellen site at the foot of the gateway (right hand side)

Then I got down to the plant itself and I see that, while I got a good image (at the top of the picture) of the leaves which distinguish this species the flowers are not in focus. For contrast I have included a photo of the 'woollier, rounder' leaves of Round Leaved Fluellen (the illustration of this is not mine and has the flower in focus!).

My shot of the Sharp-leaved Fluellen leaves and (out of focus) flowers

Round-leaved Fluellen for contrast (not my photo and in focus!)

After taking these photos I noticed that the Danewort was attracting a good show of insects including up to four Holly Blues at the same time plus a variety of Hoverflies including the largest of that tribe (Volucella zonaria) though it may have already lost its claim to be the largest hoverfly in Britain as the Gloucestershire Naturalists Society website tells me that "Recent news suggests that Volucella zonaria, itself a relative newcomer to Britain, may be in danger of eventually losing its status as the country’s largest hoverfly. There have been two reports this year (2010) of sightings in the south-west of Milesia crabroniformis, a continental hoverfly, which, as its name implies, is another hornet mimic, and which is even larger, at nearly 25 mm., than Volucella zonaria." This website also confirms something I had read before, namely that V. zonaria lays its eggs in the nests of Wasps or Hornets and its larvae grow up there as scavengers. It also says that the species was unknown in Britain until the 1940s and is still spreading north from the continent.

Two Volucella Zonaria hoverflies on Danewort flowers

Syrpus ribesii - a smaller and commoner hoverfly

One of four Holly Blue butterflies enjoying the nectar rich Danewort flowers

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Late in the afternoon the rain ceased and I took a walk down the Langbrook stream to the South Moors, then back up the Billy Line.

Plants which I were not already on my August list were Red Deadnettle (now joining the white species in its autumn revival), Silverweed, Tufted Forget-me-not (the smaller flowered version of Water Forget-me-not), and Parsley Water-dropwort (I have not seen either this or Corky-fruited Water Dropwort this month).

Coming back up the Billy Trail I noticed a freshly flowering Mullein (either planted or thrown out by a garden on the south side of Langstone Avenue) which I think was Orange Mullein (said to be the commonest of the garden species to be found as an escape but this is the first time I have knowingly come across it).

Finally, right at the end of the trip, I noticed a small example of something I do not recall every seeing in Havant before (though not uncommon in local arable fields including Warblington Farm) - this was Sharp-leaved Fluellen growing at the foot of the right hand brick column framing the wooden gate into the southern most of the Lymbourne Road properties which back onto the Billy Trail. This gate is opposite the Danewort which you see on your right as you enter the 'wildflower meadow triangle' from the Billy Trail opposite the east end of Grove Road.

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This afternoon my neighbour Mike Fluck joined me for a walk around the Leigh Park Gardens area in warm sunshine during which we noted some 50 flowering plants, 8 butterflies, a Lizard and an interesting spider.

Among the plants was my first find for the year of Devils Bit Scabious, a good show of Marsh Woundwort, lots of Sneezewort, an unexpected specimen of Dwarf Gorse and at one point a chance to contrast what seemed to be Swine Cress with Lesser Swinecress (pity I didn't take my camera for that!). The Lesser plants formed the usual amorphous mass with flowers appearing at random among their foliage. In contrast the Swinecress formed very symmetrical and perfectly circular patches all pressed flat to the ground - below are two images taken from the internet which are the nearest that I can find to illustrate the difference that I saw but to be sure that these are actually two different species and not just variants of Lesser Swinecress I will have to return when the plants have seeds.

Lesser Swine Cress

Probable Swine Cress

Butterflies seen included a couple of Silver Washed Fritillaries, two or three Small Heath and one very tatty Purple Hairstreak seen on the ground.

Walking through woodland we noticed a man taking closeup photos of something that was not obvious so we asked what he was focussing on and he showed us a tiny spider nestling in the leaf of a Holly bush. Its long legs stretched out in front suggested a Tetragnatha species and back at home I found a species which matched what we saw in size (body around 5mm), in location (trees), in general shape and in having light coloured legs with black bands around them (what Dick Jones calls 'annulated'). The species is Tetragnatha obtusa and Dick says it is locally abundant in England and gives the season at which the adults become mature as early summer (but they can then persist for some time). While talking to him the photographer showed us a picture he had taken earlier today of a large beetle which I would have liked to see and which may have been a rarity - all I could tell from his image (taken head on so not giving the outline or colour of the body) was that (by the length of its antennae) it was a 'Longhorn' species.

Other things noted were a glimpse of a Common Lizard seen as it vanished into cover and the noisy calls of an unseen Nuthatch.

Back at Middle Park Way as we were about to enter the Staunton CP carpark Barry Collins drove past but stopped for a chat during which he told me that I was wrong in guessing (in the weekly summary that I posted yesterday) that the Osprey currently stopping off at Thorney Island is the one which arrived there at the end of July - Barry said the first to arrive did stay for a long time but was a juvenile whereas the one seen in the past few days is a full adult which has only been there a short while.

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I was pleased to see in the Portsmouth NEWS on Aug 13 that Stansted Forest has been awarded joint first place in the 'Duke of Cornwall Award for Multipurpose Woodland' by the Royal Forestry Society. In making the award the judges said "Head Forester Michael Prior's wide ranging knowledge and careful planning impressed us greatly" and went on to say that "Michael talked with enthusiasm about wildlife in both the forest and the parkland"

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This evening I counted 105 Egrets entering the Langstone Pond roost and while there I noted my first sight of Sea Aster flowers. I also found that the seawall path has been closed from today until repairs to the retaining wall of the pond immediately behind the fence of the Mill building are complete - although people were finding their way around the fences closing the path while no work was going on you may, coming along the shore from Emsworth and heading for Langstone village, find you have to take the lengthy diversion up Wade Lane, across the field north of Wade Court, then down the Billy Trail past the Wade Court area to the field path across to the Royal Oak.

Listening to the radio earlier in the day I heard an expert on such matters answer the question of what is the difference between a pond and a lake and by that definition the Langstone Pond should be called a Lake as he said the critical difference was that a pond had no stream bringing water into it, nor taking water away - if there is any such flow the water body should be called a Lake (though maybe the term 'Mill Pond' is a third category, neither a Pond nor a Lake, as all such Mill Ponds by definition are just holding areas for water to keep their Mill in operation when the flow of the stream normally proving the power to turn the mill wheel is insufficient for the job).

Also earlier in the day I visited the Havant Eastern Road cemetery where, in the small northern 'uncared for' section, I quickly gathered 3 lb of Blackberries for lunch. While there I found 3 large female Wasp Spiders on their distinctive webs in the rough grass and thus added another species to my list of that cemetery's inhabitants.

On my way there the New Lane level crossing had a long queue of traffic so I did not wait for the gates to open (they sometimes stay down for 20 minutes!) but headed for the bridge over the railway at the nearby station and at the foot of this bridge a flash of bright yellow and green attracted my attention to the first Creeping Yellow Cress I have seen this year. Before that, while weeding in my garden, I had added Thyme-leaved Speedwell making its second appearance for the year.

To pad out this entry here are a few items picked from my scan of the internet this week:-

Six species of Heron were seen by one birder at the Dungeness RSPB reserve on Aug 6 - Grey and Purple Heron, Little, Cattle and Great White Egret plus a Bittern.

The RX (Rye Bay) website had three interesting items (with photos) on Aug 9 -
one describing how a 'bunch of black grapes' (Cuttlefish eggs) had been found on the beach and have now hatched into 'cute little Cuttlefish' in a fish tank at the wardens house - See http://rxwildlife.org.uk/2010/08/09/cuttlefish-birthday/#more-14212
the second being the accidental find of a Slow Worm giving birth - the photo shows the baby still in its membrane before emerging into the outside world - See http://rxwildlife.org.uk/category/all-latest-news/reptiles-and-amphibians/
the third being of an 'ugly' fly which lives as a parasite on birds (this caught my attention as I clearly remember this sort of insect dropping out of Swift nests in the roof of my school dormitory onto my bed. See http://rxwildlife.org.uk/category/all-latest-news/insects/ (scroll down to Aug 9 entry)

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The sunny morning and light wind encouraged me to cycle down the Hayling Billy Line and then round the Hayling Golf Course before returning up the eastern side of the Island to Northney on my way home.

Before I got to the Langstone main road I spotted the yellow flower of a Welsh Poppy beside the track and when the harbour came in view near the old north pier of the railway the first thing I saw was a Peregrine chasing some smaller bird (possibly a Redshank?) from the harbour and over the Oysterbeds. The chased bird led the Peregrine a fair chase with its switchback attempts to escape but I think the Peregrine knocked it down in the end.

When I reached the Oysterbeds the lagoon islands seemed totally deserted and my only interest here was to find Goats Rue still flowering in the carpark.

At the Sinah Gravel Pit lake Coot were the only wildfowl on the water but as I was moving on I noticed some yellow flowers among the willows by the water's edge just through the fence - no sign of orange on the calyces as far as I could see through my binoculars so I put the plants down as Dotted Loosestrife.

Passing the Kench I had expected to find Bell Heather still flowering on the Golf Course but the drought had dried up all the plants and I did not find any more interest until south of the Golf Course where there were at least 8 Wheatears flitting over the ground. Also here I found good stands of Yellow Horned Poppy, Sea Campion and one of Thrift still in flower, then at the east end of the mini Golf Course I found a fair show of Pale Toadflax in flower - earlier in the Sand Dunes I had seen just one plant of Sea Holly in flower.

Turning homeward up Bound Lane I added Cockspur Grass to my month list and gardens on the way north gave me Apple of Peru and a huge Cotton Thistle (which I still think of as Scotch Thistle) - both these were garden plants but nevertheless good to see. I also passed my first specimen of Black Nightshade in flower by the roadside and at Northney I went into North Common to check out the Fragrant Agrimony plants which grow there - these must have been mown down earlier in the summer but had re-grown into fresh plants with their flower spikes not yet expanded and so with no seed heads to confirm their id (earlier on the Coastal Path I had spent some time checking out plants where I have previously found Fragrant Agrimony but none of those had the 'backward looking' bristles on the seed heads to identify them as Fragrant). Luckily the fresh plants at North Common did have the 'fragrant' leaves which only the young plants have.

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This afternoon I cycled north along New Lane to the Bartons Road playing fields alongside the railway on the northern fringe of Leigh Park. On the east side of this area the course of the Lavant Stream follows the railway line and although the stream was totally dry there were still some good wild flowers around it - no sign of the Devils Bit Scabious or the Dyers Greenweed that put on a good show there at the appropriate times of year but I did find Marsh Ragwort and Marsh Woundwort to add to my personal list for August.

Following Bartons Road up towards the Hollybank Woods I found both Field Scabious and Tansy, and in the west end of the Hollybank Woods I was surprised to find Yellow Pimpernel in flower despite the drought. I also came on a patch of Marsh Cudweed here. On the way home I added another species in flower with a roadside specimen of Sticky Groundsel in fresh flower.

During this trip I found Holly Blues flying in at least half a dozen places - the species does seem to be having a good summer.

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This afternoon I cycled along the Emsworth Road to check on the fungus which I had twice seen in passing and found it on the roots of a large Beech tree just east of Meadowlands road. It was a young stage of Giant Polypore.

I continued south down Pook Lane noting that the conkers hanging from one tree were nearly full size and that all the leaves of the tree were blotched by the leaf mining larvae of the moth Cameraria ohridella which has invaded England in the last few years.

From the Royal Oak at Langstone I saw a smart adult Lesser Blackback gull in the outfall stream with the black upper plumage indicating that it had come from the east (British and west European races have a grey upper plumage). Heading on down Mill Lane to the South Moors shore I found one adult and two juvenile Shelduck in the mouth of the Langbrook stream but my main finds here where a couple of plants of Slender Hare's Ear (not yet in flower but showing that the species has not vanished from this site) and a very few flowers on Sea Campion. A few Common Blues were on the wing and I was pleased to see one Small Heath.

A female Kestrel hovered over Budds Mound and on the pools I saw a single cygnet with one adult Swan plus a group of Gadwall that were probably one family. Heading home up Southmoor Lane a single plant of Hedgerow Cranesbill was flowering and several plants of Guernsey Fleabane were starting to flower. A diversion through the new part of Langstone village found the Least Yellow Sorrel still flowering were the north south footpath meets the southern part of Southbrook Road.

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When the rain stopped this afternoon I took a two hour stroll around the west end of Stansted Forest with my main target being the Violet Helleborines which should now be flowering near the junction of the Main Avenue and the Broad Avenue. The site is close to the Ornamental Drive but well hidden behind a thick growth of young Birch and Sweet Chestnut tree liberally laced with brambles (I had brought my secateurs and could not have got through without them). My effort was repaid with two of these orchids in flower - one small one and one much larger with at least 40 flowers open. While here I had another bonus when a Marsh Tit came close, calling to make sure I got its identity right!

Heading north up the Broad Avenue butterflies began to appear as the sun came out - Meadow Browns, Gatekeepers and Common Blues here with two unexpected (at this late date) species at the top of the climb where you reach the 'Rough' or 'Shooting Avenue' coming north west from Stansted House - one was a Marbled White, the other a female Silver Washed Fritillary which seemed intent on landing on me (it made several very close passes).

The Rough Avenue here had two more new plants for me - one was Ling Heather just starting to flower, the other Goldenrod covered with flower buds but none yet quite open. A further botanic surprise came when heading back through the woodland - an area where a wood pile had recently been removed had caused fresh growth of several plants, among them Cleavers with fresh flowers

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After visiting the new extension of the cemetery this afternoon I went into the old cemetery and found an excellent show of Round-leaved Fluellen where it usually scrapes an existence at the edge of the path running west from the southern end of the broad vehicle path leading into the cemetery from the farmyard parking area. Here Field Forget-me-not was also flowering to add to my current month list, and on the way home I added Pellitory of the Wall beside the twitchel path from Pook Lane to Wade Court Road.

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No outing today but a few more plants seen in flower (including Hybrid Water Speedwell in the pond across Park Road South from Solent Road and Tesco) has brought my August list of plants in flower to 148. One more which I believe I saw but did not check out was Guernsey Fleabane which started to flower last year on July 20

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A sunny evening suggested a cycle ride to the 'Broadmarsh mountain' to see if the rare Hairy Vetchling was still in flower. When I got there I found a good display of it, and on my way home I was surprised to find Narrow-leaved Pepperwort freshly flowing from a crack in the concrete pavement at the Langstone roundabout - this must be a second crop as the plant usually flowers in May and soon ceases to flower in its chosen arid habitat

Back by the Hermitage Stream at Broadmarsh I saw at least 29 Mute Swans in the growing summer flock - a faint reminder of the flock of around 100 that used to assemble here. Coming down the nearby Brockhampton stream (which joins the Hermitage at the gravel quay) I had a fleeting glimps of a small bird flying fast and straight away from me low over the water - almost certainly a Kingfisher but I could not be certain. Another moment of uncertainty came at the Gravel Quay pool when three birds flew low across the water in front of me. Their flight suggested that the were Common Sandpipers and I definitely heard the shrill piping of a Common Sandpiper but the bird I watched most closely in flight seemed to have the broad white rump and dark upper plumage of a Green Sandpiper so it may have been a mixed group but I could only be certain of the Common Sandpiper call.

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In Havant today I added a few more plants to my August list, notable among them was a big cluster of the double flowered form of Soapwort which is called 'Bouncing Bett' growing beside Park Road North on its east side just a few metres north of the bridge over the railway (I had spotted this from my car on Sunday and cycled there this morning to confirm the id of the plants). Another good find in the afternoon was a cluster of freshly flowering plants of Pigweed (Green Amaranth) in Juniper Square where I have seen them in previous years, and in the Homewell area Wall Lettuce was flowering on an old wall. Other new species for August were Wild Radish, Annual Mercury and a last single flower on the Weasels Snout plants at the New Lane allotments. While in that area I checked out the Perennial Wall Rocket close to the disused railway Signal Box at the New Lane level crossing - the original bush on the rail track ballast has very few flowers but another bush within the white painted metal railings around the Signal Box is covered with fresh flowers

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An invitation from my neighbour Mike Fluck to join him on an afternoon walk changed my plans for a lazy day into one in which we spent four hours out in the warm sunshine enjoying great views along the Solent to Hurst Castle and surrounded at all times by a mass of flowering plants which considerably changed Mike's opinion of what the City of Portsmouth has to offer to the walker in search of wildlife and natural scenery - previously he has never considered going anywhere but into Sussex for his regular country walks.

We started from the parking area west of Fort Widley and walked west along the upper slopes of the hill to a point below Fort Southwick, then took the steep downhill path into the bottom of the Paulsgrove Chalk Pit which left us with a the equally steep uphill climb before retracing the first part of our outward journey.

As we were driving past Fort Widley to the start of the walk I noticed what I took to be Lucerne flowering at the roadside just before we reached the open grass of the parking area so, after parking the car, we walked down to the roadside to confirm the Lucerne - there was quite a lot of it in various shades of blue and this colour variation reminded of the even greater colour variation (which can include yellow and even black flowered plants) on what is called Sand Lucerne which I have only seen once on the shore of Paulsgove Lake north of Portchester Castle where the open grassland becomes a narrow seawall path leading to the industrial estate area which includes the huge (ex-)Vosper Thorneycroft shipbuilding sheds. (The Hants Flora does not mention that site and gives just one location in Southampton Docks). Checking in Stace's Flora I see that Lucerne, Sand Lucerne, and Sickle Medick (which is also flowering on Portsdown again this year) are all closely related and are treated as three subspecies of Medicago sativa, though Stace admits that Sand Lucerne (M.s.varia) is in fact a hybrid between Sickle Medick and Lucerne.

Stepping back from the roadside onto the flower rich short grassland we paused close to where the west hedge of Fort Widley meets the road and here (at SU 65452-06474 according to the Satellite View on the Wheresthepath website) I was delighted to find a cluster of minute Lesser Centaury plants (none of them much more than 1 cm tall) with their bright red single flowers just peeping above the very short grass. Mike pointed out that most of the plants had flowers with four petals but several had five petals and we wondered if these were recognised as different but another check with Stace showed that all species and subspecies of Centaurium (Centaury) can have flowers with either 4 or 5 petals, 5 being the more common.

Walking west we soon added Musk Thistle, Carline Thistle and Betony to the species I had seen yesterday. We also saw very many Chalkhill Blues and heard song from two Yellowhammers. The next major find was Bastard Toadflax (with more Lesser Centaury close to it) in the area where I was first introduced to the species many years ago. The map reference for the plants using Wheresthe path is SU 63864-06625 but for those not equipped with GPS the route we took to the plants was west along the well worn path following the fence along the top of the Paulsgrove Chalk Pit from its start until you go through a gate and down steps into the first of two gullies that run south west to the lip of the Chalkpit from the old ASWE - now Qinetic - buildings with their radar towers. Turning left off the main path and walking to the southern end of the gully just before the fence we found a good number of Bastard Toadflax plants, some still flowering, half way up the western side of the gully and best seen if you are standing on the base of the gully.

Nothing else of much interest until we had descended to the base of the chalk pit where a couple of Stonechats were calling and we had good views of one female or young bird perched on the tip of a Gorse bush. Two new flowers found here were Pale Flax (still one flower!) and Blue Fleabane. On the way back up Portsdown we made an unexpected find of a single plant of Black Mustard which had very few leaves or flowers but which was easily identified by the many seed pods all tight pressed against the stem. Near the roundabout on top of the hill we came on White Melilot, had a close view of a fresh Speckled Wood to add to the other butterflies seen (Common and Chalkhill Blue, Peacock, Red Admiral, Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper plus various Whites) We also had close views of a couple of full grown female Wasp Spiders.

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My summary does not include today's finds which include several 'goodies'. This being the start of a new month I recorded all the flowering plants which I came across, ending the day with a list of exactly 100 species (mainly as a result of a trip to Botley, to visit my son, on which I stopped for a look round Portsdown both on the way out and the return, and a walk in a productive area at Botley)

On the way to Botley I stopped at the carpark east of the London Road and the finds which I thought interesting here were the mass of Squinancywort, the presence of many Hoary Plantains and a fair show of Hairbells plus a pleasant surprise in finding Sickle Medick once again flowering by the sliproad from Portsdown Hill Road to the northbound London Road. The whole of this area was alive with hundreds of Burnet Moths and at one point I almost walked into the web of a by now large female Wasp Spider (Argiope bruennichi)

At Botley we walked through a damp woodland glade (marked on the map as Pudbrook Lake) in which I saw my first Lesser Stitchwort and came on a dark coloured Bush Cricket which may have been a Dark Bush Cricket though it disappeared before I could get a good look. In my son's garden a large mature oak had developed some young fungi near the base of the trunk looking like young stages of some bracket type fungus and on checking after I got home I fear they may be Inonotus dryadeus which affects Oaks and can cause a white rot that would eventually bring down the tree.

Best find in the Fort Widley area on my way home was a bush of Lucerne and back at home I added Canadian Fleabane to my list.

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Despite a threat of rain conditions this evening were good for counting the Egrets coming to roost in the trees around Langstone Pond - the wind was light and the tide was low, encouraging the Egrets to stay out feeding until dusk forced them into the roost, and cloud was covering the setting sun which can otherwise make it difficult to see the roost trees (the best viewpoint is one from which the setting sun is directly behind the trees).

The only way to get an accurate count is to record the arrival of the birds while still in the air as they enter the roost - once in the trees most of them disappear from view but many of them move about within the roost, flying from the higher branches on which they first landed to more sheltered lower branches before settling down and these short flights within the roost trees totally confuse any methodical count!

I arrived on the Langstone seawall path one hour before sunset and could then see a dozen Egrets already in the trees (there could well have been more). I then waited 15 minutes before Egrets started to fly in and I left an hour later (10 minutes after sunset) with a total count of 124. During August this number is likely to increase and by the end of the month it could even exceed my previous record count of 228 made a couple of years ago. That may sound a large number but it is even more impressive when you become aware that there is an equally big roost in trees near the Thorney Little Deeps and another in the trees of Tournerbury Wood in south Hayling which have all been active in recent years.

Among other birds seen was one possible Wigeon in the outfall stream seen distantly from the Royal Oak seawall. I kept an eye out for a Kingfisher but with no success (two or three coastal sites are currently reporting their 'first back' sightings as what are probably juveniles reach the coast from inland nests), and one other unexpected bird was a fly over Great Blackback Gull (in todays news is a report of the first recorded breeding of Lesser Blackbacks on the roof of the IBM buildings at North Harbour in Portsmouth).

Finally here is a picture taken by Nik Knight of the Spreading Hedge Parsley mentioned in yesterdays entry plus another taken by him through his microscope of the diagnostic seed capsules, and one taken by myself of the general area where the plants were found.

Spreading Hedge Parsley plant

Spreading Hedge Parsley site (plant just visible in centre of picture)

Seed capsules seen through microscope

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Martin Rand (South Hants BSBI Plant Recorder) had a look at the weeds I found in a Langstone garden close to Wade Court on July 20, and which (after a further look at them on Monday of this week) seemed to fit the description for Torilis arvensis (Spreading Hedge Parsley, a nowadays very rare weed of arable fields). When I told him of the find Martin thought it more likely that the plants were one of three alien subspecies and had arrived among birdseed but today, after seeing the plants for himself, he believes that they are the genuine native species (Torilis arvensis arvensis), in which case they are the first to be found in the Hampshire part of the SU70 ten kilometre square and only the third find anywhere in south Hampshire in the past fifty years or so (after changes in agricultural practice virtually eliminated the species). How the plants arrived in this garden remains a mystery - the hooked barbs on the seed capsules are probably designed to attach to the fur of animals in order to spread to new sites, and as the species is known to grow in the arable fields of the Stansted East Park (only 6.5 km north east of Langstone as the Crow flies and a not impossible journey for a wandering deer or fox coming via Stansted and Southleigh Forests, then through the Hollybank Woods and the open fields of the Emsworth/Havant gap to the Warblington area, and a very easy and likely trip for a domestic dog being taken for a walk at Stansted and then given a car ride home to Langstone - though no dogs live at the site were the plants were found)

My own observations today started with a short burst of the subdued autumn song of a Robin in my garden, the first I have heard this year, and later in the morning I got on my bike and rode east along the shore from Langstone to Emsworth and then south down the west coast of Thorney Island to the Great Deeps in the hopes of finding Bupleurum tenuissimum (Slender Hare's Ear) newly in flower.

I did find half a dozen tiny plants of this minature umbellifer hiding in the grass on the inside of the seawall bank close to the Great Deeps but I think anyone not familiar with this tiny plant, and not knowing where it might be found, is most unlikely to spot it despite the yellow flowers which caught my eye - it is a close relative of the yellow flowered Wild Parsnip but has umbels no more than a couple of millemetres across on stems at this early stage no more than 5 cm tall where the bigger and commoner plant has umbels more than 5 cm across and stands up to 1 metre high. Another first for me along this seawall were the yellow flower spikes of Sea Plantain.

The seawall also had a good show of Common Blue butterflies among which I found my first Small Copper resting with open wings on a flowerhead. Another insect first for this year for me was a Bloody-nosed Beetle hanging to a grass stem but I was more pleased to find that the uncommon Pointed Snails (Cochlicella acuta) have not disappeared from this site - I saw perhaps half a dozen tiny youngsters clinging to grass stems up which they climb to avoid 'frying' in the high temperature which occurs on dry ground exposed to the summer sun - just a few inches off the ground they are cooled by any slight breeze and unaffected by the 'frying pan' effect of the sun baked soil.

While at the Great Deeps a Whimbrel flew over calling and the creek (which runs into the field of Eames Farm from the junction of the Deeps and the 'canal' connecting Great to Little Deeps) had a couple of dabbling ducks which I am pretty sure were Shoveler (if so my first returning wildfowl of the autumn).

Other notes were of what I think was a Willow Warbler (by its call) in the Tamarisks of the Warblington Farm shore, a great display of Spanish Broom planted in seashore gardens just west of where the path from Beacon Square reaches the shore, and a delightful amusing flock of minature (plastic) sheep grazing the expansive grassland of another nearby garden.

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While in Havant this morning I found a good show of Burnet Saxifrage had appeared in St Faith's Churchyard and I noted Redshank newly flowering on my way there.

This afternoon I was in the Warblington Cemetery extension where the most interesting sight was of what was either a Dark Green or Silver-washed Fritillary landing briefly on flowers on the graves - the only other butterflies there were Large Whites, Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers.

A wander round the wild flower area, which was dominated by Spear Thistles and Cornflowers, found one or two plants of Corn Chamomile and Chicory plus a little Ladies Bedstraw, Bird's-foot Trefoil, Common Poppies and Common Ragwort. Back in the carpark area I saw several Swallows still apparently attached to the farm buildings.

In Brook Meadow I noted Square-stalked St John's Wort and was surprised to see Common Comfrey still flowering. I also saw that the Yellow Rattle sown there had taken hold of one area where there was a noticeable reduction of the grasses that are dominant elsewhere. In a damp area by the river a plant of Wild Angelica was just starting to flower. Both Common and Holly Blues were among the butterflies seen.

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An afternoon walk around the area with grandchildren found nothing special in the way of birds - the dominant species were Common Terns and Black-headed Gulls - though I was told that a Common Sandpiper had been seen before I arrived.

Returning south down the Coastal Path the flowers were still putting on a bit of a show with Wild Parsnip, Wild Basil, Stone Parsley and Common Toadflax providing patches of colour.

Back in my garden a Speckled Wood was a newcomer alongside the regular Holly Blue and the Large Whites.

In the morning I had been in the Havant Eastern Road Cemetery where the grass had not been cut for a little while and a good show of Burnet Saxifrage had started to flower with a couple of plants of Field Scabious (my first this year). The Caucasian Stonecrop was still flowering and there were a few unexpected flowers on the Duke of Argyle's Teaplant.

To the north of the cemetery Weasel's Snout was still flowering on the roadside edge of the allotments, and to the south the railway adjacent to the old signal box still had Perennial Wall Rocket.

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