A muddy walk along the Titchfield Canal. The canal is a two-mile watercourse between the village of Titchfield and the coast at Titchfield Haven. Starting at the sea I quite like the wall art that had appeared on the back of the toilet block. In my view one up on some of the so-called tags which are appearing everywhere and I am told is art.
A few of the birds I spotted along the route.
A Robin heron and Blackbird.
#Wordless Wednesday.
Today was an open-heath walk within the former World War 2 bombing range on Ashley Heath near the village of Godshill and 5 miles northwest of Lyndhurst The range was used by aircraft from the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment at RAF Boscombe Down, nr Salisbury. The range was used for training and testing, all types of munitions fired or dropped from British aircraft were tested here first, except live incendiaries due to the fire risk. Barnes Wallis’s prototype Bouncing bombs used in Operation Chastise by the Dambusters and the Grand Slam bomb were tested on the site. Several different types of targets were built on the range including air-to-ground attack, mock ship targets, aircraft pens, gun emplacement, bomb fragmentation areas, and what is said to have been some Submarine pens. There were two small grass airstrips, observation shelters, and towers. The site was used both in daylight and night targets were illumination targets specifically for night bombing practice.
Our walk today was the 1st in this area of the New Forest with the aim of seeing the remains of a large target. Known as target number 2.
The shape of the target is visible from the ground the concrete wall around the target was removed for construction materials in the 1970’s
Many small ponds are on the heath most are water-filled bomb craters.
From a distance a bird with just black-and-white plumage but when seen close-up, its black plumage reveals a purplish-blue iridescent sheen to the wing feathers and a green gloss to the tail.
Magpie rhyme: ‘One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl, Four for a boy, Five for silver, Six for gold, Seven for secrets to never be told’.
They are birds of the Corvidae family. Like other members of this family, they are widely considered to be intelligent creatures.
Here on the Solent, almost all the Terns and summer visitors have gone for the winter. It was a very poor year for Tern numbers. I think this was due to the bird flu outbreak we had and the height of the breeding season. The black-headed gulls which are with us all-year numbers also remain low following the bird flu.
Soon the Brent Geese will be arriving in large numbers from Siberia, I have only seen a few so far this year. Sanderling numbers and Ring Plover numbers are increasing with the arrival of the cooler months. Taking advantage of a bright rain-free morning it was a pleasure to watch these little birds fly in while sitting on the beach.
#Wordless Wednesday
Common Stinkhorn.
The appearance of a stinkhorn is very distinctive: they have a phallic, white, stem structure, with a brown, bell-shaped head.
You smell it before you see it – when you smell it you just follow your nose. The unmistakable and strong stench has been likened to rotting flesh from a dead carcass. The spores of this fungus are contained within the slime that covers its cap. Flies are attracted to the offensive- smell, and sticking to their feet the spores are spread.
A Few Fallow Deer.
All year I have seen distant glimpses of blue or orange of a Kingfisher flyby on my many walks with the odd picture. However, today, this bird did us proud and perched to fish near where I could watch her fairly closely.
New Forest views.
Continued Reflections from my World. 