Earlier this week I visited Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve near Ringwood in Hampshire. It was my first visit and I ended up spending five and half hours there! The lakes are former gravel pits and the area has been a nature reserve since 1995. It is managed by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. It is a large are of woodland and lakes with hides, two of which have one-way glass and are particularly popular with children, though I think I prefer the more usual ones where you can open the windows. I saw lots of birds both on and off the water including several nuthatches which was a first for me and I was surprised at how small they are. It is a good place to walk even if you are not interested in birds and being autumn, everywhere I walked I saw groups very impressive fungi. I ended up taking far more photographs of fungi than I did of birds! I have been trying to identify some of it but it's tricky. Maybe I'll start a thread of "Identify this fungi" as I'll bet some of you have some to identify too.
Here are some of my photos:-
For further information here is a link to the reserve's website:
http://www.hwt.org.uk/reserve_detail.php/13/blashford-lakes
There is something new to learn everyday...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skylark58/
I have just seen a question about a the scarcity if tits on feeders at present and as I saw lots earlier in the week I thought I would add something about that to my Blashford thread. I meant to include this info in my report but obviously had a senior moment!
There are two large feeders near the education centre and these were very busy. There were dozens of birds flitting back and forth between the feeders and the trees close by - mostly great tits and blue tits but also chaffinches, nuthatches and goldfinches. In the woodland hide I also saw a coal tit and a flock of long tailed tits.
Hopefully my own garden feeders will be a bit busier soon but I daresay there is plenty of wildfood about at the moment.
Great set of pics SB!! It's easy to lose a few hours when you're in such an interesting place!! :-)
"All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)
My photos on Flickr
Great photo's SB, Blashford Lakes will definately go down on my list of places to visit.
Regards Derek
Sarum Bat, thanks for sharing your beautiful and so clear photographs. You have certainly written a good advert for Blashford Lakes. We will definitely be paying a visit. Thnk you.
Thank you all for your kind words. It's good to be able to spread the word about these reserves. I am making a list of all the places I read about on here and hope to plan some holidays around them one day.
What a collection