SAUSAGE ROLLS & CAKE!!!

Please choose the most applicable introductory sentence from the following to suit your individual circumstances and then read on for exciting news from Blashford Lakes!

• What could be better than a gentle relaxing walk around Blashford Lakes with the family this New Years Day?

OR

• What could be better than a peaceful walk around Blashford Lakes without the family this New Years Day?

OR

• What could be better than meeting up with friends &/or family outdoors in the fresh air and beautiful surroundings of Blashford Lakes this New Years Day?

OR

• What could be better than kicking off your 2022 bird list at Blashford Lakes this New Years Day?

Doing any of the above with the added bonus of home-baked sweet and savoury delights and the welcoming smiles of Christine & Nigel of Walking Picnics who have been convinced to open a one off Pop-Up Cafe with a difference at Blashford Lakes this New Years Day!

Due to covid risk management the Centre will remain closed and the seating will be restricted to the benches around the front & back of the centre, serving will be via a “hatch” from the Classroom backdoor at the end of the building and those smiles will be hidden behind a face-covering but the hot drinks, soups, cakes, sausage rolls and other home-baked delights will all be at least as delicious and welcome as they ever were in the olden times before the pandemic 🙂

Given the circumstances we and they reserve the right to cancel the “Pop-Up Takeaway” at short notice if the weather is particularly poor on the day, or due to covid related issues but all being well they will be here to serve you from 10am-3pm on 1st January and it is an absolute pleasure to be welcoming them back!

Blashford Lakes opening times this holiday season:

Covid or weather related closures not withstanding, Blashford Lakes hides and car parks will be open as normal from 9am-4.30pm every day except Christmas Day itself. On Christmas Eve everything will be locked up very promptly so don’t loiter in Lapwing Hide or walk on down to the Alice Lisle towards the end of the day!

Up until Christmas Eve visitors will continue to be able to participate in our self-guided willow wreath making activity – https://www.hiwwt.org.uk/events/2021-11-28-decorate-willow-wreath – and some very fine wreaths indeed I have seen leave the reserve already this year!

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Reserve closed Saturday 2nd November…

The reserve will remain closed tomorrow, Saturday 2nd November, due to the strong winds forecast and the increased risk of damage to people and property due to ash dieback.

We will however be open as normal on Sunday 3rd, which sees the return of the Pop Up Café in the Education Centre between 10am and 3pm so hope you are able to join us then.

Walking Picnics will be back serving hot drinks and delicious home baked cake and savouries in the Centre classroom on the first and third Sundays of the month from November until the end of January and also on New Years Day.

Round up of recent events

So far each month this year has seen us recording a record number of visitors to the reserve. October may prove to be the exception, due, no doubt, to it being generally rather wet and gloomy. It hasn’t deterred everyone however and those visitors who have braved the rain have reported/recorded some good sightings – including the following by one of our Welcome Volunteers, Doug, taken a couple of weeks ago on one of the few days where there was actually some sunshine(!):

I think the grass snakes may actually have given up and found somewhere to hibernate over winter by now but they had been pretty active outside Ivy South Hide in the usual spot. When I say pretty active I actually mean unusually VERY active, particularly given the time of the year… the picture of the three together above were actually mating and another visitor had reported seeing the same behaviour a few days prior to Doug capturing it on “film”, although all of the guide books suggest that this usually only happens in or around April soon after they have emerged from hibernation.

The tawny owl shot is fabulous and Doug is the second photographer that I am aware of who has been fortunate enough to chance upon one of “our” owls hiding out on the reserve during the day this year.

Visitors to the Centre may have had a fiddle with the wildlife camera controller fixed up to the TV in the lobby and discovered that additional camera’s are now live – in addition to the original pond and compost camera’s and the new Woodland Hide feeder camera, there is now a bird box camera, tawny owl box camera and an artificial badger sett camera.

Being new and the wrong time of year, there is absolutely nothing going on on these new additions, but fingers crossed, they will see activity next year! Actually, I say there is nothing going on in them, but there is a lovely cobweb across the front of the badger cam and at times the spider is in evidence too 😉

Out on the water autumn arrivals are dropping in in dribs and drabs but goosander are now to be seen on a daily basis on Ibsley Water as are teal, pochard and wigeon across the site. Walter and friends are still around too, although they have kept a low profile for much of this month. The great white egrets do seem to be back roosting on Ivy Lake near the cormorants again though with at least two birds around regularly and three individuals seen yesterday. Also on Ivy Lake Bob saw otter again when he locked up one evening last week. First otter sightings for a while that we are aware of and he saw it from both Ivy North and Ivy South Hide and the wildfowl saw it too – and were not very happy about it!

Not so good for our visitor numbers the wet weather has certainly been good for fungi, with fantastic displays of puffball species, parasol and fly agaric mushrooms in particular.

There have been occasional nice beefsteak fungi too, but sadly foragers did for the best of these before reaching their prime.

I haven’t got anything against the gathering and consumption of wild fungi personally and have been known to indulge myself on more than one occasion, but I only ever collect a few specimens from locations where that species is abundant and I always ensure that plenty are left to complete their life-cycle and spore. It is very unfortunate that, as with many pastimes, a few selfish and/or thoughtless individuals spoil it for the many.

Feel free to question the actions of visitors foraging at Blashford, or let staff/volunteers know, as, unless part of an organised fungus group survey, they will almost certainly not have permission to be collecting!

Half-term next week and we have “Wild Days Out” activity days on Tuesday and Thursday and, if we get any more bookings (they’re rather thin at the moment) we have a Stargazing event with Fordingbridge Astronomers on Tuesday evening.

And finally, for lovers of fine food everywhere, we are very pleased to announce the most welcome and long-awaited return of the Pop Up Café in the Centre classroom a week on Sunday (Sunday 3rd November)!

Nigel and Christine from Walking Picnics are back serving hot drinks and delicious home baked cakes and savoury snacks from 10.30am-3.30pm on New Years Day and the first and third Sundays of November, December and January with possible additional dates later in the year to follow. Enjoy!

Some Seasonal Firsts!

Things are getting increasingly wintery, there was a frost on the grass this morning, 2 brambling were visiting the feeder by the car park and the Pop-up Café returned! Although the brambling have been around for a few day today was the first time that I had seen them, in fact I saw a few things for the first time this season today, I caught up with the pink-footed goose and saw a very smart first winter Caspian gull at dusk. Other firsts were mostly cake!

The first marbled chocolate cake of the winter.

Others were personal firsts and very tasty too.

Apricot, lemon and pistachio cake – a “tick” for me.

The Pop-up Café is once again being operated by Walking Picnics, just a sit was last winter and will be at Blashford on the first and third Sunday of each month and New Years Day.

The Walking Picniceers and happy customers.

There was no sign of the lesser scaup today as far as I know, possibly put off by fireworks last night but the ferruginous duck was spotted, distantly by the northern shore of Ibsley Water, somehow I avoided it when I counted the pochard flock in that very area, there were 66 by the way, quite  a lot by the standard of recent years.

Elsewhere a couple of chiffchaff and a raven flying over and a few goldeneye and goosander on Ibsley Water were the best I could find. The sun did tempt out a few red admiral butterflies but I saw no dragonflies, which surprised me, as the sun was quiet warm.

All of the above actually happened in the afternoon as my morning was spent with the first Sunday of the month volunteers widening the margins of the path beside Ellingham Lake to provide more sheltered areas for insects and, hopefully reduce the tendency for brambles to overhang the path next summer. Increasing the area of transition between the path and the scrub by having  a margin of grass and herb species should provide habitat for butterflies and other insect next year, in effect we have made a miniature woodland ride. As ever the team did a load of work even though we only worked for a couple of hours or so.