Friday 1st October to Sunday 31st October

Site Sale Update

On 26th October, Surrey County Council's cabinet agreed to purchase Tice's Meadow Nature Reserve, backed by a consortium including Hampshire County Council, Rushmoor Borough Council, Waverley Borough Council, Guildford Borough Council & Farnham Town Council.

We are now waiting for the deal to be agreed and signed.

(c) Farnham Herald

(c) Farnham Herald

Friday 1st October

(c) Alan David Taylor - Cormorant

(c) Colin Varndell - Great Crested Grebe

(c) Colin Varndell - House Martin

Saturday 2nd October

Richard Seargent: 14 Wigeon, 2 Kingisher, 60 Swallow & lots of House Martins.

Sunday 3rd October

John Hunt: Green Sandpiper, 3 Little Grebe, Meadow Pipit & 6 Chiffchaff.

Mark Elsoffer: 21 Snipe, 38 Lapwing, Little Egret, 17 Pochard, 21 Wigeon, Skylark, 100 Swallow, 250 House Martin & Hobby.

(c) Mark Elsoffer - Common Darter

(c) Colin Varndell - Coot

(c) Colin Varndell - Red Kite

Monday 4th October

Dina Burford: Tapioca Slime Mould (Brefeldia maxima) - new species for site.

(c) Dina Burford - Buzzard

(c) Colin Varndell - Peregrine

Tuesday 5th October

John Hunt: 6 Snipe, 32 Lapwing, 7 Meadow Pipit, Swallow & 7 House Martin.

(c) Trever Saunders - Berries

Wednesday 6th October

(c) Trever Saunders - The Hide

(c) Trever Saunders - Migrant Hawker

(c) Jon Hawkins - Fox

Thursday 7th October

Mark Elsoffer: 2 Green Sandpiper, 21 Snipe, 38 Lapwing, 18 Pochard, 13 Wigeon & Kingfisher.

(c) Mark Elsoffer - Great Crested Grebes

(c) Colin Varndell - Mute Swan

(c) Colin Varndell - Tufted Duck

Friday 8th October

Richard Horton: 2 Great White Egret (13th for site, 3rd this year) & Yellow Wagtail.

Mark Elsoffer: 2 Green Sandpiper, 8 Snipe, 62 Lapwing, 13 Pochard, 19 Wigeon, Common Gull, Cetti's Warbler (6th for site, 2nd this year), 10 Swallow & 80 House Martin.

We're grateful to Keith & Skip from the Surrey Hedgelaying Group for waking around site this morning and surveying our hedgerows - lots of good ideas for managing and improving our hedgerows.

(c) Mark Elsoffer - Great Crested Grebes

(c) Mark Elsoffer - Great White Egrets

(c) Mark Elsoffer - Snipe

Saturday 9th October

Richard Seargent: Cetti's Warbler & 4 Redwing.

(c) Colin Varndell - Little Grebe

(c) Alan David Taylor - Cormorant

Sunday 10th October

Mark Elsoffer: Water Rail, 2 Kingfisher, 2 Cetti's Warbler, 

John Hunt: Green Sandpiper, Jack Snipe & Stonechat.

Richard Horton: Ring Ouzel (8th for site, first since 28/10/20).

We were delighted to host 50 members of St Michael’s Church Aldershot for their Creationfest today.

(c) Mark Elsoffer - Creationfest

(c) Dina Burford - The Meadow

Monday 11th October

Murray Nurse: Cetti's Warbler.

(c) Trever Saunders - Canada Geese on Rafts

Tuesday 12th October

Pupils from Badshot Lea Infants School enjoyed making disgusting sandwiches on site today.

(c) Badshot Lea Infants School

(c) Trever Saunders - Teasels

(c) Alan David Taylor - Grey Heron

(c) Colin Varndell - Shoveler

Wednesday 13th October

(c) Trever Saunders - Brimstone

(c) Trever Saunders - Red Admiral

(c) Trever Saunders - Small White

(c) Colin Varndell - Magpies

Thursday 14th October

Mark Elsoffer: 4 Green Sandpiper, 5 Snipe, 49 Lapwing, 22 Pochard, 39 Wigeon, Common Gull, Cetti's Warbler, 10 Meadow Pipit, 4 Stonechat & 350 Redwing.

(c) Trever Saunders - Dark Bush-cricket

(c) Dina Burford - Grey Wagtail

(c) Colin Varndell - Corvids mobbing Red Kites

Friday 15th October

Mark Elsoffer: 3 Green Sandpiper, 6 Snipe, 32 Lapwing, Water Rail, 17 Pochard, 42 Wigeon, 2 Kingfisher, Cetti's Warbler, 2 Stonechat, 4 Meadow Pipit & 14 Redwing.

Anon: 2 Peregrine.

Andrew Platt: Rosy Bonnet (Mycena rosea) & Fiery Inkcap (Lactarius pyrogalus) - new species for site.

We were delighted to show councillors Sophie Porter, Christine Guinness & Gaynor Austin around the nature reserve today. We may be in Surrey, but we’re always happy to work with members of Rushmoor Borough Council to help improve the local environment for their residents and wildlife.

(c) Mark Elsoffer - Councillors Porter, Guiness & Austin

(c) Trever Saunders - Common Darter

(c) Mark Elsoffer - Snipe

Saturday 16th October

Mark Elsoffer: 3 Snipe, 52 Lapwing, 18 Pochard, 32 Wigeon, 4 Common Gull, Stonechat, Skylark & 2 Cetti's Warbler.

Dave Baker: 4 Green Sandpiper, Water Rail, Lesser Redpoll, Kingfisher & c100 Redwing.

Well done to the 29 volunteers (including 8 first timers) who cut & burnt willow in the reed beds today, and also to Andy who cleared rubbish from around the hide. Great conservation work by the local community.

(c) Mark Elsoffer - Work Party

(c) Mark Elsoffer - Work Party

(c) Vicki Peters - Annie Hard at Work

(c) Melanie Nicholls - Common Wasp

(c) Melanie Nicholls - Noon Fly

Sunday 17th October

John Hunt: 3 Green Sandpiper, 2 Snipe & Cetti's Warbler.

Mark Elsoffer: 52 Lapwing, Little Egret, 15 Pochard, 40 Wigeon, 2 Common Gull, Kingfisher & 2 Stonechat.

Andrew Platt: Heath Speedwell (Veronica officinalis) - new species for site.

(c) John Hunt - Little Grebe

(c) Bert Fish - Sunset

Monday 18th October

(c) Colin Varndell - Red Kite

Tuesday 19th October

Anon: 2 Peregrine.

12 members of the Milford & District U3A Birdwatching Group enjoyed a visit to site today.

(c) Colin Varndell - Little Grebe

(c) Colin Varndell - Tufted Duck

Wednesday 20th October

Colin Varndell: Little Egret.

(c) Colin Varndell - Little Egret

Thursday 21st October

John Hunt: Green Sandpiper, 3 Snipe, 33 Lapwing, Little Egret, Cetti's Warbler, 2 Skylark, 2 Stonechat & 2 Chiffchaff.

Richard Horton: Dartford Warbler (13th for site, first since 18/10/20) & Water Rail.

(c) Trever Saunders - Berries

(c) Trever Saunders - Reed Bed

Friday 22nd October

Mark Elsoffer: Green Sandpiper, Kingfisher, Cetti's Warbler & Peregrine.

(c) Bert Fish - Sunrise

(c) Colin Varndell - Cormorant

(c) Colin Varndell - Little Grebe

Saturday 23rd October

Dina Burford: 2 Great White Egret (14th for site, 4th this year).

Peter Brown: 5 Green Sandpiper, 8 Snipe, 40 Lapwing & Cetti's Warbler.

(c) Dina Burford - Great White Egrets

Sunday 24th October

John Hunt: 4 Green Sandpiper, 2 Snipe, Cetti's Warbler, 3 Meadow Pipit, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Stonechat & 25 Redwing.

Dave Baker: Siskin, 8 Skylark, 50 Redwing, Raven & 2 Peregrine.

Mark Elsoffer: 49 Lapwing, 4 Pochard, 60 Wigeon & Common Gull.

We had the pleasure of giving a guided tour to 8 members of the Aldershot & North Hampshire Conservative Association this morning.

Well done to Dave Baker for fishing all of the lifebuoys out of the silt ponds.

(c) Dina Burford - Another Successful Catch

(c) Dina Burford - Peregrine

(c) Colin Varndell - Grey Wagtail

(c) Colin Varndell - Mute Swan

Monday 25th October

Dina Burford: Little Egret.

(c) Dina Burford - Tufted Duck

(c) Trever Saunders - Cow

Tuesday 26th October

Dina Burford: Little Egret.

Colin Varndell: Siskin & Ring-necked Parakeet (18th for site, 5th this year).

(c) Colin Varndell - Blackbird

(c) Colin Varndell - Ring-necked Parakeet

(c) Trever Saunders - Fungi Spore Prints

Wednesday 27th October

(c) Trever Saunders - Ray Hard at Work

(c) Alan David Taylor - Sunset

Thursday 28th October

Mark Elsoffer: 4 Green Sandpiper, 2 Snipe, 38 Lapwing, Little Egret, 18 Pochard, 70 Wigeon, Common Gull, 2 Cetti's Warbler, 4 Stonechat, 4 Meadow Pipit, Skylark & 18 Redwing.

Anon: 2 Shelduck.

Kyle Russell took some fantastic drone images of site today which we will use to plan future work parties. Note - drones are not allowed on site unless with permission and for conservation purposes.

(c) Kyle Russell - Drone View

(c) Kyle Russell - Drone View

(c) Kyle Russell - Drone View

(c) Kyle Russell - Drone View

Friday 29th October

(c) Colin Varndell - Chaffinch

Saturday 30th October

Richard Horton: 2 Stonechat, Cetti's Warbler, Meadow Pipit & Raven.

Dina Burford: Little Egret.

(c) Dina Burford - Lord Len Hard at Work

Sunday 31st October

S Brownhill: 3 Green Sandpiper.

(c) Dina Burford - Flooding

(c) Colin Varndell - Great Spotted Woodpecker