Wednesday 31st January

 Met several people walking and a couple of joggers on their own. Picked up small items of litter plus a couple of cans and bottles. Found a pair of black gloves under the bench by the dipping stream and left them on the bench- hopefully the owner will find them. Nobody we saw queried why the path up to the northern end was still closed.

With Sam's permission I have put up a poster advertising the events organised by the Winchester Local Area Volunteers for HIWWT on the Durngate entrance notice board. Hope you can join us this winter/spring.

Anne and Tim Ardill

Tuesday, 30th January

Over-topping remains in No Mans Land & Swimming Pool meadow, though with diminishing energy (vs last week). No other person around. 

Sunday 28th January

 As I walked in from NML through SPM, I saw some bobble-hatted walkers ahead and assumed the reserve had opened while I was away.  The locks on the outer gates suggest otherwise!  Some litter as well; people are breaking in to eat crisps.

Post by Durngate knocked down (the one with the membership poster).

Very noisy this morning.  Saw a grey wagtail and and a couple of awfully common snipe, and Merlin picked up a treecreeper and siskin amongst the usual crowd of tits, robins, wrens.  Some amorous squirrels too.

Friday 26th January

 A splendid morning. The full moon in my back as I watched the sunrise.

The water is still a feature along the paths with no dry way through the T-junction to the pond. A fair bit of path erosion as well. One tree fallen across the path, as reported by Adrian. Lots of small branches on the paths, presumably from the high winds. I cleared up the larger ones. Lots of Songthrushes again, with three by the pond, singing fit to burst from the tops of trees.

Wednesday 24th January

 The male mallards looked resplendent in the morning sunshine. No sign of the beautiful red admiral butterfly spotted a few weeks ago but then again we have had freezing temperatures and gales since then.

Friday 19th January

 

Out and about by 0740. Sky already light but sun didn’t pop up over the Moors until after 8 (no chocolates were harmed in the making of this pun). Quite a bit of damage to the footpaths apparent as the water levels continue to recede. Lots of sheet ice though so I was tippy-toeing around in places. My garden thermometer said -7C when I set out. Itchen level at the Durngate sluice gates was down a mere 2cm from a week ago although in general across the Reserve levels have dropped by about 10cm. 

The level of bird spotting in recent blogs is excellent with first prize currently going to the Firecrest observation 👏. I’ve not ever seen one on the Reserve -  only Goldcrests. For anyone interested, they are both our smallest bird. Both have a yellow/orange racing stripe on their heads. The Goldcrest has a ‘standard’ face below that while the Firecrest continues the vibe with horizontal stripes across the cheeks. Both have high thin songs but the Goldcrest’s is more rhythmical with a flourish at the end. I saw a flock of Siskins in the trees by the River Park entrance and some Redwings by the pond. A Mistlethrush rattled away as I entered No Man’s Land.

Thursday 18th January - gave it a miss today

 Nothing to report primarily because I didn't go today, at Sam's suggestion!