Members met at Linford Lakes, formerly known as Hanson Environmental Study Centre and a former location for indoor Society meetings, on a warm and sunny evening.

A number of routes lead to the three hides. The Near Hide offers viewing of nesting Sand Martins at a site intended for Kingfishers. The Woodland Hide offers viewing of bird feeders and a log pile for small mammals. There is more bird activity at this hide earlier in the day.

People chose their own routes, stopping at the hides as long as they wanted and no-one got lost. Things of most interest to me were damselflies, my first Marbled White butterfly of the year, a nymph of Roesel’s bush cricket, a red and black froghopper Cercopis vulnerata and a stinging nettle, unusual in having three, rather than two, leaves at each node on the stem.

A Blood Vein moth was seen and some members who walked back along the access road were rewarded with a sighting of a Barn Owl.

Click on any of the pictures for a larger image.

All pictures provided by Paul Lund

19 members attended the Society walk at Pineham Park on Tuesday 11^th August. Martin explained that the site we were visiting had been used as a motorsports track for the past twenty years, but following a closure notice from MK Council, The Parks Trust are now in the process of levelling off the track and will manage the site for biodiversity. We met by the BMX track, giving the slightly surreal experience of a Nat His meeting next to a group of racing BMXs!

A short walk along the Ouzel brought us to the M1. As we passed under this, we could hear bats squeaking from one of the drainage pipes set in the motorway. On the other side of the motorway, we soon came into an area of scrubby grassland and followed the dirt track. The meeting began in light rain but before too long the clouds lifted and we were treated to late sunshine and eventually a glorious rainbow. The sunshine brought the insects out in force.

We had good views of Roesel’s and Dark Bush Crickets, Long Winged Coneheads and three common grasshoppers. We also had a good look at several Common Groundhoppers and several ladybird species. Although we were a little late for the butterflies, Linda Murphy found a Blood Vein moth. The site produces some good birds and the highlight of the evening was a kingfisher which gave good views as it sped along the Broughton Brook.

Further along the track, we stopped at a straw bale which had been used as a crash barrier, strapped to a willow. A few taps of the bale resulted in hundreds of harvestmen which emerged and raced up the willow! Quite a spectacular site.

The walk proper finished at 9pm and whilst most members went home, five of us returned to the M1. A quick look in the pipe with a torch showed us that there were 30 or more Daubenton’s bats present. This was obviously a maternity roost, with female bats and there almost full grown babies. As dusk set in, the bats began to emerge and treated us to a fantastic display as they foraged low over the Ouzel. At times we had five or six Daubenton’s bats in the beam of the torch all at once and the sound through our bat detectors was a cacophony of noise! It was an unforgettable end to a very enjoyable evening.

Click on any of the pictures for a larger image.

Pictures from top to bottom:
Martin Kincaid giving his introductory talk.
Rainbow viewed from Pineham
Sunset
Looking at the bat roost
Looking at the bat roost
Daubenton’s bat by Rauno Kalda

Photos by Peter Hassett unless otherwise stated

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About 25 Milton Keynes Natural History Society members assembled in the Coachway car-park for a visit to Atterbury and a small section of the Broughton Brook on 9th June 2015. It was a cool and windy evening which did not favour invertebrates but we saw 33 species of bird, a wide range of tree and plant species, a few mammals, an amphibian, and some insects. Both Buckinghamshire County Botanical Recorders were on the walk so they compiled a significant plant list of 117 vascular plants, aside from the 20 tree and shrub species identified by the tree group. We also had experienced birders with us who noted 230 birds of 33 bird species. Many joined one or other of the recording groups for the evening, covering: trees & shrubs (Gordon Redford), flowering plants (Andy McVeigh & Roy Maycock); invertebrates & mammals (Jo Handford & Julie Lane), birds (Harry Appleyard & Ian Saunders). Each of the recording groups compiled a species list and these are being forwarded to the Bucks County Records Office (BMERC) and to The Parks Trust. All the areas we walked are managed by The Parks Trust, which took ownership of the site from the Homes & Communities Agency in 2012.

Our route took us on a Leisure path across a bridge over the Broughton Brook, then alongside the Brook under the A5130 Wavendon to Northfield roundabout road. Here we saw a pair of Grey Wagtail (which were still there when we returned). We took a path from the bridge, behind the Regis office building which faces H6 and alongside a meadow. Here there were unusual tree species planted alongside the path, including: Quince Cydonia oblonga and Medlar Mespilus germanica. As we walked around the far end of this a Fox was sighted but it soon slipped through the fence into woodland. Our route was then a series of circuitous grass paths through the Atterbury site which is a complex mosaic of wet woodland, dense scrub, ponds and Willow carr. There were plenty of birds singing and calling. Bird highlights were a Little Egret perched high on a large Willow, clearly visible from the long boardwalk over a drying-out pond by Bressingham Gate. Another Little Egret was circling it above. Then our attention turned to a Kingfisher perched on a low branch, just visible through the reeds. In the pond in front of that there was a quantity of Yellow Iris (Flag) Iris pseudacorus and egg-yolk yellow Great Yellow-cress Rorippa amphibia. From the boardwalk we walked around the outside edges of the Atterbury site, which had occasional wooden posts along it with discs indicating that this is the proposed route of the Bedford to Milton Keynes Canal. We left this route when we reached the Broughton allotments and diverted into a recently-managed area of dried-out pond where Willows, that had grown out of the middle of the pond leaning at low angles, had been cut back to grow again. Here was our sighting of a single Common Frog Rania temporaria.

Our route was then in the more open areas alongside the Broughton Brook. On the west side of the Brook by a footbridge we spotted a large cluster of Giant Hogweed Heracleum mantegazzianum. As this is an invasive plant on Schedule 9 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 list of species to be controlled, its presence was reported to The Parks Trust. They have been aware of these plants and have been carrying out control measures each year, but it can take years to eliminate these plants from a site. They have reduced the number by about half over the last couple of years. Advice of the GB Non-Native Species Secretariat is that “Contact with any part of this plant must be avoided as even minute amounts of sap can cause blistering of the skin following exposure to sunlight”. We followed the Brook, first southward, then across a footbridge to the old Broughton village, then northwards, back to the bridge over the A5130, under it, returning to the Coachway to finish a very satisfactory evening visit.

The following links will take you to the records submitted to BMERC:

Plant List
Bird List
Invertebrates, mammals and reptiles list

Click on any of the pictures for a larger image.

Photos by Peter Hassett unless captioned otherwise

The day had been cold, breezy with some heavy downpours so it was nice to see 23 members turn up for the walk at our nearest BBOWT reserve.

Our walk leaders Joe Clinch and Phil Sarre gave an introductory talk on the history of the woods and an outline of what we were likely to see. You can find more details about the woods on our Little Linford Wood and Dormouse pages.

Phil explained that a timber contractor bought the wood and brought in heavy machinery to fell the old oak trees. “Luckily” the contractor felled a tree that was owned by a local farmer who went to court and gained an injunction to stop any more felling.

The farmer was a keen naturalist and suggested to Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Naturalists Trust (now called Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust) that they acquire the site. Money was raised to buy the wood and BBOWT set about the task of replanting.

It was also the **th birthday of our President, Roy Maycock and he was presented with a pile of birthday cards much to his surprise and delight.

There was a lot of Dog’s Mercury growing in the wood and Roy was able to point out the differences between the male and female flowers. This link will provide more detail. Roy has also provided a list of plants in flower at the time of our visit.

Simon Bunker managed to find first instars of Roesel’s bush-cricket (Metrioptera roeselii) and striped bush cricket (Leptophyes albovittata).

Towards the end of the walk, in the ploughed fields bordering the wood we were able to see a pair of hares.

If you would like to read more information about the wood, please visit our Little Linford Wood and Dormouse Project pages.

Click on any of the pictures for a larger image.

Pictures from top to bottom:
Little Linford Wood Nature Reserve map
The pre-walk briefing
Roy receiving his birthday cards
The group sets off down one of the rides
Female Dog’s Mercury
Herb Paris
Ragged Robin
Raindrops
Saint George’s mushroom>
First instar Roesel’s bush cricket
White Bugle
Our secretary on a Deer shooting platform (gamekeeper turner poacher??)

Photos by Peter Hassett

Pilch Field is a SSSI managed by BBOWT with a rich mosaic of habitats, including 200+ plants. 27 members of the Society gathered on a lovely warm evening for our walk was led by Ann Biggins, Roy Maycock & Jenny Mercer.

Jenny has kindly provided this overview of Pilch Field:

Plants with specific requirements for calcareous/basic conditions or acidic conditions or neutral conditions have found their niches.

Care needs to be taken in waterlogged and damp areas as it’s all too easy to sink deeply into the  very soft silts .

On the well drained ridge and furrow areas there were fine displays of Green Winged Orchids which need neutral and well drained conditions, and many cowslips.

Early Marsh Orchids in small numbers have appeared recently in damper areas.

The atypical fern Adders Tongue is locally abundant especially in the furrows and other damp areas.

Other plants of note in mid May are the Marsh Valerian, Purple Moor-grass, cuckoo flower, marsh-marigold, ladies bedstraw, meadow vetchling,  salad burnet,  birds foot trefoil, green winged  orchid and common Milkwort (Milkwort only in Little Pilch – through gate in smaller field).

Later in the year the fields are very colourful – highlights being rest harrow, scabious and daisy.

Please note cattle are used to manage the fields from June to November.  do not take  dogs into the fields  as cows and their calves are usually present.

Roy has kindly provided a list of plants which were seen in flower during the walk:

Click on any of the pictures for a larger image.

Pictures from top to bottom:
Discrete sign for Pilch Field Nature Reserve
Jenny leading the group around one of the two fields
A group of Green Winged Orchids
Close up of a Green Winged Orchid
Salad Burnet
Drinker Moth Caterpillar
One of the many clumps of cowslips

Photos by Peter Hassett

On 15May15, 20 members of the Society gathered on a blustery evening for the first outdoor event of our 2015 summer season. A walk around Howe Park Wood led by Gordon Redford.

Gordon decided to give the walk a botanic theme. We were split into three groups. Each group had a notepad and a clicker to record the number of different plant species identified. There was a competition to see which group identified the most plants.

Martin Kincaid had arranged for the group to visit the Milton Keynes Parks Trust impressive new Education and Visitor Centre at the end of the walk for tea and biscuits.

Roy has kindly provided a list of plants seen during the walk:

*indicates an unconfirmed record

Click on any of the pictures for a larger image.

Pictures from top to bottom:
Start of the walk at the new Education and Visitors centre
Insect Hotel in the wall of the visitor centre
New pond dipping platform by the visitor centre
Map of Howe Park Wood
Bluebells and Greater Stitchwort
Dogs Mercury
Photos by Peter Hassett

On Sunday 12 April 2015, 20 members of the Society caught the 8:40 train to Harrow & Wealdstone, where we changed to the London Overground to Willesden Junction. There we caught our third and final train to Kew Gardens station. The gardens themselves were just a ten minute walk from the station.The day was dry and sunny. There was a cool breeze but things warmed up nicely during the day (too warm if you ventured into the Palm House – it was fun to see the stream of members exiting the Palm House and heading for the lake to cool down!)

Once we had paid our entrance fees (half price as we had travelled by train) we had a drink in the café and consulted the maps of the garden before setting off. Some of the group decided to do their own thing and other followed Martin Kincaid’s expert tour of the garden.

The first stop was at the gallery of botanic art, stopping to watch a Goldcrest on the way. Next we headed towards the Pagoda where we saw a couple of Green Woodpeckers in a hole in a tree. Plenty of rose-ringed parakeets were also evident.

We then headed west in the direction of the Thames in the hope of seeing Bluebells and Snake Head Fritillaries. There were some lovely Cherry trees in full bloom by the Japanese Gardens and a couple of empty benches so we stopped for lunch and enjoyed a picnic.

We decided to take in Queen Charlotte’s Cottage, which meant passing through one of the children’s play areas. The entrance was flanked with a willow sculpture of mushrooms (Magic Mushrooms?).

Kew has an interesting Badger sett, it is scaled up so that humans can explore the sett and see how the badgers live. A number of our group decided to explore the sett – poor Arthur managed to bang his head on the roof a couple of times.

We saw another Goldcrest at Queen Charlotte’s Cottage but we were too early for the Bluebells. When we reached the Thames there were great views of Syon House. We walked north and were rewarded with great views of Snake Head Fritillaries in bloom.

The next stop was the White Peaks Café. After tea/coffee members split up and wandered around the grounds. I decided to go on the Treetop Walkway. The walkway sways a lot in the strong breeze and, at times, I had to hold onto the handrail – this made me think of the Millennium Footbridge over the Thames. The climb to the top of the walkway is worth it with great views over the park and London. The structure of the walkway itself is interesting and the design of the supports has been chosen to blend in with the trees.

We saw Holly Blue, orange tip and Comma butterflies. In addition to the Goldcrests we were treated to the spectacle of two Sparrowhawks in flight chasing a duck. There were plenty of waders in evidence. These included a pair of Egyptian Geese with four goslings, a pair of Little Grebes, Long-tailed tits, Tufted Ducks and a Red-crested Pochard.

We all met up at 4:15pm at the entrance to return to Kew Gardens Station. This was an unfortunate choice of meeting place as there were shops nearby. Martin had to go and extract some members of the group from the shops so that we could make our 4:40pm train. We had a good journey back to Milton Keynes arriving at 6:40pm, very tired, but glad that we had such a great day out.

I would like to thank Martin Kincaid for organising the event and for keeping smiling whilst leading the group (the popular expression “herding cats” springs to mind). Paul Lund for providing timetables and everyone who attended for their company and shared knowledge on the day.

Please look at the gallery for more images taken on the day.

Peter (admin) Hassett

The sun was shining as a group of 8 members gathered in the car park of the Black Horse pub, Great Linford. They then crossed Wolverton Road to Stanton Low, walking past the ruins of St Peter’s Church to Haversham Mill, thence back via the Linford Lakes Nature Reserve (formerly called the Hanson Environmental Study Centre) and its lakeside hides. After three hours our intrepid walkers were happy to enjoy a bit of rest and refreshment in the Black Horse pub.

Notable sights in the Spring sunshine were a profusion of early butterflies: Peacocks, Commas (or Commae?), Small Tortoiseshells and Brimstones. Also a Buzzard, boldly seen out of its airspace by a Kestrel, Green Woodpeckers and nesting Herons. From the HESC hide numerous Cormorants, Mute Swans, Great-Crested Grebes, Coots, and the rather misnamed Common Gull were on view, as well as Tufted Ducks, a Lesser Black-Backed and several Black-Headed Gulls, and Herons.

Al in all a pleasant excursion into the springtime sunshine, whetting our appetites for the evening walks programme beginning on Tuesday May 5th.

One of many overwintered Peacocks basking in the sunshine

A Toad poses for a Society photographer

The weary wanderers wend their way back to the pub

(All pics by the Author of this Post – the Ron Arnold Society Photograph of the Year Shield is unlikely to await any of them!)