Waterside Natural History Society visit Testwood Lakes

Testwood Lakes at Totton near Southampton is a nature reserve created partly from an old gravel extraction site. It consists of three lakes. Little Testwood Lake is a natural lake but Meadow Lake and Testwood Lake have been excavated by Southern Water. Testwood Lake is used as a reservoir but Little Testwood Lake and Meadow Lake are used for recreation especially bird watching. A separate area has been constructed of shallow water or scrapes to encourage wading birds.

During construction of the reservoir in 1996 archaeologists uncovered evidence of a Bronze Age settlement including a bridge over the river which has the distinction of being the oldest bridge ever discovered in England. The link with history is preserved on site by exhibits in the Activity centre, a reconstructed bronze age building and educational visits by schoolchildren. Testwood Lakes attracts Dog walkers and school visits during the week but at the weekend birdwatchers can benefit from the relative quiet to visit the hides and look over the lakes.

The Waterside Natural History Society were greeted by the sound of a Song Thrush singing from the top of a tree near the car park and several more were heard during the walk. Blue tits, Great tits, Blackbirds and Robins all contributed to the sounds of Spring on a mild and occasionally sunny day. Cormorants could be seen on the water or drying in the sun on any available post and Black Headed Gulls swam in a group on the lake. Some of the Black Headed gulls had their summer plumage of dark coloured heads. Great Crested Grebes appeared for a few minutes on the lake surface only to dive below the water before binoculars could be focused on them.

Many more water fowl could be seen from the two hides overlooking Meadow Lake and the adjacent scrapes including Coot and Moorhen. Wigeon huddled in flocks on the bank with a few Teal swimming lazily on the water. A surprisingly large number of Lapwing were present until they were disturbed and all took wing at the same time. They circled around for a few minutes before returning to land at the same place and it will not be long before they pair off and disperse to summer feeding grounds.

There were three swans on the Meadow lake and they tend to remain in the same place all year. ‘Three is a crowd’ applies as much to Swans as Humans and a great deal of time was spent trying to sort out which two could stay and which one had to leave. The male Swan lifted its wings whilst swimming on the water and lowered its head as it approached the female. A perfect heart shape was displayed as the two Swans touched each other’s beak to produce a fitting finale to the display.

Although the deciduous trees had not burst into leaf catkins on the Hazel stems were very impressive and some time was spent looking for the small red female flowers. The Willow catkins in the form of pussy willow were also starting to appear. In the centre of an old copse on a moss-covered log grew a few Scarlet Elf Cap fungi. The fungi may be edible but they were usually used for display purposes and certainly made a striking contrast of bright red on lime green moss. Small white bracket fungi were also seen on old willow stems.

The walk at Testwood Lakes was designed as a winter walk but there were many signs that spring is just around the corner. Frogspawn in the pond near the education centre was a welcome sight and hopefully bodes well for the year to come.

The indoor meeting for February was an illustrated talk on ‘Conservation in Warren Copse and Holbury Manor’ by Felicity Beard. The talk included a detailed history of Holbury Manor and old maps showing Warren Copse and the surrounding area. A group of local people formed  ‘Warren Copse and Holbury Manor Conservation Group’ some years ago to improve and maintain the area of Warren Copse. In the early stages this included the removal of great amounts of accumulated rubbish such as mattresses and car tyres. This was followed by reinstating the coppicing of hazel trees and the provision of paths and fencing. There is good news on their efforts to eradicate Floating Pennywort from the ponds as a weevil that eats only pennywort is awaiting government approval to be used. Warren Copse is now a pleasant place to visit and to enjoy the pleasures of the countryside. An added bonus was the reduction in fly tipping.

The talk provided a fascinating insight of what could be achieved by anyone interested in preserving the natural history of their local area.