2008 Archive
Days out at Tetney Blow Wells
1. Cowslips and Primroses
On a wet Sunday afternoon on April 20th Clifford Jukes, assisted by Barry Whitehead, Rob Tasker and Richard Hill, led a guided walk around Tetney Blow Wells. Fourteen adults and four children attended.
As they assembled by the church, Clifford pointed out the lovely display of primroses in the churchyard and explained the difference between the pin-eyed and thrum-eyed forms; then the children went hunting for the two types.
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The group then walked down to the Blow Wells, entering by the main drive, to follow the circuit round. Mallard, tufted duck and coot were seen on the water and two mute swans were seen on nearby fields. A chiffchaff was calling near the eastern end of the reserve and a vole ran across the edge of the meadow where the cowslips were just starting to come into flower.
The group was able to view the results of recent conservation work at the north-east end of the reserve which had involved the removal of scrub and trees from the former watercress bed. The aim here is to restore the area to an open swampy habitat, as required by Natural England and funded by the site owner, Anglian Water.
2. Open Afternoon
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Viewing the newly-created lagoon with Rob Lidstone-Scott
The afternoon of Sunday 18th May was warm and sunny, so it was perhaps no surprise that 95 visitors (including fifteen children) came along to this, which was one of a number of events featured in the Lincolnshire Wolds Walking Festival programme.
Visitors were welcomed to the reserve by our committee members Carolyn Lovely and Dilys Newton who handed out trail leaflets and response sheets and answered questions about the reserve.
Guides for the walks were (voluntary) reserve wardens Clifford Jukes, Barry Whitehead and Rob Tasker, assisted by Brian and Susan Formby. The LWT’s Regional Coastal Warden, Rob Lidstone-Scott, based himself at the eastern end to explain how the recent clearance of scrub and woodland was enabling the area to revert to open water and marshland.
The general beauty of this reserve with its fresh green foliage and hawthorn blossom was much-appreciated by visitors. Identification of flowers was easy as many were actually labeled! These included salsify, ground ivy, cowslip, garlic mustard, cow parsley and hogweed. Ragged robin was just starting to flower and brilliant displays of red campion were pointed out.
Although the cuckoo had been heard frequently both before and after this weekend it remained strangely silent on the day. This event raised £50 for the LWT. Thanks are due to the ladies at the church who provided hot and cold drinks.
3. Hares, Herons and Flowers
Clifford and Barry led a walk for seventeen people on Sunday 13th July. The weather being fine, an enjoyable time was had by all.
Wild flowers identified included meadow pea, tufted vetch, lesser stitchwort, lesser knapweed, meadowsweet, red campion and agrimony. Of particular interest were a single specimen of hemp agrimony (not seen on the reserve sinces 2002), and a few water violets.
Ringlet and meadow brown butterflies were common and everyone was treated to clear views of a vole running through the short grass, and later to no less than six hares playing in a recently-mowed field south of the reserve.
The lone chiffchaff was calling as usual and there was a heron at the new lagoon on the east side. In fact there were two herons, a grey heron and its relatively close cousin the little egret. Twenty years ago this would have been a great rarity.
It’s nice to know that, whilst there are many reasons to be despondent about the loss of wildlife habitats worldwide, there is also some good news! Little egrets are beautiful elegant creatures which have become a much commoner sight in our county in recent years.
C.J.
Editor’s note: The committee
would like to express their thanks to Clifford Jukes
for his tireless work in maintaining the profile of Tetney Blow Wells, and for
his
constant commitment to sharing his enthusiasm for the reserve with
others.
Far Ings N.N.R. (10th March)
On a rather chilly Saturday afternoon, the Trust’s North Lincolnshire warden, Lionel Grooby, guided a party of eight of us round the Far Ings site. We met at the new Visitors' Centre and after a quick look round at Trust sales goods in the shop we ascended the stairs to the viewing area on the first floor.
In front of us was Pursuit Lake, and to the right, the embankment and Humber Estuary. Several pairs of binoculars are available in the room for those who haven’t any with them – a nice gesture by the Trust I thought.
Then it was back into the wind for a two hour saunter round the site starting with the embankment around the various lakes and into several hides. One unexpected surprise was being taken into a shed where a Hebridean mother and newly born lamb were being temporarily accommodated.
Eventually, after photo shots, we extracted ourselves from the warmth and walked on to the building which used to be the visitor’s centre until last year and is now the Trust's Regional Office. Lionel told us how the very successful bird table wedged against the branch of a tree would have to be modified on health and safety grounds because of the occasional rat visitor to the table!
No one saw that very elusive reedbed bird, the bittern, but we did hear its booming call at several different locations on our walk. Sightings did include chiffchaff, curlew, avocet, and near the end, a marsh harrier over a meadow where sheep were grazing.
At Chowder Ness Point by Target Lake, time was spent looking at yellow wagtails on the paved area. Then it was a brisk walk back along Far Ings Lane to the Visitors' Centre shop for a hot "warm me up" drink. One of our number saw a water vole - now an endangered species - in the dyke along the lane.
Our thanks to Lionel for being our guide.
J.R.
Bradley and Dixon Woods (5th May)
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Group outing to Bradley Woods on Bank Holiday Monday.
In complete contrast to our afternoon at Far Ings the Bank Holiday Monday meeting of the Grimsby & Cleethorpes Group in Bradley and Dixon Woods took place in glorious sunshine and warmth. The event attracted 24 adults and four children on a delightful walk round these woods.
Our leader for the afternoon was Mike Binnion, one of our Group members who titled the trip "An adventure in botany with beginners in mind" – and I think we all learnt something from Mike's wealth of knowledge of the countryside.
Here we were amongst so much regeneration of flora. The bluebells were like a blue carpet in some areas. Mike told us that in another fortnight's time, the bracken would have grown tall enough to block the bluebells from view.
In Dixon Woods we found quite a few early purple orchids especially in one glade. Other species noted were stitchwort, goldilocks (ranunculus auricomus - without complete sets of petals), violets, celandine, wood anemones and a single specimen of soapwort on the bank side.
Back in Bradley Woods we had a peek at the pond dug by the "Kestrels" environmental group some while ago. It was teeming with pond life. After disbandment some of us went off to the area where Mike told us we might see blackcaps which are summer migrants. We certainly heard the call but see – well it was quite difficult to be sure when the birds are so high up in the tree canopy.
Our thanks to Mike for a most enjoyable time.
J.R.
28 on the 28th!
On 28th May, 28 of us enjoyed a walk through Mausoleum Woods. The woods, adjacent to the village of Great Limber, are part of the Brocklesby Estate and as such are open to the general public between 1st April and 31st August.
Very informative leaflets, giving much of the history of the last 450 years, are available from the village shop.
An abundance of wild flowers – bluebells, cowslips, daffodils, forget-me-nots, garlic, etc. - together with the wide variety of specimen trees from all parts of the globe, make this walk along bridleways and footpaths, in gentle undulating countryside a very interesting and pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.
There are a couple of temples: "Arabella Aufrere" and "Mary Carter," each built some 200 years ago, as well as a hermitage and a grotto to explore.
Equally interesting is a plaque fastened to the remains of a giant redwood tree into which a Lancaster bomber crashed after being shot down by a JU88 fighter bomber on 3rd/4th March 1945. Coincidentally, three days after our walk, I heard on Radio Humberside that the last German aeroplane to be shot down over England was a JU88 on the very same night! It came down in East Yorkshire where a plaque commemorates the event!
C.R.
Midsummer's Day!
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Bedraggled orchid hunters
The walk on the dunes at Cleethorpes in search of orchids, which took place on 21st June, was marred by wet weather. However, good numbers of early purple orchids were found by leader Mark Tyzska, much to the delight of the handful of people who attended.
R. Hume
A Guided Winter Walk at the Blow Wells
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The Tetney Blow Wells walk on Sunday 27th January proved popular, with 27 visitors, including two children. The group was divided into two, with Clifford Jukes, assisted by Noel Hanson, taking one half round and Barry Whitehead, assisted by Richard Hill, taking the other half in the opposite direction.
It was a lovely sunny afternoon and they looked at the different trees beside the entrance drive, then viewed the four blow wells and the disused watercress beds.
Coot and little grebe were seen on the blow wells and a few long-tailed tits flew around the wooded areas. At the end everyone was treated to a superb and extended view of a barn owl hunting low over the large meadow. A delightful finish to an enjoyable visit!
C.J.
Accounts of previous years' events have been transferred to: