This afternoon we had a walk and went geocaching at Testwood Lakes near Totton. The guide to the reserve states that it is a haven for wildlife amidst the urban fringe of Totton, where there is a mixture of open water, grassland and woodland steeped in Bronze Age history. It was a perfect warm and sunny late summer afternoon.
Looking across one of the lakes.
We found the first of four geocaches at this quiet spot and along this footpath we saw lots of
blackberries,
hawthorn berries,
and rose hips.
This can be a very busy place but today it was really quiet.
At the edge of the lake is the outline of a boat.
Boats of this type were used to cross the English Channel 3500 years ago. They were made of oak planks sewn together with twisted yew bark. The remains of a Bronze Age boat like this were found during construction of the lakes in 1996.
We walked on round the lake and successfully found a couple more caches, one of which we've been trying to find for some time - 6th September last year was one memorable visit when I got stung by a wasp whilst searching for it. We then stopped off at the viewing hides overlooking the lakes, where unusually there was not a great deal of activity.
The view from one of the hides, including two little egrets and
a cormorant who appeared to be drying it's wings.
At the final cache I was very nearly wearing this garden spider as we searched and found the cache amongst the hedgerow, not good! Anyway how come these spiders only seem to appear at this time of year, where are they for the rest of the year? Where is Chris Packham when you need him?
Finally, a photo of the super moon taken earlier on this evening through the window!
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