Andrew Graham will be our guide around Hengistbury Head, a spit formed on the coast where the rivers Stour and Avon discharge into Christchurch Harbour and so into the Channel at Mudeford. A walk around the head provides fabulous views across the harbour as well as diverse habitats to explore.  

Meet at the Nadder Centre car park at 9:30 am or outside the Hengistbury Head Visitor Centre at 11:00 am   OS: SZ 164 911
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Distance, Difficulty and Footwear: We shall take an approximately 3.5 mile walk around the head at a leisurely pace on informal paths and mostly gentle slopes. Walking shoes/boots are advised. Bring a packed lunch and refreshments.

Anticipated end time: Conclude at 3:00 pm returning to Nadder Centre by 4:30 pm.

 More information Visit Hengistbury Head

We have sent out an email to members to advise that we have had to cancel the Vernditch field trip this Sunday due to the high temperatures forecast. An alternative trip to Vernditch is being offered for Sat 19th July with Wiltshire and Dorset Butterfly Conservation group. This visit will also be led by Andrew Graham. Please get in contact if you are interested in finding out more information.

Tisbury and District Natural History Society is taking part in a pilot project to monitor hedgehogs, run by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) and a number of partner organisations.

Do you want to be involved? There are two main ways in which you can and the best part is that you can be a volunteer for both tasks or just one of them! Please contact us.

Part 1: taking pictures
As part of this project, we will deploy 30 trail cameras in a number of locations across the outskirts of Tisbury (please note the camera locations have been already chosen). We need your help to set up and deploy the cameras and then take them down after 1 month! You don’t need to have any experience with trail cameras, as training and supervision will be provided for volunteers. You can give as much or little time as you would like to. Please get in touch with us if you would like to take part in the Tisbury survey.
 
Key dates:
31st of July: deadline to contact us to volunteer with the camera deployment.
 
We are setting up cameras on the 9th and 10th of August.
We are taking down cameras on the 8th and 9th of September.
 
You can be a volunteer for both tasks and dates or just one of them!
 
This is part of a larger survey plan, with other surveys being undertaken within the Wiltshire hub in other parts of the county at different times and other regional hubs. If you would like to be involved with the survey outside Tisbury, please contact the coordinator at PTES (link to form).
 
Part 2: checking pictures
Help is needed to check pictures taken by trail cameras and identify where any animals are present. Some degree of computer literacy skills are needed for this part of the project! Please note there are pictures already from previous years of the survey and from other locations outside Tisbury. All the information for this is online! (link to BHPS)

Further information from the partners of this project can be found in a separate document here

The community meadow just behind the Nadder Centre is full of flowers this summer. After several years of careful ragwort removal, followed by taking an annual hay cut, the grass has become less dominant allowing other flowering plants to flourish. As well as the striking clumps of white ox-eye daisy, during a walk through the meadow you should be able to find knapweed, wild carrot, buttercups, clovers, and several members of the dandelion family, including goat’s beard and daintier ones such as cat’s-ears, hawkbits and hawkweeds. These can be tricky to identify accurately but the variety is what is so attractive.

Contributing to the decline in the vigour of the grasses is the yellow rattle, a plant that is a semi-parasite of grasses, feeding off the nutrients in their roots, suppressing their growth. Unsurprisingly, the flowers are yellow, but the other part of the name is derived from the papery brown calyx which creates a small bladder in which the seed ripens. When several on one stem are ripe, they will rattle in the wind and multiple plants can set up a dry rustling in the breeze. This species has spread rapidly across the meadow and is now prolific in places.

While taking the hay cut aims to reduce the fertility of the meadow, acting against this is the spread of the clumps of sainfoin. Like other members of the pea family, this plant, with bright magenta flowers, fixes nitrogen in its roots, which penetrate deep and bring up nutrients from the subsoil.

Although far less numerous, another unusual plant found scattered throughout the field is the common broomrape. Broomrapes are a group of striking, poker-shaped, parasitic plants that lack chlorophyll, so they are never green. There are nine native species in Britain, each generally associated with distinct species or groups of plants. Looking superficially like a faded, dried out orchid, their flower stems can remain in place through the winter, after shedding their dust like seed. If this seed lands close to a suitable host, it germinates in response to chemicals in the soil produced by that plant. It then grows towards and attaches to the host, from which it takes sufficient sustenance to produce a new flower. In the case of the common broomrape, these flowers can be quite variable but are generally between a brownish red and a creamy yellow in colour. It is most often associated with members of the pea family or wild carrot. While the latter is present in the field, it is most likely associated with the prolific red clover or sainfoin, both of which are flourishing there.

The flora of the meadow is visibly very dynamic as varied species increase or decline. However, the diversity of flowering species appears to be increasing all the time, to the benefit of the numerous insects, including the common grassland butterflies. Look out for Meadow Browns, Ringlets and Marbled Whites, all of which can be seen there in scores on a good day.

​Andrew Graham