17 OCTOBER 2026 - SOUTHERN COUNTRY PARK
I
admit that I may have been taking the bull by the horns, but it was such a
lovely, bright, sunny morning (despite a chilly NW breeze) that I decided to
try and stretch my leg muscles and stroll over to Southern Country Park - just
for somewhere different to go, other than to the shops; BS Cemetery (to photograph
non-existent fungi); a Pharmacist for my Covid jab, or any other Health Service
establishment!
By
means of an explanation, I’d recently returned from a spell in hospital
following a heavy fall in my garden and a subsequent heart scare, where I was
kept in overnight for tests which fortunately proved in the positive - but I
was also treated for a toe fracture (a consequence of that fall) which had been
X-rayed and which led to a five night stay in hospital waiting for a doctor from
the Diabetes Foot Clinic to examine the toe and redress it properly, before being
discharged. I’d not done much walking since
so, if I took a slow paced ‘strolled’ to the Park, I felt that I would
be okay. And anyway, I needed Nature to ease the stress of the last three weeks
or so.
I
set off at a little after 0930 hrs, arriving at the north entrance around 10.20
hrs. My first port of call was the walkway at the north end of the lake, but
there were hardly any birds to see - just a small flotilla of Mallards, but
absolutely nothing else…………… no Coots; no Moorhens, and no Gulls!! I walked
over the walkway and down the eastern pathway, with nothing of note to
photograph other than the lovely Autumnal hues of the Phragmites, which were
exceptionally attractive in the bright, crisp sunlight. There was a brief view
of a Red Kite overhead, but nothing else of interest.
There
were no dragonflies here, but as soon as I turned west along the southern edge
of the lake, I came across a lone Western Willow Emerald Damselfly (an aged
male) sunning itself on the leaf of a shrub. From here I walked over to the
‘Old Pond’ possibly expecting another Damselfly or maybe a late Ruddy or Common
Darter, but without seeing any. I had more luck when started to walk along the sheltered
southern edge of the Chalk Bank, and encountered three male Common Blue
butterflies, and at least four Clouded Yellow butterflies (I believe most of
them were males) - stragglers from the huge influx in August. I attempted
photography, but for some reason the resulting images were spoiled by detritus on
the camera sensor, which puzzled me because later images of other things were
strangely clear of dust.
I returned to the lake area, then onward across the newly constructed footbridge over the stream near the ‘Old Pond’ and up the hill, alongside the Spring Meadow (which was seemingly devoid of any wildlife), passing the site of the proposed Butterfly Bank (construction of which was well underway), then I took the trail out of the Park, arriving back home shortly after 12.20 hrs.
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