21 September 2017 Tennyson Down and the Isle of Wight

Roamin' in the gloamin?

© Angela Morrell

Not the best day for a trip but seven hardy LymNats joined Angela on a trip to Tennyson Down on the Isle of  Wight.  It was windy and drizzling, and a thick mist descended as we reached Battery Point so the Needles and the Tennyson Memorial were invisible.  

However it soon cleared and we found a good selection of wild flowers of chalk grassland; including three species of gentian - Autumn Gentian (Felwort), Common Centaury, and Yellow-wort and a host of other plants including Clustered Bellflower, Harebell, Lady’s Bedstraw, Field Scabious, Yellow Toadflax, Yarrow, Birdsfoot Trefoil, Teasel, Salad Burnet, Tormentil, Wild Privet, Bell Heather, Old Man's Beard, Black (Common) Knapweed, Stinking Iris and Wild Thyme.  

Clustered Bellflower

© Sandra Peel

Attractive small Banded Snails were climbing around on stems and there were a few fungi including Giant Puffball, Common Puffball, Field Mushrooms and a large colony of Parasol Mushrooms.  Late Swallows were still around and we saw flocks of Meadow Pipits, and some birds of the estuary, Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Oystercatcher, Little Egret and both Black-headed and Herring Gulls.  

We even saw a Magellanic Penguin (!) at Yarmouth but I don't think it was a real one!  The steamship Waverley chugged past on her tour of Britain as we left and the sun came out when we got back to Lymington. We'd had a good day in spite of the weather. (AM)

Our penguin on the harbour 

wall at Yarmouth! © Richard Coomber