HAYLING ISLAND KENCH JOHN WALTERS NATURE PICTURES HAYLING ISLAND KENCH JOHN WALTERS NATURE PICTURES HAYLING ISLAND KENCH JOHN WALTERS NATURE PICTURES HAYLING ISLAND KENCH JOHN WALTERS NATURE PICTURES HAYLING ISLAND KENCH JOHN WALTERS NATURE PICTURES HAYLING ISLAND KENCH JOHN WALTERS NATURE PICTURES HAYLING ISLAND KENCH JOHN WALTERS NATURE PICTURES HAYLING ISLAND KENCH JOHN WALTERS NATURE PICTURES HAYLING ISLAND KENCH JOHN WALTERS NATURE PICTURES HAYLING ISLAND KENCH JOHN WALTERS NATURE PICTURES HAYLING ISLAND KENCH JOHN WALTERS NATURE PICTURES HAYLING ISLAND KENCH JOHN WALTERS NATURE PICTURES HAYLING ISLAND KENCH JOHN WALTERS NATURE PICTURES HAYLING ISLAND KENCH JOHN WALTERS NATURE PICTURES HAYLING ISLAND KENCH JOHN WALTERS NATURE PICTURES HAYLING ISLAND KENCH JOHN WALTERS NATURE PICTURES HAYLING ISLAND KENCH JOHN WALTERS NATURE PICTURES HAYLING ISLAND KENCH JOHN WALTERS NATURE PICTURES HAYLING ISLAND KENCH JOHN WALTERS NATURE PICTURES

The Kench by John Walters

John Walters and Pete Durnell produced a book, The Wildlife of Hayling Island that in my view is a masterpiece. If the residents of Hayling Island wish to know more about the natural world on this gem of an island, then this should be their first book. It is customary to balance praise with some disparagement, even nit-picking, but here there is none.

Red-breasted Mergansers displaying

This is how all manuals should be, an easy read, pleasing to the eye, with beautiful artwork and colour photographs throughout, tells you all you need to know about the island’s evolution, geology, flora, fauna, every place to go, when to go, but the secret of the book is that it can appeal to everyone, from the total beginner to professional naturalist. It can be purchased from the Hayling Island Bookshop, 34 Mengeham Road (02392 466620)

Just a few facts gleamed from this book; the reason that so many waders can thrive here is due in part to the Mud Snail, that can reach densities of 50,000 per square metre; if you look along the shoreline, you will see millions that failed to escape with the tide. That the island was connected to the rest of Europe, there was no Solent, not way back in the Jurassic era, but just 8,500 years ago. Sea levels are rising around here at 5mm per year, the highest anywhere in the UK. Hayling is the most important area in Hampshire for maritime vegetation. A Yew tree at St Mary’s churchyard, is believed to be 1,000 years old with the highest girth of any in Hampshire. In 1939, the fertile soil of North Hayling produced more wheat per acre than anywhere in the England. The harbour has had the longest continuous count of wetland birds, than anywhere in Europe. The harbour has a higher density of estuarine birds than anywhere in the UK.

This book illustrates how vast the diversity can be in such a small area, indeed, the piece he has written for the website, together with his artwork and phtograghs, illustrates this even more graphically, just a small area such as the Kench. Park at Sinah Warren or at the large public car park at the end of Ferry Road: SZ 699 995 OR SZ 688 998

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The Kench, Hayling Island

This small inlet of Langstone Harbour is an excellent place to visit throughout the year. Situated in the south-west corner of Hayling Island, the Kench is readily accessible from Ferry Road. Part of the area is a Hampshire County Council wildlife reserve and there is an interpretive signboard situated close to the World War Two pill box.

During October the first Brent geese of the winter arrive in Langstone Harbour. The Kench is an excellent place to watch them as they often feed close to the road here. These birds have just completed an amazing 3000 mile journey from the Taimyr Peninsular in Siberia. They spend the breeding season from June to August on the high Arctic tundra where they often nest on small islands. The success of their breeding season can now be gauged by the number of young birds in the returning flocks. The young birds can be told from the adults by the white bars on their wing feathers. They will remain with their parents until spring.

Brent Geese – young bird with white wing bars on left

Other birds which have made a similar journey also spend the winter here. Grey plovers can be seen running on the mud. They have large eyes and a rather short bill designed for picking small food items from the surface of the mud. Individual grey plovers maintain small winter territories on the mudflats but will congregate in a small flock on the shingle spit at high tide. The dunlin is most often seen in small flocks as they probe the mud with their long, slightly down curved, bills in search of small snails and worms just below the surface of the mud.

The curlew is a large wader and immediately recognised by its very long down curved bill. This enables it to reach a different food supply to the other wading birds. In this way several different species of wader can feed in one area without competing with each other for food.

The best time to see waders at the Kench is at high tide. At this time many birds from around Langstone Harbour congregate to roost on the shingle spit to the north of the inlet. This spit is all that remains of an ill-fated attempt to build an embankment for the Hayling railway line. The shingle was dug from the area immediately south of the road which is now part of the Hayling golf club grounds. This is now a Hampshire Wildlife Trust reserve accessed by permit only.

Large flocks of waders roost at the Kench particularly on spring tides. Flocks of bar-tailed godwits, knot, redshank and curlew may be seen along with cormorants, gulls and little egrets. The area immediately to the north of the Kench is an excellent place to watch red-breasted mergansers. A flock of up to 30 birds is usually present between October and March. Watch for their spectacular displays as the males curtsey in their attempt to impress the females. These displays are best seen on sunny days in January and February.

During the late summer passage waders, often resplendent in their breeding plumages may be seen roosting here together with terns. A large roost of common, Sandwich and little terns builds to a peak in September before these ‘sea swallows’ migrate to the southern Africa for the winter.

This is a good time to see some specialist saltmarsh plants in flower. The golden samphire is a scarce plant in Britain which has a stronghold around the Solent. Look for the yellow flowers along the upper edge of the saltmarsh in August. The sea aster is related to the garden Michelmas daisy but only grows in saltmarshes. During late August and September the striped caterpillars of the star-wort moth may be found feeding on the flowers and leaves of this plant. Several species of grasshopper and bush-cricket may be found amongst the coarse saltmarsh grasses during late summer. Commonest here is the lesser marsh grasshopper. Although rather plain brown in colour it can be easily identified by its dark bordered pale line along the lower edge of its wings. Two species of bush-cricket called cone-heads can also be seen here. The short-winged conehead prefers slightly damper grassland than its close relative the long-winged conehead. The males of these crickets produce a high-pitched buzzing call to attract females.

Golden Samphire Star-wort adult and larva feeding on Sea Aster

With such an abundance of prey it is no surprise to find invertebrate predators here. The striking wasp spider is a fairly recent colonist in Britain. It was first found in East Sussex in the 1920s but has since spread along the south coast. The males of this spider are tiny and rarely seen but the much larger females can be found on their webs during late summer. The webs are easily identified as they have a thick white zig-zag spun into them. They are spun low down amongst the saltmarsh grasses as these spiders like to prey upon grasshoppers, bush-crickets and flies. Each female spins an elaborate egg cocoon with three layers of insulation during September. The young spiderlings hatch soon after but remain snug inside their cocoon until the first warm days of spring.

Wasp Spider – adult female on web Long-winged Conehead

There will be much more to see throughout the year here. Scarce migrant land birds such as red-backed shrike and corncrake have been seen here in the past. Please do not disturb the wader roost here at high tide, especially during cold spells during the winter months.

More details at www.johnwalters.co.uk

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