I haven’t visited Itchen Valley for about 4 years, mainly because I don’t particularly like ‘urban; nature reserves. Unfortunately my fears were realised barely 50 metres into the reserve proper. An unwelcome encounter with a stinking, drinking alcoholic lying on the path poisoning himself and everyone who stumbled across him with Tennants Super.
It’s difficult to know exactly what to do in such situations as politely declining conversation always results in anger and abuse. My method is usually to police the situation in the absence of the proper authorities. Luckily he found it difficult to get up, let alone follow, and it wasn’t long before I left the nightmare behind and continued with my purpose.
The majority of the reserve was almost bare of odo activity, bar the odd Large Red, and I had to wait until I approached the meadows close to the river. The drainage channels here usually throw up a few Banded Demoiselles and I wasn’t disappointed; although they proved difficult to pin down.
A welcome surprise was the discovery of a couple of female Southern Damselflies. The Itchen and Test valleys provide the only Hampshire colonies outside of the New Forest.
Had I realised the majority of the action could be found close to the reserve proper, I would’ve entered by the main gate, choosing to park outside of the centre because of steep parking charges.