Farlington Marshes - Walk with Friends

Following the success of our walk in July. Trustee Lia worked with our volunteers and friends to plan a walk at Farlington Marshes.... for those of you know the area well, this wasn't straightforward - how to use public transport, roundabout challenges (particularly on a bicycle), how long the walk would take. But the planning paid off!

The walk took place from 12 noon on Saturday 18th September 2021.  People could join the walk by either meeting Lia at the Hard at 10.30, Jan at the city centre at 10.40, Anita at Carnegie Library at 10.45, Rosy at Portsmouth College car park at 11am with their bikes and to cycle to meet us or to meet us at Farlington Marshes at 12 noon. Amazingly it worked and we all met up and the weather was extremely kind, warm and not too windy.

There were twenty nine of us altogether.  Twenty three adults and six children.  We stopped for our lunch at about one and having asked people to bring a picnic or food to share if able,  there was a wonderful variety, home cooked stuffed vine leaves, cakes, sandwiches, fruit and raw vegetables, there was enough for everyone including those who hadn’t brought any.  And there wasn’t too much - most of the food was eaten.

There were spare binoculars, we were looking like regular ornithologists with the help of Peter, one of our volunteers. We saw a Little Egret, a Common Moorhen, a Coot, a Godwit, Seagull and Starlings and more.

We talked, chatted, shared stories strengthened friendships and made new friends.  News and information of of events and opportunities were shared.

It was late September and there were masses of small very tasty blackberries.  The containers for lunch went home full of blackberries.

We hope to plan another walk in November. We hope that you'll join us! Thank you to all our friends who helped to organise this, including Anita from Action Asylum (supported by Portsmouth City of Sanctuary).