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Local Milford on Sea News Story Archives

29th October 2009: Bird & Nature Watch Newsletter 2
Are you interested in wildlife in and around the New Forest? If so, please read on to find out what Simon Curson has to say about the wildlife you can look out for in the next couple of months. October sees migration slow a little following the mass migrations of September. Many waders have arrived on our coasts and the “Stints and Curlew Sands” have continued on south. It is mostly the commoner species that you see in October such as Swallows, Pipits and Woodpigeons (yes they do migrate!!). They can all be impressive by the sheer volume of numbers passing over. There have been records of 200,000 Woodpigeons flying over Stanpit on an October day! This is the month when the rarest birds can turn up. Anything unusual should be scrutinized to check its identity. We have a walk over at Arne, to see what migrants are about, but also to look for Osprey as a couple often stop here for a few weeks on their way south.

Autumn is the time for fungi too. They exist as root-like structures called mycelium, under the soil for most of the year. In autumn they fruit and that is the mushroom that we see. You may see people collecting them in the New Forest to eat. There are now by-laws to prevent people collecting loads and selling them to restaurants etc. If you are going to eat any yourself you must be absolutely certain of their identification because there are some that have unpleasant side effects such as vomiting, stomach aches or death (a particularly unpleasant side effect!!). As for mammals, in line with the Forestry Commission, we have reduced our Deer walks this autumn to avoid the rutting grounds getting too crowded with people. Red Deer rut in late September to mid October and the Fallows a little later, mostly through October, so this is pretty much over now. Last month we had a great Bird Watch day – trying to see 100 species in a day! A lot depended on what the migrant birds were doing, & was a fun day with a different slant on bird watching from most of our walks. Lastly, we are organising a day trip to Brownsea Island again this November, on the 14th, to look for Red Squirrels and to see the Avocets. This has been a great trip each autumn and we have always seen plenty of Red Squirrels and Avocets and Spoonbills! We are also organizing an autumn weekend trip to Portland Bill. We shall be staying in the bird observatory, simple, but comfortable hostel type accommodation. Dates are Friday 4th September to Sunday 6th. Last year we saw Short-eared Owls and a Yellow-browed Warbler as well as commoner migrants. We have New Forest wildlife mini-break over the weekend of 28th and 29th November. We aim to give you a chance to explore the New Forest wildlife in winter. We will be visiting the coast at Keyhaven, inland lakes of Blashford and the New Forest proper at Beaulieu Road Heath and Blackwater Arboretum. We should see Hawfinches, Black-necked Grebe, Goosander, Spotted Redshank, Dartford Warbler and may be lucky with Bittern, Lesser-spotted Woodpecker, Slavonian Grebe, Brambling, Hen Harrier and Great Grey Shrike. Finally, to start the new year off we have a bird watching walk around Keyhaven Marshes.

Written by Simon Curson of Project Fred: They organises wildlife walks, all details can be found on their web site on www.projectfred.co.uk

29th October 2009: Be a film star in Milford on Sea.
As you wander around the village on Tuesday 10th November & Wednesday 11th November you are likely to see a film crew at work. I would love to tell you that they are filming scenes for the next James Bond movie, but they are actually film makers on behalf of LexisNexis Butterworths Tax Publishers. They will be making an interactive tax game for lawyers and accountants, which will be used as an instructional & training tool in a corporate video. (Lawyers and accountants playing interactive games? Now, that I would like to see.) The filming will take place at The Red Lion Pub, The Butchers Shop, Polly's Pantry Tea Rooms and Westover Hall. I am not quite sure what games you can make about tax, (perhaps it will have a tax man chasing people around & stealthily taking money out of their pockets?), so I think I will wander down & have a look. In fact, I might even head straight for the ‘directors chair’ & grab the megaphone shouting, “I hate tax!”. Once I am removed from the chair, I think I will then have a bit more silly fun by walking past the windows of where they are filming to see if I will be spotted as a potential film star. Come & join me at this unofficial film casting, we might even all end up in Hollywood! | Hot News: Just heard from Jon, the film’s scriptwriter, that he is looking for someone to play the ‘bit part role’ of a butler in the scenes at Westover Hall. (Seriously, I am not making this bit up for a change.) If you are interested in playing a butler please give Jon a call on: 01590 645364. Filming would be on Tuesday, 10th November between 3pm & 6pm & if you have your own morning suit that would welcomed.

29th October 2009: War boats ahoy!
We have discovered that we have a local Milford on Sea resident who is a talented master craftsmen in restoring historic boats. Phil Clabburn, a professional engineer by trade, has spent the past fifteen years, and invested a significant amount of money into restoring historical war boats to their former glory, a few of which are the last of their kind. Two of the most significant which were privately owned by Phil are a 1942 Royal Navy Motor Gun Boat from WW2 (MGB81), which was involved in the D-day landings (this boat has been at Bucklers Hard for the past few weeks & you may even have seen it.), and a 1936 Royal Air Force High Speed Launch (HSL102) which saw service picking up pilots during the Battle of Britain.

Phil has dedicated thousands of hours to his restorations & it is a testimony to Phil’s hard work that these two important boats have now been taken over by Portsmouth Historic Dockyard through the Heritage Memorial Lottery Fund. For those of you wishing to admire the boats at close range, they are currently enjoying pride of place in the marina at Gunwharf Quays just below Spinnaker Tower. We understand that the boats are going to be centre of a publicity launch on the 4th November & we will let you have more news on that once we have it. If you would like to know more about the boats and their important history now, you can take a look at Phil's website on the link below: www.warboats.co.uk

30th October 2009: Zaika’s Indian takeaway is back!
Regular readers of these news pages will know that we have been running a campaign to try & help our local Zaika Indian Restaurant win a planning application for a takeaway license. Thankfully several hundred of you voted in support of their application, & it seems to have had the desired effect. The great news is that it planning has now been granted. Kalam wants to say thanks to all that voted in his petition, looks like it worked! Now, where's my menu, Friday night is curry night!
Zaika Indian Restaurant Website: www.zaikanewforest.co.uk

30th October 2009; Whoops! I’ve got my Cat stuck.
Anyone who has wandered along the Milford on Sea seafront in the past week will have seen how a small army of men & their trusty mechanical Cat digger trucks have been levelling the stones on the beach. They were doing a fine job & I suspect enjoying the week of pleasant weather. Well, it was amusing to hear from Mrs Newshound how on Thursday one of the diggers had got itself well & truly stuck. Being an assistant to ‘our official newshound’, she quickly summoned her husband to help out. This he duly did, by taking some photographs for this news page. Mrs Newshound recalled how she observed the work gang musing as what to do. I guess they considered a push, but even the Bulgarian weight lifting team were not going to move this big ol’ baby. As the small crowd of workmen gathered in conference around ‘the Cat’, another small crowd gathered to watch the men watching their machine. I bet one of the first questions they wanted to answer, was whether the tide was coming in, or going out? In the end it didn’t matter as the drama didn’t last too long, thanks to the team eventually freeing the monster before it was swallowed by the sea!

2nd November 2009: Anyone for tennis?
Milford on Sea Tennis & Squash Club now has a new web site promoting what the club has to offer & providing a central source of information to members. The private members club is hidden away in Lucerne Road near the heart of the village and they would welcome anyone interested in becoming a member. A quick jaunt up the club’s drive reveals an impressive array of facilities, including seven artificial tennis courts, two squash courts, table tennis and an active clubhouse. For the less active (like myself!) they also have sections that run activities such as mahjong, bridge, an art club & theatre group. If you fancy getting in touch here are their contact details: Lucerne Road, Milford on Sea, SO41 0PL | Tel: 01425 622826 | www.milfordtennisandsquash.net

6th November 2009: Our local Threshers under threat.
First Quench the company, which owns Threshers & several other high street off license chains, has moved into administration. KPMG, the administrator, said that 373 stores are to be closed out of a total of 1,200, leaving 1,738 people looking for work. The future of our village branch is as yet unclear, but let’s hope they survive this crisis. KPMG are currently looking for a buyer for the remaining stores, I suspect that someone will yet again make a lot of money out of other peoples misfortune. I bet Samuel Thresher, who opened his first of license in 1897, is turning in his grave!

6th November 2009: Bon Appetit’s new owner
Having reported last week that Bon Appetite changed ownership, I this week popped in to meet our new ‘crepe master’. The friendly previous owner, Jon Crouch, of course looked very lovely, but the new owner, Christina is, it has to be said, much prettier. Christina, spent a number of years in her family owned tea shop in Lyndhurst, before she moved on to spend several years travelling the world as flight crew for British Airways. She has been amazed at the warm welcome she has received, & many friendly faces have popped in to say hello. It is nice to hear that she is enjoying Milford on Sea village life, and discovering what makes this such a very special place to live.

*News on the grapevine is that we have a new art gallery coming to the village, I am out with my bloodhound’s later, (they are rough collie’s really, but they don’t sound very investigative), so I will report back on what I uncover!

7th November 2009: Find Me a Friend Week.
Now, it is not like me to beg. (Well, that’s not strictly true. As my wife knows, I have the ability to take on the persona of a desperate man when I need a particular shirt ironed, want a curry rather than a meal with poison tasting vegetables, want to watch football, want to invite friends over she doesn’t like, want to watch the other side when Eastenders is on, want her to drive back from a party, want to get out of going shopping etc, etc. OK, I guess on reflection that I do actually beg a lot!) My confessions aside, I am after a favour please. Since launching this site in May 2009 we have had over 45,000 visitors, which of course I am pretty happy about. However, I am feeling a bit lonely as only around 250 people have so far signed up for our E-Mail Newsletter. (You are of course one of them, so thanks for being my mate!) So, what am I after? Well, as there is just big 'ol me & the dogs putting all this together (& frankly, the dogs don't help much) - I need your help to get us more friends! If all of our current friends can find just one other person to register & join us, then we could have over 500 friends in just a few days. Our local news, & my inane ramblings, would then reach more people, & hopefully in time we can connect a mass of people in the village, keeping everyone informed about what is going on. So, it would be great if you could have a chat with your own friends & neighbours to see if they would like to join us & become a friend of our site. Everyone’s welcome & all they have to do is to register on our ‘Join Us’ page. It’s just a bit of fun, so why not find me a friend today, - please!

Find Me a Friend Week? Ah yes, this is in fact every week, as our site is always looking for more friends to join us!