Bills Posts

Really tired tonight, will try to do better tomorrow.

For the first time in a very long time (pretty much a year) I managed to get up every day, Monday to Friday, last week I managed to get up every day for a walk.

I would very much like to do the same this week.

The roadworks on the cross roads is due to start tomorrow, what are they going to do? Then there is the new bus station – I think the driving area is pretty much complete, block paving is being laid, once that is Dow I assume that the bus shelter will go up.

I’ll keep an eye on things.

The Cockle Ponds

If you follow me on Facebook, you’ll see a duplicate post to this. Sorry about that.

Most mornings when I go for a walk I end up going around these ponds. They are a perpetual source of interest to me. I think two main ones are the frustration I feel when I find someone has thrown a shopping trolley in to the ponds, and the delight I experience at the wildlife I often see in the ponds, mainly I suppose the Jelly Fish, which I haven’t seen this year probably because I took a break from the morning walking.

Elayne suggested that I do a piece on the ponds.

What follows is a praraphrasing of the four information boards that are around the pond. I don’t know if the information on the board is copyright, although the facts are in the public, I am assuming they are;

Model boat building and sailing have taken place at Gosport since the 1890’s involving different styles of model yacht.

The model hatching we see today started around 1913. Members of the club would have built their own vessels. Quite often they would have been helped by staff from Camper & Nelson the famous boat yard.

Over the century, Gosport has hosted several world class championships. Large crowds were a regular feature.

Actually, I gave up with the paraphrasing at this point.

Walpole Park was created in 1869 on the area known as Horsefield, which was used previously by the army for exercising horses. The model boating sailing facility originates from a mill pond coupled to Gods Port (later called Gosport) creek, in the reign of Charles II and is shown on maps from 1678. It was changed into a cockle pond in 1751. The pond was created by a wall separating it from the town’s moat.

The Walpole Park lakes are not only an important leisure facility, they play an integral part of the local nature scene for wildlife, with the lakes being designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Ramsar Site Wetland of International Importance in. 1971. Gosport BoroughCouncil and the. Gosport Model Yacht and boat Club (GMY&BC) manage the lakes, whilst Natural England maintains a strict monitoring programme on the waterfront quality.

The Walpole Park Lakes are known throughout the world with skippers coming from all over the globe to race their yachts on these famous and unique facilities. A flat concrete path encompasses the lakes the larger of the two lakes being 230m long and 54m wide with the smaller one being 110m long and 55m wide. Typically 1.5 m deep holding approx 3.5 million gallons (15000 tons) of salt water which is obtained from Haslar Creek via a control valve.

The ponds were renovated under the unemployment work programme after the Great War. The official opening on 1st august 1921 was attended by approx 3000 people.

The Millenium celebrations and development of the Gosport Waterfront made funding available via the Heritage Lottery Fund, together with support from Gosport Borough Council and the Gosport Model Yacht and boat Club, for a new pavilion in Walpole Park known as The Compass Point. This houses the Club Room and Boat House on the ground floor and a cafe bistro on the upper floor.

Model Yachting keeps the name of Gosport circulating the world with the Worldd International Radio A Class Championships, held in 2005, with skippers travelling from as far as New Zealand to compete. These unique facilities coupled with a dedicated club membership, visitors and the continued support from GBC ensures model yachting will continue well into its third Century at Walpole Park.

Model Yacht Racing (1960) – YouTube

The waterfront was quite busy this morning, especially around the ferry terminal looked like excited school groups waiting for a trip. As I moved down the esplanade, the noise of excited school children slowly gave way to the sound of the wind.

The wind was whining, moaning, it was being blown through a building. It was a different sound that brought about the eerie feeling, it was the clanking, more tinking, the sail ropes against the masts, when that and the wind and the water in the harbour are the only sounds. It’s weird, and most definitely eerie.

Because I took a break from my morning walks, I have probably missed out on some natural history at the Cockle Ponds, so I was really pleased to meet this little beastie, clinging on to the side. I think it was looking for breakfast. Usually, when they realise I am getting near they scuttle off below the surface, but not this one, it did not move.

It’s a good sign, and hopefully means that I may still see the jelly fish this year.

The little shrimp like beasties are there in their thousands, and I know there are some small fishes in the ponds as well. I know the ponds are part of a site of special scientific interest, I should find out why, I think I looked at this a couple of years ago, I’ll have to see if I can dig out that research.

I had turned off Clarence Road heading toward the high street, I heard a seagull making that sound which I associate with “There’s a threat to my nest” and lo and behold the screaming seagull is back, only a couple attempts. I have to say, it was nice to see.

Something is about to happen on the new road, there was a sign saying the road is going to be closed for five days from the 1st of July. One question that is going through my mind is a lack of traffic control. As my chiropodist said, he could envisage a situation where a bus is coming a long and a person on a mobility scooter crosses the road. There will have to be something? Won’t there?

I’ve been thinking about my walk and making it more interesting for you and for me. I’d quite like to have a mining project, just something to keep my eye on, so here are some thoughts;

Part 1 is from home to Clarence Road. At the moment nothing is happening there, but thee is a lot of history, from the railway station, the fortifications with Queen Victoria’s railway, the barracks.

Part 2 From Clarence Road to the high street, only the cross streets and what is happening there. That is coming to a conclusion, and in a few weeks, I’ll be monitoring traffic flow to see what is happening.

Part 3 is the high street itself. One aspect that is going here is the number of “inactive units” – closed shops. Why are they closed? What are other towns doing to make their high streets successful – and some places have.

Part 4 will be the new bus station, the Falklands Gardens, ferry terminal and old bus station (that will be a major upcoming project, and will impact on;

Part 5 the waterfront and esplanades, including the Haslar Marina Pier Wall, the Millenium sundial and Trinity Church.

Part 6 The Cockle Ponds, and the rout home.

Why am I doing this? Not sure really, but it’s made for a kind of reasonable post.

A while ago, Elayne told me that I should do a post (on face book really) about what Cockle Ponds are. When I went for yesterday’s walk I made a point of taking photographs of the information boards around the ponds. I’ve spend a bit of time this evening transcribing them.

I have to say that I hadn’t realised the importance of the ponds from a couple of perspectives. I’m not going to write about those now, saving that for the post. What i will do though, what I normally don’t do – what ever I post on Facebook I will copy here.

I realised that I hadn’t take quite the photo’s that I wanted so I was able to get them this morning. I think they are OK/

My intention was to do a post sometime over the next couple of days, but I may delay it whilst I try to explore the history of the ponds a little deeper. It’s all very interesting.

When I’m out for my morning walk, whaikt I like to do is get the sun lined up behind the Spinnaker. Today’s picture was no different from the hundreds of others I’ve taken, except I really quite like this one.

Last night, I didn’t do a post. I think about ten minutes before I went to bed, I thought I must do a post, but then I became fixated on reading my book, and after just a few minutes fell asleep, having forgotten about the post. Most frustrating. Counter is back to zero.

I’ve been thinking about hobbies, comparing today’s interests with interests from my youthful era, which would include; stamp collecting, photography even amateur radio plus others. But those hobbies don’t seem attractive to youngsters anymore. Perhaps making tik tok, gaming, what others?

I can’t help wondering if people will rediscover the delights of the hobbies they are what appears to be mostly missing out on.

We spend a fair bit of time in the garden, just sitting, taking things in. We love it. Part of it, actually quite a big part for me, are the birds. I love that they visit the feeding stations whilst we are in the garden. I think they have learned at least to a degree that we are no threat to them.

Take today for example. After completing our gardening tasks for the day, we sat in our usual place, just enjoying the day. Birds over-fly our garden at great speed, heading for places I know not where, for purposes I know not what. Whatever or wherever it is, they were doing it at great speed.

Then a pigeon heading north came over the roof, and performing a very graceful loo- cap to rest on our roof. Sparrows seemed to appear out of nowhere and would then take off at great speed. The Starlings were either be on the bird table or trying to get at the seed in the hanging feeder. To cap it off a couple of magpies may be nesting in our neighbours chimney.

So why then do I call pigeons fat Alberts? It’s because they remind the C-130 Hercules aircraft, a real workhorse transporter. They too fly with dignity and style. It’s their nickname as well.

I don’t have a picture of the ivy, but we have a patch out the front of our house that needs trimming back plus the growing plants that cover our shelter are getting a bit wild and need removing.

At least part of the weekend then, will be taken up with this kind of activity. As is usually the case, I’m not really looking forward to it, but once it is done, I usually feel very satisfied.

I’m then thinking about getting out for a bit, perhaps taking a bus ride, just so I can use my bus pass.

Let’s see how the day develops.