Oystercatcher's Dining Table Traditional Cache
Oystercatcher's Dining Table
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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The quiet end of Lepe away from the car park and café. Parking available (50.786709,-1.370631) (N 50° 47.203 W 001° 22.238) at end of Gypsy Lane, a little track leading to short easy (500m) walk west along beech.
Parking also by road (50.78605,-1.388308) (N 50° 47.163 W 001° 23.298) at Brickyard Creek, again with a short (600m) walk east along beach.
The cache is usually accessible, but sometimes isn't around high spring tides (risk of path being cut off).
Oystercatcher's Dining Table
This area is rich with oysters, oystercatchers and bizarrely, at certain times, a cuttlefish graveyard. This is where the Beaulieu river meets the Solent, the coastal mudflats and areas of saltmarsh being protected by Needs Oar Point and Gull island. There is significant coastal erosion here with, at various times fences and trees teetering at the top of the low cliffs. There are concrete remnants from all the activity here preparing for D-day (operation overlord) in the 1940s. As you walk along the beach you will come across seams of green clay which was used to make the distinctive very pale yellow bricks you see in the local houses, particularly in Exbury village. Above the beach, at the southern end of Gypsy Lane, there are wonderful views over the Solent to the Isle of Wight, Cowes, Yarmouth and, on a clear day, to Hurst Castle.
The ever-present oystercatchers which give the cache its name can be seen here all year round. It's a quiet spot supporting a wealth of wildlife, either resident or passing through; the winter birdlife is especially varied. When you approach though, the skittish oystercatchers, curlews and herons will warn all the other birds of your approach, so try to be stealthy. From bitter storm-battered winters to balmy motionless summer evenings, this is a perfect spot to watch and feel the changing of the seasons. The Brent geese arrive in the autumn, seeming to bring the winter with them, then take it away with them when they return to Siberia in the spring. In the summer, the constant to and fro of the maritime traffic on the Solent can be as varied as the winter wildlife.
Sit on one of the tree trunks on the beach for a while with a pair of binoculars and watch the birds come and go. See how many you can identify. Apart from the usual small garden birds, I have seen oystercatchers, heron, little egret, great crested grebe, cormorant, greenshank, redshank, grey plover, ringed plover, curlew, turnstone, Brent geese, swans, black headed gull, common gull, knot, shelduck, mallard, wigeon, kingfisher, green woodpecker, goldcrest, pheasant, partridge, red-legged partridge, redwing, fieldfare, buzzard.
Stand and listen to the wind, the waves, the rain and the bird calls in winter; the Brent geese chuntering and honking and the plaintive call of the curlews over the mudflats. In the summer there is less birdlife but it is replaced by a near constant distant hubub of craft purring through the water and children playing in the distance. Sometimes you will see mullet fins phrenetically breaking the surface of the water as they feed in the shallows. See if you can pick up a cuttlefish skeleton from the cuttlefish graveyard. The beach really is unspoilt, but whilst you are here try to help the environment by taking some plastic from the high-water mark back to the bins or home.
This is a "moist" spot so please seal the log book and cache sheet in the plastic bag and, after secreting the cache, put a few dead leaves back over it. When logging your visit on the geocaching website please record the birdlife (and any other wildlife) you have seen, especially if it hasn't been spotted before.
Note that it is sometimes possible for the path to the cache to be covered for around 1-2 hrs either side of spring high tides so please check the tide times for Stansore Point before visiting. If you are unsure, the simple rule of thumb is that if you visit on a falling tide and it looks a bit high, the water level will only be getting better all the time.
Lepe beach from near the end of Gypsy Lane looking towards the Cache
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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