Keith launches book on The Natural History of Milford-on-Sea

Local conservationist and former Parish Clerk, Keith Metcalf is launching an impressive book entitled The Natural History of Milford-on-Sea Parish (Including Keyhaven) 

As Keith explains:

"My passion for wildlife, and in particular birds, goes right the way back to when I made the first of many bird misidentifications. I’ll explain; 

My friends and I were playing soft-ball cricket in our narrow alleyway at the back of the Metcalf family home in Edmonton, North London. This was in about 1961 a year or two before the Beatles had their first hit single. 

I was getting ready to face the next ball and was standing in front of our home made wicket (which was a flat wooden board propped up at the back by a stick hooked under a nail). Just as I was about to hit the ball I saw this bird come skimming over the tops of the fences and hedges and straight along our alley towards where we were playing. It twisted and turned to veer off before diving towards the nearest garden hedgerow a few feet away. It plucked a frightened house sparrow out of thin air as the poor bird tried valiantly to reach the hedge before he was grabbed by unmercifully sharp talons. Clutching his lunch without even stopping, the hawk flew upwards and over the houses at the end of the alley and on towards the local school playing fields. 

This was my first memorable encounter with a bird of prey, which at the time we believed was a kestrel. Unfortunately, my friends, Steve, Rob and Ron were no more knowledgeable at bird identification than me. For many years we all just accepted that the bird was probably a kestrel, the only hawk we had heard of. Out of the four of us playing cricket that day, three went on to enjoy bird-watching as a life-time hobby. Steve and his wife Jeannie both joined the staff at the RSPBs headquarters in Sandy, Bedfordshire. Ron ventured with us on several birding excursions and I started keeping bird records and gave local ‘slide-talks’ before helping Steve and my cousins start a local bird advisory group that we named the “Pollydishwasher Bird Information Centre”. By-the-way, ‘pollydishwasher’ is a colloquial name for a Pied Wagtail, the bird we chose as our emblem. The group only ever received half a dozen or so enquiries, so you could say our first birding venture spectacularly failed. However, this did lead to my cousins Norman and Doreen and my friend Steve forming a local RSPB group in Enfield. Under my cousin’s leadership, the group went on to become one of the biggest RSPB fundraising groups in the UK. Sadly, after nearly 50 years and not being able to find younger committee members to carry the group forward, they eventually folded a few years ago. 

Following those wonderful early days of the RSPB group and moving down to Milford-on-Sea in 1988, I subsequently became absorbed on the wider issues affecting wildlife, including habitat management, conservation and more recently trying to understand the effects that saltmarsh erosion, climate change and sea-level rise has on our important coastal habitats, their national and international designations, wildlife and the local community. 

Anyway, getting back to the abandoned game of cricket and the bird of prey, as I gained knowledge and birding experience over the next few years, I realised that the bird we saw that day displayed all the typical characteristics of a sparrowhawk and not a kestrel. The four of us dashed round to the school playing fields and being fit and athletic in those days, we nimbly climbed over the six-foot high ‘spiked’ school railings (not sure whether the spikes were to keep the schoolchildren in or young hooligans like us out!) We ran across the sports pitches to within 50 yards of the bird that was now perched high on top of one of the school buildings. 

We watched mesmerised as the hawk plucked the feathers from the body of the poor sparrow and saw them drift down the roof and into the gutter. A few of the feathers gently taking to the air as the breeze carried them away across the playground and onto the fields where we were watching. 

However, that was not quite the end of the story. As we watched the feathers drift towards us, the sparrowhawk decided to bite off the sparrows head which was promptly dropped and came tumbling down the slate roof, missed the gutter and dropped onto the playground. The sparrowhawk flew off and we went to investigate the neatly severed head of the sparrow. It was not a pretty sight seeing those lifeless beady eyes looking straight back at us! Nevertheless, it is a memory that has now lived with me and my friends for nearly sixty years. Watching birds has never been quite the same since that first raptor encounter." 

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Book One, will be the first of three wildlife books Keith is writing about the wildlife of Milford-on-Sea parish. Books two and three will be released in 2021 and 2022. The first book describes his early life as a Londoner and how his life was shaped by a loving wife and a caring family. It explains how his interest in wildlife and conservation gathered momentum when he became Milford-on-Sea’s parish clerk for seventeen years in the late 1990s before his retirement in 2014. 

The first book also looks at five of Keith’s favourite local species groups; birds, wildflowers, butterflies, moths and bumblebees, but there is so much more besides, and Keith says that in reading the book, he hopes that it might just rekindle old memories for those older readers when they look back over the past fifty or sixty years. For example, he retells the stories of the Torrey Canyon oil-spillage disaster, the Ringwood Mink release, Navitus Bay wind farm, the 2014 St Valentine’s Day storm, Dibden Bay and the emergence of Climate Change and the young Greta Thunberg. He writes about his heroes and heroines in conservation, historic local events and social history and the controversial issue of building on green-belt! But essentially, book (1) is about Milford’s wildlife, conservation and habitat management and Keith hopes that by reading it, it might help find the next generation of young Milford conservationists. 

Book Two covers all the systematic wildlife lists of Milford-on-Sea parish and book Three is an historical account of how the Pleasure Grounds, Studland Common and Sharvells Copse came into public ownership under the stewardship of the Parish Council. It compiles an historical record of the various wildlife surveys and management plans undertaken at various stages of all the important public open spaces of Milford-on-Sea parish. 

Signed copies of Keith’s first book will be available from 1st December and can be purchased directly by emailing: keithmetcalf@btinternet.com

The 360 page hard bound full colour A4 book will sell at £30 (+ postage if not local). Keith is making a donation of £1 each to Oakhaven Hospice and Milford Conservation Volunteers for every book sold. It is a not-for-profit book with typesetting, printing, binding and publishing costs being entirely funded by the author. 

Keith said: “Both these causes (Oakhaven and MCV) have been central to my life since moving our family to Milford-on-Sea. Oakhaven Hospice played an important role in looking after my wife (Anne Metcalf former Milford-on-Sea Medical Centre Practice Manager) and father (Rupert Metcalf) who were cared for with such love, care and dedication when they were very poorly. They did likewise for my friend, the irrepressible Mervyn Couzens.” Keith continued; “My Milford Conservation Volunteers work as their Conservation Officer has given me time to adjust to life following my wife Anne’s untimely departure in 2009 and has allowed me to indulge myself in one of my favourite hobbies. I am delighted to be able to give a little back to these two exceptional and worthy causes who do so much for our local community.” 

The Natural History of  Milford-on-Sea Parish (Including Keyhaven)

By Keith Metcalf – Book One 

Keith commissioned the incredibly talented local artist Katy Harrold to produce the black & white pencilled cover drawings for all three of his books.

Other Books to follow in this series are: