Arne

Wildlife everywhere!

2013-05-22T15:21:00Z

My first few weeks at Arne have been entertaining with no shortage of exciting wildlife to be seen. I’ll never get tired of hearing the amazing wildlife experiences of visitors to Arne and have been lucky enough to have a few myself, some when you least expect it! Just over a week ago I was with a group of colleagues when one noticed an osprey overhead. That was my first osprey sighting at Arne and quite a special one too – the osprey was being mobbed by three shelducks as it flew not far from the car park. It was reminiscent of a World War II flypast, a Lancaster bomber flanked by spitfires. We are still getting osprey sightings with one appearing to hang around a little longer than usual. We live in hope that one takes a shine to one of our nests, the habitat is perfect for them here!

On Sunday during a brisk walk around Coombe Heath in the rain, I heard another cuckoo. We are hearing them all over the reserve at the moment and a pair have been sighted by the farm over the last week. If you’ve been watching events unfold on our live kestrel cam http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/a/arne/webcam.aspx (first egg expected to hatch around June 1^st!) you may have heard cuckoos from time to time. Cuckoos have the incredible ability to tailor their eggs to match those of different bird species and lay up to 25 eggs in different nests. At Arne, cuckoos mainly target the many meadow pipit nests on the heath. Whilst walking back past the woodland at the bottom of the heath I got a very unexpected surprise. I stopped at the trill of long-tailed tits and try to spot them. As I peered into the birches I heard a panicked honk from the ground only a few feet from me. It was a female pheasant with a large number of striped chicks! As she moved away the chicks starting appearing from all over the undergrowth to follow.

In many cases I’ve not had to travel far to see wildlife. On sunny days the car park has been full of butterflies. Orange tips, green-veined whites, brimstones, peacocks and more. We also had a visit in the hut from a swallow looking for a nest site, a bee-fly (a fly with a long proboscis that feeds on nectar and flicks its eggs into bees nests!) and a tawny cockroach. This strange little insect is only found in southern England and is another heathland specialist. Another reason why lowland heath is so important to preserve. A young boy discovered a palmate newt in the pond by the visitor centre, I’m not sure who was more excited him or me!

Orange tip butterfly by elladreaduca

Dartford warblers are still show ing well despite the mixed weather. I have been amazed at how far some visitors have travelled for a sight of these elusive little birds. Some brave determined souls have spent hours on Coombe heath in wind, rain and shine hoping for a glimpse. When I joined the staff at Arne I had yet to see a Dartford warbler. For weeks they had eluded me and I began thinking that they were as real as the drop bears local Australians warned me of, which fall out of trees to savage unsuspecting travellers. However, on a trip out with Michael he pointed one out to me. I guess you’ve just got to know what to expect. I’ve had lots of sightings since and despite there being a healthy number on the reserve; it’s sometimes hard to convince visitors that they do exist after they have spent a day looking for one! David Lock was lucky enough to see one – thank you for the excellent snap!

If you’re free this weekend we are having a reptile weekend which will be well worth the visit. We will have a show and tell from noon until 4pm which is free to all-comers and a reptile ramble from 10am-noon - £8 non-members, £4 members and £1 for children (booking essential). http://www.rspb.org.uk/events/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-342677

Also, we will be starting our ‘creatures of the night’ and nightjar walks from June 1^st – see the events list http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/a/arne/events.aspx

Arnes Alive!

2013-05-08T12:17:02Z

Things have really hotted up at Arne over the last couple of weeks and things have really burst in to life all over the reserve. We have found the first smooth snakes of the year and sand lizards are out and about in force. The males are in their bright green breeding colours at the moment and are busy trying to attract suitable mates. Butterflies have started to appear with earlier species like the bright yellow brimstone, comma and small tortoiseshell all being seen! I have also spotted my favourite the orange tip!

We don't get many pictures of male and female sand lizards and you can see the difference between the bright green male at the top and the well camouflged female at the bottom! Thanks to Les Oxley for the photo.

In the last couple of days we have even been seeing the first dragonflies and damselflies. One of the earlier species to emerge is the large red damselfly. As its name suggest it bright red and is pretty easy to identify!

Large red damselfly - AP Read

Dartford warblers have been relatively easy to see and cuckoos are being heard (but not by me yet!!). Our residential volunteers have been out on the heath on a couple of evening watching the returning nightjars.

Speaking of which it is less than a month to the first nightjar walk which will be on Wednesday 5th June. For all of the dates check out the website and be sure to book a place as they tend to get booked up quite quickly! http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/a/arne/events.aspx. I love running these and I need to get out on to the heath soon to find the best spots for this year!

We have got a bit of excitement in our next boxes as well! We were getting a bit worried because it was taking a long time for the kestrels to come back but they have returned and true to form the female has layed 5 eggs! Interestingly the first egg was laid on the 27th April and in stark contrast the first chicks hatched on the 1st May last year. As the incubation time for kestrels is about 4 weeks it just shows how far behind they are this year! By my calculations I am expecting the first chick around about 27-28th May. You can watch our kestrel cam live via the Arne website http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/a/arne/webcam.aspx

We have had a single barn owl roosting in a box on and off for the last year but yesterday imagine our surprise when we switched on the big screen and 2 owls had appeared! They are still there today and they are make some interesting noises! So fingers crossed they might be looking to breed. This would be pretty exciting because barn owls haven't bred here for a couple of years!

Barn owl at Arne 2 years ago by Dom Greves

On the 24 and 25 May we have got our first reptile weekend of the year. We will be running a guided walk each morning to look for the amazing reptile species of Arne including the extremely rare sand lizard and smooth snake and we will be running hourly show and tells each afternoon! to find out more information and how to book for the walks check out our website. http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/a/arne/events.aspx

Ospreys are back!

2013-04-22T14:15:56Z

As I have said before everything seems to be a little late getting going this year and one thing we haven't seen much of so far is ospreys. Well that was until this weekend! We have had a couple of reports in the last couple of weeks but nothing really concrete but on Sunday one came and sat on the osprey perch on Coombe heath for most of the day! The perch is a bit of a distance away from the main viewing area but even with binoculars it was unmistakable. It appeared at about 10 in the morning with a very large fish and we had a couple of volunteers showing it to visitors for a few hours. Of course by the time it was time for me to pack up in the visitor centre I was told it had flown off! Typical I thought but not deterred I went for a walk up to Coombe heath at about 6pm. To my surprise it was back with another fish... brilliant!

Distant osprey taken by Keith one our new volunteers

Also up there were a couple of juvenile spoonbills. You can tell this because they have black edges to their primary feathers. I am wondering if these ones will hang around during the summer as sometimes happens. There are loads of shelduck around at the moment as well!

Over the weekend we had plenty of common and sand lizards reported but despite looking I have yet to find a smooth snake!

Common lizard close up AP Read

Ringing and reptiles

2013-04-17T15:05:00Z

Hello! I’m John the new information assistant at Arne. Don’t worry Michael and Laura are still here and I’m an extra pair of hands for the next 6 months. I’ve had a great first couple of weeks in which I’ve seen my first Dartford warbler (yes they do really exist!) and been involved in a fantastic event. On Sunday our ‘meet the wildlife’ event was a great success. It was an opportunity for people to get very close to wildlife that they would not normally. We had pondlife on show with diving beetles, water boatmen and a dragonfly nymph; 3 slow worms, a common lizard and drawing in crowds we had a bird ringing demonstration by the visitor centre.

Kids were fascinated by the slow worms and were amazed to discover that they are not actually worms that are slow or snakes, but legless lizards! Their faces were a picture as they held and stroked them. The bird ringing demonstration was the biggest draw with visitors on what turned out to be a mainly sunny day (remember those?). We had 2 professional licensed bird ringers giving a demonstration and they rung just under 120 birds between 10 and 3 o’clock which is a truly staggering number! Much to our amazement when we monitored the feeders later, we only spotted one chaffinch that had a ring on its leg. There must be hundreds of birds that visit our feeders. See if you can spot one with a metal ring on our feeder cam, http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/a/arne/webcam.aspx. The most numerous birds that were ringed were blue tits and great tits followed by chaffinches, house sparrows a few nuthatches and a male blackcap. Kids and adult alike were given the opportunity to hold and release the birds much to their excitement. One brave boy held a nuthatch and didn’t seem bothered as it attacked his hand with its hefty bill! No damage was done to the boy or the bird and the boy was grinning from ear to ear!

Robin in the hands of a professional ringer at our 'Meet the Wildlife' event

With temperatures increasing (well slightly anyway!) we have starting to see the emergence of some interesting reptiles and insects. On Sunday we had the first report of a green tiger beetle scuttling along at high speed! These predators are easily identifiable as they are iridescent green with yellow spots. They breed in the summer and lay eggs in burrows in which the hatched larvae will stay and predate any passing insects by grabbing them with their powerful jaws. Look out for them in areas with sandy soil and little vegetation. Also spotted on the reserve were 4 grass snakes, all together! We have yet to have any reports of Britain’s rarest snake, the smooth snake but it’s only a matter of time before we start seeing them.

First green tiger beetle of the year by AP Read

On the ‘Discover Arne’ walk this morning we saw Dartford warblers, despite the windy weather as well as 3 spoonbills in the Middlebere channel and 3 wheatears on Coombe Heath. Wheatears are very smart looking birds which are on passage at the moment. They don’t breed at Arne but stop to feed after migration on their way to breeding grounds in upland areas of the UK. The wood ant nests aren’t quite as busy due to the wind and rain recently but they are getting bigger and it’s worth keeping an eye out for them near the paths as they busily build the nests.

There are many events throughout the year, to find out more click this link: http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/a/arne/events.aspx

Fantastic Feeders!

2013-04-10T13:43:00Z

It seems that Spring has been delayed for a few weeks and it has been a strange time on the reserve. It seems that a lot of migration has gone a bit haywire and infact there are still lots of reports of redwings and fieldfares still about. I would have thought that a lot of these would have headed back to their scandinavian breeding grounds.

At the weekend we had a bat flying around the car park which may sound a bit unusual but at this time of the year a warm day will hunger can stir them from their hibernation. I have acctually seen bats flying around on warm days as early as February.

The feeder out the back of the centre have been pretty amazing over the last couple of weeks and there are masses of the usual suspects such as blue tits, great tits and chaffinches but a part from those we have daily visits from nuthatches and great spotted woodpeckers. We have had some more unusual visitors as well with siskins and goldfinches loving the niger seeds and a lone long tailed tit making a bee line for the peanuts.

The bests visitor of all were 3 blackcaps which have been around the feeders for nearly a week. These smart looking warblers are probably migrants that have just arrived from southern Europe and Africa. I say probably because Britain does have an over wintering population that have started coming in from eastern Europe. This is a fairly recent occurrence happening in the last 30 years. The blackcap is so called because believe it or not the male has a distinct black cap! It makes it so much easier when birds are named how they look. However to cause confusion the females have a chestnut brown cap. If you tune in to our feeder cam you may even be able to catch one hopping around on the ground below. http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/a/arne/webcam.aspx

This is one of the car park blackcaps taken by Diane Stobart earlier in the week.

We have had a few swallows reported in the last couple of days although we had reports from Radipole lake in Weymouth a couple of weeks ago. Over the last couple of days we have had the first significant reports of Ospreys at Arne as they pass through on their way back to their Scottish nesting sites. Last week we had a ring ouzel reported on the reserve. This is an upland blackbird and this time of the year is a good time to see them as they migrate back through from Africa to the moors of northern Britain.

There are still brent geese and good numbers of waders about and there are a few spoonbills still in the harbour. Another late stopper was a great northern diver which was spotted on the Wednesday walk today.

This Sunday between 10am and 3pm we are having a 'Meet the Species' event at Arne. This is a turn up event when we hopefully be showing off some of the spring wildlife of Arne including reptiles and mammals and pond creatures. We will be running a couple of short guided walks to see whats about and there will be a chance to take out one of 'spot it' booklets to see what you can find for yourself! http://www.rspb.org.uk/events/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-342630

Out of the frying pan...

2013-03-29T11:24:00Z

There has been a lot of undercover work going on at the visitor hut this last week. And I don’t mean the staff – I mean moles!

Every morning when we arrived to open up we would notice a little more disturbance to the soil around the hut.. We had our suspicions! These were confirmed when we were lucky enough to see not 1 but 2 moles break the surface on Monday! Brilliant!!

Moles are very rarely seen, spending almost all of their lives below ground. If you do happen to see one, they are very distinctive with velvety black bodies and pink spade like claws and nose. One of the amazing things about them is just how quickly they move! The pair we saw were gone in a couple of seconds.

In a slightly bizarre coincidence, on Tuesday I was telling a couple of visitors about the moles, looked out of the window and the ground was shifting again! This time the mole seemed to get a bit stuck behind a big stick; as it was trying to shift this obstacle, 3 earthworms came wriggling out of the soil, clearly desperate to escape the mole behind them. Unfortunately a robin had his beady eye on them, and within about twenty seconds had gobbled them all up! Poor worms. ‘Out of the frying pan, into the fire’ springs to mind!

The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed the small hole in the ground just below the feeder cam which appeared just over a week ago. This is a hole in the roof of one of the moles tunnels, possibly created by a bank vole. There are several bank voles that live around the back of the hut, well placed for hovering up spillages from the bird feeders. Keep an eye out for anyone poking their head out!

Spring has Sprung.... perhaps?

2013-03-21T11:32:00Z

Well believe it or not yesterday was officially the first day of Spring! I remember that this time last year I was down at the visitor centre in my shorts and t-shirt and a drought had been announced. Well a year on and I think it has been one of the wettest ones I can remember, but I remain optimistic and I am hoping this spring and Summer will be considerably better. There have been reports of a few migrants returning but as yet we haven't had too much coming through Arne. We are waiting in anticipation for returning wheatears and some of the warblers and it shouldn't be long before the ospreys start appearing. My housemate heard and saw a cuckoo in the Lulworth area last week which seems really early!

Dartford Warblers are singing away on Coombe heath at the moment and this time of the year is definitely one of the best time to see them as the males display for territories.

A smart male Dartford warbler taken by Mark Wright earlier this week.

It will be all change down on the harbour in the next couple of weeks when a lot of the waders and other waterbirds will start to think about venturing back to there breeding areas. There are still a fair few brent geese, avocets and ducks like red breasted mergansers about so there is still opportunity to come and see them before they leave. There haven't been too many black tailed godwits about for the last couple of months but they have made a reappearance recently. We always have a fairly large over summering flock of non breeding birds and some of the ones here at the moment have started to change colour in to their orange summer plumage!

Another picture by Mark. You can see the orange summer plumage starting to appear on this black tailed godwit!

It is still a little bit early for reptiles to appear in big numbers but as we have been saying for a couple of weeks common lizards have been spotted on warmer days. The picture below was taken at the weekend work party earlier in the month by Becca one of our residential volunteers. Perhaps this lizard was after her sandwiches!

The wood ants are starting to come alive and some of the big ants nests are a seething mass of activity and on the guided walk yesterday I was able to do my 'hand in an ants nest' trick for the first time this year!

As April approaches we will be changing our Wednesday walks from 'Wellies and Waders' walks to 'Discover Arne' Walks which focus more on the wildlife and conservation of the heathland. We try and show off some of the amazing nature we have to offer and there is a chance to see some of the more hidden wildlife such as raft spiders, smooth snakes, green tiger beetles and palmate newts. I love these walks because it give me the opportunity to wax lyrical about the amazing heathland reserve we have and to be honest I am still learning and I never get bored of it! http://www.rspb.org.uk/events/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-342593 So if you fancy discovering more of the hidden world of Arne come along to one of these walks trough out the spring!

Lights, Camera, Action!

2013-03-15T14:06:00Z

Hello everyone! I’m the new Information Assistant taking over from the lovely Jen who has headed back up north to spend her summer working at Loch Garten. I’ve been volunteering at Radipole Lake in Weymouth over the winter so may be a familiar face to some of you. Can't wait to spend my summer on such an amazing reserve!

Whilst the feeder cam has been out of action, we’ve had our buzzard nest on view, both in the hut and on the website (still disguised as the feeder cam!) There’s been quite a flurry of activity on the nest over the last week or so, with a pair of buzzards bringing in fresh twigs and pine needles and even a woodpigeon getting in on the action! The pine needles act as a disinfectant in the nest, keeping down the number of parasites. I’ve been trying to get a shot of both birds sitting on the nest – haven’t managed it yet but here is one of them:

It was around this time last year that a pair of buzzards were showing quite a bit of interest in using the nest. Unfortunately they did then switch their attention to another tree, but this left the nest free for a pair of mallards to breed! Fingers crossed the buzzards will stay put this year..

The weather at Arne has been very up and down over the past couple of weeks, we've had a bit of everything: warm sunshine, rain, hail, wind and even snow! The sunshine on Saturday brought out our first raft spider of the year, and as Michael mentioned in his last blog, common lizards have been out and about in sheltered spots. It certainly feels like spring is on the way!

Reptiles return

2013-02-19T21:27:00Z

I have just returned from a walking holiday in southern Spain and I seem to have brought the decent weather back with me. I saw a few lizards out there but I wasn't expecting any reports back at Arne just yet but on Sunday the first common lizard of the year was spotted. It is a little bit early but the recent warm weather had obviously brought it out of hibernation and it won't be that long before we start seeing smooth snakes and sand lizards again. It is perhaps a little bit early to announce Spring but there have even been a few butterflies out and about including red admirals and a brimstone.

Its time to start looking for common lizards on warmer days. Photo by pochard

We have started to hear woodlarks singing in the last couple of weeks and there have been as many as 5 pairs at Arne in recent years. They are one of the earliest birds to nest on the heath and so are already singing for territories. Look out for the songflight of the male in which he flies high up in a large circle before plummeting to the ground. Woodlarks favour bare patches of ground on which to feed. Dartford warblers are still fairly easy to see and it according to some sightings a few pairs have been seen.

There are still plenty of waders and ducks about and the spoonbills are still a regular sight in front of shipstal hide. On the feeders we have been seeing siskins for the first time in a while and today there was a male and female down on the niger seed. We do tend to see more of them in the spring when family groups appear on the feeders.

Female siskin this weekend by Pudweena

The nice weather has arrived in time for the half term and Arne is a great place to bring the kids for a walk and we have got a treasure hunt sheet that the whole family can take out and join in with. This Saturday we have our ' Nutty about Nestboxes' event, so why not come along and make your own nestbox. We provide all of the materials and tools and any help you need to put the box together. It is a great way for all the family to 'step up for nature' and create a home for wildlife for your own gardens. Who knows what will use it in the spring? Come to the reserve between 10am and 2pm. Cost per box is £4 for RSPB members and £5 for non members. http://www.rspb.org.uk/events/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-325661

David Tipling (rspb-images.com)

Flirtatious Great Tits and Harrassed Herons

2013-02-10T17:12:00Z

Last week I took a walk up to the farm to collect some wood for the visitor hut’s wood burner and couldn’t believe my eyes when I seen a buzzard having a fight with a heron. As if that wasn’t entertainment enough, a passing kestrel decided to join in too! Anyone want to take guesses on who won the scrap? This is what I love about nature, these unexpected moments that catch you off guard and stop you in your tracks. I was treated to another nature spectacle last week on the Somerset Levels when I went to the RSPB’s Ham Wall reserve to see the mesmerising starling murmurations. Several million starlings performed an avian ballet above our heads before bedding down for the night in the huge expanse of reeds the reserve offers. A pair of buzzards were there to stir them up a bit and it was like watching a tornado of birds whirling around the sky and the sound of their synchronised wings was breathtaking. The name murmuration comes from the murmuring sound of their collective wings but it sounded more like a roar than a murmur due to the sheer volume of birds. Most of these starlings are migrants from Scandinavia that are here for the winter months and come together in these huge numbers at night to snuggle up and keep each other warm through the cold nights. So if you want to see this impressive roosting behaviour then now is the time because it’ll all be over by the end of next month.

Spring really is just around the corner and signs are turning up all over the reserve. Snowdrops are out by the church and daffodils are popping up along the road verges. I’ve been hearing the drumming of the great spotted woodpeckers for the past two weeks now. The great tits are obviously feeling flirty too because the call of ‘teacher-teacher-teacher’ is regularly heard from the trees at the moment, especially around the feeders that are a constant thrum of feeding tits. Speaking of the feeders, there has been a siskin feeding on the nyger seed since Monday, another sign the seasons are changing at Arne.

Photo by Mark Wright

I had a friend visiting from Scotland this week and growing up in the central belt of Scotland she has never seen a green woodpecker. So I took her for a walk around Arne, assuring her that we would see not one but several due to the abundance of them the reserve has to offer. I see or at least hear one yaffling over heard on a daily basis so I was confident in my promise to her. It turned into a bit of a comedy sketch as Abby watched several of the reserve’s rarer species but was eluded by the green woodpecker over and over again. I set up the scope on a spoonbill spooning itself (this is my made up term for the comical effort of a spoonbill preening itself with it’s spooned bill) and as she enjoyed this rare treat I watched a green woodpecker hurtle itself across the Middlebere channel. Next we had a firecrest on the road leading up to the church. As Abby tried to pin her binoculars on the flitty firecrest that was teasing her as it jumped in and out of the holly bush, we heard the distinct yaffle call and although I caught sight of the woodpecker disappearing into the distance, Abby was too caught up in the playful antics of the firecrest. Abby was also treated to her first sight of marsh harrier, grey plover, avocet and brent geese and so it just goes to show you, sometimes you go looking for one thing in particular and don’t see it but come home having seen so many other wonderful things that you can never really feel disappointed when you go for a nature walk. Especially at Arne!

Photo by Mark Wright

I’ll finish by mentioning the scaup that has been spotted from Shipstal point. A duck that turns up on our coastal bays and estuaries in the winter, it is a rare sighting and a first for the harbour this winter I believe. Similar to a tufted duck but without the tuft and much greyer on the back than a tufted. Also, you’re not likely to see a tufted duck sat in the harbour like you are a scaup.

Winter bird mysteries in Dorset!

2013-01-27T19:36:00Z

Winter is always an interesting time of year and the recent cold spell has brought about a lot of unusual bird movements across Dorset. As soon as the snow hit there was a a huge increase in the number of redwings and fieldfares around the reserve and on a walk on Monday I came across a flock of at least 150 redwings in the trees towards Shipstal point. Normally very much countryside birds both of the winter thrushes will move in to gardens in very cold weather to feed on berries from ornamental bushes. We have had a few phone calls from people who have spotted a strange bird in their gardens and want to know what it is and they have all turned out to be one or other of these species.

One of the huge numbers of redwings that have been seen on the reserve in the last couple of weeks taken by MarkWright

There have been flocks of other bird such as goldcrests reported, these small bird are usually seen fliiting amongst the tops of pine trees in ones or twos so it is exciting to see them in larger groups.

I am more used to posting pictures of firecrests and the poor goldcrest doesn't ussually get a look in. This is another picture taken by MarkWright recently.

More unusual birds have been reported in the county with larger numbers of waxwings coming in to the Poole area (although despite my best efforts I have failed to catch up with them) and probably the strangest bird of all is a hoope that has been seen in and around Hamworthy over the last week (again something I have managed to miss). Hoopoes are vagrants to this country that are normally seen in the spring and autumn and is extremely rare to have any over wintering.

Another extremely unusual report came from a phone call that Rob picked up on Wednesday. The caller reported a strange looking house martin that they had found injured in their garden in Swanage. Unfortunately the bird died overnight but intrigued Rob went along to see what it was and he was surprised to discover that it was infact a storm petrel. This is a small sea bird associated with the open ocean that breeds in holes such as rabbit burrows on the more remote parts of the British coasline. This time of year they should have all migrated to the seas off of South Africa so again this is another example of a bird be in the wrong place at the wrong time. This one was probably blow off course and arrived exhausted in the Swanage back garden. All of the sightings just goes to show that you never know what is going to turn up!

Storm petrels are only slighlty larger than a house sparrow and although delicate looking they are able to with stand life on the the ocean waves.

There is still lots to see out in the harbour and I got to see it from a different perspective when I went on a bird boat on Thursday. We saw at least 4 great northern divers out on the water and although these are spotted from Shipstall point they are often a long way out and difficult to spot. The highlight of the trip was a female long tailed duck which has been around for the last couple of weeks and has been reported at Arne on most days but it was great to see it up close. I also got to see Arne from the boat and as we sailed closer we could see two spoonbills feeding on Shipstal beach. Because it is quieter during the week this time of year the beach can be a good place to watch waders and apart from the spoonbills there were good numbers of oystercatchers, brent geese, avocet and even a couple of grey plovers.

A coulpe of weeks ago I told you about a new website www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk and this Saturday in conjunction with the RSPB Paul Morton will be leading a special launch walk for the website at Arne. With the chance of catching up on some of the harbours most iconic species like the Dartford Warbler, avocets, hen harriers and spoonbills this is a great introduction to birds of Poole Harbour. The walk starts at 9am and there are still a few places are available so for more information and booking details visit www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk/birds-poole-harbour-launch-walk

On the 9 and 10 of February for one weekend only we are opening up the World War II gun emplacement which is located on a private part of the reserve. This is one of the best preserve Heavy Anti Aircraft Batteries in the country and served an important role in protecting Poole Harbour and the nearby cordite factory at Holton Heath from attack. So come along to the reserve between 10am and 3pm on either day for a special opportunity to see this historic site and discover more about Arnes important role in the defense of the surrounding area! http://www.rspb.org.uk/events/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-325657

It's Snow Joke at Arne!

2013-01-18T13:40:00Z

Blimey - The weather forecast was right and Dorset is under a blanket of snow. The car park is empty but being a conscientious bunch we have made sure that the visitor hut is still being manned!

It was a long walk up the Arne road this morning but it was the safest way to travel and I managed to get some wintery photos on the way. The Snow is pretty wet and heavy so it is weighing the gorse down which isn't good news for Dartford warblers - Hopefully we will get a quick thaw!

We also had chance to have a bit of fun - At least Adam won't get lost in a snow drift with that hat!

We have got longhorn cattle on the farm field at the moment and they were looking a bit sorry for themselves but they are a hardy breed and can cope fine with these sorts of conditions

On the walk around the reserve there was plenty of movements of song birds withs plenty of mixed flocks of tits flitting through the trees. We had a flock of at least 200 fieldfare pass over head and a nice little group of goldfinches in the field near the cattle. It is not unusual to see large flocks of the winter thrushes when the temparature drops as they will move about searching for food. Nuthatches and a great spotted woodpecker were making the most of our feedind and I got a good sighting of a marsh tit which as Jen was saying the other day have made a welcome return to the reserve recently.

This afternoon we took a stroll over Coombe heath, it had brightened up a bit and the light reflecting off the snow on the purbeck hills was stunning. We watched a marsh harrier hunting along the Middlebere channel and there was about 150 avocets feeding in the shallows along with curlews, dunlins and redshanks. A big highlight was two Dartford warblers flitting amongst the snow covered heather just a few metres of us! They were my first Darties of the year and they are always a welcome sight. On the way back we came across at least three wrens hopping amongst the gorse and as we walked across the field before the car park a buzzard and a sparrowhawk crossed our path. All in all it was a pretty good afternoon out on the heath and the snow just added to the experience.

The view towards Corfe castle this afternoon was stunning!

Happy New Year

2013-01-12T15:25:00Z

It is a new year and the keener bird watchers are staring their year lists where they try and see as many different species of birds in one year. Arne has had a fantastic start to the year bird wise and those who have come out to add ticks to their list have went home satisfied. The top spot in the harbour at the moment is the wintering female long tailed duck. Unlike the name implies the female doesn’t actually have a long tail, it is only the male that has this distinguishing feature. An exciting bird nonetheless. Also in the harbour are great northern diver, goldeneye, slavonian grebe, great crested grebe, pintail, red breasted merganser and a couple of grey seal. The spoonbills are still a daily sighting from the Shipstal hide and a few lucky visitors were even treated to a bold spoonbill feeding a few metres in front of them on the beach. The waders are still a huge attraction on middlebere with several hundred of avocets hypnotising us every time they take flight en masse. Accompanying them are good numbers of dunlin, redshank, grey plover, curlew, oystercatcher and black and bar tailed godwits. This of course attracts the raptors such as the hen harrier and marsh harrier. On our weekly Wednesday walk we had a peregrine chasing a flock of dunlin up and down the channel which also threw up a flock of lapwing in the fields on the other side. Everyone on the walk, myself included, was delighted to see such a huge flock of lapwing flying together, sadly a rare sight these days.

Spoonbill by Yogi Bear

Even the feeders have been producing some interesting sightings. The sparrowhawk has been a regular visitor, taking advantage of the feeding tit flocks and causing a gasping eruption of shock and amazement from visitors in the hut as it whooshes in for its breakfast. It nearly took my ear off yesterday as it whizzed past my face in pursuit of a frantic blue tit. However, the threat of this magnificent raptor hasn’t put off one tit in particular. That is the marsh tit. These rare birds used to be a regular sighting on the feeders at Arne but the two cold winters we had a couple of years ago seemed to finish them off. Other than an unusual appearance last May we haven’t seen one on the feeders since. Until now that is! There is at least one marsh tit doing the rounds on the feeders and we’re getting a daily sighting of this little bird. It very obligingly hopped around on the ground a few feet in front of me earlier in the week showing me that yes, indeed, it is a marsh tit. It has been seen fairly regularly for most of the week but it takes a bit of patience to pick it out amongst the plethora of tits we have in the car park. This is a species that is suffering from a decline in the UK so to see it feeding a few feet in front of you is a rare treat that is worth hanging around for.

Marsh tit - Ben Hall (rspb-images.com)

That is just some of what has been seen it the past couple of weeks, it'll be exciting to see what else will turn up on the reserve in 2013. The weather has turned cold this week after a spell of mild weather. However, despite the winter chill in the air there have been a few signs that spring is around the corner. Catkins have appeared on a few trees around the car park, much to the delight of the blue and great tits. And the sunshine yesterday even produced a small tortoiseshell.

Regular visitors to the reserve will remember the previous Arne Information officer Paul Morton. Paul is still very much involved with the local area and has spent the last six months setting up a brand new website ‘Birds of Poole Harbour’ which is dedicated to one of the most important birding sites in the whole country. It gives a brilliant guide to all of the best sites around the harbour and works with the main organisations helping protect the harbour including the RSPB. Check it out www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk and follow on twitter @harbourbirds.

In conjunction with the RSPB we are delighted that Paul will be leading a special launch walk for the website at Arne on Saturday 2^nd February. With the chance of catching up on some of the harbours most iconic species like the Dartford Warbler, avocets, hen harriers and spoonbills this is a great introduction to birds of Poole Harbour. The walk starts at 9am and places are limited so for more information and booking details visit www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk/birds-poole-harbour-launch-walk

Lapwing flock over Arne by Paul Morton

An Arne Review of 2012!!

2012-12-29T14:05:00Z

Well that's another year gone by at Arne and it certainly has been an unusual one mainly due to the incredible amount of rain we had! I remember in March I was standing in the car park in my shorts and a national drought had just been announced but jump forward in to April and it started to rain and it hasn't really stopped since. But do we let a bit of bad British weather put us off at Arne?..... Most definitely not! As I always say Arne is a terrific place to come at any time and despite the rain here are a few highlights of the year!

It was a good year for.....

Firecrests. For the last couple of winters we were lucky enough to have firecrests in the car park and they have become a big hit with visitors. This spring they stayed and by the looks of this picture (which I still think is one of the best of the year) they probably successfully bred as well.

Firecrest by Yogi Bear

Fox gloves. Arne was a mass of pink flowers in the spring. I hadn't seen it quite like that before and they did look stunning in places.

Ducks. It was wet enough for them and this one diced with death and layed several eggs in a buzzards nest we were hoping to watch. This was in the top of a tall pine but this isn't totally unheard of for ducks. The good news was that the eggs hatched and the ducklings parachuted out of the nest and survived!

And of course Kestrels. For the second year in a row our pair of kestrels successfully raised four chicks. Despite the rain they still managed to catch enough food ranging from baby blue tits to bank voles and of course there favourites... sand lizards! Slow worms seemed to be big on the menu this year and it was amusing watching the chicks tackle a still wriggling 10 inch body.

Arne was on TV again....

The reserve featured on BBC Countryfile when Rob took Ellie on a reptile hunt.

And we had another film crew using a very space age looking contraption.

We found....

the biggest smooth snake the reserve has seen. All in all it wasn't a bad year for reptile and in the spring female Sand lizards were digging nest burrows everywhere. Lets hop that not too many were washed out.

We even took part in a boat race....

We had a winner of the second Arne photographic competition....

Blondie by Dom

The Arne Forage Festival was bigger and better than ever

And this years pull a pine was another massive success

Again we managed to clear unwanted pine seedlings from another 25 hectares of heathland

We introduced a new 'Tramper'

Image : Watershed PR

Remember we now have an off road 'Tramper' Mobility Scooter to hire.

We cleared scrub from the gun emplacement on Arne hill

And if you are interested in the more recent history of Arne we will be opening this area up to the public for one weekend in February!

Lets hope 2013 is a better year for....

Large red dragonfly by AP Read

Dragonflies. 2012 wasn't good news for dragonflies and damselflies and there was certainly a lot less on the reserve. There seemed to be a later emergence during a drier spell in September.

Silver studded blue butterflies by nikon4Pete

Butterflies. Butterfly numbers were down as well and there certainly weren't the clouds of silver studded blues that I experienced in 2011!

Keep an eye out for our new events programme in the new year and remember the first event of 2013 is the Raptor Weekend on 5th and 6th January

Female (ringtail) hen harrier by Mark Wright

So for now a very happy New Year to you all and I will see you in 2013!

Happy Christmas from Arne!

2012-12-24T17:01:49Z

We have had a very wet few days on the reserve and I thought for a moment that the Isle of Purbeck was going to float off in to the English Channel! I have got my fingers crossed for better weather in the new year and Arne is great place to come and work off the over indulgence of Christmas.

Our events programme starts off with a bang in the first week of January with our 'Winter Raptor Weekend'. On Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 we will havw staff and volunteers manning view points to show off some of the amazing birds of prey that hunt along the channels of the harbour this time of year. Last year we saw everything you would expect including the more obvious like buzzard, kestrels, sparrowhawks and peregrines to the unusual such as marsh and hen harriers and merlins. An extra highlight was a short eared owl which was around for a few weeks and hopefully one will turn up this year. In fact I think the only thing we didn't see was a golden eagle! Come along between 10 and 3 on those days and see what you can see. http://www.rspb.org.uk/events/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-325655

A male hen harrier quartering the Middlebere channel taken by Mark Wright

For now from everyone at Arne we wish you all a very merry Christmas and thank you for reading our blogs and visiting this fantastic reserve!

Robin in holly by Woody

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!