The RSPB Community

Wildlife everywhere!

John Lloyd — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:21:00 GMT

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!

Michael Wilson — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:17:02 GMT

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!

Michael Wilson — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:15:56 GMT

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

John Lloyd — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:05:00 GMT

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!

Michael Wilson — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:43:00 GMT

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...

Laura Popely — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 11:24:00 GMT

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?

Michael Wilson — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:32:00 GMT

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!

Laura Popely — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 14:06:00 GMT

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

Michael Wilson — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 21:27:00 GMT

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

Jen Clark — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 17:12:00 GMT

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!

Michael Wilson — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 19:36:00 GMT

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!

Michael Wilson — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 13:40:00 GMT

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

Jen Clark — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 15:25:00 GMT

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!!

Michael Wilson — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 14:05:00 GMT

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!

Michael Wilson — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 17:01:49 GMT

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!!

Pull a Pine 2012!

Michael Wilson — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 15:06:00 GMT

A couple of weeks ago we had the now well established Arne 'Pull a Pine' event for Christmas. It is a briiliant community event which in the last 2 years has seen over 1000 visitors come along a take part, all of them going home with their very own Christmas tree! But why do we do it? It is great fun obviously but there is actually a serious point to it all. Lowland heath is a rare and fragile habitat and in the last 150 years up to 80% of this has been destroyed due agriculture and building.

Heathland is a very special habitat which is home to some amazing wildlife including the iconic Dartford Warbler, the mysterious nightjar and the elusive smooth snake. The main reason for clearing pine seedlings is to retain the heathland and to prevent it reverting back to pine woodland which is less of a diverse habitat. It is important to leave some stand of pine to create cover for lots of the species that use the heath.

Interestingly heathland its self is a man made landscape which was created several thousand years ago when the first farmers started to clear the land. With out tree roots to retain nutrients the soil became relatively poor allowing colonisation of specialist plant species such as gorse and heather. in turn these attract all of the special wildlife we have here today!

Next time you visit Arne take a bit of time to look at the heathland landscape that we have on the Isle of Purbeck and then look over in the direction of Poole and Bournemouth to see how much has disappeared in a relatively short space of time!

This year we cleared pine seedlings from another 25 hectares of heathland and although this a small fraction of the 560 hectares we manage at Arne it is a massive achievement. We tend to manage the heath in cycles of five years and every year we concentrate on a different part.

Just a few of the 1000 visitors who came along to help pull pines!

Bird wise the avocets are still putting on a great show and the spoonbills are back after spending a few days at Holes bay in Poole. Dartford warblers are very reliable at the moment and it is good to see a nice flock of 100 or so lapwings spending a lot of time along the Middlebere channel.

Colours of Arne

Jen Clark — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 17:05:00 GMT

It has suddenly turned very cold outside, we have our wood burner blazing in the visitor hut and we almost can’t see the bird feeders for the mass of hungry blue tits fighting over the nuts. However, there is still plenty of wildlife to see on the reserve as Michael mentioned in his previous blogs. As well as the wintering birds the winter also brings a magical change to the already stunning landscape at Arne.

The frosty mornings have turned the heath into a winter wonderland but this quickly thaws as the sun starts to rise. We’ve been treated to some glorious sunny days this week, today included. On Wednesday with the sun starting to drop Michael and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful reserve that we’re lucky enough to work on and went for a quick walk before it got dark. The combination of the clear blue skies, still air, the low sun and low tide created the most breathtaking array of glowing colours and reflections. The odd fluffs of cloud that were in the sky had turned candyfloss pink, the tall pine trees had a red fiery tinge, the mirror like water was aquamarine and the mudflats were purple and blue. The white of the avocets were lit up varying shades of pink and purple, a little like Christmas fairy lights. The grand finale was the magnificent sunset that set the sky ablaze.

Photo by Simon

On our way back we had a quick scan for short eared owls that might have been hunting over the heath. Unfortunately we didn’t spot an owl but a snipe did explode out of the heather just in front of us causing Michael to let out a girly scream.

So wrap up warm, fill up your flask and take a late afternoon walk and come see the light show for yourself.

Photo by Vixen37

Butcher Bird is Back!

Michael Wilson — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 17:19:00 GMT

It has been an exciting few days on the reserve with lots to see and do. At the weekend we held another very successful ‘Pull a Pine’ event which for the second year in a row saw over 1000 visitors come along and help us clear unwanted pine seedlings from the heathland as part of our essential habitat management programme. Again we cleared a large area of heath and participant got to take away a Christmas tree as a thank you.

Bird wise things have really been hotting up and at the end of last week we had several sightings of a great grey shrike up on Coombe heath. We have at least one bird pass through in most years and a couple of years ago we had one stay all winter. Shrikes will migrate from northern Europe and a small number over winter along the very southern and eastern edges of the country. The bird that was seen on Coombe hasn’t been reported for a couple of days but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t around. There has been one at Morden bog in the Wareham forest for the last few weeks.

This is a picture of the great grey shrike that was resident at Arne the winter before last taken by Dom Greves ( I hadn't seen this picture before).

Hen harrier sightings are becoming more numerous and over the weekend we had several reports of a ringtail (female) across the whole reserve. This morning a visitor watched 4 marsh harrier hunting over the Middlebere channel. It sounded like there were 2 females and 2 juveniles.

The finch field is still producing a few interesting birds and one of my favourites is the redpoll. This is a fairly understated streaky brown bird but the most striking thing about it is the red cap. Since I started working with the RSPB a couple of year ago I have met a lot of confusion about redpolls. I have heard them referred to as lesser, common and mealy redpolls and some of the guide books including the Collins bird guide don’t always make it clear. So after some investigation I found out that until a few years ago the redpoll was classed as one species with a couple of different subspecies but now this has been split so that we have a lesser redpoll (Carduelis cabaret) which is fairly common in this country and the common redpoll (Carduelis flammea) which is fairly scarce (see I said it was confusing). There is no evidence of interbreeding between the two species but they are very similar and difficult to tell apart.

Lesser? redpoll on the winter finch trail by ChrisRoughley

Just to give a bit of a flavour of what is about at the moment I have decide to write out todays bird list which is pretty impressive – Avocet (700), brent geese (65), spoonbill (16), wigeon, teal, lapwing (100), redshank, Dartford warbler, buzzard, peregrine falcon, little egret, grey heron, great spotted woodpecker, shelduck, nuthatch, coal tits, long tailed tits, goldcrest, firecrest, raven (8), dunlin, chiffchaff (yes there is a small over wintering population), redshank, curlew, marsh harrier (4), kingfisher, green woodpecker, red breasted merganser, tree creeper, cormorant, jay, redwing, fieldfare, song thrush, black tailed godwit, stonechat, dunnock, pied wagtail, pintail, meadow pipits AND finally a red admiral butterfly.

This is a pretty good list of what Arne has to offer at this time of year but this by no means everything that we see. If you want to see some of this amazing winter wildlife then come along to the reserve in the next few weeks to be sure not to miss out!

One of the several hundred avocets that can be seen at the moment taken by Woody (I like the reflection)

Kick start your Christmas at Arne

Michael Wilson — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 14:17:00 GMT

So Christmas is a month away and we always like to celebrate in style at Arne and again the year we are holding the now world famous 'Pull a Pine for Christmas'

This event has mushroomed in recent years from rather humble beginnings to the massive success of last year. To keep the heathland in good condition we need to remove lots of pine seedlings that pop up all over the place. If we didn't do this we would begin to lose part of this very special habitat. The idea is for visitors to come along and help pull up some of these trees and in return we give them a free local sustainable Christmas tree as a thank you.

Last year we had well over 1000 visitors come along to join in and who helped us clear over 25 hectares of heath. This was an amazing achievement and made a real difference to the heathland.

All you need to do is come along to the reserve on Saturday 1st December between 10am and 3pm and join in with the fun. Tools and training will be provided on the day and you can do as little or as much as you like.

All this hard work will certainly build up an appetite so we have linked up with the Dorset Charcuterie Company who will be on site selling local hot food and drinks. You can also take a well earned breather from pine pulling to learn how to make natural Christmas decorations at the craft stall.

This is a great event for all of the family and a brilliant way to get into the christmas spirit and of course you get to take away your own special tree for your efforts!

Winter Arrivals

Michael Wilson — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 15:57:00 GMT

We are well in to November now and the majority of the wetland birds have arrived for the winter. There are large numbers of avocets in the harbour and at least 300 can be seen on the Middlebere channel when the tide is right. The spoonbills are regulars in front of the Shipstal hide and up to 20 can often be aseen roosting on the sand spit up there. The frustrating thing about spoonbills is they will stand for hours with their heads tucked under their wings and you don't get a chance to get a good view of the iconic 'spoon bill'. The first time I ever saw a spoonbill was on this same sand spit when I was on holiday in Dorset over 12 years ago and all I could see was a white blob which didn't move for about a hour I was convinced it was a spoonbill but I couldn't definately identify it even with little egrets walking past it! I remember walking up to the Shipstal view point and turning back towards the salt marsh typically it had moved and I could just about make out what it was! Now 12 years on it is amazing that I am here watching 20 of them!

Spoonbill numbers have increased in numbers in the UK in recent years and there is now even a small breeding colony of at least 8 birds on the north Norfolk coast. I wonder if will see any breeding pairs in the harbour in the next few years. I am watching with interest.

Hundreds of brent geese, wigeon and teal are here now along with smaller numbers of other ducks such as pintail and red breasted merganser. We had a report of a female long-tailed duck in the harbour off of Shipstal at the weekend. One turned up this time last year but it was a long way out. There are lots of great crested grebes out in the harbour and they are often joined by the scarcer red-necked, black-necked and slavonian grebes.

Hundreds of brent geese have arrived from their artic breeding grounds - Photo by Yogi bear

A lot of the smaller winter birds have been arriving in good numbers as well and even though the sunflower crop failed in the winter finch field this year there of plenty of other seed bearing plants to attract large numbers of goldfinches, chaffinches and siskins. We have also been getting reports of the first bramblings and redpolls of the winter.Their are plenty of redwings about but I haven't had too many reports of fieldfares at the moment but it sounds like there are a lot in the north of the country at the moment. There have also been early reports of large numbers of waxwings coming in and there are suggestions that it could be another big waxwing winter like we had a couple of years ago. Perhaps they know something we don't and its going to be another cold one. The berry crop this year isn't great so these fruit eating birds may move south quicker in search of food.

Dartford warblers are pretty active at the moment and Rod counted no less than 12 on a guided walk he led on Saturday which was pretty amazing!

Firecrests are being seen in the car park most days and again the best place to see them is up the path towards the toilets. Firecrests now appear to be resident at Arne and the numbers along the south coast have been gradually increasing in the last few years.

I can never resist putting a picture of a firecrest in the blog - photo by OlivierM

As a side note I was trying to record the date the last swallow was spotted at Arne as there were a lot of sighting through out October and infact these continued in to November with two recorded on the 3rd. These are pretty late records but the south coast will always be the last place to see swallows and house martins before they leave completely. Now all we have to do is wait for them to come back!

Autumn at Arne

Jen Clark — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 11:37:00 GMT

It is turning cold but the sun has been shining on Arne for most of November. This has brought out lots of visitors and with them lots of interesting bird sightings.

The 27^th October was a particularly exciting day for seeing things when two cranes flew over the reserve and several people were lucky enough to catch sight of these birds – and who could miss them with a 6.5ft wingspan and its long neck extended in flight. As a bird that was extinct as a breeding bird in the UK until a very small population re-established in the Nofolk Broads in the 1980s you can imagine how thrilling it is to see two of these fantastic birds flying across Dorset. The RSPB are helping to reintorduce the common crane to the Somerset Levels. Hopefully by the end of the project there will be 100 cranes out there and for the first time in 400 years Somerset will have breeding cranes!

Photo by Nick Upton - rspb images

Later that day we also had a red kite fly over Coombe and off across Middlebere, which is an unusual sighting for us too.

A few siskins have been seen flocking over Coombe, as well as a single crossbill. Signs of winter are turning up all over the reserve as avocet numbers build up, the odd brambling has been feeding in the finch field, a small murmuration of starlings flock over Middlebere in the evening and the leaves fall from the trees, creating a stunning golden carpet of crisp leaves that is childishly satisfying to kick your feet through. The colours are mesmerising and the glow from the autumn sun brings a magical atmosphere to the reserve. Hints of summer are however still holding on with red admirals and speckled woods enjoying the last of the sunshine. Even a couple of smooth snakes surprised some visitors when they braved the cool autumn weather and showed themselves off on the paths up on Coombe.

Photo by Dom Greves

Even from the visitor’s hut we’re seeing some nice things. There was a squeal of delight in the hut yesterday morning when we turned on the TV screen to discover the newly installed owl box was being used for the first time by a roosting barn owl. Speaking of the wildlife cameras, you'll all be pleased to hear that our feeder camera is finally back up and running so you can do your own bird spotting of your own from home. Thanks for all your patience in waiting for this to be fixed.

I also had an exciting bird spot of my own, an Arne favourite and a first for me, the dartford warbler. Having been here for over a month now and having not yet seen one I was beginning to think that they were a myth. So on my day off I decided to put some time in and armed with my binoculars I set off onto Coombe on a dartford warbler mission. Meadow pipits and stonechats were plentiful and I had a superb view of a sparrowhawk chasing the former. I stopped in the hide on my way round and was informed by a lady that I should have been there 5 minutes ago – the phrase every bird watcher hates to hear. Two dartfords had just flitted about in front of the hide! However, from the hide I was treated to 200 avocets and about 11 spoonbills, who can complain about that? The sun was starting to go down and everything was going quiet except for the eerie call of the sika deer, and I was about to give up when I spotted some interesting caterpillar nests in the gorse. I stuck my head in the bush to have a closer inspection when a dartford hopped out in front of me, probably just as shocked to see me as I was it. We eyeballed each other curiously for a few minutes, giving me the chance to admire its stunning yellow/orange legs and that handsome red ring around its eye. So they do exist! So if you haven’t seen one then come down here and put in the hours, it is worth it – even if you don’t see one there are so many other exciting things you’ll come across on your search, not to mention the gorgeous colours autumn is throwing up all over Arne.

Photo by dipperboy

Pull your wellies on!

Robert Farrington — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:31:51 GMT

It's getting quite soggy all over the UK at the moment so what better time to pull on your wellies and head down to some water logged meadows and bogs?!

This saturday it is the 2nd Heathland Bash of the year. Last month nearly 30 people turned up to clear the WWII gun emplacements on the reserve and clear it they did!

Photo by Ben Buxton

And of course you can't stop me looking for wildlife, regardless of what I'm doing and a fox and a pair of crossbill were my favourite spots of the day!

This saturday we're off to another part of the reserve, again in an area which is usually not open to the public, to the Arne moors. So if you fancy getting outdoors and getting your hands dirty it would be great to see you there. The event runs 10am- 3pm, although you'll need to be there at the start you can stay as long as you like.

ARNE FORAGE FESTIVAL - Saturday Nov 3

Michael Wilson — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 11:06:00 GMT

There are only a few days to go and the reserve is alive with activity as we get ready for the 3rd annual 'Arne Forage Festival'.

‘The Arne Forage festival’ is part of Purbeck food week and will be celebrating the outdoors, local produce, food and traditional crafts from around Dorset. This year visitors can join a knife skills course, try their hand at atlatl (traditional spear throwing), take part in a wild bake off, disappear out onto the reserve on a forage walk and wander around the diverse stalls; as well as many hands on demonstrations, there will be the chance to purchase and take home many of the wonderful things that are on display. We have joined forces with the Ancient Technology Centre and will be providing hands on demonstrations throughout the day including using ancient tools and traditional fire lighting.

Learn knife wood work skills with Bob from Natural England

This year there will be live acoustic music by local bands The Maddison Tarheels and world famous (well in Dorset any way) skiffle band Quinns Quinney.

Quinns Quinney playing last year

This is shaping up to be a really exciting day where people can come to an RSPB nature reserve and get more than they bargained for. This is now our third year and it’s shaping up to be our best yet, so come down to Arne on the 3rd of November between 10 and 4 to sample an exciting range of crafts, games and local produce, and best of all, it’s free!

To give you more of an Idea of what is happening here are all the stalls and activities that are on offer!

STALLS

RSPB Information (membership/ raffle)

The Nesthouse brickabrac

The Sound Approach

Countrycards

Artist miranda cookson

Pinks chilli jellies

Maureen Fripp jewelry

Sarah black well hand made decorations

UHP (Urban Heath Project)

Bournemouth natural science society

Giftpoint studio

FOOD AND DRINK

RSPB tea and coffee

The Dorset Charcuterie

The Parsnipship

Love cakes

Golden valley products (meatpies)

Billies baguettes

Nectar Cider

Chalk Valley Cheese

HANDS ON

Ancient Technology Centre bushcraft

RSPB activities

RSPB wild bake off

Dorset Wildlife Trust activities

Natural England kids tent

Dorset Bat Group

Toby green wood work

Pete moors pole lathe

Down to earth spinning

Dorset hurdles

Purbeck sewing service

EVENTS

Atlatl Bushcraft 11am-midday and 3pm-4pm

RSPB Wild Bake off 11am, 1pm and 3pm

Madisson Tar Heels Music midday-1pm

Children’s story telling midday-1pm

Knife skills 1pm-2pm

Quinns Quinney music 1pm-2pm

RSPB forage walk 2pm-3pm

Raffle Announced at 3pm

Watch out for Waders!

Michael Wilson — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 12:07:10 GMT

There are still more waders and geese arriving in the harbour and on Saturday morning the tide was just right and visitors were treated to great views of at least 200 avocets feeding in the shallow waters of the Middlebere Channel. The rising tide had pushed the birds up the channel and when it got too high they took off in a great wave of black and white! Other waders to look out for are black tailed godwits, redshanks and curlews. In front of the Shipstal hide it is not unusual to see several hundred curlew and the recent high tides have been pushing the flocks closer together. This has been surprising some visitors and I have had a few people questioning this. Like many waders, curlews are often solitary during the breeding but will flock together along the coast during the winter. There are over 100,000 breeding pairs in this country and the winter population is further boosted by continental birds.

Another often over looked wader that over winters in the harbour is the grey plover. Because of their rather drab winter plumage they tend to blend in to the back ground but are definitely worth looking out for. It is not until the spring that they develop their striking breeding plumage. This is a wader that breeds in the arctic and migrates to the British coast in August and September.

Grey plover as how we wexpect to see it

Grey plover as how it looks in the Artic!

It has been a brilliant few days for spotting spoonbills and up to 18 were in front of the Shipstal hide over the weekend. The only problem is that they tend to stay in one place with their heads tucked in to their bodies so it is sometimes difficult to see that distinctive bill! I am talking about all of these winter birds arriving but amazingly we are still see swallows on the reserve. I am trying to make a record of the last date they are seen so if any one can help please let me know your last sightings on the reserve.

Firecrests are pretty visible at the moment so it is worth spending a little bit of time looking in the holly bushes around the edge of the car park for this charismatic little bird.

If you want to learn a bit more about the waders and other birds that are in the harbour at the moment then come along to one of our Wednesday walks at 10 am. We go out to some of the best spot on the reserve and see whats about. Winter waders can be a bit of a nightmare to identify to this a good way of getting a bit more help. The walks are free and we will be out for about 2 and a half hours so wrap up and come out and join us! http://www.rspb.org.uk/events/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-323954

This time last year I wrote a blog about a new addition to Arnes wildlife. This was a species of bee that has spread across southern Britain from the continent called colletes hederae (or roughly translated the ivy bee). It was first identified in this country about 10 years ago and the best place to see it on the reserve is on the sandy bank opposite the toilets. It emerges in the autumn to coincide with the flowering of the ivy plant of which it is an important pollinator. Even on duller days like today you can see hundreds of these bees flying to and from their nest holes.

Colletes Hederae by AP Read

I know I mentioned this in my last blog but is a big event for Arne so I am going to do it again! Put Saturday 3 November in your diaries and head to the reserve for the Annual 'Arne Forage Festival'. As you will know by now it is a celebration of all things Dorset. There will be a collection of local traders, local food producers and craft stalls including hands on bush craft with the Ancient Technology Centre, knife skills courses, forage walks and traditional javelin throwing! http://www.rspb.org.uk/events/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-323959y

Sika Excitement!

Michael Wilson — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 11:52:00 GMT

Now Autumn is upon us it is the the time that two of the reserves biggest spectacles are in full swing. The huge influx of waders and other water birds to the harbour is well under way and the Sika deer rut is certainly hotting up! The Sika deer rut is always one of the most impressive deer ruts that you will see in this country as the stags really seem to go for it. The bigger stags have gathered together their harems of hinds in the fields either side of the main farm track. They defend and mark their territories with lots of macho posturing and bellowing. Well I say bellowing, its really more like a cross between a scream and a creaking door and this earie cry can really send a shiver down the spine. The real action kicks off if a neighbouring stag invades anothers territory and this is when head on antler clashes can get a bit violent. We have even had Simon King back on the reserve trying to film the action. The rut is exciting but remember these are wild animals and should be watched at a safe distance.

One of Arnes impressive Sika stags taken by Simon86

I took a stroll up on to Coombe heath a couple of evenings ago and watched a large group of avocets feeding in the Middlebere Channel along with 15 spoonbills. This is a great time of year for spoonbills and the couple that have hung around all summer have been joined by at least 20 others that have returned from their Dutch breeding grounds. I wonder if we will beat the harbour record of 29 this year? The first brent geese of the year have been reported and I expect hundreds more to follow soon. Water rails have been reported recently from the Coombe hide and although there are plenty around the harbour they are notoriously difficult to find as they prefer to keep them selves well hidden in thick vegetation. We have also had a flurry of kingfisher sighting which is usual for this time of year as they disperse to warmer coastal areas for the winter. Dartford warbler seem to be more active at the moment and there has definitely be a big increase in sightings over the last few days.

At least 16 spoonbills taken by wormsmum one of our roving volunteers from the Shipstal hide on Sunday. I like the mixture of white spoonbills and black cormorants.

Next month sees the return of the annual 'Arne Forage Festival' which is a celebration of all things Dorset. There will be a collection of local traders, local food producers and craft stalls including hands on bush craft with the Ancient Technology Centre, knife skills courses, forage walks and traditional javelin throwing! Rob has even threatened to bring his band along again! So write Saturday 3 November in your diary and join us for a day of Autumn on the reserve! http://www.rspb.org.uk/events/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-323959y