Arne

Blog post: 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!

Dartford warblers are still show ing well despite the mixed weather. I have been amazed at how far some visitors have travelled for a site 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

Forum post: Re: Keststrels - Life in the box 2013

WendyBartter — Wed, 22 May 2013 09:12:00 GMT

Hi all, just been watching Mrs AK vigorously turning her eggs with much gusto & using beak & feet in very enthusiastic shuffling action & a thought popped into my head.....How do they 'know' they must keep turning eggs????

Photo: Wheatear 2

MarkWright — Fri, 17 May 2013 05:44:00 GMT

Photo: Wheatear 1

MarkWright — Fri, 17 May 2013 05:43:00 GMT

Photo: Curlew vs Whimbrel

MarkWright — Fri, 17 May 2013 05:40:00 GMT

Curlew on the Left, Whimbrel on the right.

Blog post: Arnes Alive!

Michael Wilson — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:17:00 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

Photo: Close Encounter

SteveK — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:53:00 GMT

On the approach to Arne - 26th April.

Photo: Standing Out In A Bigger Crowd

SteveK — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:45:00 GMT

Photo: Standing Out In A Crowd

SteveK — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:42:00 GMT

Taken at Arne on 29th April - on the return from Shipstal Point - just past the disabled parking area

Photo: Singing Wren

SteveK — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:25:00 GMT

Coombe Heath

Photo: Meadow Pipit

M-squared — Fri, 03 May 2013 15:37:00 GMT

Meadow Pipit. Characteristic rear claws are nicely visible.

Taken by the entrance to the Middlebere hide on 28th April 2013.

Photo: Waiting

M-squared — Fri, 03 May 2013 15:24:00 GMT

Little Egret.

Taken on 28th April 2013 just off the beach at Shipstal. (I got a better angle than for the images taken earlier that week.)

Photo: Looking

M-squared — Fri, 03 May 2013 15:22:00 GMT

Little Egret.

Taken on 28th April 2013 just off the beach at Shipstal. (I got a better angle than for the images taken earlier that week.)

Photo: Meadow Pipit

SteveK — Wed, 01 May 2013 21:17:00 GMT

Coombe Heath

Photo: Spider (not sure of spieces)

A P Read — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 11:20:00 GMT

Taken on the heath, this little spider was very difficult to spot from above, but I was already low down trying to image Tiger Beetles when I noticed it.

Forum post: Re: Nest camera for donation...

Michael Wilson — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 08:52:00 GMT

Welcome to the forum - Thank you very much your kind offer - We are not looking for a spare camera for the buzzard nest aswe already have a feed to it from the heath. What people are talking about is a second feed to the web which unfortunately at present is unlikely to happen.

Ppo in and say hi when you visit next week

Regards

Michael

Photo: Catching the ebb

M-squared — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 15:08:00 GMT

Little Egret.

Taken from the double-decker hide on 25th April 2013.

Photo: Working the margin

M-squared — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 15:45:00 GMT

Little Egret in front of the 3-decker hide.

Taken 25th April 2012.

Forum post: Re: Kestrels - Life in the Box 2012!

WendyBartter — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 19:16:00 GMT

Thanks for that info Michael & will look forward to eggs at Arne - my Kestrel pair here are in & around the nest but only still thinking about egg-laying!! They were well behind Arne pair last year but maybe will synchonise this year due to the weather problems - have seen them eating birds & a huge rat the other day - wonder what the vole situation is like?

Photo: Stripey Ant

MarkWright — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:24:00 GMT

Wood Ant keeping me company on one of the benches on Combe Heath while waiting to see if the Osprey would turn up again.