Trip reports
STANPIT MARSH & HENGISTBURY HEAD - Saturday 26th September 2009
David Bennett
Saturday, 26 September 2009
With the bulk of the Head rising along one side and a low line of hotels, apartments and beach huts on the other, and with the easiest of access from the road, the harbour simply teems with wildlife. The ancient men who built the great earthworks of Double Dykes, the Romans with their little port, the monks from the Priory and the smugglers of Mudeford would all have been familiar with nature's sights and sounds and the annual rhythms of migration and probably feasted on much of what it provided. Now we come just to look and enjoy.
Stanpit Marsh, a local nature reserve with a smart new visitor centre, is at the heart of the harbour, a small but richly diverse area criss-crossed by small tidal channels. The warden was returning from a walk to the nursery pond to collect Natterjack toadlets for distribution around the reserve. She had been unlucky but explained that there were now over a thousand toads on the marsh as a result of the programme. The toadlets are so small they have to be collected using a tea spoon.
On a warm September morning, under a clear sky, the marsh was a meeting point for arrivals and departures. On Crouch Hill, a grand name for no more than the gentlest of rises, wheatears, dapper and slim, mixed with the meadow pipits. A kestrel, pretending to be a sparrowhawk, lumbered amongst them, failing in its attempt to pluck a bird from its perch. Over the River Avon, a great host of house martins, hundreds strong, swooped and soared like a gigantic version of the swarms of flies on which they were gorging. Chiffchaff flitted along the hedges. Dorset today, Africa next week.
On the mudflats in the harbour were large numbers of ducks and waders, pushed well out by an unwelcome carpet of sea lettuce. There were black-tailed godwits, wigeon, dunlin and two or three knot, not common visitors here. A single bar-tailed godwit only revealed itself when it took flight. In the gorse, a clouded yellow butterfly warmed itself. With the square tower of the Priory as a backdrop, a group of teal passed overhead and wheeled left to land on the marsh.
The highlight of the marsh for most of the group of twenty one, including a guest from Canada, was a water rail making its way along the river's edge. Visible almost continuously for over five minutes, it made an unhurried progress at the foot of the reeds, giving some superb views before it turned and slipped back into cover.
Under an old rusted steel lifeboat by the path a pair of grey bush crickets was spotted, and back at the car park a very active pine hawk moth caterpillar entertained us during lunch, along with a sparrowhawk circling overhead. Most of the group plus some additions then moved over to Hengistbury Head.
Dodging the land trains and the bikes, the track brought reed bunting and stonechat. A great flock of wigeon, plump and built for long haul travel, circled the harbour, glinting and flashing in the bright sun as they turned and twisted, rose and fell. A pause at the beach, amongst the sunbathers and castle builders, added sandwich terns and a gannet following the coast of the Isle of Wight to the Needles lighthouse before it turned left and made for the Channel. The walk back included Razor Strop fungi as well as the Fly Agaric and in the ancient woods were blackcap, willow warbler and more chiffchaff. Tits bathed and splashed in a small pool, half hidden in the undergrowth. Over the heath sparrowhawks gave more memorable views.
Easy to reach, easy to access and easy to walk around, Christchurch harbour is a gem. Leaving the car park, a small flock of starlings flew back and forth over the golf course, touting for supporters to turn into a roost. A few thousand starlings making their intricate patterns in the sky over the glistening waters on a golden autumn evening - now what a sight that would make!
Reported by Mike Crow
Birds Magpie, Dunnock, Starling, Robin, Woodpigeon, Chiffchaff, House sparrow, Crow, Greenfinch, Collared Dove, Blue Tit, Pied wagtail, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker (h), Green woodpecker, Bar-tailed godwit, Black-tailed godwit, Water rail, Common Buzzard, Gadwall, Teal, Moorhen, Coot, Blackbird, Curlew, Meadow pipit, Black-headed gull, Little Egret, Lapwing, Kingfisher, Housemartin, Swallow, Heron, Wheatear, Jay, Herring gull, Snipe, Cormorant, Kestrel, Canada Goose, Linnet, Greenshank, Redshank, Oyster Catcher, Jackdaw, Mute swan, Dunlin, Great black-backed gull, Knot, Wigeon, Blackcap, Sparrowhawk, Goldcrest(h), Coal tit, Reed bunting, Stonechat, Stockdove, Great tit, Sandwich tern, Gannet, Long-tailed tit, Willow warbler
Fungi Fly Agaric, Razorstrop
Insects Grey bush cricket
Dragonflies Large Red Damselfly, Common Darter, Common Hawker, Southern Hawker
Butterflies Clouded yellow, Small white, Red Admiral, Speckled wood, Large white