RSPB Radipole Lake 27th August 2016

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RSPB Arne and Studland Bay 26th August 2016

One of the highlights of the rserve is not the cafe and shop which sits slightly uphill of the visitor centre. This used to belong to afarmer but they persuased him to move to a building a few hundred metres away so they could convert the farmhouse into a visitor cafe with shop and toilets. Apparently there had been a Nightjar roosting in a tree near the cafe and it had been roosting for a good length of time. THe bad news for us, though, was that it seemed to have moved off. Still it gave us an excuse to have a cup of tea while we scanned the trees for it.

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Brownsea Island 25th August 2016

Our boat trip to Brownsea Island was fairly uneventful though there were a few Sandwich Terns flying around the bay. On the island we mainly concentrated on the Dorset Wildlife Trust part of the island which includes the lagoon. Away from that we did see some woodland birds and a Great Spotted Woodpecker. However the lagoon was the main attraction and we would have been mightily impressed with the Spoonbills there had we not seen so many recenty so close to home at Burton Mere Wetlands.

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Keyhaven 24th August 2016

Although this post says Keyhaven, in fact the location was really Hurst Castle at the end of the pebble spit that starts in Keyhaven at the junction of Saltgrass Lane and New Lane. Previously we had walked along Saltgrass Lane and got did good birding there before walking up the spit. This time we were not up for the two-mile walk along the spit so we headed for the quay where small boats do a ferry service between Hurst Castle and a quay at the Keyhaven Yacht Club.

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Beaulieu Road Station and Denny Wood 24th August 2016

On the morning of the 24th of August, we were decided on looking for Dartford Warblers on the walk from Beaulieu Road Station to Denny Woods and back. Unfortunately we seemed to miss the station and drove past the Shatterford Bottom car park that we needed to find. Eventually we realised this and came back up the road again and found it.

The walk from the car park opposite Beaulieu Road Station across the heath to Denny Woods and back should be one of the very best places in the New Forest to see Dartford Warbler and we have done there before. It was much later in the year and whether they are dispersed this late in the season or just hidden away, I don’t know. Whatever the reality, we just couldn’t find one ! But we did get some nice birds and a great walk.

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Fritham and Eyeworth Pond 23rd August 2016

We had a fairly long drive this day as we were taking the scenic route from Montacute to Lyndhurst where we were spending the night at The Crown Hotel. We drove the route via Shatesbury,  Cranborne Chase, Sixpenny Handley and Fordinbridge which was lovely but we missed the Skylarks at the top of Cranorne Chase that we had seen – and heard so gloriously – previously. This time the field had been harvested and it was pretty bare. I suppose that the Skylarks had already bred and disappeared already. Continue reading

Shapwick Heath and Ham Wall 21st August 2016

We left WWT Slimbridge in the early afternoon and then we drove down towards Montacute but first stopping off at Shapwich Heath and Ham Wall nature reserves. I had seen on the bird alert sites that Glossy Ibis and Osprey had been around and we tried our luck at these. The weather had picked up a bit and it was now quite warm and sunny. A great surprise was the new facilities there.

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