Dorset Holiday-Day 9: Hartland Moor

So today was our last full day in Dorset, and once more it was about 30 degrees, perfect weather for walking around the heathland. Since it was a Monday, there was a reasonable bus service and so made my way down to Hartland Moor. This is a large moor with hides and bogs, directly adjacent to Stoborough Heath that I went to on our first full day and had a really good day.

It involved a bit more walking to than Stoborough had done, and the hides were on the other side of the reserve, so when I made it there I devised a plan of action. The reserve was set around a small hill called The Great Knoll, so I decided to walk around this to get to the hide and then come back round the other side. I started in the boggy area, but quickly found a lack of path leaving me rather stranded. I found that I was surrounded by Four Spot Chasers and Keeled Skimmers as well as some Broad Bodied Chasers. 

As I made my way through the bog to the various patches of trees. As I made my way I flushed some large woodpecker sized brown birds, which when I eventually caught up with them turned out to be Mistle Thrushes, a new species for the holiday.

-Mistle Thrush

But maybe some of the woodpecker sized birds were woodpecker sized because they were woodpeckers, as I found when I flushed a lovely adult Green Woodpecker

-Green Woodpecker

As I made my way through the bog, I noticed a random section of fence with a life raft on it, and I rightly assumed that this must be a view point to the bog with a section of dry land. I therefore headed to that spot by the driest route that I could see, which involved following the tree line and resulted in me spooking a Sika Deer, which once more jumped out and surprised me!

-Sika Deer

When I made it to the fence I saw that it looked over a large shallow pool where there were many dragonflies and damselflies. There was one Emperor Dragonfly which was relegating most other dragonflies to the banks, this included Keeled Skimmers. 

-Keeled Skimmer

There were quite a few damselflies around too. Today was probably my last chance to record southern damselfly or it would elude me for another year. On this pool they were lacking. There were a few damselflies around, mainly Azure and Common Emerald Damselflies.

-Emerald Damselfly

From this 'fence' I could see another at the base of the Knoll, so I headed over in that direction for the most part on dry land. However going by dry land led me away from where I wanted to be. There was a ridge in front of me with a long thin pool between me and the ridge. On this pool there were Keeled Skimmers and Black Darters, which were a great addition to my dragonfly species for the holiday. They were more flighty that I would have expected from a darter and so my initial photo was not very good.

-Black Darter

I found a narrow part of the pool and jumped onto the ridge. From there I could see that over the ridge was a quite large pool with some areas of extensive aquatic vegetation. Here there were a lot more damselflies, including Large and Small Red Damselflies. It seems odd to think that until a week ago I had only ever seen one of this species and now I was taking it for granted.

-Small Red Damselflies

I wandered around the pool and there were some more flighty black darters but only Azure and Common Blue Damselflies, no southern. I therefore set off round the northern side of the Knoll on an actual footpath which was a relief. As I set off I noticed a Common Buzzard soaring overhead, presumably using the more than ample thermals.

-Common Buzzard

Around 300 meters round the knoll and I came to an area of open Birch woodland and Gorse and it was here that I spotted my daily allowance of that wonderful heathland bird the Dartford Warbler. There was a large group of them and I got some great views as they flew around me, and I even got some nice photos. However, it happened to be one of those times in life when it just goes wrong. I was watching the warblers when my phone went off. I had it on loud so that I could here it in my bag if it went off, since nobody texts me but if my family needed me they would be able to get me. It was my mum, reminding me to put on a hat. There are no words, especially when the hat was already on my head. Needless to say, once the photo went off I saw no more warblers.

-Dartford Warbler

I reached an area of more bog and here there was extensive cover of Round Leaved Sundews, some of which were even in flower, the first time I have seen this plant in flower. Please note though that the yellow flowers in the photo are not sundew flowers, they are the smaller white flowers.

-Round leaved sundews

I made my way round and found another pond, this time with more tree cover, though it was fairly quiet on the wildlife front. I made my way back to the path from this pond and there suddenly seemed to be birds everywhere; Stonechat, Dartford Warbler and Linnet, though they all flew off as soon as I noticed them.

-Linnet

I made my way round until I saw a path come off from the circular path round the Knoll. It seemed to be heading off towards where the hides were. Therefore I went along this path and found another pool, with deep wet sedge all around it. This pool had the usual dragonflies but once more one Azure Damselflies, though the most exciting thing at this point as a lovely bold male Stonechat singing from a gorse bush next to the pond, though it then moved on.

I then made my way down the path and onto the main path which the hides were on. It turned out to be a pretty pointless trip. I disturbed a handful of lizards but did not see what kind they were, and I also got reasonable views of Meadow Pipits but that was about it. I made it to the hide but it just looked over the heath and the footpath ran in front of it as well as behind. Needless to say, I did not see anything while I was in it.

The way back down the track provided a bit more, with good views of Linnets and a Golden Ringed Dragonfly hunting along the path. As with all these southern golden rings, if they landed they would not let you get close. As a result, my photo record with this species this holiday remained poor.

-Golden Ringed Dragonfly

I made my way cross country back to the pond where I had seen the stonechat. On my way there I found Small Red Damselfly at another small pond with the fence like structure and life ring. I took some more photos to increase my record library of this species. I had a look to see if there were any other Zygoptera ad found a Common Darter female. 

-Small Red Damselfly

I continued to make my back to the pond next to the path. Once there I once more started to look to see what was about. It seemed to have quietened down rather than got busier and no matter how many damselflies I checked they were all Azure. I followed a Four Spot Chaser into the wet sedge meadow. Once I got there I lost the chaser, but spotted another damselfly landed in the sedge. Before I even checked I knew that it would indeed be a southern, and when I checked the photos I had taken to be double sure it was confirmed that I had indeed settled my score with this species and finally been able to tick Southern Damselfly. Once I started looking, following the one I had found around I found a couple of others, including a pair in their mating position. I gathered loads of photos to try and record every angle of the species for my library, but really I would have been content to just savor the moment of finally ticking this species after the disaster on Angelsey last year. 

-Southern Damselfly

I was well choughed with finally finding one, and then finding more. I decided to leave them for now and explore the rest of the reserve and come back when I had finished, since I had noticed that I only had about an hour before I would need to leave for my bus. 

I continued round the knoll as had been my plan and found another pool with the fence like structure in front of me. However, as I drew nearer I noticed that it was actually the same pond I had started my circuit at, and that left me feeling really confused. My 180 degree walk round the knoll had turned into a 300 degree walk. I therefore decided to climb the knoll to see if I could see anything on top, namely dartford warblers.

On my way up I found some metal tins for reptiles, though there were none under any this late in the day. The top was a bit of a disappointment, as I did not really see anything. On the way down though I found a female Keeled Skimmer that had taken on a Small Heath Butterfly and was sat there munching this butterfly was quite a size. However, the dragonfly was not keen to share its dinner with my camera and so my only photo, below was not that good.

-Female Keeled Skimmer feeding on Small Heath

Having finished quicker than I thought up on the top, I made my way back round to the southern damselflies but stopping off at the pond before reaching it. I walked down the ridge to see if I could find any Black Darters and was successful, but the wind had picked up and the perch it was sat on did not stay still so my photo was not really as good as I wanted it.

-Black Darter

There were also more Small Red Damselflies, though this time it was a slightly menalistic version, as some of its body was black, adding a little variety to my photo library.

-Small Red Damselfly

Once finished there, convinced I had seen all I could, I made my way back to where the Southern Damselflies had been. Luckily it did not take me long to track down one and continue my appreciation of this species. I also took some some more photos...

-Southern Damselfly

You will notice that on the bottom two photos the damselfly is having its lunch, which I only noticed afterwards when I looked back at my photos.

I then had to leave the damselflies to make sure I caught my bus. On the way out I called off at the boggy section to see if there was anything going on there. There were the usual dragonflies but then I spotted that one of those I had assumed to be an emperor was not actually and was a hawker. I spent as long as I dared trying to photograph it in flight but only managed one excusable photo for identification purposes. Those purposes showed that it was a Common Hawker, my first of the holiday, which added to my dragonfly list.

-Common Hawker

I did not have to run for my bus, only wait about 5 mins. The journey back was none eventful, as I decided to go by train from Wareham to Moreton rather than try and get a lift. Besides, I had found that buses here were as expensive as trains, so why not use the train.

Back at the caravan site I went for a shower to wash away my weariness. However, even that did not finish my wildlife day as soon as I came out of the shower I spotted a very pretty moth on the radiator. I headed home for the camera and then returned to take some photos for i.d. Turns out that this is a Buff Arches Moth, which I have not seen before.

-Buff Arches Moth

As I sat up to leave once I had photographed the moth I spotted another moth on the light, but this one needed no introducing, Common Footman its odd that a day flying moth would be sat on the light of a shower block, especially since the light was off, so it had obviously been there since the light was on. I moved the footman since I could not really get a good photo from where I was and where it was. I was a worried that as a day flying moth it might just fly off but no, I was able to move it outside and get some reasonable photos.

I am familiar with common footman, and it is one of my favorite moths, though I have only ever seen it once before, at Pottric Carr .

-Common Footman

I left the shower block two moth species richer than I had arrived. But it seemed a fitting way to end the day and our time in Dorset, since tomorrow we were leaving for Fareham. I had still one reserve on my visit list, and that would wait for tomorrow, when my family were at the tank museum.

Dorset Holiday-Day 5: Studland Heath NT

Another day where it was going to be an absolute scorcher. My family were going to Swanage so I got a lift to Studland NT which comes highly recommended by all the sources I had looked at. It is a dune filled heathland with large bodies of fresh water. Its most well known for its reptiles and winter birds but since I did not really rate my chances of finding either of these I decided to just go and see what was there. 

No sooner did I arrive than did I spot my first bird, a Kestrel flew over me. I was moving pretty cautiously with my eyes down looking for sand lizards when I spotted it moving over me. There might have been a nest nearby but I did not find it if there was.

-Kestrel

At first I did not really have a clue where I was going as many smaller paths crossed the main paths and so I followed these into the woods to get to the 'Little Sea' and see what was there. It did not help that my OS map did not have paths that corresponded to the actual paths, but no matter as I eventually found my way around. 

There were quite a few people around wielding nets in small groups and though I tried to avoid them I overheard them talking about dragonflies, so I assume that they must have been surveying dragonflies. As soon as I entered the small wooded section next to the little sea were I surrounded by dragonflies. There were quite a few Keeled Skimmers in the heather, and occasionally there would be a Black Tailed Skimmer too. I also found Common Darter, as well as one Southern Hawker, and that was all in one small space.

-Black Tailed Skimmer

-Common Darter

-Southern Hawker

I found a small path that went down to the side of the Little Sea and here I found a lot of damselflies. These were mainly Azure and Blue Tailed Damselflies. Since it was boggy I also found some Round Leaved Sundews, which had been a pretty regular feature of all the heathlands that I had visited.

-Round Leaved Sundews

I was though, a bit dissapointed by the little sea. I could see a hide opposite but there were no birds on it at all, except perhaps a few Black Headed Gulls. Making my way back onto the dunes I found another Black Tailed skimmer, only this one had just caught a Bluebottle, and seemed content to let me photograph it while it ate it. These are without doubt the best photos I have ever got of this species, but since the only one I have ever found that seemed keen to land. 

-Black Tailed Skimmer

I made my way along the edge of the woodland next to the Little Sea to see if there was an actual major path down to it with a good viewpoint. On my way I saw my first reptile of the day: Common Lizard. I had seen ample tracks in the sand, as well as seen fleeting glimpses, but this one slunk out of the heather and sat down on the path in front of me.

-Sand Lizard

--In mid 2015 I have encountered this photo again and after a quick google search its pretty clear this is in fact a female Sand Lizard, which was a reptile lifer at the time. The gold dots all along it should have given it away at the time, but I guess I just did not click. So here we have a Sand Lizard, reptile lifer at the time. Superb, just unfortunate that I did not recognise it at the time--

I then found a way down to the Little sea, or at least I thought it was the little sea, but it was closed it seemed, unless it went through the reeds at the northern end to join the LS. Either way this pond had more aquatic vegetation than the any of the LS so far had done, and there were more dragonflies here. I could only access it at this little site though, and here there were too many horseflies.

The dragonflies included the species already seen today and Four Spot Chaser. But there were others. There were three dragonflies slightly larger than darters that kept flying round holding territories very aggressively. It was only when they turned to me and I saw their vivid Green eyes that I realised that these were Downy Emeralds, though very late emeralds. Either way they were a new species and so I waited for one to land. And waited. And waited but they just did not seem keen, even despite the presence of an Emperor Dragonfly which was meant to relegate these smaller dragonflies to the waters edge.

-Four Spot Chaser

While I waited I looked at the birdlife on the pond, which was significantly better than it had been anywhere else on the reserve. There were Moorhens and Coots in the reeds, and opposite me there was a flock of Black Headed Gulls being shadowed by a Grey Heron.

-Grey Heron

The highlight of the birds was though a Little Grebe that was fishing at the far corner of the pond. I only just noticed it, as it was keeping its distance from me, but it was the only one I saw all holiday.

-Little Grebe

All this time the Emeralds had not landed, so I decided to have a mooch up the side of the pond and see if there were any others. I wont bore you with the account, but I found no others, and found that a sedge patch had built up between the waters edge and me so that I was unable to actually see the water. In this sedge patch though a lovely Reed Bunting came and landed next to me.

-Reed Bunting

With this in mind I decided to return to where I was. I was building a path of my own around the area with my to-and-fro-ing. The emeralds were still there but they were still not keen to land so I started trying to photograph them in flight. They came really close but moved too quick. I tried to focus on one point and wait for them to come but they kept being a little above or below the point of focus. 

What really struck me beside their eyes was that their tails seemed to be bent at one point. I don't know if this was an injury on the individuals I was watching or a regular thing with this species, but it struck me. Then, I was following one and it came and landed in a bird tree near me. It was a pain as I could not get a good angle on it and so my photos from that landing were poor. However, it soon took off and landed in the heather in front of me. It was not an ideal position, but allowed me to really get photos of their eyes, which were what had really struck me. 

-Downy Emerald

After a bit of Downy Emerald photographing it took off again and once more began to terrorise the other dragonflies that were there. And so that was the new dragonfly species I had been after, though it came from a source I had not expected it being so late in their flight season.

After I had watched the emerald I spotted that an Emperor Dragonfly had landed in front of me and was beginning to oviposite, so I took a few photos. It was looking at me while it was laying so the photos are more striking.

-Emperor Dragonfly

I left that section of the pond to continue exploring the dunes. I kept the woods to my left though and found that it quickly turned into a flooded forest, where the marsh came right up to the edge of the woods. Here the only dragonfly species that was in any real abundance were Black Tailed Skimmers. I found on that had caught a Blue Tailed Damselfly and was sat on a branch happily munching away.

-Black Tailed Skimmer

I soon found the main path again. I decided to cut across the woods via the path to the west side of the reserve to see what was ahead. The heat had become extreme and that was noticeable in the lack of butterflies around. There were a few Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers but otherwise it was very quiet.

Indeed, it was very quiet in all departments on the western side of the wood. I made my way towards the top car park to see what was about up there. The only thing I saw was a lizard scurry across the path, but too quick for anything other than to notice it. I found its tracks though, which was nice to find. It remained the same until I reached the northern section of the reserve near to the beach. Here the sand and heather was replaced by gorse and the birdlife greatly increased. It started when in a dried river bed I flushed a family of Pied Wagtails and a pair of Greenfinches. 

The gorse was well endowed with birds, heathland species such as Linnet, Stonechat, Skylark in song flight and Meadow Pipit. In fact, it was rather like Soil Hill in terms of its birdlife.

-Meadow Pipit

Having said that it was like soil hill, soil hill does not have any Dartford Warblers which were in abundance here. The only issue was that all I could see were their long red tails dissapearing into the gorse or them flying across the path. I headed to the car park to see what was there before I headed back to chase them, as it was very hot for chasing birds. 

On the way I spotted Sandwich Terns fishing on the beach but that was about it. The path from beach to car park was a boardwalk over a well reeded pool, but it was void of wildlife. As a result I headed back to the gorse to see if any dartford warblers would sit conveniently for me. After about 10 mins chasing them I finally found one hunting spiders in a dead gorse bush where I could see all its movements. From here I was finally able to get some record shots that actually look like Dartford Warblers. Not only that but I got a great view of the bird as it was feeding. Eventually after about 3 mins it took off again and dissapeared into more gorse.

-Dartford Warbler

I then returned to the path feeling very satisfied. Only to find once i got there another warbler, only this one was much bolder, it was a juvenile I think, and I was able to get quite close to it. It started hunting at the base of a gorse bush right in front of me and I watched it for some time before it slipped through a hole in the bush to the otherside and I lost it. 

-Dartford Warbler

I made my way back to the car park where I had begun by going down the Eastern side of the wood. There was not much going on, though there continued to be Skylarks singing and a Greater Spotted Woodpecker flew over me. In testament to this fact I have hereby included a photo of a tree...

-A Tree

In all honesty the remainder of the walk was quite limited in its wildlife appeal. As with Arne the day before the late afternoon sun seemed to come early and it had a twilight feeling at around 4 in the afternoon. All the wildlife seemed to have agreed and the only thing I saw on the way back was a lizard scurry across the path. I made my way to where the downy emeralds had been, but it was not a busy now, and there was only one emerald hunting, and it did not stop to land.

My mum text me saying meet up at the car park where I had been dropped off so I made my way that direction. It wasn't until I had joined up with them again that it really got interesting again. I joined my family on the beach and after a few mins of sharing what I had seen I noticed that some of the Black Headed Gulls were bulkier, their heads darker and their beaks darker. I had found some Mediterranean Gulls, only my second time ever, and this time I had a real camera. There were about 5 of them, though there could have been more, but I enjoyed watching them as they made their way up and down the beach hunting in the seaweed. 

-Mediterranean Gulls

Despite it become much quieter later on, this was without doubt the best day of the holiday so far. It was nice so see some unusual birds, and even then I got good views as well as some nice dragonflies and a new species.

So here ends day 5, again with sunburn and various scratches, but well worth it.