Dorset Holiday-Day 6: Broadcroft Quarry Butterfly Reserve, RSPB Lodmoor, RSPB Radipole Lake

I have always said that you can tell if its going to be a good day by how it starts, and that usually means that I saw an unusual moth in the morning on the toilet block. And indeed, that is how today started, only this was something more than an unusual moth. In fact I would even go so far as to say that this is the moth I had always wanted, with the exception perhaps of Oleander Hawkmoth (like that's ever going to happen!!). I usually had a quick look round the toilets on my morning visit, as there was often some moth or another, not usually anything special, and today there was nothing at all so I left and as I was closing the door I spotted next to the door half under a clear notice board a small grey brown moth hiding. It was a Buff Tip Moth. I was overcome with euphoria and absolutely legged it back for the camera after spending a few mins appreciating it. 

I returned with the camera and began snapping away. After some snaps I decided to move it to a more convenient position where I could get photos. The moth was completely docile and in a few seconds I had a buff tip moth on my finger. I then moved it around a few times before I had the right light and position and background for my photos and even then they could have been better, but what matter, when you have just seen one of your favorite moths.  

-Buff Tip Moth

And so we got down to the business of the day. My family were going to the Isle of Portland so I decided I would go to Broadcroft Quarry Butterfly Reserve to see if I could give my butterfly list a kick start. Once I arrived I found myself not really knowing where I was going, and even as I write this I don't think I ever made it to the reserve, just to the fields adjacent to it. The site claimed adonis and chalk hill blue, but I saw neither. I did however see plenty of Common Blue Butterflies because as is the case with me, if I don't know what what im looking for the best thing to do is to take photos of all that it could be and analyse later. Therefore I have ample photos of common blue butterflies.

-Common Blue Butterfly 

But there were more than just blue butterflies, as there were plenty of whites and browns, and even those that come between, like white browns-Marbled Whites, which seemed to be very abundant among the Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns and Large Whites

-Marbled White

And it was not just generic shaped butterflies as there were a good many skippers about too, though none of the lulworth variety, all either Large or Small Skippers

-Large Skipper

-Small Skipper

The field was very nice and was ideal what you would call butterfly habitat but there seemed to be a lack of anything else. I could hear whitethroats around me but failed to see any, and I also noticed a group of Ravens overhead. These were my first of the holiday and also of the year.

-Raven

There were meant to be 5 species of blue butterfly according to the websites. I had only seen 3 of the species mentioned, and only 2 of them I had seen on this holiday. The other besides common of course is Silver Studded Blue which is rare on limestone, and this is one of the few sites where it can be found as such. They were, however, very abundant here as they have been across the board this holiday.

-Silver Studded Blue

But it was not the butterflies that left their impression at this stage. I was wandering back to the road to make my way across to the field on the other side of the road when I glanced down and there was a Bee Orchid, another species I had been desperate to see. I was immediately struck by how tall the plant was, the flower being almost 30 cm off the ground. The flower was very dainty as it hung at the top of the tall stem. It was clear that the plant had been flowering before, but that those flowers had died and there was another unopened bud above the flower currently open. I took many photos because I was simply so excited by it and how dainty it was. Definitely one of the species of the holiday so far.

I was lucky that the plant was in the open and not obscured by any of the tall grasses in the area, or any of the brambles that had been clawing at my legs. I took photos from all angles because it was so lovely and I was so pleased at finally finding one.

-Bee Orchid

Indeed today seemed the day to look for flowers, as adjacent to the bee orchid I found another old favorite in Pyramidal Orchid, national flower of the isle of Wight

-Pyramidal Orchid

But the flowers did not steal the show for long, as I soon had a new butterfly species for me. I mentioned on Day 2 how I thought I had small/little blue but they turned out to be silver studded blues. Today I set that record straight as I was wandering through the grass I disturbed a small brown/grey butterfly that when it landed showed only limited spotting on the underside and little blue colour overall. I knew immediately this time that I had found a Little Blue Butterfly and I was very excited. Having given it the big up, it was a very tattered and old specimen, as all the spots were faded, the wings were damaged and even were these fixed its still not the most exciting example of a blue butterfly, mainly because its not really that blue. But having said that, it was nice to see that's true and was another new species for the holiday.

-Small Blue

Between photographing the little blue I had noticed that one of the singing Whitethroats had finally shown itself and had begun singing from the top of a bush, though it was some distance away as my camera see's it.

-Whitethroat

I then continued my way across the road as had been my original intention to see if I could find any more new species over that way. It really was more of the same, though without little blues, but I did encounter an equally scruffy butterfly in the form of Dingy Skipper, a species I have only ever seen once before, though that time it was in much better condition, as with this individual I could hardly make out any markings. It was still only the 2nd time of seeing this species and as such it did not lack any appeal because of its condition.

-Dingy Skipper

The remainder of the butterfly reserve was filled with regulars; Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper and Ringlet

-Ringlet

Once I had finished at the butterfly reserve I decided to wander into town and from there get a bus to Weymouth and visit Radipole Lake and Lodmoor, both RSPB. I made my way first to Radipole lake as it was nearest the bus stop and had the most recommendation.

As soon as I arrived my bird list began to grow, as I recorded, Cormorants, Feral Pigeon, Grey Heron and Tufted Duck, the latter I got extremely good views of. 

-Tufted Duck

-Grey Heron

I wandered down the path, which had good growth of various plants and flowers on either side. On these I found some Scarlet Tiger Moths, to continue with the moth theme that we started on, which were advertised in the leaflet as being one of the specialties of the reserve.

-Scarlet Tiger Moth

I decided to make my way up to the top hide so that I had somewhere to have lunch. On my way up I passed through various reedbed habitats with some woodland too. Birdlife seemed to be quite limited, reduced to bearded tits mocking me from the reedbed with their too familiar chirping call. 

On the side of the path I also found another Bee Orchid, but this one was bent over and the grass had grown up around it so my photos were not very good and did not add anything to the one I had seen earlier. They say you wait ages for a bus and then two come at once, and that was kind of what it was like with bee orchids, not that I'm complaining.

As I entered one of the wooded sections just passed the bee orchid I flushed a Comma from the hedgerows, but it landed on the path to sunbathe.

-Comma

At one point the path crossed over a bridge over a river which flowed pretty slowly. Here I spotted a female Banded Demoiselle which was the first really photograph-able one of the species I had found so far on the holiday.

-Banded Demoiselle

The only thing that happened on my walk up was that I flushed a Black Tailed Skimmer from its slumber on the path.

At the hide there really was not much going on. There were some Mallards in slumber on the far side and a Grey Heron fishing, as well as the regular Woodpigeons, but that aside it was really poor in my opinion. During lunch a couple of other birders came in and it was these that as I was leaving after lunch said that a kingfisher had come in. I made my way back up to the window and there was able to watch 2 Kingfishers as they flew across the pond, including hovering behavior and successful fish catching.

Once I had finished at the hide I had intended to go to the viewpoint to see if there was any better, but on the way I found that a family of very crabby Mute Swans had parked themselves on the path. When I approached they made themselves big and seriously hissed. I considered trying to get round by the side where their young were, but decided against it and instead went back. 

I made my way back up the far side of the walkway but there was not much happening there, only a couple of Moorhen. On my way out I found another Scarlet Tiger Moth, but its wings were crippled. I took photos of it because it was displaying its vivid red underwings.

-Scarlet Tiger Moth

And that finished me at RSPB Radipole lake, and I was a bit dissapointed with it really, as there were so few birds. Next up was RSPB Lodmoor. It involved cutting across the town, but there was no wildlife going on there. At Lodmoor there were plenty of birds, but they were some way away. There was a good variety though, mainly waders and wildfowl. On the waders front there was Lapwing, Oystercatcher and to my surprise Common Sandpiper. There were Canada Geese, Graylag Geese and Shelduck on the wildfowl front, as well a a Grey Heron

-Lapwing

-Shelduck and Grey Heron

-Common Sandpiper

I did the long walk side walk around the reserve, but I may as well have done the short walk, as the long walk really did not add anything to my reserves species list, except Whitethroat and Black Tailed Skimmer

On the road side of the walk I had a little more luck as it was here that I was able to overlook the scrapes. It was more of the same as what I had seen upon my entry, but I also flushed a pair of Bullfinches, which were my first of the holiday.

I eventually made my way round to the viewpoint eventually and it was here that I found my third and last really notable bird of the holiday with Greenshank. To me, Greenshank is one of those birds that you know you have seen before, but you don't remember where because I tended to overlook it and not really be bothered. I know I have seen a flock of around 7 at Calaverock WWT in Scotland before, but I don't recall any other time, so it was nice to get one on this holiday which was proving so void of birds.

This greenshank was quite distant but I could tell what it was. It allowed me to get some record shots, though they are really poor.

-Greenshank

My family picked me up from Lodmoor and then we went back to the caravan. Our juvenile robin was around back there. The only other thing of note was that during dinner my ankle was bitten rather brutally by a ladybird larva! I had no idea they were so savage!!

Dorset Holiday-Day 4: RSPB Arne

Today was another bright and sunny, and hot, day so I decided to make my way to RSPB Arne as it had high recommendation, and my parents were passing nearby and so could drop me off, since it was far from easy to get to by public transport. It was another heathland reserve, but had some woodland and meadows, though the latter were out of bounds, as well as some estuary and salt marsh. 

When I arrived it was already well over 25 degrees. First I made my way through the woods but there was not much going on there. The path then went by a section of estuary called Shipstal Beach. Here I left the woods and wandered round the saltmarsh for a bit. Around some of the small stagnant pools there were Keeled and Black Tailed Skimmers, both species I was beginning to get familiar with on this holiday 

-Black Tailed Skimmer

From the beach I was able to look over the bay towards Brownsea Island. There were more birds here than there had been on any other site I had so far visited. From the beach I could see a few curlews and a shelduck flew over.

-Shelduck

I made my way towards the hide, via the ponds and heathland. The heathland was not very exciting, but the ponds had some nice dragon and damselflies. There were Emperor Dragonflies and Four Spot Chasers, while on the damselfly front there were Small Red Damselflies and Common Emerald Damselflies. Small red damselflies were so abundant that I had started to take them for granted. It seems odd that less than 5 days ago I had only ever seen one, in a misty lake in wales 

-Small Red Damselflies

At the hide I got good views out over the saltmarsh. I can imagine in winter that there would be ample birds but on this hot summers day there did seem to be a lack. There was a large flock of curlews, as well as a group of Little Egrets probably the largest flock of them I have ever seen. There was also a few Black Headed Gulls around, as well as a handful of Woodpigeons. In front of the hide directly there was a large sand bank and on it were some roosting Cormorants. Close examination revealed Greater Black Backed Gulls and Oystercatchers there too, so on the whole, an improvement on the bird front.

-Cormorants, Oystercatchers and Greater Black Backed Gulls

-Little Egrets

I made my way round the top heathland and found plenty of shallow pools not shown on the map. I scrambled down the bank to get a closer look at them. There were plenty of keeled skimmers and four spot chasers and also a couple of butterflies, like Common Blue

-Common Blue

The pools still had some of the damselflies described from earlier, such as small red damselfly, which was becoming something of a formality

-Small Red Damselfly

After I had explored the top loop of the heathland, I made my way down past Arne Farm back to the visitor center where I could wander off to the proper heathland section of the reserve. The meadow did not have many insects as the reserve leaflet suggested, but there were quite a few Meadow Brown butterflies

The heathland had one pond on it, so here is where I went first, as it being lunchtime I had intended to sit and see if I could spot a raft spider, which was one of Arnes specialties. The first thing I saw when I got to the pond was a Green Woodpecker, which had flown over from the adjacent woodland. Its odd to see a green woodpecker in a tree, but it really highlighted the outline of the bird

-Green Woodpecker

At the pond the main species were the four spotted chasers which were the most obliging I had ever come across. There was a stick placed near to the bench I was sat on, which they regularly came to, so I was able to take my best photos yet of this fairly abundant dragonfly species.

-Four Spotted Chaser

While having my lunch though, a party of elderly people came and the peace was shattered. They were nice enough, some even joking, saying 'And you thought you were going to have a peaceful lunch' and the like, but the secretive spider did not come out while they were there. Once they had left and my lunch had finished I had a wander around the pool to see what was about, and if any spiders were lurking around the back. 

I did not find any spiders, but when I mounted the bank I flushed 2 Sika Deer from the shrubbery. They probably gave me as much of a fright as I gave them. It is the first time I have seen this kind of deer, but I have now completed my list of "British" deer (though I don't count reindeer as some people do) so this was a 'finishing off the category' kind of tick, but even so. I was surprised at how big these deer were, almost red deer size, when I was expecting a much more slender deer, like a fallow.

-Sika Deer

After I had been round the pond and found no spiders I headed up on to the heathland to the hide there and to see if I could find any dartford warblers. I diddnt, but I did find a Meadow Pipit which was taking food into the heather, where I can assume that there would be a nest

-Meadow Pipit

The hide was disappointing and that's an understatement. The only birds there were Black Headed Gulls, and the walk down to it involved being savaged by Cleg Flies, which seem to love me since our trip to Angelsey 

On the top of the moors I spotted more deer in the distance, but they dissapeared into a thicket. I also watched a male Stonechat calling, and caught up with some lovely Silver Studded Blue butterflies. I found myself not really appreciating these really rather rare butterflies since I had seen them before and they seemed to be everywhere. Therefore I made an effort to find one landed so I could once again record it. It took some time though, even though I was surrounded by them, as few of them seemed keen to land. When I did find one though...

-Silver Studded Blue

On my way back into the wooded bit of the reserve I decided to have another look at the pond, see if any spiders had turned up. I had a quick look and was about to go when there it was. It was huge at the top of the reeds. I could hardly believe it, there was a Raft Spider, Britain's second largest spider. I took a few photos before I stealthily ambled closer. When I was closer I noticed that there was an egg sack at the top of the grass stems which the spider must have been guarding. It was a big spider, but seemed bigger because it had sturdy legs and not weeny legs like some other large spiders. It would have been about 7 cm long

-Raft Spider

I then tried to move some obstructing reeds but the spider bolted, rather it vanished, straight down the stem and into the water. I decided to move on and come back in a bit to see if it would come back out. Since there was a nest there I assumed that it would at some point so I set off round the top part of the reserve to kill some time for it to come back out.

In the woods I actually saw a bird this time. In the gorse on the woodland edge I could hear an constant chirping and when I started to look I found the cause the be a fledgling chaffinch which was rather bold, as it did not fly away when I found it, as I was quite close to it. 

-Chaffinch Fledgling 

I made my way back to the ponds, but since it was getting quite late in the afternoon most of the dragonflies had roosted up for the evening. At the second pond though I found not a dragonfly but a lizard, which was my first reptile on a holiday where every site claimed that there all 6 British Reptiles. This was a Common Lizard which looked lovely, though as you would expect I could not really get a good photo because of the amount of vegetation debris.

-Common Lizard

On my way round the top loop I flushed some more sika deer, this time even closer than they had been the first time. But aside from them I did not see anything, and most of the reserves life had gone to bed it would seem, and even though it was only around four o'clock you could be excused for thinking it as late as 7, it was really becoming rather like twilight.

After I had been round the loop I made my way back to the pond before I set off walking back to Wareham. I could not see the spider where it had been, and had a quick look elsewhere, only for it to be on the other side of where it had been and that I had completely missed it, hard to do you would think for such a large spider.

-Raft Spider

This time I made a point of not moving anything to avoid disturbing the spider and left it where it was. On my way back to the road, a sika deer wandered right across the path in front of me. I was impressed since the others I had seen had all taken flight at the first sight of me. This one did not seem bothered in the slightest as it sauntered across the path. 

-Sika Deer

I made my way to the road and began to walk back feeling very satisfied. With the exception of dartford warbler I had seen all of Arnes specialties. On the walk back I saw more deer, but also stonechat, Common Buzzard and Treecreeper, which was a holiday first.