Dorset Holiday-Day 10: Higher Hyde Heath

So today was our last day in Dorset, we moved on to Fareham today so it was farewell to all the heathland. The day started well as I found more unusual moths on the toilet block. This time it was Pebble Hooktip, a first for me, and a Large Emerald. As usual, I hoped that this would be a good omen for the day

-Pebble Hooktip Moth

-Large Emerald Moth

Today my family was going to Bovington Tank Museum, while I wandered over to Higher Hyde Heath, the last reserve I had flagged up. It was some walk to get to the reserve from where I was dropped off since we could not really go up to the reserve to go back with the caravan on the back.

On the way there the heat really started and I considered giving up. I did see a few things on my walk Common Emerald Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly and Large Skipper. There were also some Large very orange fritilaries, none of which would land for a photo. The only other things I found were 6 Spot Burnet Moths, which had been in abundance through the whole holiday.

-Large Skipper

I turned down the road the reserve was meant to be on and there I found some drainage ditches along the side of the road. In these there were 2 Keeled Skimmers hunting, so I decided to take some photos since they decided to perch very conveniently. 

-Keeled Skimmer

And just up from the pool there was some ragwort, with some Cinnabar Moth Caterpillars on it, which were my first of the holiday.

-Cinnabar Moth Caterpillars

I was beginning to doubt if this reserve I was looking for actually existed, as all the entrances on my OS map seemed to have vanished or not existed. Even more worrying was the sound of gunshots that kept coming from where the reserve was meant to be.

My doubts were laid to rest when I found an entrance stile to the reserve, only on it there was a notice saying that the reserve was only open on Mondays, and the rest of the time it was owned by the shooting club. I diddnt really know what to make of this, but decided to plow on and see if the reserve section on the other side of the golf club road I had not yet reached was accessible.

At the stile though I noticed some bracken in front of me which had drawn the attention of some oddly flying insects which when they landed turned out to be rather striking beetles. A little bit of book looking in when I got back and it turns out that these are Strangalia Maculata. Whatever they are they are very striking.

-Strangalia Maculata

I continued to make my way down to the golf club road, and along the road I continued to encounter the large orange fritiliaries, but they continued to not land. 

I made my way along to the golf course road and there found that I could access the reserve, but that there was a lack of a definite footpath. I made my way across the heath away from the shooting club. I wont write it all down here as it turned out to be a pretty pointless section of walk. I flushed a few Common Lizards, but never long enough for a photo. I also flushed a Sika Deer, and on the dried up remains of ponds there were Black Tailed Skimmers, Keeled Skimmers and Common Blue Damselflies. The most notable part of this section was that I found a Brown Hawker hunting near the woods at the top, which was my first of the holiday and meant I reached my target of 20 dragonfly and damselfly species.

However, the lack of path turned into a problem as I kept falling into old stream beds which had become overgrown, and in the heat this was very annoying, so I only spent around an hour there before deciding to go back to the tank museum and endure what I would.

On my way back via the road though, I found the entrance to the reserve, which I passed before without noticing. Feeling very relieved I wandered down and was delighted to find that the reserve even had its own notice board, which had a map, which showed a much smaller reserve than my OS map had led me to believe, but it did have a hide. 

Therefore, since it was nearly lunch time that's the way I headed. My reserve walk started well as in a big tree above me after I had started I spotted a Nuthatch, my first of the holiday. The distance to the hide was short and so not a lot happened on the way. There was a Golden Ringed Dragonfly hunting the path on the way down but more significantly perhaps, there were some Ruddy Darters perched next to the path, a species I don't often see.

-Ruddy Darter

I settled down in the hide to have lunch. It looked out over a small pond where there were loads of dragonflies, but all too far away for identification. I had been in there about 10mins when I heard voices outside and two other people walked in. During the whole week these were the only people I had seen also birding. One was a fireman who was surveying the heaths due to the dry, hot weather and the obvious vulnerability of the heaths. The other was the reserve warden, so I asked him about the fritilaries. He said that they were likely to be Silver Washed Fritilaries since it was about the time for them to come out. He said that the best I had to see one landed would be down at the bottom in the woodland.

The fireman then commented on the heat and said that he was going outside to take some heat readings on the decking next to the hide. When he came back in he said that there was a large sand lizard sunning itself on the decking, so I went outside to see if I could see it. The warden said I should wait 5 mins if he was not there when I got out because he soon would return. I went out and spotted the lizard resting under the decking. I waited for some time without taking a picture but he did not seem keen to come out. I knelt down to look under since so far all I had got was an excellent view of a Sand Lizard's bum. I did see its face when I knelt down, but then he moved his head so I couldn't see it any more. Therefore, I took some snaps of what I could see, but the camera click disturbed it and he dissapeared under the decking. 

-Sand Lizard

After that I went down to where the warden had said I should go to see the fritilaries. I headed down that way-towards the ponds of the reserve which were under woods and so there was very little light there, but in the clearings he said they might be. He was right, but once more they were but they were reluctant to land and so I was unable to get some photos. However, they were not the only wildlife down that end of the reserve. I was walking through the woods when a dark darter sized dragonfly flew at me. It was the eyes that got me again and I knew instantly that it was a Downy Emerald but at the same time it vanished into the woods and I did not catch up with it again. I headed back up to the open space where the hide was to see if I could have any more fritilary luck up there. 

Once there I noticed that there were some metal plates laid down for reptiles, so I had a look. It was unfortunate that I could not flip the tins over as I had done before because of the growth over them. When I flipped the first one I found up there were two Slow Worms under it, but I could not flip up the tin and so I could not really get the photos I wanted. I made a fist of it though and got a few nice record shots.

-Slow Worm

I checked the other tins and doubled back on myself to find more. I found about 7, but only one other had anything under it, and that was also a Slow Worm. I did however, had the same problem as what I had done before with not being able to flip up the tin. 

-Slow Worm

Since I had moved back to where the hide was I was once more in the hunting region of the Golden Ringed Dragonfly and I saw it land on a random pillar in the middle of the road. Once more I found that it was to flighty for me to get close enough for a real photo, but I did get a site record shot.

-Golden Ringed Dragonfly

I headed off down the path that I had been going down where the tins had been and found myself in a large tarmaced space where birch trees and shrubs had pushed through the cracks in the tarmac, creating a very odd habitat. There were more tins here but none had anything under them. 

The area was odd, and there was plenty of Budlia, but no fritilaries. There was however an Emperor Dragonfly hunting the area and it was keen to land so I could actually take some emperor photos which did not involve it ovipositing.

-Emperor Dragonfly

I followed the path down from the tarmaced area and it led onto the proper heath. This section of the reserve did not really excel, as the only thing I saw was a Comma Butterfly, though it did perch rather conveniently 

-Comma Butterfly

The final section of the heath before I re-entered the proper reserve at the woodland bit was more boggy and here I found some Black Tailed Skimmers here, though that was about all. 

Back in the woodland area I had another quick look to see if there were any Silver Washed Fritilary, and was on my way back up when in a clearing I spotted one that was landing, though it was landing some way from the path. I spent around half an hour watching and trying to photograph this butterfly though my final efforts left a lot to be desired. 

They are an impressive butterfly and no mistake, the second largest wild butterfly I have ever seen after swallowtail. It flew quite close to me as well but never chose to land close, except on on occasion, where it landed on the top side of a leaf and I was on the bottom side of it...

-Silver Washed Fritilary

I would have liked to have stayed longer here, to see if the butterfly would land closer, but decided it was probably about the time I should be setting off back to the tank museum, since I had told my parents to give me half and hour and the actual walk too an hour and a half.

I left my final site in Dorset feeling very good, but it was not over yet as on the walk along the side of the road I spotted another Silver Washed Fritilary on a bramble bush by the side of the road, and this one was a bit more photogenic, though a a passing car disturbed it before I had really got going and so I only got a few photos. 

-Silver Washed Fritilary

I made my way to the tank museum absolutely exhausted. The only other thing I had seen on my walk were some Bonobos at the monkey world zoo.

The journey to the new campsite was very hot, but that's about all I can remember. The new campsite was one we have been to once before, and no need to be reminded of that since its the only time I have seen a nightjar. So even though we had only just arrived my dad and I set off to look for nightjars where we had seen it before. We had no luck and we only heard distant churring, but the warden has told us of a better site, so hopefully we will get them before the end.

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.