Dorset Holiday Day 5

Exhausted from yesterday I lacked the motivation to get up early, so crawled out of bed at the rather late time of 8.00. I had a quick look round at the moths on the walls, but could see nothing. This was probably the result of my lie in. The only notable moth was a Herald on one of the blocks, but light was poor so I decided to move it to a more photogenic location. However, when it fell off the wall it appeared it was dead, or was doing a very good impression to that extent, so placed it in the wood and left it.

The weather looked like it would be Ok, and so eventually decided to go to Higher Hyde Heath nature reserve. I cycled there from the campsite and was on site by around half 10. It was warm but overcast, but fortunately as the morning wore on the sun did come out and it became rather pleasant.

Birds were not on the agenda at all, but the reptiles more than made up for it. The heath has many tins, and under a number of them were some super looking Slow Worms. In addition to them, as the morning wore on, there were a number of Common Lizards basking on dead branches along the path. There was also a Grass Snake basking, but it dropped as soon as I saw it and my view was only brief.

-Slow Worm

-Common Lizard

But they were not the best of it reptile wise. On my previous visit there had been a Sand Lizard basking next to the small hide, but it had moved before I had a chance to see it properly. With this in mind I kept checking the same area just in case, and unbelievably I picked up a super basking Sand Lizard not 2 feet away from where I had seen it before. It allowed me to get some proper photos of this very rare reptile. To say I was buzzing after seeing it, would be an understatement.

-Sand Lizard

So the reptiles gave more than a good show, and they were not the only ones. Last time I was on site I life ticked Silver-Washed Fritillary, but my record shots were no more than that. Today they more than redeemed themselves, and though I failed to get a good profile shot I am more than happy with my efforts and the views I got of these stunning butterflies. They are fantastic to see in flight, so big and orange, and so striking when settled on the ground. Superb insects!

-Silver Washed Fritillary

On the dragonfly front I had hoped to get downy emerald, but they were not present. Common Darters and Keeled Skimmers were the main dragonflies present, but there was also a Southern Hawker and a few Ruddy Darters, the latter of which were very nice but not easy to photograph.

There were a number of other noticeable insects too, including the Longhorn Beetle Stranglia Manticulata, which I had seen before but was able to get a few more photos of this rather spectacular beetle. Perhaps the most surprising thing seen today was a Leaf-Cutter Bee. I saw a bee flying towards me with a large green mass underneath, but assumed this was a caterpillar being predated, but it soon became clear that it was a piece of leaf. I was able to follow the bee to its nest in a piece of dead wood. Sadly though I was not able to watch it cut any leaves.

-Strangalia maculata

-Leaf-Cutter Bee

I left the site early afternoon and cycled back. Upon arriving back I found a tick on my leg, which quickly became no less than 30 ticks and probably more. I had to pull them all off, and that was not a pleasant experience to say the least. However, I eventually got them all off.

By 3 in the afternoon I headed to Tadnoll heath for an afternoon to see how the seed had gone down and if there were any reptiles. We checked the tins and there was a smashing male Smooth Snake, but it was badly obscured by the grass so did not bother taking any photos.

The number of birds was horrifically low, and there were no Woodlarks. We could not find any Dartford warblers either but all the seed was gone, so something was obviously around. This was probably due to the time of day and the fact that most birds would be sheltering out of the afternoon sun.

And that was that. We spent the evening around the caravan continuing to remove ticks and enjoying the evening sunshine. Another good day out on the heathland!

Species List

Higher Hyde Heath: Siskin, Woodpigeon, Mistle Thrush, Common Buzzard, Wren, Carrion Crow, Bullfinch, Great-Spotted Woodpecker, Mallard, Linnet, Moorhen, Chaffinch, Grass Snake, Slow Worm, Sand Lizard, Common Lizard, Common Toad, Four-Spot Chaser, Black-Tailed Skimmer, Keeled Skimmer, Southern Hawker, Common Darter, Ruddy Darter, Common Blue Damselfly, Common Blue-Tailed Damselfly, Common Emerald Damselfly, Large Skipper, Small Skipper, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Speckled Wood, Red Admiral, Comma, Peacock, Silver-Washed Fritillary, Large White, 

Tadnoll Heath: Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Meadow Pipit, Wren, Magpie, Linnet, Smooth Snake, Keeled Skimmer, Golden-Ringed Dragonfly, Banded Demoiselle, Common Blue Damselfly, Small Skipper, Large Skipper, Small Heath, Gatekeeper, Grayling, Meadow Brown, Large White, 

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 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.