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Something old, something new

Just to clear up first, no I am not getting married. However, this part of the traditional saying rang true this week during my visit to Dorset, where I was room hunting prior to my move down there at the end of the month.

Being me, I absolutely had to do some wildlife-related stuff during my visit. First, the something new – i.e. my new workplace (from February), the Fine Foundation Chesil Beach Centre! Based halfway along the causeway between Weymouth and Portland, it is perched at the eastern edge of The Fleet, a unique lagoon protected by a range of designations and a real hotspot for birdwatchers.

The centre and the Fleet

I popped in to say hi and actually see my future workplace. It is fab and in a brilliant location! Better yet, I found out that there is a dog in the office, which is always a major bonus for me. Even more of a bonus, I went into the Taste* Chesil cafe (in the centre) and it doesn’t have nuts in the flapjacks – could life get much better?

The beach on the other side of The Fleet – going up!

Well, it seems it could. When thinking of Weymouth, I was sure I had never visited, but upon driving around I saw Radipole Lake, an RSPB reserve in the centre of the town, and had a sudden sense of déjà vu! Why, I had been here before, as part of school geography field trip which must have been almost seven years ago now. Obviously, I adjusted my schedule and made a visit to have a little wander along its walkways.

Currently I don’t know one species of gull from another, so I can’t say if I saw anything special, I suspect not though. However the senior member of staff there soon pointed out a water rail to me – my first one! No photo though as it was only a quick appearance. Apparently they spend the majority of their time hidden away in the reeds, so I was thrilled. I also saw a couple of cormorants drying out their wings, some swans, coots and a variety of ducks.

Resting cormorants

Swan grooming itself

One bird I will always love is the grey heron. I know they are everywhere and such, but I think they’re brilliant. I love watching them launch off and fly (which this one didn’t do, but nonetheless I liked watching it).

Grey heron

My visit had a great ending when I was told that they have at least one otter on the lake! Naturally, I immediately asked after the possibilities of collecting some of the spraints (otter poo), as I love taking them apart and identifying what they’ve been eating, and was told that it should be ok. So hopefully there will be some blog posts on that in the not too distant future!

A lovely view from the walkway

January 12, 2014/2,315 Comments/by admin

Adventures, Birds

A Walk In The Woods

Festive tradition saw my family and I taking a lovely walk, in an attempt to wear off some of the calories we had piled on during the gluttony that is Christmas. Past walks, dependent on the Christmas have been along Hertfordshire fields, up onto the South Downs, the Newhaven coastline and over the pebbles of Seaford beach. This year saw us in Sussex again where we went off to someone new – Selwyns Wood, a Wildlife Trust reserve not far from Uckfield.

Naturally, we needed a few days to wallow in our self-pity from eating so much, but soon enough we were entering the wooded and muddy reserve. Luck was on our side as we strolled in the warm sunshine, discussing how I might improve my photography and laughing at our dog’s antics.

A pretty start to our walk!

I don’t think I’ve mentioned the dog before on this blog – a gorgeous black and white Lab-Collie cross called Toby. For him, a walk is not complete until two events have occurred. First, he has met at least one other friendly dog, though it need not be a playful one but he does like to be sociable and say hello. Since at home, he is often taken for walks with family friends and their dogs, that event is easily ticked off. Second, he does love to go into a river, or lacking that, a large puddle. He can’t swim mind, but he does like to jump about and then run around like a mad puppy after.

The handsome Toby

Fortunately, we met some friendly dogs, and there was a stream for him to paddle in before leaping out and barking at us. There was plenty of wildlife to take notice of as well, smaller birds flitting in and out of the trees. A walk across the heathland part of the reserve prompted discussions on the different plant species, with my attempting to remember the little I know about heathland plants. The gorse flowers were a sight for sore eyes, a bright yellow colour shining in the sunlight amid the green of the gorse.

Bright yellow makes the day feel even sunnier

The muddiness and puddles of the paths did little to deter us, rather instead they made it more enjoyable I think. I do always enjoy a good splashabout in my wellies, particularly when the dog joins in. One highlight of the walk were the two woodpeckers of unknown species. Naturally, they were either flying or on the opposite side of branches, so I failed in getting a photo. I shall just have to take more walks in woodland. We also came across a few types of fungus and spotted some pretty berries which made some nice photos.

Fungi!

A lovely spot of colour

A great finish to our outing was a rather late pub lunch – superb food and atmosphere! And a well-behaved dog, even when the horses went past!

December 31, 2013/2,315 Comments/by admin

Adventures, Birds, S4F Traineeship

Three counties, three days, three reserves.

Now if you’re a friend in the real life, or you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed that I’ve been having some adventures since I came back from South Africa. One of these took place last week when I headed southwest to Dorset from the big city (London) and decided to make the most of the trip by visiting a couple of places.

On the way down I took the opportunity to visit the RSPB reserve, Farnham Heath, since my route was taking me quite close anyway. I knew nothing about this reserve before I picked it out on a map and had a quick read about it and its history on the RSPB website. As part of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, this reserve is being restored back to heath and acid grassland. Through felling the conifer plantations and managing the heath through traditional grazing, the heath is being brought back to this area along with its associated wildlife. Some of the coniferous and deciduous woodland has been retained, in which traditional practices are again used – coppicing (sweet chestnut trees) and encouraging wet woodland (willow and alder trees). The wildlife on the site is diverse with a range of bird species throughout the year, and over 150 species of fungi during autumn.

Unknown fungi from above

Unknown fungi from below

As a mid-autumn day, the weather was perfect. A little chilly, but sunny and clear. I had a nice wander through the reserve on the orange route, watching some birds and making friends with a couple of dogs. I also found this fungi which I am attempting to identify (suggestions on ID are welcome).

This pool was lovely to sit by, I even saw a dragonfly though it was gone before I could take a photo.

Great spot to relax, wish I’d got a photo of that dragonfly though!

Walking through the heath, I saw a couple of little birds dropping down from branches to the heath and the ground, but didn’t recognise the species. Naturally, I’d brought my bird ID book with me but left it in the car (I also had my moth ID book, in case I should come across one). Once I got back to the car park, I looked it up and found it was a stonechat, Saxicola torquata. I’d heard of this species but never seen one (or at least, I have no memory of seeing and identifying one), so I was rather pleased. They often perch on the top of bushes or on overhead wires, and drop down to pick up invertebrates.

Stonechat resting on a branch

The next day I was down in Dorset at the Urban Wildlife Centre near Poole with the Wildlife Trust. This was for a day of activities and meeting mentors and current trainees to get a better idea of the Skills for the Future traineeship that they run. One activity was scrub-bashing which was very good fun – lots of cutting of birch trees and having arguments with brambles (I won – I was definitely more stubborn!). These were used for a fire in which jacket potatoes were cooked for our lunch.

The scrub-bashing area with the fire on the right

Later on, we took part in a Forest Schools session where we made forest friends (i.e. figures made out of sticks, clay, leaves etc). Mine was a warrior who defended the forest from the baddies, though he didn’t have a name. My group all agreed that the session was brilliant and felt rather like a group therapy session!

Materials for the Forest Schools session

On my last day away from the big city, I was in the New Forest as I’m lucky enough to have a friend who lives there and let me stay the night. I was leaving early, but managed to fit in a dog walk through the heathlands. We didn’t see much wildlife but did meet a couple of ponies who were completely unbothered by both us and the dogs. Driving back was lovely as the sun peeked through the clouds to show the autumn colours of the forest. Shame I didn’t have a passenger who could take a photo for me!

Ignored by a horse …

NB: the three counties in order were Surrey, Dorset and Hampshire.

December 7, 2013/2,315 Comments/by admin