22 May 25 - Another Durlston Bee-eater

After a long day of volunteering on Brownsea, I was enjoying a lazy start on the next day. I had just finished my breakfast, when the phone pinged, a mobile Bee-eater around Durlston Castle. This is the only regular Purbeck site for Bee-eaters and they have a habit of hanging around. So, I grabbed the bins and camera and headed up. I had a quick look at the top of the Long Meadow, where I've seen a flock of six on 31 May 97 and seven on 15 May 19, but there was no sign. I tried a loop around the Castle but again, I drew a blank.

At this point, local Birder Rob Johnson, appeared. Rob said it had been found an hour earlier over the diagonal path by local Durlston patch-watcher, Hamish Murray, before disappearing. Hamish had then had short views by the Castle, before it disappeared. It was clearly mobile. Rob & I decided to check out the Lighthouse Gully, where I saw my other Durlston Bee-eater on 31 May 2012. By this point, we had been joined by James Leaver & Jol Mitchell. Initially, there was no sign, but about ten minutes I heard it giving a classic pantomime call: it's behind you. We turned to watch it fly past at a distance, before flying over the Lighthouse Gully for a couple of minutes.

Bee-eater: A distant flight shot over the Lighthouse Gully

Swanage Birder Phyl England reappeared while it was flying around the Lighthouse Gully and we waved to her to join us. Next, we saw it drop into the large Sycamore next to the bridge on the Lighthouse road, but that was about three hundred metres away. Time to walk down the road. We finally picked it up in the Sycamore when we were about sixty metres away. Time for a few record shots.

Bee-eater

Bee-eater: It saw a couple of Bees, went after them, before dropping back and out of our sight in the tree. Time to walk closer

We were all aware that this is a popular thoroughfare and locals and visitors were likely to walk about twenty metres away from the tree. So, after a few minutes we walked closer until we were finally on the bridge. It was a lot closer, but more hidden behind the branches. But it wasn't worried by our presence. At least we could explain what we were watching to any passers-by and hope they wouldn't be as loud as they passed the tree.

Bee-eater

After showing it to a couple of walkers, it decided it was time to go and bully the local Bee population and flew up and disappeared back towards the car park. After twenty or thirty minutes, it reappeared in flight before quickly flying off along the Upper Gully. We gave it a bit more time, but it didn't reappear. I walked back along the Long Meadow and it put in two short appearances before disappearing as I left the park. It stayed until late PM, but surprisingly it appeared to head off West around tea-time.

Kestrel: Male. It's a shame the Bee-eater didn't sit out as obviously as this Kestrel

Despite having seen fifteen Bee-eaters on four dates at Durlston, I've only seen two other Bee-eaters in the Isle of Purbeck, with Autumn singles in Swanage on 29 Oct 12 and Creech Heath on 10 Sep 22. I've never seen a Portland individual, which is the other Dorset Bee-eater hotspot. But there again, I've never tried chasing one on Portland, given how mobile they can be.

21 May 25 - A Moth Tick On Brownsea

I've only ever run Moth traps in some of the gardens I've lived in during my Southampton days and even more erratically in my garden since living in Dorset. But I did frequently visit a mate, John Chainey's superb Moth trap in Brockenhurst back in the 1980s as I was getting into Moths. This resulted in having seen a good selection of Hampshire and Dorset urban and New Forest species. But there are still quite a few Macro Moths in Dorset that I won't have seen.

Dingy Mocha

Having check the Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland, I was torn between The Annulet and Dingy Mocha, before coming down in favour of the former, which I haven't seen since the mid 80s. However, feedback from Paul Harris, Nicki Tutton & Phil Saunders all pointed out it was my first Dingy Mocha.

28 May 25 - Showing Off

I wonder how many people would like to be able to hang upside down whilst eating their food, just to be able to show off that they could do it. Well it's something this Red Squirrel by the DWT Brownsea villa can do with ease. There again, it doesn't need to be able to drink whilst eating. It's always a pleasure to see these gorgeous performers.

Red Squirrel showing off

2 Jun 25 - Croissant Time In Roscoff With ORCA

It was nice weather for my third ORCA survey on the Roscoff - Plymouth route and the third ORCA survey that I've led, since I was signed off as an ORCA Team Leader at the end of 2024. I met the rest of the team, Julie, Sara and Mark, the previous evening in Plymouth at the Brittany Ferry terminal. We had a quick boarding and a good overnight crossing on the Armorique. It's a slow overnight crossing to ensure that the ferry arrives in Roscoff at the reasonable local time of 08:00. The ferry didn't depart from Roscoff until 15:00 and so there was plenty of time to have some food and a walk around the attractive old town.

There are some nice architectural features on the local houses: The curves roofs look really good

It's a gentle thirty minute walk to the cafes by the old harbour from the ferry terminal.

Looking across the old harbour towards the lighthouse

The Cafe Ty Pierre: My favourite cafe which does a nice French breakfast with an obligatory croissant

The cafe ceiling

The cafe is located on the quayside, just below the Mk, on this upside down ceiling photo

Gannet: We saw a few during the survey on the way back to Plymouth

After breakfast, we had plenty of time to have a stroll around the town.

The start of the old main street beyond the cafes: This is the chocolate shop

The chocolates look great, but they aren't cheap

This old neighbouring building looks like it needs a fair bit of TLC

The elaborate spire of the Notre-Dame de Croaz-Batz Church

It looks like Roscoff suffers the same problem with holiday homes as many UK coastal towns

The bay which separates the Perharidy peninsula from Roscoff

The inner part of the same bay

It was time to head back to the cafes area for an early lunch.

The ORCA team waiting after some lunch: Julie Bunt, Sara Amos, Mark Delf and myself

This looks a more decorative, than defensive, lookout

The old harbour lighthouse

The 17th Century Chapelle Sainte-Barbe built to protect local sailors

The Fort de Bloscon: It was built in 1694 to protect the channel between Roscoff and the island of Ile-de-Batz from English invasions. It was decommissioned at the end of the 19th Century, before being reactivated during WWII. It is now privately owned with no public access

We were back onboard early afternoon and we allowed up onto the bridge soon after we departed the port. It was a busy crossing with twelve groups of Dolphins, with the totalling forty-five Short-beaked Common Dolphins and a further two unidentified Dolphins. There are no photos as I didn't take the proper camera, as I wanted to focus on the surveying and mentoring of the team.

Short-beaked Common Dolphin: I took this photo on the return journey of my last Roscoff survey (7 Oct 24)

28 May 25 - It's That Time Of Year Again On Brownsea - Part 3

The final part of the trilogy featuring the residents of the islands in front of the DWT Brownsea hides, covers the Common Terns. They are the last of the three species to arrive at the lagoon in the Spring, but also the quickest to settle down to their nest sites. It was good to see the first of the Common Tern chicks on the islands in front of the Avocet hide.

The first Common Tern chicks: It looks like most pairs are still incubating

In the three years I've been volunteering on Brownsea and the various years before that when I've visited, it was easy to point out to visitors how to identify the two species of breeding Terns on Brownsea. You didn't need to focus on bill colour or the clean-cut or punk caps. Instead you could just say the Sandwich Terns breed on the islands in front of the Tern hide and the Common Terns were on the islands in front of the Avocet hide. But this year, there are a couple of pairs of Common Terns that have adopted nest sites on the Sandwich Tern islands. In the past, these islands have always been packed with breeding Sandwich Terns and Black-headed Gulls, by the time the Common Terns are prospecting for nest sites. So, there is no space left on the Sandwich Tern islands.

Common Tern

This year there appears to be fewer breeding Black-headed Gulls and this has left space for these two pairs of Common Terns. It will be interesting to see how they fare. In previous years, the Common Terns have lost many of their chicks to the Great Black-backed Gulls that nest at the back of the lagoon. Perhaps these Common Terns will receive better protection from their Sandwich Terns neighbours.

Common Tern: The drawback is this individual is nesting behind the chicken wire which stops the Sika Deer grazing on the island's vegetation

Common Tern: This Common Tern landed on a post by the Sandwich Tern colony

I was pleased with the last photo. But it was clearly surpassed, when I got back to the quayside to catch the volunteer's boat back to Poole and found this Common Tern sitting on a quay post, right next to the jetty. I've not seen one this close before and it was quite happy to post for a few photos.

Common Tern

Common Tern

28 May 25 - It's That Time Of Year Again On Brownsea - Part 2

The previous Blog Post focused on the first Black-headed Gull chicks on the DWT Brownsea islands. The next species to hatch, on the islands in front of the hides, are the Sandwich Terns. The first Sandwich Terns had hatched just before my previous volunteering Wednesday. However, due to the inclement and cold weather, the chicks remained out of sight on my brief visit to the Tern hide. I was able to spend a bit more time in this hide on my next visit. The weather was better and there were more chicks on view.

Sandwich Tern: One of the chicks enjoying exploring the better weather

Sandwich Tern: Some of the Sandwich Terns were still incubating

If you have the time, the Tern hide is a great location to try and get some flight shots as the Sandwich Terns fly in with Sand Eels. However, leave it too late and they start dropping below the fences, which are there to stop the Sika Deer from getting onto the islands to graze the vegetation.

Sandwich Tern: Returning with a Sand Eel

Sandwich Tern

Sandwich Tern: Air brakes applied

Sandwich Tern: This individual won't be popular coming in without a Sand Eel

It would be possible to spend hours watching the Sandwich Terns. However, my free time on Brownsea is more limited, as there are always a number of other volunteering activities to focus on. Plus, the Sandwich Terns are always very noisy.

21 May 25 - It's That Time Of Year Again On Brownsea - Part 1

It's that time of year again when the Black-headed Gull chicks are starting to appear. If you haven't visited Brownsea, then there are two hides with a set of islands in front of them which are packed out with breeding Black-headed Gulls, Sandwich and Common Terns. The Black-headed Gulls have probably spent the Winter locally and are first to occupy nesting sites on the islands. In contrast, most of the Sandwich Terns have to fly from West Africa, albeit a handful now Winter locally, with the Common Terns travelling up from Southern Africa. Consequently, the Black-headed Gull chicks appear first. The DWT wardens had seen the first Black-headed Gull chicks almost a week before, but this was my first visit since they had appeared. Despite the rain, these two chicks were keen to experience the outdoors.

My first Black-headed Gull chicks of the season

The Black-headed Gull and Tern chicks are always popular with the volunteers and visitors alike.