30 Aug 24 - A Good Ending To August For The Historic Isle Of Purbeck Year List

I'm two-thirds through the year on my Historic Isle of Purbeck Year List challenge for 2024. The target is to comfortably pass the two hundred species barrier, following BOU taxonomy with no reintroduction species or feral pigeons. I was on 175 at the end of Jul 24, which was relatively disappointing compared to my previous Poole Harbour Year Lists attempts. However, I had been abroad for a month from mid-Jan to mid-Feb and consequentially I missed a good chunk of the first Winter and four expected Winter species: Merlin, Woodcock, Jack Snipe & Brambling. However, Jack Snipe can be tricky to locate at the best of times and Brambling is most easily seen as a Vis Mig species in late Oct - early Nov.

The size of the two areas are broadly similar. Poole Harbour adds in the good & well-watched Lytchett Bay & Swineham patches: which allow a few easy Year Ticks that are very hard to unlikely to see in the Isle of Purbeck such as Bittern, Pochard, Garganey, bonus Waders, Water Pipit etc. But the latter patch includes the Jurassic coastline with easy bonuses such as Red-legged and Grey Partridges, Puffins, Corn Buntings, much better migrant Passerines & seawatching. But a lot fewer Birders watch this coastline and lack of coverage is a downside.

My best ever Poole Harbour Year List is 206 in 2011, with the record of 209 being achieved by Nick Hopper in 2008. In comparison in 2022, I reached 195 by 24 Oct in the Isle of Purbeck and would have finished the year on about 205. But instead, I headed out for two back to back tours to very remote parts of Indonesia with Bird Tour Asia for seven weeks, followed by an eight day bout of Salmonella picked up in Bali or on the plane home. This meant I didn't see any additional species. The Isle of Purbeck Year List record is 202 achieved by James Leaver in 2023.

Wood Sandpiper: This was a species I reckon I only had a slim chance of seeing in the Isle of Purbeck. So, I quickly headed over to Brownsea to see it. I didn't have my camera with me, but I just managed to squeeze it onto the DWT Brownsea TV screen whilst showing it to visitors (3 Aug 24)

Fortunately, Aug 24 has provided a good start to the Autumn, with my first Yellow Wagtails and the bonus Wood Sandpiper on Brownsea at the start of the month. It was the best part of three weeks before I saw another new species, despite getting out every Birding locally nearly every day. The weather cracked up on 22 Aug when Storm Ernesto battered the UK and produced some nice seawatching at Durlston. The highlight was a couple of bonus Sooty Shearwaters, with another on the following morning. That afternoon I finally bumped into a Ring-necked Parakeet. Up to a couple of years ago, this was an easy species to see around Studland and I often bumped into them elsewhere locally. However, I'm only aware of a handful of sightings this year, thanks to a decision by the Studland Golf Course to employ a pest controller to shoot them over the last couple of years.

Ring-necked Parakeet: A few years ago, I started seeing them around my Swanage house. However, thanks to some Parakeet-hating golfers, the small Purbeck population that has probably never reached twenty individuals might well disappear completely (29 Aug 18)

Things picked up when I went to Brownsea on 24 Aug after a Little Stint was found there by local Birder & Brownsea volunteer Graham Armstrong. I then found an eclipse Male Garganey & Graham upped my Year List again with a Curlew Sandpiper. I didn't dare to dream of a three Tick day at this stage of the year.

Garganey: Eclipse Male on the DWT Brownsea TV screen (24 Aug 24)

I thought a Grasshopper Warbler on 29 Aug would be the last Year Tick of the month. However, after a wonderful day spotting on the Birds of Poole Harbour Bird Boat, I was heading home, when local Purbeck Birder James Leaver rang about a Wryneck he had just found on his evening walk patch at Knowle Hill. The car was rapidly spun around in Corfe Castle and a few minutes later, I met up with James. It was a nerve-racking ten minute wait as the sun slowly lowered, but then James saw it pop up again. Another bonus Year Tick that I wasn't banking on, left me on 184 at the end of the month.

Wryneck: We didn't try to get close to get better photos as we didn't want to disturb it, in case other local Birders wanted to look for it the following morning. In the end, nobody did look for it & it could still be around

Wryneck: It seemed happy to take in the last of the evening sun

In addition to the four Winter species, still have a few fairly easy species to see: Storm-petrel, Bonxie, Short-eared Owl, Pied Flycatcher, Yellow-browed Warbler & Ring Ouzel. Then I will be reliant on some scarce & rare Autumn & Winter species to push me over the two hundred barrier. At this point, it seems possible and the challenge will help me get out Birding daily over the next few months.

28 Aug 24 - An Eclipse Male Garganey In The Isle Of Purbeck

Garganey are a difficult species to see in the Historic Isle of Purbeck. This is quite frustrating as they are just about annual at Swineham which borders the area. I've only seen five individuals in the area over the previous twenty-seven years of living in Dorset, including three eclipse & First Winter individuals that I've found. I reckon I only had a slim chance of seeing one for my Historic Isle of Purbeck Year List.

On 24 Aug, I had a call from Graham Armstrong to say he had found a Little Stint on the DWT Brownsea lagoon. I was just leaving Brands Bay as the tide had come up, so I headed for the ferry & thanks to connecting ferries was on Brownsea within a half hour of hearing the news. After a bit of searching Graham & I relocated the Little Stint, which was a nice Year Tick. Graham left to take over running the DWT vid-scope whilst I stayed on in the Tern hide. I noticed there were good numbers of Teal & switched from the Waders I had already scanned through to the Teal. About halfway through a lovely eclipse Garganey popped into view. I rang Graham as I headed to join him in the closer Avocet hide. He had got onto it, in the few minutes I had taken to walk around. Later he found my first Curlew Sandpiper of the year. Three not guaranteed Isle of Purbeck Year Ticks was much better than I could have hoped for. The only shame was I hadn't taken my camera that morning with me.

Garganey: Eclipse Male. It's good to see it is still around with a Teal for comparison. It's good to get some purple tones & it reminds me of my early Birding with my first telescope: a Bausch & Lomb Discoverer

Today I was back on Brownsea & started by scanning the Teal from the Avocet hide. I had a suspicion the Garganey might still be around and quickly provided this to be the case. All the Ducks flew before I get a photo, but they came down by the Greenshank logs. My initial photos were uninspiring & I abandoned the photography in favour of a quick check of the Tern hide. Later in the afternoon, I had a quick look at the logs & the Garganey was still around. I pointed it out to a couple of visitors in the hide & grabbed a couple of photos from the vid-scope's TV screen.

Garganey: Eclipse Male. I was fractionally too late to get a clear photo but I did see it had an extensive pale blue wing panel, as it opened its wing to preen after a quick wash. It's possible to see part of the pale blue in this photo. It's nice to find an eclipse Male locally, but it would be nicer to find a pretty Spring Male at Studland

27 Aug 24 - It's That Time Of Year Again

It's that time of year again when the Autumn Lady's Tresses are appearing on the short grassy slopes of the Purbeck coastline. It's the last of the British Orchids to flower, but it's also one I enjoy seeing. I saw just under two hundred today on the Southern slopes of Ballard Down, without making any attempt to thoroughly count them.

Autumn Lady's Tresses

Autumn Lady's Tresses are a species I always associate with Autum migrants: so where are the birds?

21 Aug 24 - Improving Table Manners

In a Blog Post 'Red Squirrel Behaving Badly' on 17 Jul, I provided evidence that one of the Red Squirrels feeding on the Dorset Wildlife Trust peanut feeder had picked up some poor meal-time manners.

The badly-behaved Red Squirrel (17 Aug 24)

I passed these comments onto Nicki & Jonny, the two resident DWT rangers & maybe they have done some meal-time training with the Red Squirrels, as the three that were on the feeders were well-behaved today.

Red Squirrel showing better feeding etiquette

Red Squirrel: I never get tired of seeing my favourite UK land Mammal

Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel: Head & Shoulders

Red Squirrel: There is room for another peanut

Red Squirrel

21 Aug 24 - There's A Storm Coming

On 17 Aug, the Global Flyway twitter account announced that a Storm had hit Poole Harbour: something that the local weather teams overlooked. But it was understandable as it was Storm the female Spoonbill, AKA colour ring NH45. Storm was ringed as an adult female Spoonbill on Schiermonnikoog Island in early Jun 2024 and she was also given a satellite-tag. She left the Wadden Sea early, on 31 Jul and spent twelve days in Oostvaardersplassen. The next stop was Hellevoetsluis, south of Rotterdam, where she spent five days. She left at dusk, flying overnight to Lymington after passing over Dungeness, before continuing onto Poole Harbour to arrive on the evening of 17 Aug.

Since her arrival, a number of local Birders have been looking for her. I'm sure we saw her on Brownsea on 20 Aug from the Birds of Poole Harbour Bird Boat, when we saw a CR Spoonbill with a large white ring and a red ring above that. This is the first Spoonbill I've seen with a red ring above the white ring. I have seen at least three CR Spoonbills on Brownsea this Autumn with large white rings which is the 'normal' Dutch Spoonbills we see. Paul Morton & Shaun Robson were also on the boat and didn't recognise this ring combination either. But nobody could read the letters on the white ring from the boat and the toggers didn't fare any better either.

Spoonbill Storm (NH45): She was one of twenty-three Spoonbills on the DWT Brownsea lagoon

Fortunately, I could see a CR Spoonbill with a large white ring and a red ring on the following morning from the Tern Hide on Brownsea on my regular volunteering day. My photo isn't good enough to see the ring number, but I could clearly see it was NH45 with my scope. It was good to see Storm in Poole Harbour, albeit the Dutch team will have known her movements over the last few days.

7 Aug 24 - A Green Detective Story

One of the tasks when I'm volunteering on the DWT Brownsea reserve is manning the DWT gazebo at the end of the boardwalk. This is a public engagement role & we often have interesting conversations with the visitors. Today, we had a less communicative, but exciting visitor, which my colleague spotted on the desk. It was this gorgeous & small green-coloured Weevil. Vanessa ran it through Google Lens which identified it as Nettle Weevil (Phyllobius pomaceus). A search online that evening identified there are a number Phyllobius species in the UK, but Nettle Weevil looked the best candidate. I put the photo on twitter & bluesky.social and tagging it people who might be able to help, but I didn't get a lot of response.

Nettle Weevil: It was only about 7mm long

However, a couple of days later, Jonny, one of the DWT wardens suggested it could be Polydrusus formosus. That looked a better fit on the face of it, however, I was struggling to find out much to conclusively identify it. Jonny retweeted my twitter photo and tagging it a few more people who might be able to help. I left it a few days, but as I didn't see any responses, I tried iSpot. A couple of days later I saw a response from Sarah Loving who came up with some really useful links & these words.

I am sure you're right that it's either Phyllobius or Polydrusus, but telling the difference can be tricky. There's a really good page here: https://www.eakringbirds.com/eakringbirds6/insectsphyllobiusweevils.htm The difference they highlight is where the antennae attach to the head: on the top in Phyllobius and at the side in Polydrusus. It looks as if the antennae insert at the side of the head in your photo, but it's not totally clear. I believe that identifying these to a species often requires a specimen and examination of very small features. See the page here (very long and also quite technical!): https://www.ukbeetles.co.uk/green-weevils

To my eyes, the antennae come of the side of the head which puts it in the Polydrusus group of twelve species. Having looked at the UK Beetles link, then the only species that fits in Polydrusus formosus. Finally, I wanted to check its range. I searched on the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) website for this species. Not only is the species found in the Isle of Purbeck, but there is a record for Brownsea Island with the pin looking very close to where the gazebo is positioned. The final website I looked at is the Nature Spot website for this species which also supports this identification. It describes the habitat as "found on various broad-leaved trees and bushes in Apr to Aug".

Everything seems to fit for Polydrusus formosus. All the sites talk about the importance of having good photos and retaining the specimen to study under a microscope. To be honest, I think the good photo seems to be sufficient for the identification & I would rather live with the risk of the record not being accepted, but with the Weevil being able to continue to enjoy its life on Brownsea, than to see it killed for a 100% identification. It has taken several hours & fair bit of searching online, but I feel happy with the identification. Thanks to Jonny from Brownsea & Sarah Loving for their input.

3 Aug 24 - Old Brownsea Friends?

Back in Summer 22, we were visited most days when we standing at the Dorset Wildlife Trust gazebo at the entrance to the main track on the DWT reserve by a family of Mallards. Mum would bring the three half grown ducklings right up to our feet in the hope they would get fed. As the Summer wore on, they tended to spend most of their time on the adjacent National Trust track, where presumably they were better fed. Mum and the ducklings were fearless as this Blog Post showed. We did see the Mallards during the following Summer, however, understandably we weren't allowed on the island during the Avian Flu period from mid Jun to mid Aug 23.

Mallard: This family were closer to fully grown

Mallard

Mallard: These Mallards are perfect models to introduce visitors to the reserve to the fun of taking mobile photos at a Mallard's eye level

Mallard

There was a second female Mallard with a couple of younger ducklings.

Mallard: The next generation

Given the behaviour compared to Summer 22, then it feels likely that one or both of the adult females are individuals that visited us back in Summer 22.

Mallard: The same fearless individual

Hopefully, we will see these Mallards regularly next Summer.

3 Aug 24 - A Bonus Historic Isle Of Purbeck Year Tick

I'm currently having another attempt at cracking the 200 barrier on the Historic Isle of Purbeck Year List. I tried in 2022 and reached 195 with several easy late Autumn species left. However, I headed off to Indonesia in late Oct for seven weeks on two back-to-back Bird Tour Asia trips and a few extra days Birding on my own. Had I stayed, I would have easily passed the 200 target. This year I'm having another attempt at the 200 barrier.

When I prepare for a local Year List challenge, I work out a list of potential species, which get categorised as Definitely Will See, Probably Will See & Might See. This helps me to ensure I don't overlook a potentially easy to see species. The reality is the Might See could be realistically categorised as Unlikely To See. So, it is always nice when a Might See species turns up in the Historic Isle of Purbeck. This happened when a news broke that there was a Wood Sandpiper on the Brownsea lagoon. Unfortunately, it wasn't found to mid-afternoon & the news didn't get out till after the island closed. But realistically there wouldn't have been time to get on & see it that afternoon, had news broken within minutes of it being found.

I was up early in case there was some early news and one of DWT wardens, Nicki, posted some nice video on twitter about eight that morning. Soon after I was heading off for the ferry. As I got out of the car at Studland, I realised I had left the camera in the house. Annoying, but not the end of the world as it isn't a Photo Year List. I met Graham Armstrong on the quayside for the Brownsea volunteers boat. The Wood Sandpiper was showing well right in front of the hide as Graham & I reached the Avocet hide: job done.

Wood Sandpiper: It was right outside the Avocet hide when I took this picture & I could only just get a picture with all of it in on the vidscope TV screen. This is only the second Wood Sandpiper in about the last fifteen years on the Brownsea Lagoon, so it wasn't a species I expected to see there. This took me to 177 & Ring-necked Parakeet heard for the year & keeps me on track to reach 200

Wood Sandpipers are a species that should be easy to see in Poole Harbour, with individuals occurring at both Swineham & Lytchett Bay annually. But the Historic Isle of Purbeck boundary stops at the River Frome & Swineham is on the wrong side of the boundary. The only chance of seeing a Wood Sandpiper in this area is if you are on a Birds of Poole Harbour Bird boat & one flies off from Swineham and circles over the Arne Marshes. This happened in 2022, resulting in only my fourth Isle of Purbeck record.

The Drinker: Time for a celebratory drink: well not this type. This was photographed in the hide, before being relocated to a more sensible location outside

As it turned out, a couple of the regular volunteers had other commitments & were not available to come over to Brownsea. So, it was useful that I could stick around for the rest of the day to help the other volunteers out.