In the last Blog Post, I wrote about being invited by my friend Mark Singleton, who is one of the local National Trust team, to join one of the annual breeding Seabird surveys that are carried out by Footprint Ecology for the National Trust. The survey covers the Purbeck coast from Durlston to St Aldhelms and along the cliffs to Old Harry. After completing Jurassic Coast section from Durlston to St Aldhelms, we crossed Swanage Bay to cover the chalk cliffs of Ballard Down as far as the breeding Gull colony on Old Harry.
As we passed the chalk cliffs of Ballard Down, there were a few nesting pairs of Fulmars and Cormorants, as well as, a pair of Shags.
As we passed the final piece of cliff before Old Harry, we saw the local cliff-nest House Martins which were feeding along the cliff edge & then flying back to their nests to feed their young. We were too far away for photos, so I've included a photo I took a few weeks earlier from Old Harry of one of the nests. This is one of a few UK sites where House Martins still nest in their traditional habitat.
The rock stacks at Old Harry are an important local nesting site for Herring Gulls and Great Black-backed Gulls. They are best seen from the edge of Ballard Down, however, it won't be possible to count all the nests, without checking from a boat.
It had been a brilliant trip out covering the Purbeck coast as far as St Aldhelms, as well as, this section up to Old Harry. My thanks to Mark Singleton at the National Trust who invited me along & to Durwyn and his team from Footprint Ecology who were running the survey. If you would like to join a trip to the same stretch of coastline to see the breeding Seabirds, then the Birds of Poole Harbour team run trips in the breeding season from Poole Quay: more details will be on the website around June & July each year.