3 Jul 24 - My first Wildlife Officer Role For Marinelife To Guernsey

Back at the end of Apr 24, I took part in my first Marinelife survey on the Condor Liberation bridge from Poole to Jersey, via Guernsey. It proved a lot of fun. Recently, Marinelife have asked for volunteers from their surveyors to support having a Wildlife Officer on the Liberation about once a week. I was pleased to be the first Wildlife Officer of this season. The Marinelife WLO role is very different to the surveying role. The main differences are, the WLO is on the top deck engaging with and pointing out to the public about the Birds, Cetaceans and other marine life along the route, as well as, to promote the important work that Marinelife does. However, there isn't any formal surveying during the crossing. Finally, there is the opportunity to get off in Guernsey to stretch the legs for a few hours, whereas, during the formal surveys, the surveyors stay on the bridge to Jersey.

We pulled out as the MV Pelican was coming towards the quay: The shipping channel is narrow in Poole Harbour, but the two bridge crews must have practiced this manoeuvre on many occasions

The check-in was very quick at the Poole terminal and soon we were being called to board the Liberation. I introduced myself to the information team on the ferry and they helpfully broadcast that there was a Marinelife Wildlife Officer on board. By that time, I was already on the top deck and chatting to passengers before our departure. The departure from Poole is always delightful, as the ferry passes the Dorset Wildlife Trust Brownsea Island lagoon: where there were distant views of the breeding Black-headed Gulls, Common and Sandwich Terns. This was when I felt a little bit guilty as normally I would be on Brownsea on a Wednesday. I will look forward to seeing my Red Squirrel mates this week.

The Brownsea Castle & quayside

Next we passed through the Poole Harbour mouth and the immensely beautiful Studland Peninsula, followed by Old Harry Rocks, before heading out to sea.

The Studland Ferry with part of my Studland patch in the background

There was a significant South West wind and I switched to the port side of the ship for the rest of the journey, along with a few other passengers who stayed on the top deck. There were nearby rain squalls as we left the Dorset coast, but we were lucky and the top deck stayed dry.

The weather looked ominous off Old Harry: This is the Southernmost point of my Studland patch. Fortunately, we missed the rain squalls

As the ship headed out to sea, there were a few Razorbills and Guillemots from the nearby breeding colony at Durlston and the adjacent Purbeck coastline. Surprisingly, the only other Seabird was a lone Gannet. About fifteen miles out from the Purbeck coastline, a party of five Swifts headed North: presumably a post-breeding dispersal?

Thirty minutes before we reached Alderney, I picked up a pod of three Common Dolphins jumping out of the water as they attempted to reach the Liberation before we were passed: unfortunately, they didn’t close the distance before we passed them. Another two Common Dolphins repeated the manoeuvre a few minutes later and presumably they were part of the same extended pod. It was good to be able to point them out to the hardy passengers who were still on the deck.

Short-beaked Common Dolphin: Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos on this occasion, as the sightings were brief & the priority was to point out the Dolphins to the passengers. This photo was taken during the West African Pelagic in the Bay of Biscay (9 May 18)

As we got closer to Alderney, we started to encounter feeding Gannets from the Gannet colony on Ortac Rock, which had about four hundred Gannets sitting on it.

I could see around four hundred Gannets on view on the Ortac Rock in my photos

Three hours after our Poole departure, there was a Mediterranean Gull feeding outside the harbour as we entered Guernsey’s picturesque St Peter Port.

This hazard buoy outside the St Peter Port harbour has seen clearly some grim seas

The Brehon Tower off St Peter Port: The fort is modelled on the Martello Tower design and it was completed in 1857

I joined the day tripping passengers for a look around the town. Some headed off to the shops and restaurants, but I had an enjoyable time exploring the historic Castle Cornet and its three museums. There was plenty of interesting history to see in the two hours I was there, before a gentle walk back past the harbour to the ferry terminal. There will be more on this to come.

St Peter Port: The weather had improved a bit compared to Poole, but it was still cloudy & windy

Castle Cornet: The Castle dominates and protects the St Peter Port harbour. Originally, the Castle was built on an island, but in 1860 it was connected to the main island of Guernsey and it is now connected into the breakwater

Oystercatchers: These two Oystercatchers are enjoying a nap on the outer edge of the Castle Cornet defences

After another quick check-in, I was back onto the top deck and engaging with the passengers before the prompt departure. The weather had improved for the return journey, except for the wind, but it was reasonably sheltered on the starboard side. The birds picked up as well with a Balearic Shearwater tracking alongside the ship for a few minutes, followed by two more distant Manx Shearwater and some feeding Gannets from the Ortac Rock. It was good to engage with the passengers who remained on the top deck and explain the migrations of these two species of Shearwaters and other Seabirds that occur along this route during the year.

Balearic Shearwater

The weather had improved a bit as we passed through Studland Bay. Plus, the local Marines were putting on a training session in the bay to entertain the passengers. It provided a good end to an enjoyable day which had allowed plenty of passenger engagement.

Old Harry on the way back

The Royal Marines on a training exercise

Thanks to Condor Ferries and the crew of the Condor Liberation for making me welcome on board and for their support to Marinelife.

South Haven & the Poole Harbour mouth

3 Oct 14 - Some Tame Waders At Keyhaven

Back to the afternoon of the day of Hampshire Birding showing ex-pat Clare around part of SW Hampshire on her first day of UK Birding: She normally gets out Birding around Delhi. After leaving Blashford Lakes, it was on for a couple of hours at the bridge at the base of Hurst Spit: which is always a good place to see some of the regular coastal species. The Birds are used to people & can be quite approachable here.

Clare looking towards Hurst Castle & Lighthouse: The original fort was built on the orders of Henry VIII to protect the Western end of the Solent & was completed in 1544. It was updated in Napoleonic times & again in the 1870's, with further additions in the Second World War

Brent Goose: The common South coast subspecies is bernicla which is commonly known as Dark-bellied Brent Goose

Oystercatcher

Ringed Plover: 1st Winter. The scaly edges to the wing & mantle feathers with pale edges and a darker inner border indicates this is a 1st Winter Ringed Plover

Ringed Plover: 1st Winter. Adults would have a blacker lower face and band above the white forehead and a darker breast band. This is a new species for the blog

Turnstone: Adult male. The extensive chestnut in the wings indicates this is an adult which has still retained a lot of its bright Summer plumage. The extent of whitish in the face suggests it's a male

Turnstone: Adult male. I can't resist another photo of this great looking Turnstone

Turnstone: Winter adult: A more typical plumaged adult for the start of Oct

Turnstone: 1st Winter. They are much duller than the Winter adults

Black-headed Gull: The Winter plumage only has this black spot behind the eye. Clare saw more Gulls today than in her 3 years of Birding in India

Rock Pipit

Finally, it was time to head back to Cadnam & drop Clare back at her car. As this was also Clare's first visit to the New Forest, then we went via the Rhinefield drive & bumped into this cracking stag Red Deer.

Red Deer: A great finale to the day

17 Sep 14 - More From Brands Bay

After a lot of waiting in recent weeks, the winds had finally swung to the NE & so I tried South Haven for a Vis Mig watch. But the wind strength was to great for more than a handful of Meadow Pipits to be on the move. There was also some Hirundines moving on a very broad front, mostly over the harbour. However, counting this movement was compounded by a significant number of Hirundines feeding in the same area. But I did see my first Sanderlings of the Autumn.

Oystercatcher: There are good numbers centred around Brownsea, but there are always a few to be found at South Haven

Sanderling: This is a wintering species around South Haven & the Poole Harbour mouth

Had hoped that the Great White Egret would be in Brands Bay, but had to make do with about 20 Little Egrets feeding: including this bird which was just in front of the hide.

Little Egret: Up to 1987, the annual total of Little Egret in Dorset only exceeded 3 in 1 year, when 11 were seen in 1970. However, this is the commonest Heron in Poole Harbour with a recent daytime roost count of 122 on Littlesea. There are probably over 200 in Poole Harbour at the moment

Little Egret: Showing the characteristic yellow feet

It was all fairly quiet & settled in Brands Bay, until an Osprey flew over. At that point, everything went up, despite the reality that the Osprey is unlikely to have a go at the Birds in the bay. Normally, when I photograph flying Birds, I set the focus area on the Canon 7D to a wider area (shown by squared brackets). In my hurry I set it to the widest setting (shown by rounded brackets). This is a autofocus setting I've not tried before for flying birds & won't try again. The Osprey flew closer to the hide than I've every seen them do in the past & the autofocus just kept focusing on the background sky, not the very large Osprey in the middle of the viewfinder. Eventually, after several failed attempts, I switched back to the squared brackets setting & it immediately found & focused on what was now a more distant Osprey. Good job it was only an Osprey & not anything rarer. But it's the first time, I been really unimpressed with the 7D.

Osprey: Despite being a regular passage species with at least 4 around in early Sept, they are most common around the Wareham channel, Arne & Middlebere and are noticeably less common around the Studland area. This is about my 6th sighting of the Autumn around Studland, which is my best year for Ospreys at Studland

Osprey: The heavy white spotting on the upperparts confirms this is a juvenile/1st Winter bird

21 June 14 - Brownsea Island - Surely It Should Be LotsToSee Island

In the last post, I was focusing on one of the DWT Brownsea's main attractions at this time of year: its breeding Sandwich & Common Terns. But there is so much more to see on the reserve. The lagoon is the obvious centre of the reserve.

Brownsea lagoon: Looking towards the Mac hide

Brownsea lagoon: Looking towards the landing jetty. The Tamarisk island behind the Canada Geese is always worth checking as it's a favourite place for the Spoonbills

Brent Goose: Brent Geese should be on the Arctic coasts breeding grounds in Central & Western Siberia at the moment. However, it's not unusual to find the odd bird remains in Poole Harbour. For the last 2 years, 1 or 2 have over-summered around Studland, this individual seems to have chosen Brownsea instead

Canada Goose: The Canada Geese always seem to have good breeding success around Poole Harbour

Shelduck: Lunch doesn't look appetising

Oystercatcher: Displaying

Oystercatcher

Oystercatcher: They really are stunning birds close up

Black-headed Gull: Adult. It really is a poor name as they have a brown head

Black-headed Gull: There are a number of breeding pairs on the lagoon, but the adults are not great at keeping an eye on wandering chicks. Not a good idea given there are usually a few Great Black-backed Gulls around

Finally, it was time to explore more of the reserve. Although the lagoon is the centre piece of the DWT reserve, there are also extensive woodland areas, a reedbed blind (screen to look from) & a woodland hide overlooking some freshwater pools. The woodland habitats are more similar to other parts of the island. But with most of the visitors here for the wildlife, it was a lot quieter than the rest of the island on this glorious sunny day. Also the visitors were more interested in the wildlife & thus there is more chance of seeing the birds & animals well on the reserve. The first stop was the woodland hide.

View from the woodland hide: The hide was pretty quiet on this occasion with just a few Shelduck on the lake & a Dabchick calling. There was a Golden-ringed Dragonfly on the Bracken, but it kept perching on obscured perches (so no photos this time)

As well as the reedbed areas, there are a number of Dragonfly ponds around the reserve which provides good views of a number of  the many species of Dragonflies found on Brownsea.

Black-tailed Skimmer: Male

Black-tailed Skimmer: Male

Four-spotted Chaser: One of the commoner Dragonflies on the reserve at the moment

Four-spotted Chaser: Looking at bit tatty

Large Red Damselfly: Mating pair (male at front). The black legs, black segments on the abdomen & broad black stripes on the body (thorax) identify these as Large Red Damselflies. Small Red Damselflies would have red legs and all red abdomens on the males

One of the great thing about Brownsea is it is an island. This has meant that the Grey Squirrels which were introduced into the UK from the States in the mid 19th Century, never managed to reach Brownsea & the other islands in Poole Harbour. This is very important as these islands had populations of the UK native Red Squirrels. Sadly, the impact of these Grey Squirrels have resulted in the complete loss of Red Squirrels over most of the mainland of England & Wales. There are small surviving populations on the Isle of Wight & a few isolated parts of Wales, Lancs & North Yorkshire. There are larger populations in Cumbria & Northumberland & Scotland. A lot of visitors to Brownsea visit specifically to see the Red Squirrels and the DWT reserve is one of the best places to see the Red Squirrels. They are normally around the villa buildings. I did see one there, but it was proving to be very elusive on this occasion. However, as I was talking to my mate, Graham Armstong, who is one of the regular volunteers on the reserve, one came running along the track. It stopped briefly, before taking to the trees to avoid a couple of visitors & then ran right past us.

Red Squirrel: Just checking out these visitors

Red Squirrel: An action shot as it ran past us

Red Squirrel: Now calm again

Five-spot Burnet: heading back to the ferry I found a few on these on the wet meadow next to the reserve boardwalk. Some  populations occur where the spots tend to run together as seen on this individual

Just time to catch my boat back to Sandbanks & as often happens, see the Studland ferry put out just as we pull alongside. Another 20 minute wait until I can get to the drink in the car. Still it was still a glorious summer's day & the Sandwich Terns were feeding just off the landing jetty. So I can't complain too much.

Sandwich Tern

Sandwich Tern: Getting ready to plunge dive

Sandwich Tern: They plunge dive vertically