Better Late than never - Poole Park, Baiter Park and Hengistbury Head - 1st and 6th October 20186/10/2018 On Monday afternoon I decided to head to Poole Park to see what was about and for a bit of afternoon fresh air. To be honest there wasn't a lot around a Kingfisher flying across the mainly lake was a pleasant Surprise along with at least 7 Little Grebe. Some Tufted Duck were around with at least five diving close in shore in and amongst the large amount of Mute Swan that had gathered in the hope of someone feeding them. It was also interesting to see that at least 5 birds had rings on them. I am still waiting for the results from submitting the rings however I believe three were locally rung and the other 2 may have come some distance. I will update you in a later blog if they have any interesting life history. A few Grey Wagtails were around along with quite a decent number of Pied Wagtails moving through. A flock of 20 - 30 Collared Doves was flushed from the trees briefly however I couldn't see any predators about, although given the reaction of the other birds as well it felt like there was either going to be a Peregrine or a Harrier. Above: Mute Swan 750 and a Mallard Below: Mute Swan SLR (out of all the Swan rings I read I am expecting these two to have come from the furthest distance) Above: Mute Swan T9V. Below: Little Grebe Above: Young Mute Swan I then moved on and headed under the railway line to a place that I had never been before called Baiter Park. For those who have never been here Baiter Park is Grassland with a few quite dense patches of vegetation that borders Poole Harbour and gives great views out across to Brownsea Island as well as Poole Quays. I have to admit when I saw how busy the park was I almost gave up hope of seeing any wildlife which I should know by now from experience is a bad idea. Sure enough as soon as I walked up to the first set of dense bushes and willow trees I was surprised to find out that they were in fact alive with what were presumably migrant Chiffchaff and every time you looked at this particular willow tree it was almost as if the tree was alive. There must have been at least 20 birds in this one tree. Moving on I headed along the waterside path and whilst walking along the rock armour I stumbled across a flock of 13 Turnstone as well as a Wheatear which subsequently disappeared. I watched as the Turnstone ran in and out of the rocks turning pebbles and seaweed as they went looking for anything that might take there fancy. Moving on towards the car park I could see a flock of Black-headed Gulls and in the field over the other side of the carpark quite a decent sized flock of Pied Wagtails could be seen chasing their invisible insect prey and so this rounded off what was an interesting afternoon in Poole and I will definitely be back as I think there is the chance of some great winter wildlife encounters on the main lake! Above: Turnstone Below: Black-headed Gull On Friday with no lectures I decided that it would be a good idea to head up to Hengistbury head for some vis-migging. This felt like a great idea, but getting the first bus of the day to Southbourne with none else on it made me wonder if it was worth it. As we drove through the still dark fog ridden empty streets a quick look at the weather forecast gave me some hope that it might yet still be a great day. I arrived at Hengistbury Head for first light at around 645am and set about scanning the dunes. All that could be heard were Invisible Stonechats, Robins and the Gulls leaving their roost. Eventually a small gap in the fog appeared and what I picked up next scared the living daylights out of me. I have to admit when I first saw them they looked very rare, however they were in fact Australian Black Swans with their all black plumage and white on the wing. The fog quickly encased me again and thus put and end to me seeing almost too literally anything however it started to clear as I headed up towards the headland and as I gained height the fog cleared leaving some absolutely stunning misty scenes. I have to admit that it felt like something out of a fairy tale the way that the candyfloss shaped mist hung in little patches just above the ground below. The first Chiffchaffs of the day started to call from the bushes below before I set about watching the first glimpses of some sort of Autumnal Movement. The next hour was magical with large flocks of Reed Bunting, Linnet, Meadow Pipit, and Alba Wagtails moving West to East along the headland along with the occasional flock of Siskin. All of a sudden just after I met local birder David Taylor the fog rolled back in and stopped any form of Migration. The occasional call could be heard over head of Meadow Pipit and Alba Wagtails however it was almost impossible to see them. One Meadow Pipit did however nearly take my head of when it came out of literally nowhere. We then walked right down to the end of the headland where we stood watching the mist and a young, Black-billed, Blackbird. Along the way down to the headland we saw several Stonechat and also 2 Dartford Warblers as well as some grounded Meadow Pipits which would occasionally flush out of the heath either side of the path. Above: Misty Stonechat David and I decided that there wasn't much point standing around at the headland for much longer especially as the fog showed no sign of clearing so we headed down through the Woodland. The Firecrest at the southern end of the Woodland was still around making his little voice heard and as we moved along I eventually picked up the second one in and amongst a mixed flock of Goldcrest and Chiffchaff right in the heart of the woods. This is where I stuck around for a while and my efforts were rewarded when either one or possibly two Firecrest appeared at point blank range. Above: Firecrest I have to admit that seeing Firecrests on a regular basis is awesome especially considering how rare they are back home. Just watching these tiny opera singing bundle of feathers is something quite magical. I continued out of the woodland to where there is a view over Christchurch Harbour, or at least in any normal day there would be. Today I was greeted by 51 Mute Swan close in and a wall of Fog further out encasing the rest of the harbour. I found two more Mute Swans that were colour ringed with Orange K4E and Orange U2O which suggests that these birds are locals, however as always I will write a further blog post if anything interesting arises when I hear back from the ringer. Above: Mute Swans Below: Reed Bunting Above: Mute Swan K4E Below: Mute Swan U2O I then continued past the visitor centre where flock of 5 Skylarks were just dropping in to the fields below. I headed up towards a place that David had recommended called Wick Fields and upon arrival I bumped into Kevin who was ringing mainly Chiffchaff and Blackcap. I spoke to him for a while about ringing in general and I will be heading back this evening for my first ringing session with CHOG (Christchurch Harbour Ornithological Group) in the aim of ringing Alba Wagtails on their way into roost! (I would just like to say a massive Thank you to Kevin for allowing me to ring with them.) Above: Greenfinch I then continued into the heart of Wick Fields with the sun now starting to appear from behind the clouds. At first there wasn't an awful lot however two large clumps of Willow held an amazing amount of Chiffchaff with at least 60 birds in this stretch, however I wouldn't be surprised if there was over 100 Chiffchaff since two of the bushes that I looked at had almost 20 birds in them. A Male Blackcap was also a nice addition to the day list along with a few more flocks of Skylarks, Meadow Pipit, Reed Bunting and Siskin. A rather bedraggled Kestrel was also about. Above: Chiffchaff Below: Kestrel Above: Coal Tit I then continued through to an area that was quite open and marsh like with a flock of Teal asleep of to one side and Berry eating Starlings and House Sparrows on the other. A few Collared Dove were around the puddles and a few Little Egrets had a territorial dispute off to one side. Above: Little Egret Below: Teal Above: Starlings Below: Teal Above: Collared Dove What happened next came as a surprise to me and probably all the other local birders. I rounded a corner on Wick Green and flushed a flock of Collared Doves up from the ground into a nearby tree. I picked up a bird which appeared to have white trailing around the outside of the tail and also it was slightly darker all over. My mind immediately flicked to Turtle Dove and sure enough after a quick scan of the tree I found one sitting there on the right hand side with the Collared Doves. This is a bird that has managed to elude me in London so far in my life time and now just over two weeks into my Dorset birding career I was staring at an October Turtle Dove. What makes this even more interesting is the fact that Turtle Doves normally leave the UK well before September and this one being what I think is an adult rather than a Juv makes it all the more strange. Either way it was a great find and one that I won't forget for a while. I have to admit though that punching the air after I got a photo was a poor choice as the whole flock exploded from the tree in front of me leaving some nasty deposits on the way out.
And so this ended another interesting day on my new patch and I can't wait for my first proper ringing session tonight. Below: Turtle Dove
1 Comment
Richard Cordery
11/10/2018 09:09:15 pm
Great blog Sam! Welcome to the area and to CHOG. Great to find the Turtle Dove. Poole Park Lake hosted a Great Northern Diver last winter and it gave amazing views. Red-breasted Merganser and Goldeneye regular on there too in winter. Quite amazing considering it’s so close to the town.
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AuthorI have been a birder since I was 8 however only really started to be able to go out to places by myself in Summer 2016 (Blame the parents) My blogs will be from all over the place, but mainly from RSPB Rainham Marshes and Totteridge Valley! Photography done by Samuel Levy aged 18. ArchivesCategories |