Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

Friday 1st September 2023

Friday morning I set off from Driffield on the long drive south. It was such a smooth journey, I made it as far as Winchester ahead of schedule, with just one stop for a pee. However, as soon as I passed the town, I hit the queue and was stuck in slow-moving traffic all the way to my hotel. Not a surprise but annoying nonetheless. I had booked at the Travelodge on the edge of the forest so I could have a wander around in the late afternoon. I just drove to the nearest car park and blundered about a bit with my net. There was not many birds to see but there was always the odd plant or insect of interest to see. Moths were dominated by the most common species Musotima nitidalis, which was a new species for me. This is also known as Golden-brown Fern Moth and is a recent arrival to the UK from Australasia. Cleary it has found the northern hemisphere ferns to its liking and is breeding like billy-o here. I netted at least 20 of them, more than all other species put together. the only other moth species of interest were Aristotelia ericinella which I have only seen once before and a Fox Moth larva (I have never seen an adult but quite a few caterpillars).

Musotima nitidalis - New Forest, 1 Sep 23

The ground was quite damp and there were plenty of flood pools. There was not a lot of insects on the wing despite it feeling relatively warm. There were a few interesting plants, the best being Coral-necklace a very range-restricted species and something I had not seen before. It it highly distinctive and was present in just one area which was low-lying and prone to flooding.

When it got dark I headed for a more-wooded area to try and see some Tawny Owls. I never actually managed to locate any in the torch but there were plenty calling to record. I also managed to record some faint calls that I eventually worked out were Wood Crickets, which were just inside my hearing range. Flinging the net around a bit, I managed to catch a Clay Triple-lines but not a lot else different. Isolated alone in the forest, a car decided to pull up right next to mine, so I decided to scarper back to the hotel.

Saturday 2nd September 2023

There had been a Forster’s Tern hanging around in Dorset for well over a month and I was very surprised to see that it was still apparently checking in daily at Arne RSPB. I couldn’t go see it on the way in since I only saw Dorset in the dark. If I was at all competent I would have done some research as to the pattern of visits it made and what would be the best time to pay a visit to give me the best chance. But no, I just was just gonna go for the classic BUBO method of “bowling-up”.

Arne Rspb reserve with poole Harbour behind, 2 Sep 23

I couldn’t delay though as my ferry check-in was early afternoon, so I pulled into the car park at about 0830 and wandered along the woodland tracks towards the water. As I reached the spot called Shipstall Point, I could see a group of gulls on the near-side shoreline and I noted a few smaller terns in amongst. I scurried to the beach to get a bit closer and could see the FORSTER’S TERN resting on the spit - easy peasy. There were a few people gathered and I was able to get great views through my ‘scope. Really easy to identify with its little bandit-mask. It preened a bit, I took a few pics and a video, then, after just ten minutes of me being there, it took off with a Sandwich Tern and the pair of them flew off and away out into Poole Harbour. As far as I am aware, it did not return at all until mid-afternoon, spending the middle part of the day on Brownsea lagoon. So I was lucky to get these views it seems, also because it was resting on the close-ish spit rather than on a very distant red pole which it often did according to the news services. I was going to stop at a cafe on the way and get some breakfast, but I am glad I didn’t otherwise I’d have dipped out. A new species for my British List and I thought at the time for my world list also but I had totally forgotten I had seen some in California thirty years ago.

Arne, 2 Sep 23 - you can just make out the small group of gulls on the spit in the middle

I didn’t see a lot more birds at Arne really but a few Black-tailed Godwits, Knots and other waders showed well on the beach in front of me. In the woods I saw a few seldomly-seen species such as Coal Tits and a Common Treecreeper. One of my favourite sightings was the small herd of grazing pigs that snuffled there way through the saltmarsh.

The ferry journey home was less eventful than outgoing, with no large shearwaters on a very flat sea. A large group of 40+ Spoonbills were on the lagoon at Brownsea as we passed out of the harbour. The most common species in the Channel was Guillemot with over 50 seen and the c.25 shearwaters were all near the Channel Is, most which were Balearic. Mid-Channel I spotted a group of 3 Common Dolphins and another group of 3 dolphin sp. Altogether, an enjoyable trip but not many rarer species seen but I did keep up my record of getting a British tick on each of my recent visits back to England.

Wednesday 30th August 2023

The weather conditions were still looking pretty meh for attracting rare birds but there was nothing nearby to twitch either, so we hit the Spurn area again for our third day. We started at Sammy’s Point for some different scenery - the point which is literally not a point, and is more or less concave. It did appear a little more migrant-y than in recent days and I saw a few Willow Warblers, Blackcaps and a Reed Warbler in the Hawthorns. The skies were big and, high above me, I picked up a couple of falcons racing around which revealed themselves to be Hobbies. They gave a brief show chasing each other around before drifting off to the south. We moved on to Kilnsea and had a walk up Beacon Lane where the best ‘birds’ were a Lesser Whitethroat and a Hummingbird Hawk-moth.

Thursday 31st August 2023

Another day with nothing nearby to go twitch so we headed back down to the peninsula to find some stuff ourselves. Again just one or two migrants were noted as we made our way from the visitor centre southwards, but there were a few Short-eared Owls over the saltmarsh and estuary. As we were chatting by the Warren ringing area someone came over with a fabulous Grasshopper Warbler. Smashing to see one up close like this.