Memories of RSPB Arne by Paula Warren, RSPB South Dorset Local Group Committee Member
It is over thirty years since my husband and I first started visiting RSPB Arne. Back then the car park was in a field opposite the Church. We used to take my mother-in-law’s home-made cake for our picnic on a Sunday afternoon. There were maybe only one or two other cars there!
Since then, of course, we have discovered Coombe Heath with views out over the Middlebere Channel and the Raptor Trail. We have been there, not just by ourselves, but on a Church picnic, with our local ‘Amblers’ walking group and on field trips with the RSPB South Dorset Local Group. Even if you don’t watch birds the views over Poole Harbour from Shipstal Point, and towards Corfe Castle from Coombe Heath, are well worth the walk.
Over our years of visiting RSPB Arne, there have been several ‘firsts’ and many highlights – our first Dartford warbler (how long did we wait to see that!), our first raft spider and, just this year at the end of August, our first osprey seen from the Raptor Hide.
The ospreys stop-off at RSPB Arne during the spring and autumn, on their migrations. In the autumn they stay a bit longer, usually two or three weeks, so are easier to see. The Raptor Trail is seasonal and winds its way over the heath – stick with it as after about fifteen minutes you reach the hide with views out over the reeds towards the dead trees where the ospreys like to sit. There is also a purpose built pole topped by a platform which they will also use to sit and eat their fish caught out in the harbour.
The raft spiders can be found on a pool on the heath and are not easy to see at first, but once you get your eye in you can see two or three at any one time. They will sit on top of the water using their front legs to detect movements made by potential prey.
Highlights have included: a memorable early morning walk with lots of deer about; a fox in the car park at dusk taking food from the hand; a female hen harrier seen flying low just in front of the hide on Coombe Heath; a red-breasted merganser in the channel by the beach off Shipstal Point doing just what it says in the book – swimming with its bill and eyes under the water looking for fish before diving to catch its prey with its serrated bill; a juvenile grey heron looking very ‘prehistoric’ and a nuthatch on a tree at the entrance to the car park – one of my favourites, they are so elegant and beautiful.
Other more familiar sights are oystercatcher, redshank and black-headed gull and woodland birds such as blue tit, chaffinch and siskin. Indeed, another highlight was a sparrowhawk seen dashing through the trees, presumably looking for small birds right by the bird feeders adjacent to the Information Hut.
The increase in the number of some species such as little egret, spoonbill and avocet (over 200 on one day last winter) has also been interesting to witness.
Nowadays, with new facilities for visitors at RSPB Arne the ‘overflow’ car park can almost overflow with the number of people visiting. But however many people and whatever time of day, RSPB Arne is still a special place.