Nice to see 3 species of orchid today in an area on the western side of the reserve that we have been managing for wild flowers. Common Spotted, Pyramidal and Bee Orchids were all in bloom.

We had a fabulous day out last Saturday at The Crowhurst Country Fair.  Our Fore Wood volunteers did us proud, answering some tricky wildlife and forest management questions.  Our youngest volunteer George was a great help guiding the children with their forest school crafts and we raised a little money for the RSPB pin badge scheme. 

Another good set of results on an extremely hot day! We saw 8 species in total with 2 new species for this year.

Species 2023 – year total 9 (All Time Site total 28). New species for the year in red/new species for the site in green:

• Beautiful Demoiselle
• Azure Damselfly
• Blue-tailed Damselfly
• Large Red Damselfly
• Emperor Dragonfly
• Hairy Dragonfly
• Golden-ringed Dragonfly
• Downy Emerald
• Broad-bodied Chaser
• Four Spotted…

Broadwater Warren is one of the very best RSPB reserves in the country for damselflies and dragonflies with 28 species so far recorded, thanks mainly to the efforts of our two dragonfly surveyors Sam and Rob. They carried out their first survey of 2023 on 27 May and recorded 9 species - 

• Beautiful Demoiselle
• Azure Damselfly
• Blue-tailed Damselfly
• Large Red Damselfly
• Hairy Dragonfly
• Downy Emerald
• Broad-bodied Chaser
• Four…

Nightjars have arrived back on the reserve from overwintering in Sub-Saharan Africa. This morning one was heard churring near the car park at 4.30am before we set off on our Dawn Chorus Walk. Another was recorded flying over the Western Heath.

Red List Species at Broadwater Warren

We have been hearing the call of a male and female Cuckoo this week at Broadwater Warren.  The Cuckoo is a top-priority red list species, so it’s a wonderful noise to hear while on the reserve.

Fleeting Visitors

Cuckoos are summer visitors and are only in the UK for about six weeks before returning to Africa.  The female Cuckoo will find a suitable bird’s nest and replace one…

We have had a good show of Dartford Warbler this Month with a few sightings near the old WW shooting butts.  Male song has clearly been heard on a few occasions as well as clear sightings. 
Wood Lark have been heard towards the goat enclosure since early March with 5 spotted during one survey.
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker’s drumming also heard near the decoy pond. 
Thanks to our surveyor Trevor Manship. 

This afternoon I saw my first woodlark of 2023 on the western heath. Unfortunately not singing its beautiful song. On 3 April our volunteer reptile survey team recorded 15 slowworm, 1 common lizard and 2 female adders (see attached photo of one of the adders). 

Despite the sun it was only just warm enough today to do our first butterfly survey of the year for the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme. We recorded 9 Brimstone and 5 Peacock across the reserve. There were a lot more wood ants about, the warm weather having woken them up. 

Fire and Brimstone?

Well, just Brimstone this morning, thankfully. Today, we have seen a fantastic display of bright yellow wings brightening up the muddy woodland.

Did you know

The word Brimstone means sulphur and describes the striking male butterfly's acid yellow and green wings. Females are often mistaken for cabbage whites as they are a much paler creamy colour.

The original butterfly

Historians believe…

I know what you are thinking.

You must be wondering why we have been chopping down trees.

The big answer? 

Heathland. Did you know that in the last 150 years the UK has lost 85% of its heathlands? 

At Broadwater Warren we are restoring the heathland to its original beauty, and with careful land management, we can restore the heather and encourage back the ground-nesting birds that so desperately need it.  

Our ponies…

With only a few days till the equinox, we welcome the start of spring and the first calls of Woodlark at Broadwater Warren.  We need to catch up on compiling our nature survey's this year due to the cold and wet weather, but we will update the blog with sightings of birds, reptiles, and dormice at Broadwater Warren.  Our Konik ponies, however, are very happy, especially when they see our hard working wardens bringing…

The recent hot weather has caused the reserve's dormice to wake up a bit earlier than usual. They are normally still fast asleep when we check our nestboxes in the morning, but this year quite a few have been very lively. That means our expertise at handling dormice so that we can weigh and sex them and check on their breeding condition is really tested. Photographing an active dormouse is difficult but there are still…

2 ring ouzels were seen on the heath on Friday the 13^th April. The ring ouzel (or “mountain blackbird”) were stopping off on their migration up north to breed in the hills and mountains of Northern England and Scotland, this was a new record for the site so brings the total for the reserve to 98!. I reported the sighting to the ring ouzel study group who are monitoring their migration patterns, you can find out more here…

Winter wildlife has started to return to Broadwater Warren in the last few weeks. Look out for flocks of finches on the heath, a mixed flock of 40+ chaffinches and linnets has been seen feeding on the heathland near gate 1 and you never know if a brambling might be joining them. The odd redwing and fieldfare has also been seen feeding on site, these numbers will probably increase over the coming months. Last year there…

Its a quiet time of year at the moment for birds on the reserve. But despite this a few interesting things have been seen in the last month. A king fisher was seen at decoy pond as well as grey wagtails on both decoy and the pond on the northern heath. 

Initial results from our bioblitz event indicate that we recorded over 350 species in on day including over 50 birds with highlights being redstart, spotted flycatcher…

A honey buzzard was reported by a member of the public Alex Reiss, he saw the bird fly off from the track on the way to the heathland viewpoint. He and his dad George managed to get some record shots which show the distinctive tail pattern of the honey buzzard. This brings us up to 94 species of birds at Broadwater Warren since we acquired the site in 2007.

Note the small head and black "ring" like markings on the tail…

The adults and children who joined our licence holders on the Sleepy Dormouse Hunt on Saturday all had the chance to see these wonderful animals close-up. The looks on the children's faces as they cradled a sleepy dormouse in their hands was something special. The event coincided with our monthly dormouse nestbox check during which we found a total of 11 animals. That's a good result for May and we hope it's a sign…

The Exmoor ponies have been welcomed back on the reserve, 15 ponies are here for the summer to graze the heath. They do an important job on keeping the purple moor grass grazed as well as taking some of the scrub, this all creates perfect habitat for nesting and feeding for our heathland birds. Please remember that these are wild ponies so do not try to feed them as it cause them to become ill.  

Ponies being let back…

We've done our first check of our dormouse nestboxes for the year and were pleased to find 3 dormice (all males) in the boxes. It's a little early for them to be out of hibernation (they only use the nestboxes for breeding) but we hope its a sign that they'll have a good year after a disappointing 2016. Here's a photo of one of them.

Spring has arrived on the reserve in the last few weeks. Willow warblers are singing across the reserve and we had our first tree pipits on the heath today. Woodlarks continue to sing across the reserve and several yellowhammers and linnet were heard singing. Other species seen on the heath include stonechats, raven, kestrel and green woodpecker.

The last week has been a good week for birds of prey, with a Peregrine…

Its been a frosty start to the year on the reserve. The last month has seen the start of woodlarks singing across the heath, a sign that the bird breeding season is not far away. A Dartford warbler was heard from the nightjar viewpoint with several stonechats being seen perched on top of the lone pine saplings. A raven was heard “cronking” over the heath yesterday.

Flocks of up to 12 crossbills have been…

Last month saw our annual Fungi Foray walk take place. Local expert (and previous site manager) Martin Alison led the walk around Broadwater Warren.  44 species were recorded on the day with highlights being green elf cup and stink horn. Only on the guided walk was a small selection of the fungi aloud to be picked to allow us to show identification of specific species. It is advised to leave fungi where you find them for…

With summer now upon us, we have seen several late summer migrants return to Broadwater Warren. Nightjars can be heard churring on the heath and spotted flycatchers can be seen catching insects near to decoy pond.

The Dartmoor ponies are now back on site, with 9 on the main heath and 6 on the western heath. They continue to carry out conservation grazing to ensure the structure of the heath and acid grassland is perfect…

The last month has seen the arrival of some of our summer migrants back to the reserve. Tree pipits can be heard singing from the tops of lone pines on the heath and seen carrying out their “parachuting” display. The whitethroat’s scratchy song can be heard from the scrubby areas of heath, willow warblers in the heath margins and swallows have been seen flying over the reserve.

Species seen in the…