Recent visitors to either Lodmoor or Radipole may have been wowed with some wonderful wildlife in the past few weeks. There was a spectacular purple heron at Radipole a few weeks ago, looking a bit wacky and alternative. These relatives of the grey heron are ever so slowly moving up into the UK and have even started breeding on some RSPB reserves in the East.
As Luke mentioned in the last blog there is a pretty impressive starling murmeration over at Lodmoor (don't walk around with your mouth open whatever you do!!) I always think the best thing about watching huge flocks of birds is the noise as they pass overhead - have a listen. Other sightings have included plenty of squealing water rail, kingfisher, returning teal, shoveler and gadwall and it's the best time to see the wonderful bearded tit on the reserves as they fling themselves around the reed beds. It's also the middle of the best time to spot otter at Radipole - see our events page for details on evening walks. If you are visiting during the day, pop into the Discovery Centre ask to have a whiff of the otter spraint and then with your new found knowledge go off sniffing your way around the paths and see how many otter signs you can find.
Probably the most obvious sighting recently has been a lonely man chugging his way round the waterlogged ditches in a rather bizarre bit of floating machinery.
The aim of this is to keep the wateways clear from vegetation, not just so visitors can get better views but also to keep the reed beds healthy so that it continues to play host to all the amazing wildlife we have here. Both at Radipole and Lodmoor new sightlines have been cut by the machine opening up forgotten pools, ditches and water ways that were previously hidden away, it looks really great and is the perfect place to spot things like water vole, otter, bittern and water rail.