• Two Owls!!

    Owls are undoubtedly one of the more charismatic bird groups, (what with their night vision and ability to hear a pin drop at 40 silent wing beats) and I was lucky enough to see two species yesterday at either end of the county.

    In the morning we witnessed a magnificent short-eared owl on Arne while pulling pines with a group of over twenty students from Poole and Bournemouth College. The owl was suitable reward for the…

  • How Do You Lichen These?

    Winter is a good opportunity to look at the often missed world of lichens hidden under the flowers and leaves in the summer.  Not all lichens live on trees - some species are found on fences, roofs, walls, tombstones rocks and pavements. Lichens consist of a fungus and an alga. Together they form a symbiotic relationship of mutual benefit to both. The fungus forms the body of the lichen known as the ‘thallus’ which provides…

  • We don't just help birds.

    A Feathered Thorn appeared at the window this evening, perhaps wanting to watch My Name is Earl with us. It soon lost interest in Mr Hickey's complicated affairs so Luke tried to explain Facebook to it. It seemed keen but clearly had no demonstrable keyboard or mouse skills. However, as this photo shows it was quite at home with looking up its relatives using more old school methods, as long as we turned the pages carefully…

  • Small wonder

    This misty morning, after surveying the copious evidence of someone’s haze-inducing, lager session at the viewing shelter, I was walking back to along on Buddleia Trail to fetch a rubbish bag when I spotted a movement way ahead on the path. The brown critter scurrying across into the border at first made me think “rat” for a millisecond, until I realised it was much more slender and nippy. Armed with neither my spectacles…

  • A Day of Firsts...

    Today was a day of honest, energy-sapping endeavour spent 'putting the Buddleia verges to bed' with brush cutters and elbow greace; but as so often Radipole offered up her finest as more than ample reward. Damon, (our erstwhile Estate Worker then Arne's Estate worker, now Dorset's Estate Worker) James and Jude (Arne based residential volunteers) came over to lend their essential assistance and productivity was as high as…

  • Rememberance Day Poppy

    As you know today is Remembrance Day, also known as Poppy Day.  Poppy seeds can lay dormant in the ground for many years without germinating and only grow after the ground has been disturbed.  This plant flowered across some the worst battlefields in Flanders, Belgium in World War I which saw some the heaviest fighting.  When First World War soldiers saw the poppies blooming in the battlefields, the poppy became a symbol…

  • October Photo of the Month!

    After much deliberation this superb picture of our friendly Heron wins it. This bird is remarkably ‘tame’ and is often seen standing next the bridge on the way to the North Hide. The lighting highlights its scruffy feathers making a great picture.

     

    Well done to Yogi bear for making a common photo subject into a superb photograph.

  • Keeping Tabs

    I have always loved visiting reed-beds. Since I was tiny I have always thought there was an exciting element of mystery within the reeds. It may not be easy to actually see and identify things all the time, but I'm one of those people who doesn't really mind what it is as long as I've seen it.

    At Radipole, I always like to think that I am being watched, that the Cetti's warbler are spying on me and when…

  • Weymouth Wetlands 2011 Botanical Highlights

    As I sit in the office in Weymouth on a grey rainy afternoon, I am reminded of the warm sunny long days of summer looking through some of the photos I have taken of the flowers on Radipole and Lodmoor and though I would share some of the summer highlights.

    First to be mentioned are Radipole’s orchid populations. Orchids are always a favourite with the visitors.  We have four species in all: Bee Orchid first recorded…

  • Photo competition reminder

     Though I’d sent out a quick post to remind all you budding photographers that we need your entries for the October photo of the month. Just simply submit a picture taken in October and we'll have a browse through them and hopefully choose a winner. Last months winner was that superb picture of the Red-backed Shrike which stayed at Lodmoor for a while but entries don't have to be rarities. So if you've got a photo of a…

  • Back in the saddle.

    Many apologies for the dearth of blogging of late. Again this was in no way born of a lack of newsworthy material but simply a case of too little time. I hasten to add that previous periods of prolific blogging were seldom a case of the devil finding work for idle hands!

    By a distance the biggest news over recent weeks (or months or years) has been the departure of Nick T who has taken up the position of Kingcombe Centre…

  • Pond-dipping still going strong

    Brownies enjoying pond-dipping spring 2011

    Over the spring and the summer the new pond-dipping platform alongside the visitor centre has proved to be a huge success. Many visitors both young and old have enjoyed discovering more about the lesser known side of Radipole Lake, that being the millions of tiny creatures living below the surface water. Pond-dipping at Radipole was for many years a laborious task, involving…

  • Photo of the Month

    Congratulations to Steve Carey who has the honour of being the winner of photo of the month for September!

    His picture of the Red backed Shrike shows this scarce species in all its glory. Shrikes are carnivorous birds eating insects, small mammals and lizards. This bird is seen here eating a wasp which appears to be its favourite food over at Lodmoor along with Red Admiral Butterflies. This bird’s appearance coincided…

  • All things must pass...

    Yesterday saw the conclusion of one of the more laborious tasks that the reserves offer up in the sinister size and shape of Japanese knotweed removal and treatment. Anne must take all the credit as she has carried out the bulk of the undertaking as well as masterminding the current – and highly successful -means of control.

    A Japanese knotweed forest the likes of which now no longer exist on Radipole and Lodmoor…

  • CSI Radipole.

    While carrying out running repairs on the locked gate bridge, Anne and I made a rather peculiar and somewhat macabre discovery. As the below photograph reveals a 3-spined stickleback was impaled upon the handrail by its largest dorsal spine... but how did it come to meet this curious demise?

    Our minds collectively boggled until eventually we postulated that the only way we could envisage it becoming embedded was via kingfisher…

  • Photo of the month reminder

    Some or most of you will already know, but at the end of each month, we will be choosing a photo of the month. The lucky winner will have their picture displayed on this very blog for the masses to admire. There are some good pictures already uploaded for September but there is room for a lot more! So there’s ten days to go before we judge our first photo of the month so get those pictures uploaded soon.

    Whilst…

  • Too much wildlife!

    At Radipole Lake it seems we have too much wildlife for the size of reserve we manage! This evening I had to take some things down to the visitor centre and the reserve was brimming with life. Hundreds of gulls and ducks out on the water, hirundines feeding overhead, a flock of Black tailed Godwits feeding in the mud. With all this going on another species resorted to using the car park!

    Yellow Wagtails were dropping…

  • Want to see a Kingfisher? Nows your chance!

    Next weekend (the 17th and 18th Sept), we’ll be holding our Kingfisher weekend. Autumn is normally the best time to see kingfishers at the Weymouth Wetlands but this year many visitors were treated to great views of our breeding pair. However, autumn is still a great time with many young Kingfishers dispersing from breeding sites to find territories of their own. This time last year up to 4 or maybe 5 Kingfishers were…

  • Roe deer, roe deer.

    Roe deer are a fairly common sight on Radipole and Luke was fortunate enough to capture these images on of this beautiful doe on Radipole last week. Of the six deer species found in the British Isles, only roe and the mightily antlered red are native. Fallow, muntjac, Chinese water deer and sika have all been introduced and it is believed that deer are now more populous and widespread than at any time in the past 1000…

  • A Caspian Beauty and Glorious Mud.

    After reed flowers (when the seed heads turn purple) we are  able to begin lowering Radipole's water levels by gradually removing sluice boards at Westham Bridge – thus explaining the recent unveiling of mudflats outside the Visitor Centre.

    Through spring and summer we raise water which helps enable reed to flourish at the expense of the fen type vegetation and ultimately scrub which are less tolerant of the drowned…

  • Designated management pays dividends.

    Mention has been made on these pages of the efforts made in recent times to improve the reserves value to amphibians and reptiles. Back in the spring a number of the recently dug ‘amphibian pools’ had frog spawn in them for the first time. Although some late frosts didn't help the frogs cause, certain pools hosted tadpoles and over time froglets were seen as miniature facsimiles of their parents.

    The pools…

  • What big eyes you have...

    Possibly the greatest allure of wildlife watching is the tangible sense of  anticipation for what may lie around every corner - of possible new species to encounter or new behaviours to witness from more familiar characters. The scene below was photographed by regular (almost resident) visitor Dan Dench and probably falls into the latter category as, to my knowledge, a fox taking to birdwatching is an entirely new phenomenon…

  • Moovers and shakers.

    We have recently received a couple of enquiries about the why's and wherefores of cattle on the reserves as it can appear incongruous to have hulking great bovines trampling and munching their way through our precious reserves.

    The cows on Radipole and Lodmoor through spring, summer and autumn maintain a low diverse and varied sward to the benefit of a wide array of wildlife, from invertebrates to birds and mammals…

  • A Thousand Splendid Suns.

    As the single splendid sun has so ardently refused to shine this season the thousands strong bursts of floral sunshine that brighten-up our verges are now all the more welcome - offering a smattering of golden summery hews on even the dullest of dreary days.

    Fleabane is in full flower now - where allocation has been made for it to compete with less diminutive herbage - and is finding favour with a diverse array of invertebrates…

  • An ancient remedy for modern living.

    As noted before in these pages the management of our verges is probably the biggest drain on reserves staff time at this time of the year. Although occasionally laborious it is very rewarding as the paths are garlanded with a diversity of colourful botany that they would not otherwise boast if managed in any other fashion. This is of particular appeal to the great diversity of insects as well as our two legged visitors…