Towards the end of September I went for a wander down to RSPB Arne to see what was about and hoping to see the Ospreys, some of the Poole Harbour Ospreys and also some that were passing through on migration. I decided to walk down to the raptor hide where you can see one of the Osprey platforms, hoping one would land but it wasn’t to be, one was spotted round the corner in the Middlebere channel, perhaps another time!

While I was in the hide there were a few birds around but fairly quiet, A Kingfisher landed just out of view and then a pair of Little Egrets landed in the dead tree at the front of the hide. But after a couple of hours I cut my losses and headed for the car park.

I had some lunch and decided to walk round Coombe Heath before I headed home. Again there wasn’t much bird life even out on the water so I looked for the little things.

I spotted a Butterfly, one I hadn’t seen before and identifying it back home I found out it was a Grayling which is found mainly on coastal sights, it certainly was well camouflaged on the heathland soil.

On Coombe Heath there is a pond which is home for a number of creatures either in or around it. There were some Wasp Spiders with their webs in the Gorse. They are a recent edition to the UK, their distinctive wasp like markings deter any predators.

Then in the pond there are the scare Raft Spider, very difficult to spot but now I know the they are there I always try and spot them. The easiest to see is the female as she is larger then the male.

Another inhabitant was a Common Lizard who decided to pose very nicely on the fence by the pond.

There were of course a number of Dragonflies around, a Common Darter and Broad Bodied Chaser, there was also a Southern Hawker flying but it was too busy for me to get an image!

A warm day so there were a few Grasshoppers about, a very handsome Field Grasshopper!

So even if I didn’t see much in the way of birdlife there was something of interest on the heath, as always the walk was enjoyable.