Heath

The rec at Broadstone is now such a swathe of green that at first it is difficult to see any other colours. However, walking around the reserve - amidst the forest of grasses and bramble - other life becomes evident. The first blush of heather is beginning to spread up these low growing shrubs; several dark green spikes of gorse are shooting skywards. Honeysuckle this year seems to be doing especially well - with an absolutely superb expanse of golden blossom by the Fontmell Road entrance. Another magnificent specimen is currently flowering about 20' (6 metres) up a lone silver birch to the left of the path leading down to the football pitches. In the dip below the playpark, a giant horse chestnut is currently blooming in spectacular style - its profusion of floral spikes overwhelms every other tree in the vicinity.

However, despite the glories of Broadstone's little oasis of calm, this month's highlight for me was definitely Friday night's trip to hear the nightjars around the golf course. Despite the fact that we were quite a large group (about 25), as we paused along the main pathway, we were able to hear the very distinctive calls of stonechats making their characteristic chinking call. (I also learned that they have 2 other calls in their repetoire!) In addition, we heard a warbler call from the centre of a patch of gorse.

As dusk gathered, the moment we had been waiting for arrived. Our resident experts - warden's Emma and Terry - helped us identify the distinctive and sustained churring call of male nightjars as it ebbed and faded across the heath. Terry explained that the reason the sound appears to change in volume is because each bird turns its head from side to side and broadcasts its call in different directions. A few moments later, we were shown the nightjar's unusual butterfly-like flight as one of the birds took to the air. During the next 20 minutes or so, we were privileged to have a further 5 or 6 sightings of this ground nesting bird. Further fascinating facts about them emerged - including their occasional habit of clapping their wings in flight (to attract a mate), and the information that their beak has a small number of precisely angled hairs, which enable them to channel moths and other food more readily into their mouths when feeding. Towards the end of our evening's watching, we were fortunate enough to see 2 males interacting in the darkening sky. as they flew in adjacent circles to each other. A fitting finale for a wonderful evening.

In the immediate future we have 2 events to anticipate on Broadstone Heath. The first is Mark's tour of the reserve on 13th July. The second is the group's final outing of the season on 17th August: details to follow. Meet for both at Fontmell Road, 10 a.m. and move onto the Bridge over the stream which we cleared last winter. Look forward to seeing as many of you as possible there!

For those who would like further opportunities to get into the world of nature, the following links can offer possibilities:

http://www.greenlink.co.uk/

http://www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/dorset

http://www.dorsetbutterflies.com

http://www.rspb.org.uk/dorset/groups/

http://www.english-nature.org.uk/about/teams/Events.asp?Id=17

Prepared For Broadstone.Net by Dave Evans

See the Broadstone Environment main page for information on this organisation.

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