Last month started with a plea for rain, and August really obliged, though granted we were much luckier here than in some parts of the country.

Butterflies managed to keep their numbers up, but dragonflies were less successful. The counts on Upton Heath were still lower than previous years, but butterflies managed to keep good populations. Went to other sites in North Dorset, and they too, had reasonable populations. Never went to listen to the nightjars again, and by now they are probably well on their way back to Africa.

Other birds are also beginning to drift South, and many of them stop for a final feed-up in Durlston before heading out to sea.

Apart from lots of butterflies, which are easy to see if you go to the right habitat areas, my personal highlight was watching two hobbies catching gnats/mosquitos in competition with a flock of swallows. Whilst considerably larger than the swallows, they seemed to show equal, if not better, flying skills as the swooped over the ponds.

The coming week is Dorset Bird Week, with a host of activities related to the migrating birds, most of them co-ordinated by Dorset CC (Durlston). There is also a local walk at Upton Country Park, on 8th Sept. All details in Dorset on Your Doorstep.

Poole RSPB start their indoor talks, at Upton Community Centre on the second Thursday of each month. The first talk about Brownsea natives is on the 9th.

Conservation work starts again soon, and DCV are Holt Heath on 5th Sept.

Pine Springs volunteers start again in October.

RSPB at Arne on the first weekend in the month.

Useful numbers:

Other useful wildlife web sites for wildlife news in this area are:

• http://www.greenlink.co.uk/
• http://www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/dorset
• http://www.dorsetbutterflies.com

Prepared for Broadstone.net by
dudley.hull

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