Little Sea at Studland

Tuesday 15th March 2016

We returned to Studland again today to have a wander around the heath and take a look at Little Sea.  Little Sea lagoon is about a mile long and covers 32 hectares.  It was finally closed to the sea in about 1880 and now contains fresh water, being stream fed.  Apparently it is home to many waterfowl, but not today - we saw a couple of mallards, a great crested grebe and a couple of egrets in the far distance and that was it!  Never mind, in the wooded areas there were lots of small birds flitting about and singing contentedly. 

Little Sea on a beautiful morning.

It was very quiet on the heath, there was hardly a soul about.

This large carved seahorse stood alongside the footpath which at the moment is no longer a path but is more of...........

............ a river!

We sat watching for a while in one of the bird hides but although it was a lovely morning there was little bird life about so we gave up and walked back to Knoll  Beach where we sat outside of the cafe drinking coffee and taking in the view.

 Not a bad view?

Coffee over, as it was such a lovely day, we drove back to Swanage for a walk along the beach and pier,

where the grass has been cut in the parks, the ice cream parlours and outdoor cafes were removing sandbags, being cleaned,  and prepared, and Swanage is looking ready for the influx of Easter visitors, so let's hope the good weather continues.

A view from Swanage Pier.

The remains of the old pier and the crane in the distance where the new lifeboat station is being built.

I made a note of the birds we saw at Studland today, not a bad list I don't think.

Long tailed tits                                                      Wren                

Blue tit                                                                    Great crested grebe

Chaffinch                                                                Great Tit

Pied Wagtail                                                          Black headed gull

Green woodpecker                                               Egrets

Lesser spotted woodpecker                                Tree creeper

Robin (loads of!)                                                     Nuthatch

Cormorant                                                               Herring gull

Dunnock                                                                  Feral pigeon

Mallard

Corfe Castle to Church Knowle

Monday 14th March 2016

We had another lovely 4 mile walk this afternoon from the National Trust car park at Corfe Castle to Church Knowle and back.  On the walk we successfully found 6 geocaches, saw lots of sheep and a pen of very young lambs that I would guess were maybe only a day or two old (they were absolutely adorable).  It was a bit of a coat on.... coat off.....coat on ....etc sort of afternoon, warm in the sun but with a cool wind. The views were fantastic, proper Thomas Hardy country.

Corfe Castle

A couple who posed beautifully!

Looking back at the village of Corfe Castle.

An old lime kiln.

Thomas Hardy's country.

Swathes of primroses In the churchyard of the church in Church Knowle (far too many churches in this sentence but never mind!!)

Lastly, another favourite of mine, this gorgeous little bird was obviously used to people and was quite happy to sit and be photographed as he sang, as the light began to fade.

A Circular Spring Walk from Swanage to Durlston and Back

Sunday 13th March 2016

It felt like spring was really here this afternoon.  We set out on our four mile walk in coats but I soon had it tied round my waist it was that warm.  The views were amazing as we walked through two caravan parks to the Townsend Nature Reserve and on to Durlston Country Park.

A bit of spring colour from periwinkle flowers.

Old farm machinery in the Durlston Country Park.

Over stiles and on to the sea.

There weren't many boats about today but we did see this fishing boat close into the cliff.

Anvil Point Lighthouse and a few locals.  We walked along the coast a little way before heading back inland where,

there were many cheerful primroses alongside the footpath and on the banks.

My mother in law planted primrose seeds at this spot some years ago and  I'm sure she'd be pleased to know they're still doing well.

I love autumn and winter but there are some benefits of the spring -the main one being lambs!!  You can never have too many photos of these bundles of loveliness!  The noise in this field was pretty full on with lambs calling mothers and mothers calling lambs, luckily they all seemed to be reuniting successfully.

This seemed to be the only black and white lamb in a huge field, I particularly like his/her black eyes and his/her woolly back leg warmers!

I just love this!

That's another walk over and done with, there's just a short walk down the hill and it's time for tea!

Studland Heath & Shell Bay

Thursday 3rd March 2016

It's been a while since we've been out walking but today we made the most of the sunny spells, had a walk and did a bit of geocaching. We parked in Studland on the road that goes to the Sandbanks ferry, for a walk across Studland Heath and on to Shell Bay.  

At Bramble Bush Bay, looking across Poole Harbour to Brownsea Island, the location of the first geocache we found.  We gave up looking for the second as there was a fisherman nearby keeping an eye on us and we felt we must have looked a bit suspicious in the bushes!

Oyster catchers mooching around the shoreline.

Tank traps at Bramble Bush Bay. There was a large military type plane around this morning, at one stage something large was parachuted down onto the beach further on round the bay, we never did find out what it was.

There were lots of deer tracks on the beach, presumable they use it as a short cut to get to the trees on the other side.  It must look quite good to see deer on a beach.

We left the beach and went across the road to the heath where things got a whole lot more muddy and wet.  Wellies were most definitely needed in some areas.

Swans overhead.

After a short distance we turned off the waterlogged path onto this path, a soft sandy and tricky to walk on type path, it gave my legs a bit of a workout that's for sure!

Looking across to Bournemouth from Studland Heath.

The headquarters of the RNLI is only just along the coast in Poole so there are often lifeboats to be seen, and we just happened to see this one passing by.

And on to.... Shell Bay, where there were a few people walking and a group of horse riders galloping along the shore line and it was..........

.... time for a coffee - very civilised!! - We made friends with a black headed gull who was quite keen on bits of biscuit funnily enough. He/she followed us along the beach after that.

Bournemouth.

The sun made an appearance.

We found this massive dead jellyfish, I made sure my foot was in the shot to give an idea of the size of it.(the jellyfish that is, not my foot!)

Old Harry Rocks in the distance.  Shortly after this we left the beach and cut back through the heath where we came upon this sign.

Bit cold for undressing I would have thought!!

A last photo of the heath, another new area explored and another nice place to return to.