Arne 5th October

A sunny and mild afternoon. Highlights were 13 Spoonbills, Water Rail, Tawny Owl and lots of Sika Deer.

We arrived at Arne car park and stopped for a cup of coffee as there are wooden seats there. 4 or 5 Carrion Crows came down to feed on the grass and, surprisingly, 2 Tawny Owls started hooting at each other. A Robin kept flitting about and 3 Sika Deer came walking through the woods and up the path only a few feet away from us. After this we walked over to the main hide. We saw many Sika Deer on the way, mostly in a large field. Some of the males were calling a bit too. The birds were few and far between with just a couple of Robins singing and a Coal Tit in a pine tree.
From the hide we saw several Little Egret, Shelduck, Cormorant and Oystercatcher on a shingle bank quite a way off and Teal and Curlew on the marshes closer to us. We walked back through the woods to the car park seeing loads of Sika Deer. Some of them are very tame and don’t run off unless you get pretty close. We then walked over the Coombe Heath to the other hide.
From the hide on Coombe Heath Gaye and Dennis immediately spotted the 2 Spoonbill that had been reported. After watching them for a few minutes we looked a bit further down the channel and were surprised to see 11 more. They joined the first 2 and we were treated to the amazing sight of 13 Spoonbills wandering up the channel feeding as they went. There were also some Teal, Little Egret and a few Shelduck in the channel. We heard a Water Rail squealing and by carefully scanning along the edge of the reeds on the opposite side of the channel we managed to glimpse 3 altogether. We left the hide and walked back across the heath to the sound of the Sika Deer doing their screaming call for the rut. Lastly, as we walked back over the heath Dennis spotted a Tawny Owl glide almost over our heads and away over the heath.
Simon Curson