Hengistbury Head 23rd Sept (am)

A beautiful, warm and sunny autumn morning was greatly appreciated by the 12 who came on this walk. We saw a nice variety of commoner species, but no sign of the more unusual.
This time of year sees much migration as birds return south after breeding. For most of the morning Meadow Pipits and Swallows streamed over with the occasional Sand Martin among them. At the first large field, known as Barn Field, there were a couple of Whitethroat in the scrub and more Meadow Pipits. Resident birds included Stonechats and Greenfinches. A Kestrel was hunting over the field and at one point a Sparrowhawk zoomed past.
Looking out over the harbour didn’t provide very much in the way of birds as it was high tide. However a Great-crested Grebe was seen along with the usual Little Egrets, Cormorants, Coots and Herring Gulls, while a few Lapwing flew over.
We walked along the track towards the head. In the woods it was very quiet, just one or two Robins singing. Interest was provided by a few Speckled Wood butterflies flitting in sunny patches.
Along the path I suddenly saw a Viviparous Lizard and amazed myself by catching it. Everyone had a good look and most of us photographed it. A little further on we saw a few Common Darter dragonflies. These are the red ones that you often see this late in the season.
At the beach huts near the end of the spit we stopped for a short break and saw some terns flying past. The black beaks and quite heavy build, for a Tern, showed them to be Sandwich Terns.
Back at the point where we could overlook the harbour and the tide had gone out a little way. We saw a Little Grebe in a nearby ditch and over the other side of the harbour (near Stanpit) there were a couple of Brent Geese, Great Black-backed Gulls and some Oystercatchers.