Tuesday 10th August – North Dorset

Tuesday 10th August – North Dorset Leave a comment

Yesterday I was delighted to hear that another old friend, Paul Harvey, was visiting his parents in Upton. Paul moved to Shetland in the early 80’s and has lived there since. I last visited him in Shetland in January 2008 but with his parents and sisters living not far from me, we meet up at least once a year.

Along with our mutual friend (and Paul’s schoolmate) Ian Alexander we set off to find a few non-avian species that don’t occur as far north as Shetland.

Ian Alexander (L) and Paul Harvey (R)

Our first port of call was to see another mutual friend, Trevor Squire. Trevor trained most of us to ring birds and remains the most expert and experienced ringer I have ever met.

After working out of the county for a decade or more, Trevor has returned to north Dorset where he has purchased a field and turned it a few short years, from flat agricultural land to a private wildlife reserve and ringing site. The sheer effort in creating a large lake with all the associated drainage issues, planting rows of bird friendly hedges and generally turning the area into a wildlife haven, beggars belief. Much of the planted areas have yet to grow to maturity, but it is already reaping benefits with a wide range of migrant birds using the area.

The main lake

The kingfisher pools

Later we drove to the DWT reserve of Alner’s Gorse near King Stag where Brown Hairstreak was the best of a dozen butterflies on offer.

Brown Hairstreak

and another one

Ringlet

Emperor Dragonfly

Shaded Broad-bar moth

Brown Argus

Although I wished I had met the five of my old friends, who were able to get to Newcastle on Friday, under different circumstances there is no doubt that this last week has given me exceptional opportunities to keep longstanding friendships alive.

gryllosblog Gryllo's (aka Ian Lewis') blog. All things to do with travel, wildlife especially birds, history, architecture and anything else that interests me.