3rd June - Durlston Country Park and Nature Reserve, Dorset

A popular destination in early June for Ian and I is to cross the Hampshire border and head west into Dorset and the lovely Isle of Purbeck.  Durlston Country Park is just outside the seaside town of Swanage, It takes in cliffs, hawthorn scrub and wonderful flower meadows.  It is also a good base from which to walk the coastal path to Dancing Ledge.  This is the site of the furthest east, Puffin colony on the south coast.  Our last visit was just under two years ago and then we failed with the Puffin, so we were hoping we could put that right on this visit.

It was a glorious morning, clear blue skies, plenty of sunshine, but quite a brisk north easterly breeze that required dressing up for.  We arrived in an empty car park just after 6:30 and set off around the paths to the coastal path to head west.

Whitethroats sang from the top of the surrounding bushes and in the valley were several Blackcap.  Above us Jackdaw wheeled about in the stiff breeze, while as the sea came into view we could see passing Gannets.  A Willow Warbler was in the bushes as we walked down the hill, it was carrying food which had gone when it appeared from the base of a bush.

We joined the coastal path just past the lighthouse and here a Skylark was singing fromthe fence post.

A different angle provided some scenery along with the Skylark.

We edged closer and the Skylark did not seem to concerned with how close we were.

Eventually we took a step too close and it flew off.  A little further along and there was a beautiful male Linnet showing off a wonderful reddish pink breast.

The first time Ian and I visited Durlston was back in June 2016, on that visit we were treated to a wonderful view from the coastal path of a female Peregrine sitting on some exposed rock.  Since that visit we have always looked in the same place in the hope that there would be another in the same place, but there hadn't been one.  Durlston is a great place to see Peregrine and we have on other visits but not like the first time.

This morning as I reached the spot I stopped and looked in hope, but nothing, however I did scan back and saw a Peregrine a little way back, we would have passed it but not known it was there due to the vegetation and the drop.  I then realised that there was another even closer to me and I called Ian.

Of course the light wasn't good as we were looking east and into the sun.

We decided to back track and to see if we could find if we could get a better view.  The area is used for climbing and there were trails that led from the main path, we found one and gingerly made our way along, looking west with the perfect light there was the Peregrine sitting on the exposed rock.

It appeared completely unconcerned with us, at times it seemed to be staring at us.  We were close enough to get a head and shoulder portrait, which some may believe was taken at a zoo or of a captive bird.

There was some vegetation about and I was shooting between the stalks, so I moved to get a clearer view and also to allow Ian to get in the right position, the Peregrine just watched, maybe the presence of climbers has made them a little more aware of humans.

The word "peregrine" means "wanderer" or "pilgrim," and Peregrine Falcons occur all over the world. The only continent they do not inhabit is Antarctica.  They can be found nesting at elevations up to about 12,000 feet, as well as along rivers and coastlines or in cities, where the local Rock and Feral Dove populations offer a reliable food supply. 

Peregrine Falcons are best known as very strong fliers and are often reported to be the fastest bird in the world. Their average cruising flight speed is 24 to 33 mph, increasing to 67 mph when in pursuit of prey. When stooping, or dropping on prey with their wings closed, it's been calculated that Peregrine Falcons can achieve speeds of 238 mph. 

One researcher studied trained Peregrine Falcons while skydiving and described their body position while diving at 150 mph and 200 mph. When hunting, Peregrines start by watching from a high perch or by flapping slowly or soaring at great height. Stoops begin 300–3,000 feet above their prey and end either by grabbing the prey or by striking it with the feet hard enough to stun or kill it. They then catch the bird and bite through the neck to kill it. Peregrine Falcons do have other hunting methods, including level pursuit, picking birds out of large flocks, and occasionally even hunting on the ground.

It was a real privilege to be able to get so close and get some great photos with the lovely deep blue background of the sea.

We believed this to be the female as the first falcon seen which was behind us appeared to be smaller, and the male.  Turning to look at the male it flew off and was joined by, who we assume to be the mate, the bird we had been watching.  We retraced out steps along the trail and back on to the main coast path.

Gannets had been passing off shore, almost predominantly heading west into the stiff breeze.  Most of the time they were quite distant, but this one was a little closer.

Along the path itself the commonest bird was the Stonechats, adults could be heard calling as we approached and in some places they could be seen feeding recently fledged birds, the gape still present to give away their age.  This did mean though that there were some lovely opportunities to get close to this pretty bird with some lovely backgrounds.

The other common bird was the Linnet, probably not breeding yet they could be seen in pairs in amongst the scrub and on the fence posts.

This a female, it lacks the pink breast and forehead of the male and also has a streaked back.

On reaching the second mile marker the cliff top was covered in pink thrift.

Durlston and the surrounding area has a lot to give at this time of year and one of the big specialties are the orchids.  This is chalk downland and one of the orchids that thrives in these conditions is the Pyramidal Orchid.  To be truthful we would have expected to have seen orchids along the path, but this was the first one and was only just emerging, a Pyramidal Orchid.

We stopped to check an area we had seen many of these orchids on previous visits , but there was no sign of any at all, maybe the cold spring has held them back and they are yet to emerge in numbers.

In the same area there were Swifts nesting in the cliffs and we could watch them flying over our heads and out to sea, which of course brings the annual challenge into play, photographing Swifts!

A bonus five together in one frame!

As we reached the steps to Dancing Ledge Ian picked out a Puffin on the water distantly off the cliffs.  The hope now was could we get some decent photographs with the Puffins playing ball and coming closer.

Dancing Ledge is a natural shelf of flat rock jutting out into the sea, which once made it a prime site for the quarrying of Purbeck stone – as well as an easy target for smugglers coming from the sea.

There is no consensus on how Dancing Ledge came to get its name, but there are two favoured stories: some say Dancing Ledge is so named because of the way the water seems to ‘dance’ over the flat rock at certain tides; others say it’s because the area is just the right size for a ballroom.

It has also become known as an unusual wild swimming location due to the tidal pool that was blasted out of the ledge by quarrymen in the early 1900s for local school children to learn to swim.  While we were there two women came down and used the pool.

We made our way to the far corner where it is possible to look to the west.  Unfortunately it is not possible to see into the bays and rocks where no doubted there are auks on the ledges, you have to scan the water and wait for them to come down off the rocks, or fly in from further out to sea.

Very quickly we located the first Puffin, distant but instantly recognisable on the water.

Here for comparison with a Guillemot.

Few people realise that hidden away in the sheer cliffs around Dancing Ledge just beneath their feet is the South Coast’s most easterly (and probably smallest) colony of Puffins.  There are signs today, but these are around Durlston, which means that as you look out at the cliffs and sea there you get asked if you are looking at Puffins

The puffins come in from the sea to Purbeck each spring and are present for about three months.  Although described as being as ‘thick as grass’ here in the 1930s, by 1975 numbers had gone down to just 23. For the past decade there have rarely been more than half a dozen seen. No chicks are known to have fledged for a decade or so now, but puffins live for 20 years or more and are loyal to their nesting sites, so will keep coming back to try.

Then the one Puffin became two and they drifted just in view off the cliffs.

We thought at this point we had seen three Puffins in total, but then two became three and there was even some courtship behaviour between two birds.

We also had other birds flying in and out of the bay, so counting was difficult but maybe anything from three to five birds.

The National Trust’s experiences on places such as Lundy Island have shown that colonies can recover quickly if the conditions are right. In 2018 the National Trust installed cameras on the ledges to check on their nesting.  One concern is the amount of interference from the outdoor activity companies that use the area, and the National Trust is working with these companies to make sure they don’t cause unnecessary disturbance.

Puffins are good business, every one wants to see them and pleasure boat trips from Poole Harbour to Dancing Ledge provide an opportunity to watch the birds from the sea.

Time was moving on and we wanted to ensure we saw everything that Durlston and the surrounding area have to offer.  The quarried area at Dancing Ledge is covered in red Valerian so we spent some time walking around in the hope of finding some butterflies.

However we only found one butterfly, a Common Blue.

Leaving Dancing Ledge we continued the walk west for a little while, looking for possible orchid sites.  We didn't find any orchids, but the slopes were covered in beautiful pale blue, star shaped flowers known as Pale Flax.

Close up.

It was time to start to make our way back, the sun was higher and warmer but there was still the stiff north eastern breeze that we were now walking into.

With the warmth the butterflies started to appear, here a rather tatty male Adonis Blue.

The Small Heath that never shows its open wings at rest, only in flight.

A more respectable female Adonis Blue.

We made our way back to a field where in the past we had found several Bee Orchids.  Our search for orchids in general had not been lucky so far today and the walk around the field assed to the disappointment.  There was not even any sign of base plants or leaves. 

Dejected we decided to walk on.  The path came down the side of a valley that was carpeted with Pale Flax and as the path reaches the bottom it turns into several trails with vertical banks.  The area was sheltered and a little sun trap.  Then Ian called me to stop, on the bank were two beautiful Bee Orchids, we must have passed them on the way to Dancing Ledge.

They also must have only just flowered as the looked immaculate.

The flowers consist of two greenish pink upper petals and three rosy-pink sepals with a rich brown, furry expanded lower sepal, giving it the appearance of a bumblebee on its flower.

Other features are a green, hairless stem, which reaches between 10-15cm tall with grey-green, pointed, elliptical leaves forming a rosette at the base of the stem that withers as the flowers appear.  Up to 10 flowers can be produced in a long loose spike.

Originally called the 'humble bee orchid', this species was given its name because the flowers mimic a female bee, both in scent and appearance. In this way the male bee is tricked into landing on the flower and attempting to mate with it. When the bee moves on to another plant, the pollen it has picked up from the first orchid is transferred to the next. In addition, bee orchids are able to self pollinate in the absence of a suitable insect pollinator.

Bee orchids may only flower once in their lifetime, which explains their appearance in large numbers in some years and disappearance in others. The seeds germinate in the spring and can take as long as six years before they reach a flowering stage.  This could account for the lack of orchids in the field earlier

There was at least four Bee Orchids in the proximity and all had slightly different markings main body.

With us finally finding Bee Orchids it meant we had only one other target for the day, again the concern was that we might be too early.

More butterflies were on the wing, here a Dingy Skipper that was starting to look a little dingy.

A male Common Blue.

An yet more Small Heath.

We came across this Common Broomrape in one of the fields.  Broomrapes are the most numerous and diverse group of British flowering plants lacking in chlorophyll. The inability to photosynthesise means that non-green plants must have some alternative mechanism by which they obtain their nutrition.

This is achieved through being parasitic on various members of the pea and daisy families. Although widespread, its appearance is sporadic; despite this, it can occur in vast colonies from time to time. The main flowering season is from May until the end of August

The coastal path is not just one track, over the years many different trails have evolved as walkers look to avoid muddy stretches, increasing vegetation or just deciding to take a different route.  We reached one such diversion, the main path leading up the side of the slope while the other followed the fence through a patch of nettles.

I took the high road while Ian the lower, the latter was sheltered from the breeze and as I moved briskly Ian was checking the nettles, suddenly he called out he had a skipper and not another Dingy, so I made my way over to him where he was photographing a Lulworth Skipper, a female.

The Lulworth Skipper is one of the smallest of our butterflies. It is restricted to the extreme south of Dorset where it can be found in large numbers along a stretch of coast centred on the village of Lulworth, where the species was first discovered in the United Kingdom back in 1832.

The range of the Lulworth Skipper has changed little in recent decades and it remains locally very abundant.  In the United Kingdom, it is at the northern limit of its range, and is rarely found more than 5 miles from the coast. However, this is not a maritime species, except in this country.

This is a  female and can be distinguished from other skippers by the pale orange 'sun-ray' markings on their forewings, whereas the males have darker-brown, almost olive coloured wings and a black line through the centre of the forewing.

In recent years the flight period of the Lulworth Skipper seems to have advanced significantly so that it can be encountered at any time from early June to mid-August.

A little further along we came across another skipper which initially we thought to be a small Skipper.  However size is a key point in identification – Lulworth Skippers are smaller than Large Skippers and slightly smaller than Small Skippers, this one is also a little browner than the other golden skippers and has a broad dark brown edge to the forewing confirming it as a male Lulworth Skipper.

This of course was one of the local targets we had for the day, so it was great to be able to get some clear views of both sexes.

As well as a bed of nettles in the sheltered spot there was plenty of bramble, with one or two flowers showing.  This Small White had found one and would keep coming back to the flower after flying off.

It was now almost mid morning and we continued the walk back to the main part of the country park.  Every so often Kittiwake could be seen offshore, their two tone grey upper parts and black tips to the wings standing out against the deep blue of the sea.  Numbers of these lovely gulls has reduced here over the years.  Once upon a time they bred on the cliffs and could be heard calling their name, but sadly they no longer breed here.

Passing the lighthouse a male Kestrel glided past, just above the cliff, using the lift off the cliff face to its advantage.

The path climbs steeply from the base of the Tilly Whim caves and we picked up a Peregrine passing in similar style to the Kestrel, we made our way to the path that leads to the castle when another Peregrine appeared, this time creating panic amongst the auks on the cliff face.

It was the female and its attack was not successful and it dropped and flew away to the west along the cliffs.

But it hadn't given up and we watched as it flew past below us, hugging the cliff face for cover and accelerated into the colony once again, Rock Doves flew up and the Guillemots dropped into the sea, but again the attempt failed.  It was later seen flying high in the open in the direction of the Castle.

Below us the Guillemots seemed to be OK on the rock ledge.

A Grey Seal could be seen in the sea just off the rocks below us.

A lone Shag drying it's wings on the rocks at the base of the cliff.

Razorbill and Guillemot on the sea.

We had hoped for the opportunity to photograph Fulmar here, but there was none to be seen, in fact there was a reduction in the number of gulls seen on the cliffs. Maybe another victim of avian flu?

With no Fulmar we headed back to the car and lunch, after which we headed for the flower meadows.  The path took us through a small copse where dappled sunshine lit up the undergrowth, perfect for the Speckled Wood butterfly and one dutifully appeared for us.  I thought it would be interesting to take a different approach to photographing it.

We then came out into the flower meadows, at first meadows with Yellow Rattle that had gone over and more Flax, in amongst these and in distinct areas were groups of Common Spotted Orchids.

We finally found a meadow with Ox-eye Daisies and in amongst them was this Roe Deer.

The heat haze made it difficult to get a good image of the deer

Surprisingly there were very few butterflies about but we did manage a brief view of the first Meadow Brown of the year.  Another butterfly you would associate with these flower meadows in June was the Common Blue, here an immaculate specimen.

Looking across the Ox-eye Daisy meadow, with the chalk cliffs of the Needles on on the isle of Wight in the background.

More Ox-eye Daisies backed by the May blossom of the hawthorn bushes.

We decided to go back to the view point over the cliffs in the hope that the Fulmar were about.  There was a large raft of Guillemot below us with the odd Razorbill mixed in.

One Razorbill on its own.

A Guillemot flying up to the cliff ledge.

Then at last a Fulmar appeared and cruised the edge of the cliffs, at time passing too close for the camera and then too distant across the water.  Our position was not good as the Fulmar would jsut appear in front of us and then drop away

I found the best approach was to try and get the view head on as it approached alongside the cliff.

Time was now against us and the warm weather had pretty much put everything to sleep.  The early start was important and it allowed us to get all the targets for the day.  I think that for the orchids we are probably a week too early to see them at their best, but we were lucky to get some pristine examples.  

It was lovely to get the Puffins as this year I will not be going to some of the more guaranteed spots for them.  The Lulworth Skipper is always a good find for a species that has such a restricted range in this country.  All in all a very successful day.