23rd April 2006
Durlston cliffs are part of an extensive country park just outside Swanage. The area is well provided with paths and has a good mix of habitats, which attract numerous migrants. This trip appeared in the programme as an overnight stay followed by an early start but most of the people who came prefer to make it a day trip, and so it became a day trip. I had not been to the area for about 10 years, so I had intended to do a reconnaissance visit to refresh my memory, but that didn’t happen. Consequently, we took a slightly roundabout route from Durlston Country Park car park to the auk colony at Tilly Whin caves. The sea below the cliffs was dotted with birds, which all seemed to be guillemots and shags, but a careful hunt revealed a small number of razorbills. The profile of the cliff path makes it quite difficult to view the nesting ledges so we had to lean out and crane our necks to see under the overhang, where nesting groups of guillemots could just be seen. There were no kittiwakes and fewer auks than 10 years ago but maybe they were still returning from their winter quarters. Out at sea gannets passed regularly in small groups, all going west to east, while a good number of fulmars circled close to the cliffs, where I think they were nesting (but we could not see past the overhang). Inshore movement on the sea included the odd whimbrel and a flock of 20 or so common scoters, all going eastwards.
While we were enjoying the seabirds, a peregrine flew along the cliff face and landed nearby allowing us to see it well before it flew again and drifted off and out of sight. A few minutes later it reappeared coming very fast off the sea in an unsuccessful attempt to surprise a rock dove. This is the only place where (on a previous visit) I have see a peregrine make a kill, using exactly the same tactic. On that occasion it missed its intended target (a kittiwake) and hit a herring gull, killing it, but then dropping it because it was too heavy.
We spent some time searching for passerine migrants but there were pitifully few. We found one wheatear on the cliff top and heard, but could not see, a lesser whitethroat in the scrub. The best we managed to find were some perfectly dressed male yellowhammers that let us get quite close.
After lunch we travelled the short distance to the RSPB reserve at Arne, near Wareham. The morning’s drizzly weather had improved and it had become quite warm, though still overcast. The reserve is organised with two circular walks from the centre, one to the northeast and the other to the southeast. We chose the northeast because it offered more a mix of vegetation than the southeast, which is largely heath. We found a selection of woodland birds, but nothing unusual, plus a few estuary species on the west edge of Poole harbour, of which whimbrel was the most interesting. Back at the car park, on of the group saw a marsh tit that eluded the rest of us but the local lesser spotted woodpecker failed to appear. The best entertainment there came from watching a squirrel take nuts from the bird feeder no more that 3 feet from a tethered collie dog which was clearly not amused by its cheek.
This was a very pleasant day out although didn’t turn out as exciting (ornithologically) as I had hoped - it just wasn’t a ‘migration’ day. This is a very scenic and pleasant area, and the mixture of the cliff/scrub at Durlston with the woodland, farmland and marsh at Arne provides a lot to explore. It is an easy journey of about 2 hours from the Reading area and both reserves have good facilities. I do recommend that members who could not come should try this trip, with an overnight stop in Swanage as an option.