A Visit to Brownsea Island

Visiting Brownsea island in Poole Harbour for my birthday is becoming something of a tradition. despite my birthday being in the middle of October, I usually get good weather and this year was certainly no exception.

The drive to Poole is always a bit of a chore - the distance makes it right of the edge of what we can do for a single day trip.

We arrived in time for the noon ferry crossing from Poole Quay, and had a bit of lunch in the excellent cafe before we set off around the island. Initially, family groups with small children making loads of noise kept the squirrel sightings quite fleeting.



We walked up to the south side of the island first, passed the church where a Pea Hen was fussing over a couple of chicks...



Then up to the cliff overlooking the Sandbanks ferry.



My first shot of a Red Squirrel for the day - he was really moving fast across a path.



Then he stopped a couple of feet up a tree.



Futher along the south shore we came across a young Sika Deer, who seemed completely oblivious to the cameras. I'm sure loads of people will have taken excellent photos.

 



Later in the afternoon the light changed and the paths got a little quieter, and that's when the squirrels really came out.







We managed to get on a ferry before the last one for a change, so got a tour of Poole harbour on the way back to the quay.



Happy birthday to me!

British Wildlife Centre

It was our Anniversary on the 1st May - 13 years, yay us!

We decided to take a trip to the British Wildlife Centre, which is quite local for us, and with a relatively early start and it being just 15 minutes away, we were there in time for the Red Squirrel talk.



This guy seemed very tame, and happily ran around the hand rails of the Copse - a large open space that the Squirrels have free run of.

We then grabbed a bit of breakfast from the coffee shop and then had a walk around. We spent a little while in the wetland boardwalk in the hope of seeing a Water Vole, bit no luck this time - we did see the signs, flat reeds near the bank and nibbled grass.

We saw the Otters being fed - always a joy.



Then we had a special treat - one of the Wildcats has had kittens, and we happened to see her with them.



I've always been a fan of the Scottish Wildcats, but they can be quite tricky to get a good picture of.



On the way out we had another walk around the Copse, and where really lucky as a three Red Squirrel kittens came out of the nest box to play - again, tricky to get good shots through the wire of the fence, but a couple I'm pleased with.







Walking back through the Hedgerow we saw a Mole!