Brownsea Island Day 1 and Half-Century, 2nd February 2018

In my 'Review of 2017,' I mentioned that there were a few commoner species missing from my garden bird list. By the end of 2017 I had reached 48 species for the garden, and 49 a few weeks ago. Jinx.

While addressing a long term injury, due to my hobby for cricket thus the title, I had a quick glance put the window before dusk on Friday and a bright green bird flew out from the neighbours' tree and into a bare tree some way off. Unfortunately it was way too far off for a 55-300mm lens so I only have mere record shots, but the Green Woodpecker was the 50th 'Garden Bird' for me, a pretty impressive list since it's an urban area in Surrey. With this in mind, who knows what other birds and animals are missed coming over. If more people in more urban areas were encouraged to look up when walking, or check their garden every few days for new species of both insects and birds, perhaps a greater array of wildlife would be found...

When given the opportunity to come with the National Trust ranger group on a trip to Brownsea Island - before meeting anyone - I couldn't resist. A chance to meet other nature people, in Dorset, in February, with my poor sea-birding list, would definitely be worth it. So we set off on Friday evening, arriving for an 8pm boat across to the island. When we arrived, I didn't need to be asked twice to be one of 5 to walk to the bunkhouse in the dark. Whilst in the 15 minute walk, 3 Tawny Owls and 2 Sika Deer were heard and seen respectively - I was given some interesting background about the deer while with the RSPB in October.* 

After settling into our weekend home and having some hot chocolate, we discussed the plans for the weekend. With rain and cold winds forecast for the Saturday, the chances of seeing anything good was low.  

woeful - but there's the 50th. 

*In Brief: the Sika Deer came from the Far East and a few were released onto the Arne Peninsula in the late 19th century. Although it was believed that they would stay on the mainland as a small population, they managed to swim to Brownsea Island, which is why there are populations in the Swanage area and Arne RSPB as well as the island. It's quite interesting that they managed to swim across the bay, and reach the island in numbers high enough to breed successfully and now have a rich population. Either way, a fascinating creature.