1st June 2026 – Middlebere Peninsula and RSPB Arne, Dorset

This morning we explored the Middlebere Peninsula just south of RSPB Arne. Rain was forecast throughout the day. It didn’t materialise until the afternoon but the light was not good. From the avocet hide we could see an osprey on a nest. On the estuary there were shelduck, black-headed gulls, several little egrets and a few common redshank but everything was rather distant and didn’t make for good photos in the poor light. My best opportunities were near some National Trust cottages where there was a pied wagtail and some barn swallows.

We had an early lunch at the visitors’ centre at RSPB Arne and then explored the Shoreline trail but the rain set in and, apart from a song thrush, a blackbird, geese and oystercatchers, there wasn’t a lot to photograph.