Brownsea island is a small island in Poole Harbour Dorset. it is only about a mile long and maybe half a mile wide. In total it is only about 500 Acres. It is the birth place of the Scouting and Guiding movement and regulary holds camps.The Island is now owned by the National trust, but half of it is a nature reserve managed by the Dorset Wildlife Trust. To reach the Island you have to catch a ferry either from Sandbanks or Poole Quay. We went from Poole and it takes about 20 minutes to make the crossing.
Brownsea is one of the few places in England where our Native Red Squirrel is surviving and autumn is a good time to visit as they are collecting the nuts. Squirrel walks take place twice a day in October. We arrived just in time to join the 11.30 Morning walk, but soon realised that our chances of getting photos with 20 other people around were not going to be good. So we lagged behind and then sat in the woods and waited, soon we were watching the squirrels and snapping away. They are smaller than the greys and well camouflaged in the autumn leaves. But it was thrilling to be able to sit and just watch them.
There are several trails on the National Trust part of the Island, but we decided to enter the Wildlife Trust part.it costs another £2 but there are several hides and you get wonderful views over the lagoon. The very enthusiastic staff were soon telling us about the birds. In the distance we could see Spoonbills, Herons and Cormorants. A litttle closer and there were Curlew, Bartailed Godwits, and Avocets. Some of the Birdwatchers with very fancy telescopes were soon showing us the different birds and helping us to identify them. We saw squirrels in several places, some late flying dragonflies and Butterflies feeding on the last of the flowering plants.
By the time we had walked the trail through the Wildlife trust, stopping at the hides along the way, it was nearly 4pm and time to catch the last ferry back to Poole. We had a quick visit to a copse where we had seen plenty of squirrels and they were still around if you just stayed quietly waiting and then it was time to go. So we know that there is still a lot we didn't see and hopefully we will go back.
The Island closes at the end of the month and is not open to the general public until Spring.
