Briantspuddle - Wed 8 Jun

A visit to a new location for me this afternoon as I left work and drove down to a site just south of Briantspuddle. Parking the car I walked out over an area of heathland surrounded by mixed woodland, and on a lovely afternoon it was a really pleasant afternoon.
On the heathland itself I saw a very smart male Stonechat and a couple of Yellowhammers.

In a patch of gorse I could hear a warbler singing and knew at once that it was a Dartford Warbler and within a minute or so I was watching male bird no more than eight feet away...brilliant stuff and a female bird was present too. Great to know that a few have survived the last two harsh winters.
I then entered the woodland and could hear my target bird, with at least one Turtle Dove purring away deep in the trees. As I continued my walk I entered a clearing and a Turtle Dove took off from in front of me and flew in to the trees.
On my return to the car I failed to see anything else that unusual, so I headed back towards home.