Special guest BBC Springwatch presenter Jack Baddams joined bird lovers at RSPB Arne for the sanctuary’s Dorset Bird festival to help mark its diamond anniversary.
Jack fell in love with the reserve over the two years that the BBC broadcast Springwatch and Winterwatch from the site, and was delighted to be asked to return to host some wildlife walks across Arne in Dorset.
Wildlife watchers near Shipstal Point at Arne take a break to admire the view
First arrival of wintering waders
Hundreds of visitors from across Purbeck and further afield, visited the reserve on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th October 2025 to enjoy the scenery and mark 60 years of work at Arne, which has seen it transform into one of the most nature rich sites in the country.
Other expert guests over the weekend included Sam Ryde from the Poole Harbour osprey project, Imogen Lloyd from Forestry England talking about the Isle of Wight white tailed eagle project, and Matt Phillips from construction company Kier giving an update on the Arne Moors project.
And even as Storm Amy swept across Purbeck, bringing with it wind gusts of up to 55 miles an hour, there was still plenty to see at the sanctuary.
Although summer’s wildlife, like nightjars, dragonflies, ospreys and all six species of British reptiles have largely disappeared from sight for the winter, plenty of other birds and animals are taking their place.
The start of autumn is bringing in the first arrivals of wintering waders, while there were also glimpses of kingfishers and some of the birds that Arne is famous for – including white tailed eagles and Dartford warblers.
Jack’s trusty binoculars came in handy as RSPB Arne came alive with winter wildlife
A Dartford Warbler, one of RSPB Arne’s biggest success stories
“To me, it’s a very exotic place”
Jack Baddams said:
“I love RSPB Arne. I was lucky enough to get to know it pretty well over the two years we did Springwatch and Winterwatch from here and to me, it’s a very exotic place, a huge southern heathland stacked with species that love the warmth like smooth snakes and sand lizards.
“But if that wasn’t enough, there’s a whole coastal habitat heaving with thousands of waders, waterfowl, ospreys and white tailed eagles.
“Although the summer migrants, birds like nightjars which Arne is fantastic for, have left to go to Africa we are now getting big numbers of birds coming from Scandinavia and other northern regions, coming here to escape the cold.
“As we are tipping into proper autumn, large number of wading birds and waterfowl have come to spend their winter here and you can see them in the lagoons around the harbour.”
White tailed eagles have made their home in Dorset, nesting and having chicks here for the first time in 2025
A green woodpecker, one of the woodland birds in Arne’s oak forests
“In the middle of a literal storm”
Jack added:
“On Saturday, we were birding in wind gusts of 55 miles an hour and still Arne delivered! We saw a kingfisher, Dartford warblers, and a really nice collection of wading birds, in what were really quite tricky conditions.
“There’s also some nice fungi to look at at this time of year, some carnivorous plants – sundews – out on the heath, and so even in the middle of a literal storm you can still find great things to see.
“A lot of the people who joined me on the walks were not expert birders and some were completely new to it, including some children – in fact, this morning it was one of the lads who spotted a white tailed sea eagle, the star bird of the weekend, so we were able to give him a round of applause!
“Eagles which were reintroduced to the Isle of Wight have now spread out across the south of England and because Purbeck is such an amazing habitat, they have successfully nested in Dorset for the first time this year and this area is now producing its own English born eagles!”
Wildlife rich ponds on the Arne reserve were originally craters left by German bombs in World War Two
Ladybird spiders were thought to be extinct in the UK until a few were found in Dorset; now there are three colonies at Arne
Arne was used as a decoy site
In World War Two, Arne was used as a decoy site to protect a munitions factory at Holton Heath and in one single raid, more than 200 bombs were dropped, destroying much of the peninsula and leaving huge bomb craters which today are wildlife rich ponds.
But when the RSPB took over Arne in 1965, from a number of landowners including the army, much of the landscape was covered in rhododendrons, an invasive shrub which strangles the growth of native heathland and woodland plants.
One of the first tasks on site involved teams of dedicated volunteers working tirelessly to remove acres of the shrub, to make space for important heathland plants such as gorse and heather to recover.
Walkers return from a guided trail during RSPB Arne’s Dorset Bird Festival
Heather and gorse bring autumnal colour to RSPB Arne’s heathland
Heathland one of the rarest habitats
Although once common across the UK, heathland is now one of the rarest habitats, having been converted into farmland, destroyed for housing, or used for forestry, and today very little of the original landscape remains in England.
But it is also an important habitat for wildlife including the Dartford warbler, an iconic little heathland bird which was down to just two pairs at Arne in 1965, with only around 10 pairs across the whole of England.
Since the UK’s largest wildlife charity took on the care of RSPB Arne, the Dartford warbler has made a gradual and impressive recovery, with a record breaking 97 pairs counted this year on the reserve.
Lesley Gorman, visitor operations manager at RSPB Arne, is looking forward to the reserve’s future
RSPB Arne looked very different when it was first taken over in the 1960s
Pull A Pine event is to return
Lesley Gorman, visitor operations manager at RSPB Arne, said:
“Arne has developed hugely over the years since the RSPB arrived in the 1960s, taking on more and more of the peninsula for conservation management.
“Our most recent acquisition, with funding from the National Lottery, was Hyde’s Heath, where we were able to start clearing pine and restoring heathland.
“That’s where we will have our big Pull A Pine event over the last weekend of November this winter in 2025 – it has become a traditional family fixture on the local calendar, but it missed a year in 2024.
“Lowland heathland is one of the rarest habitats in the country, and it is really important that we look after it.
“We do love pines, but not on the heathland, so part of the event is getting as many people as possible to come along, and learn about heathland at the same time as choosing their Christmas tree and taking it away.
“We will be clearing quite a large area of Hyde’s Heath, cutting pines at the base so they don’t regenerate.
“If they were allowed to grow unchecked, they would quickly shade out heather and gorse, and key species which need the heathland vegetation like sand lizards, smooth snakes and larks, would have nowhere to go.”
Pied avocets and oystercatchers are among many species of winter birds flocking to RSPB Arne
One of Arne’s most popular trails is a favourite haunt of dumbledores – the Dorset name for bumblebees
“It is just magical!”
Lesley added:
“Looking to the future, we have the Arne Moors project set to open in spring 2027 – it has been part of the reserve for a long time, just not open to the public, so once it is finished, there will be another wildlife trail which will be very exciting.
“Arne is a fantastic place, a lot of people here this weekend have travelled quite a distance to be with us – we say visit us once and you will fall in love with it.
“It is so rich in amazing wildlife, with beautiful views, and is part of the Purbeck Heaths national nature reserve, part of a wider landscape conservation, which is what makes it so special.
“On a sunny morning in autumn, driving down Arne Road there are pockets of mist, some of the heather is still purple, dew is hanging off the cobwebs on the gorse – it is just magical!”
An aerial view of RSPB Arne shows the extent of the reserve – currently the size of nearly 900 football pitches
Further information
- More about RSPB Arne
