Dorset Walks

Friday October 27th Langton Herring & Herbury Gore

Autumn migrants and micro-fossils Following on from our walk around Lodmoor we hope to see more waders here... if the tide's out.
From the Elm Tree we walk south towards Herbury Island, past the site of a planned nuclear power station in the '60s. The fields here are full of bits of Forest Marble rocks that contain plenty of tiny fossils from ancient sea beds. See Professor Ian West's site for a full account of the geology.	Segment from a Crinoid stalk
Herbury Gore	The bay between Herbury Island and the mainland is called Herbury Gore. Waders often flock here but it is very difficult to predict what the tide will be doing, so we'll just chance it. The wall visible in this photo was a 19th century attempt to reclaim the land for farming.
We'll walk along the coast looking for birds as we go. This is one of those places where you don't worry if there's nothing to see - you just wait until something flies past! This is also one of the few places where eels are still caught in traditional eel-traps.	Eel trap
The road back to the village takes us through fields that may hold some Red-legged Partridges and perhaps a few migrants such as Wheatears. Birds of prey often hunt in this area. We should see Kestrel and Buzzard and if we're lucky Hobby, Merlin or Hen Harrier.