There were a couple of firsts today including a Hobby, which was seen whizzing over Stoborough Heath late afternoon. Other raptors included 5 Marsh Harrier now present in the west of the harbour again and the long staying Hen Harrier that’s now been present in the harbour for 7 months! The other first was a Tree Pipit that passed over Challow Hill, Corfe where a Redstart, 3 Dartford Warbler, 2 Blackcap, c10 Chiffchaff, 4 Stonechat, 5 Yellowhammer and a Swallow were present. At Lytchett Bay  there was 4 Spoonbill, 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Green Sandpiper, 1 Spotted Redshank, and 1 Redstart.

There was perhaps evidence of a small fall of migrants around the harbour with both Willow Warbler and Blackcap appearing in a number of places. At Lytchett Bay there was still 1 Ruff and a Wheatear. Bizarrely, one of the Middlebere Barn Owls was out hunting late morning in the bright sunshine and there were 2 Red-legged Partridge up on Hartland.

Last nights recording session was pretty quite with a single Song Thrush, 1 Moorhen, my local vocal Tawny Owl and this interesting Water Rail call, which Nick Hopper has kindly informed me is the beginning part of a female song. Why it would be choosing to do this over my house at 1am is another story.

Water Rail – beginning part of female song – Lytchett Matravers

Lytchett Bay was quite productive again today with 3 Little Ringed Plover and 1 Ruff out on Lytchett Fields and 7 Greenshank and 5 Spoonbill out in the bay. There was also 2 Wheatear, at least 8 Willow Warbler and 1 Sand Martin. At North Haven a Yellow Wagtail flew in off the sea as did 8 Swallow and 3 Sand Martin, also 1 Green Sandpiper, 4 Willow Warbler and a Pheasant (rare here) were present. A Ring-necked Parakeet was in Wareham and late news from yesterday of an Osprey at Arne and 2 Yellow Wagtail at Slough Lane, Lytchett Bay. A Cuckoo was near Studland village

A continuation of my night recordings in Lytchett Matravers produced a nice surprise when a Ring Ouzel passed over around 11:30pm last night, which is both surprising and unsurprising in as much that I’ve never had one in Lytchett before, but considering the amount that are entering the UK at the moment it fits quite well. I also managed to record a prolonged flight call of another Shelduck, which passed over around 1:00am.

Ring Ouzel – Single ‘tock’ flight call of a night migrant – Lytchett Matravers

Shelduck – Prolonged flight call of a night migrant

Another stunning spring day started off a bit grey and murky, but produced one of my favourite spring migrants, a Ring Ouzel. It was up on top of the ridge at Challow Hill, Corfe and quite happily sat in a bush whilst I photographed and filmed it. There were a number of other migrants present including 2 Willow Warbler, 2 Blackcap, c10 Chiffchaff, c10 Swallow and 2 Stonechat as well as a bit of vis-mig too as Chaffinch, Linnet, Siskin and Meadow Pipit were all passing in small numbers overhead.

Ring Ouzel – Challow Hill – Corfe Castle

To watch in HD press the play icon and hover the curser over the cog shaped symbol and click on 1080.

I have also been sent some interesting photos that shows a pair of Avocet mating on Brownsea Island at the weekend, which I also witnessed on the Brownsea webcam today too. Now, this doesn’t mean they’re necessarily going to stay to raise young, as there is still time for them to depart back to a breeding ground elsewhere, however the courting behaviour seems faithful to one particular area, looking as if they could be setting up a territory. We’ll be keeping a close eye on things as this would be the first Avocet nesting attempt in Poole Harbour since 2006.

p.s Yesterdays mystery sound was a Shelduck.

Another fine spring day Willow Warblers heard at Lytchett Bay and Soldiers Road. Also at Lytchett Bay today an Osprey passed overhead, a Red-legged Partridge was present (very rare here, last record 2008), 1-2 Ruff, 2 Spotted Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 2 Green Sandpiper, c200 Teal, 2 Marsh Harrier and 1 Swallow. A Red Kite drifted over Wareham late afternoon and another was over Canford Heath.

More night recording sessions from my Lytchett Matravers garden over the last few nights has added some nice additions to my garden list including Gadwall, Teal and Snipe, as well as a third Moorhen, a rather disruptive Pheasant and a sleep talking Dunnock.  These recording sessions provide a fascinating insight into what’s going on over our houses when we’re all tucked up in bed. Last night I got another garden tick too…try and see if you can figure out what this is…recorded at 1:30am!

Shelduck – Migrating over Lytchett Matravers 06/04/15

A nice mixture of birds today with what was the springs first ‘proper’ fall of migrants. An Osprey drifted over the Arne car park late afternoon, and 2 Spoonbill were in Middlebere. At Lytchett Fields there were 2 (possibly 3) Little Ringed Plover, 1 Greenshank, 1 Spotted Redshank, 5 Gadwall, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 singing Blackcap and still around 200 Teal. At Studland there were 11 Wheatear at Greenlands and 4 at South Haven, 5 Swallow through north and 2 Willow Warbler. Up on Old Harry there was 10 Wheatear, 7 Willow Warbler, 1 Blackcap, 10 Swallow, 3 Sand Martin, 1 House Martin and a Red Kite.

Today we hopefully saw the last of that chilly northerly wind…well, for a little while at least. It all but killed off any passage with only a tiny handful of Swallow, Sand Martin and House Martin being reported from Swineham, Lytchett Fields and Studland. A Serin found singing in Corfe was undoubtedly todays highlight, but was only seen by the lucky finder. Whether this was a quick migrant stopping off or a possible loiterer we don’t know but I assume someone will be checking in the milder weather tomorrow. On Brownsea there were 4 Spotted Redshank, 1 Spoonbill, 3 Greenshank, 6 Knot, 13 Grey Plover, 400 Black-tailed Godwit, 40 Bar-tailed Godwit, 72 Med Gulls, 22 Sandwich Tern and 6 Avocet.  The Great Grey Shrike was again on Godlingston.

I also had another Water Rail migrating over my garden last night (two in two nights), this time producing a clearer, slightly louder call.

Second Water Rail – Flight call of a night time migrant – Lytchett Matravers

Firstly, I’d like to thank everyone who entered our competition that was set at the beginning of the week, many of you entered and a good range of species were guessed, but in the end, after todays random draw we’re pleased to announce that the winner is John Keates from Poole who correctly guessed Black-headed Gull, Med Gull, Shelduck, Turnstone and Black-tailed Godwit.

Spring stepped up a notch today with an obvious movement of migrants. This included a large movement of Meadow Pipits right across the county with groups ranging in size from 2-20 as they passed overhead. At Lytchett Fields today there was another Little Ringed Plover plus 3 Spoonbill, 4 Gadwall, 2 Greenshank and 12 Pied Wagtail were present. At Studland a few Sand Martin came in off the sea as did a single Swallow and the Great Grey Shrike was still at Godlingston.

After analysing some more garden night time recordings, I was thrilled to discover (thanks to some help from Magnus Robb at the Sound Approach) that a sound that I originally thought was a Barn Owl was in fact a Water Rail flying over. Interestingly this call came less than an hour after the Moorhen call in the same night, so maybe there was a small concentrated movement of rails/crakes that night in the area…who knows???

Water Rail – Flight calls of a night time migrant – Lytchett Matravers

A few more summer migrants arrived into the UK today with both Reed and Sedge Warbler, Yellow Wagtail and a handful of Willow Warbler all recorded. Still pretty tough going locally, but I think that’s mainly down to a lack of coverage rather than no birds.

I continued my night-time recording efforts last night and was thrilled to get a garden tick when a Moorhen passed right over my garden at 3am. This is pretty incredible considering I live in rural Lytchett with no body of water for a few miles. In the recording you can hear the bird approach, then pass right overhead and then move on again.

Moorhen – Flight calls of a nocturnal migrant