Firstly, a round up of our night recording session from our listening station in Old Town Poole on Friday where quite a bit of stuff was on the move. Most interesting was a series of 56 passerine calls between 1am and 3am which we think could have been Spotted Flycatcher, which fits with the fact there was quite a fall yesterday along the west coat of Britain. Out of the 56 calls, most were very similar, but there were others that were starkly different, so what they were is currently any ones guess. Also recorded were 4 Dunlin, 1 Turnstone, 6 Common Sandpiper, 3 Whimbrel, 3 Ringed Plover, 4 Oystercatcher, 1 Coot and 3 Tree Pipit. At Lytchett Fields the Ruff remained on Sherford Pools and an Osprey flew over whilst around 10am 3 Red Kite drifted over to the west above the Bakers Arms. From Slepe Heath, 2 Hobby were hunting over Arne Moors and a Cuckoo was on top of the Slepe Heath Ridge with 2 Tree Pipit singing on a nearby heath. There was a late Dark-bellied Brent Goose (presumed injured or ill) off Fitzworth with 7 Bar-tailed Godwit, 6 Whimbrel and a Yellow Wagtail over. According to a surveyor there are a number of Nightjar back on the private Rempstone Site, meaning places like Arne and Slepe should be getting busy with the species soon too. At South Haven a Guillemot and 2 Razorbill were out in the Bay, but best was a Little Tern out fishing with Common and Sandwich Terns. Frustratingly a Black-winged Stilt was reported flying over Morden Bog from the harbour direction meaning it could have been in the harbour somewhere, or at the very least flown over it! 

Ruff – Lytchett Fields – Paul Morton

Black Redstart – Lytchett Bay (yesterday) – Clive Hargrave

Dunlin – Calls of a passing night migrant – Old Town Poole Listening Station

There was again a nice spread of birds across the harbour today with the highlight being a Honey Buzzard that drifted over Lytchett Fields late afternoon. The quality was already in force at Lytchett Bay when a cracking male Black Redstart was on the Turlin side and 2 Little Tern were out feeding in the Bay. There were also 4 Spotted Flycatcher around the site along with 1 Ruff, 4 Bar-tailed Godwit, 201 Black-tailed Godwit, 53 Dunlin, 5 Greenshank, 7 Whimbrel, 8 Ringed Plover, 4 Redshank, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Grey Plover, 1 Whinchat, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Sedge Warbler and 1 Yellow Wagtail. At Arne a flock of 13 Grey Plover, 10 of which were in full summer plumage was quite a sight with a cracking male Whinchat. In the Wareham Channel 2 Little Tern were feeding (assumed to be the 2 at Lytchett Bay later), also 3 Marsh Harrier and the long staying Hen Harrier. Up on Ballard a Red Kite headed over towards Swanage and a Grasshopper Warbler was reeling. A Hobby and a Peregrine were over the Arne Road. There was also an Osprey seen at Morden Bog by birders watching the Red-footed Falcon. The Osprey was carrying a flatfish, so it was almost certainly fishing in the harbour so well worth keeping an eye out.

Little Tern – Lytchett Bay – Ian Ballam

Yellow Wagtail – Lytchett Bay – Ian Ballm

Grey Plover – Arne RSP Reserve – Paul Morton

The good run of waders continued today with a nice flurry at Lytchett Fields where a flock of 22 Greenshank were present out in the Bay on the low tide, the largest spring gathering of this species. Also out on the fields was the harbours first Ruff with 12 Bar-tailed Godwit, 7 Ringed Plover, 17 Whimbrel, 3 Avocet, 7 Dunlin, 200+ Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Redshank and a Curlew. Non-wader species from around Lytchett Fields consisted of 1 Cuckoo, 1 Garden Warbler, 3 Sedge Warbler, 2 Yellow Wagtail and a Swift.

With the arrival of a Red-footed Falcon in Wareham Forest today, and the next week seeing constant ESE winds its worth keeping an eye out for scarcer species such as Shrikes, Storks, scarcer wader species, Terns etc. It was around this time last year that Poole Harbours 9^th Red-footed Falcon arrived on Wareham Water Meadows and the harbours 4^th White-winged Black Tern arrived at Swineham GP. Today at Lytchett Bay there was a Cuckoo over near Otter Island, on the Holton Lee side, also 3 Garden Warbler around the Lytchett Fields with 1 Whitethroat, 1 Sedge Warbler, 18 Whimbrel, 1 Lapwing, 2 Greenshank and 2 displaying Redshank. At the PCW Drain there was 2 Sedge Warbler, 2 Garden Warbler and 1 Lesser Whitethroat. At Arne a Nightjar was heard singing briefly and a Cuckoo was on the Coombe Heath side. At Challow Hill a Lesser Whitethroat was singing with a rather subdued Nightingale, 10+ Common Whitethroat, 5 Yellowhammer and 4 Swift over. In the Middlebere Channel there were a minimum of 10 Whimbrel and a single Ringed Plover and 11 Dunlin. And finally, quite amazingly the ringtail Hen Harrier is STILL here. According to records over a 40 year period there has never been such a long staying ‘over-wintering’ Hen Harrier here in Dorset or anywhere else for that matter. 

With the wind swinging east over the next couple of days we could potentially start seeing a few interesting species show up. On Brownsea the wader selection is still pretty meager but there were 2 remaining Avocet with 2 Ringed Plover, 4 Greenshank, 65 Dunlin 3 Knot and 4 Brent Geese. The Yellow-legged Gulls on Brownsea have also hatched chicks and 2 Firecrest were showing well in Venetia Park on the island. Sandwich Terns are now nesting on the lagoon and Common Tern numbers or are rising slowly. At Lytchett Fields there were 35 Whimbrel, 5 Bar-tailed Godwit, 4 Dunlin and a Greenshank with 2 Whinchat, 3 White Wagtail, 3 Sedge Warbler, 1 Garden Warbler and a Lesser Whitethroat on territory. On the River Frome at the ‘Red Foot’ bridge there were singles of Cuckoo and Whimbrel. At the PCW drain 3 Sedge Warbler were singing. There were 2 Little Tern off Baiter. A night recording session from the previous night produced the listening stations first Tree Pipit of the year. 

Tree Pipit – Call of a night time migrant – Old Town Poole Listening Station

Yellow Wagtail – Lytchett Fileds – Paul Morton

Whinchat – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

The grotty weather certainly helped things along today, especially the arrival of waders. Lytchett Fields and Lytchett Bay combined saw a great selection of waders with 236 Dunlin (the biggest ever spring movement of this species at this site), also the sites only 3^rd ever record of Sanderling. Also recorded were 9 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Grey Plover, 8 Ringed Plover, 28 Whimbrel, 4 Greenshank, 100+ Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Common Tern, 1 Yellow Wagtail and good numbers of Hirundines feeding over the pools. Swineham GP hosted a 1^st summer Little Gull which was hawking over the main pit during the morning, also present were 3 Whimbrel, 1 Marsh Harrier, 20+ Swift over the main pit, 4 Sedge Warbler just 2 Reed Warbler, big numbers of Sand Martin and House Martin and Swallow to a lesser extent and Lapwing were displaying over on the Keysworth estate. 

Little Gull – Swineham GP – Peter Moore

Swift – Swineham GP – Peter Moore

Dunlin – Swineham GP – Peter Moore

Where the heck did April go? It only seems like yesterday that we were welcoming new arrivals and now most are back on breeding territories and spring migration will be over for another year! Still, May is still an excellent month with a lot of potential for nice birds to arrive. The second day of the bank holiday weekend was relatively quiet with a few migrants still dropping in. At Greenland’s Farm there was singles of Whimbrel and Lesser Whitethroat plus 2 Common Whitethroat and 10 Wheatear. In Brands Bay a late Great Northern Diver is still present with 7 Whimbrel, 4 Curlew, 84 Black-tailed Godwit 10 Dunlin and 2 Common Tern. At Lytchett Bay there were 11 species of wader recorded with highlights being the first Bar-tailed Godwit of the year, also 2 Avocet, 4 Greenshank and 37 Whimbrel. Also around Lytchett Fields was the sites first Garden Warbler, 2 Whitethroat and plenty of Hirundines. At the PCW Drain there was one each of Reed and Sedge Warbler. A night recording session from our listening station in Poole produced just a single Common Sandpiper, Whimbrel and several Oystercatcher.

 Common Sandpiper – Calls of a night time migrant – Old Town Poole Listening Station

Finally some warmth to the weather, which provided some nice coverage from around the harbour and a good range of birds seen. The Osprey still seems to be hanging around as it was seen heading up the Middlebere Channel mid afternoon with a huge flatfish. There were now 4 Little Tern in the Middlebere Channel too late afternoon. Up on Stoborough Heath a Hobby was struggling to find any form of dragonfly life to feed on, also there a Cuckoo, 2 Woodlark and 4 Dartford Warbler. At Lytchett Fields there were 2 Ringed Plover, 12 Dunlin, 3 Greenshank, 1 Lapwing and c50 Black-tailed Godwit with 3 Lesser Whitethroat 1 Willow Warbler and 1 Wheatear. At the PC World Drain 4 Garden Warbler were feeding with 15 Blackcap and 2 Whitethroat. Up on top of Hartland Moor 3 Wheatear and a Whinchat were in the Cattle Fields with 1 Swift and 1 Reed Warbler near by. 

Hobby – Stoborough Heath – Peter Moore

Garden Warbler – PC World Drain – Ian Ballam

Little Tern – Middlebere – Peter Moore

Nightingale – Challow Hill – Peter Moore