The rain today downed a nice selection of waders at Lytchett Fields including the autumns first Little Stint, along with 1 Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Ruff, 10 Ringed Plover, 9 Dunlin, 1 Common Snipe, 9 Greenshank, 1 Spotted Redshank, 3 Green Sandpiper, c50 Black-tailed Godwit, c80 Common Redshank, 6 Lapwing, 1 Curlew and 1 Oystercatcher, along with c100 Teal and 52 Yellow Wagtail this morning! Around Poole there were c15 Turnstone, 2 Ringed Plover at Baiter and lots of Swallow feeding over the playing field and in Holes Bay NE the Wigeon count went up to 38 with 1 Common Sandpiper there too, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, c100 Black-tailed Godwit and c50 Redshank. There were 23 Spoonbill at Arne with another 3 on Brownsea and 1 in Middlebere. Along the track at Middlebere were Common Whitethroat, Wheatear and several Blackcap. The Knepp White Stork was still at Sunnyside and the Holton Lee Little Owl was active at dawn.

A calm day out in the Harbour today with 8mph winds and 19°C highs. Brownsea Lagoon recorded  12 Spoonbill, 2 Curlew Sandpiper, a Whimbrel, 4 Sanderling, 2 Knot, 4 Sandwich Tern, 1 Common Sandpiper, 4 Dunlin, c40 Redshank, 1 Avocet, unusually on its own, 3 Greenshank and a Water Rail was heard calling. On the heath on Brownsea there was 1 Pied Flycatcher, 14+ Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Redstart, 8 Blackcap, 3 Whitethroat, 15 Chiffchaff and 6 Willow Warbler.

The White Stork was been seen again at Sunnyside Scrape along with 3 Wheatear, a Willow Warbler, a Chiffchaff, a Spotted Flycatcher and Gadwall. Over at Holten Lee, unusually, a Canary was photographed but an adult.Osprey flew over mid morning with a big Mullet.

Several Osprey sightings today with an individual spotted eating a fish near Salterns Marina and another, likely to be a juvenile practicing fishing, was seen over the Wareham Channel. Another sighting was of an individual at the East lake on Brownsea and then drifting towards the Brownsea Lagoon and a forth record came in from Swineham with an unringed individual flying over the Gavel Pits towards the Channel. Also seen at Swineham were 2 Hobby, 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Snipe, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Yellowhammer, 4 Blackcap and Reed Bunting.

Holes Bay recorded 33 Curlew near Peregrins Island, c1000 Black–tailed Godwit and a Kingfisher.

A calm day out in the Harbour today with 8mph winds and 19°C highs. Brownsea Lagoon recorded  12 Spoonbill, 2 Curlew Sandpiper, a Whimbrel, 4 Sanderling, 2 Knot, 4 Sandwich Tern, 1 Common Sandpiper, 4 Dunlin, c40 Redshank, 1 Avocet, unusually on its own, 3 Greenshank and a Water Rail was heard calling. On the heath on Brownsea there was 1 Pied Flycatcher, 14+ Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Redstart, 8 Blackcap, 3 Whitethroat, 15 Chiffchaff and 6 Willow Warbler.

The White Stork was been seen again at Sunnyside Scrape along with 3 Wheatear, a Willow Warbler, a Chiffchaff, a Spotted Flycatcher and Gadwall. Over at Holten Lee, unusually, a Canary was photographed but an adult.Osprey flew over mid morning with a big Mullet.

Several Osprey sightings today with an individual spotted eating a fish near Salterns Marina and another, likely to be a juvenile practicing fishing, was seen over the Wareham Channel. Another sighting was of an individual at the East lake on Brownsea and then drifting towards the Brownsea Lagoon and a forth record came in from Swineham with an unringed individual flying over the Gavel Pits towards the Channel. Also seen at Swineham were 2 Hobby, 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Snipe, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Yellowhammer, 4 Blackcap and Reed Bunting.

Holes Bay recorded 33 Curlew near Peregrins Island, c1000 Black–tailed Godwit and a Kingfisher.

The rain today downed a nice selection of waders at Lytchett Fields including the autumns first Little Stint, along with 1 Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Ruff, 10 Ringed Plover, 9 Dunlin, 1 Common Snipe, 9 Greenshank, 1 Spotted Redshank, 3 Green Sandpiper, c50 Black-tailed Godwit, c80 Common Redshank, 6 Lapwing, 1 Curlew and 1 Oystercatcher, along with c100 Teal and 52 Yellow Wagtail this morning! Around Poole there were c15 Turnstone, 2 Ringed Plover at Baiter and lots of Swallow feeding over the playing field and in Holes Bay NE the Wigeon count went up to 38 with 1 Common Sandpiper there too, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, c100 Black-tailed Godwit and c50 Redshank. There were 23 Spoonbill at Arne with another 3 on Brownsea and 1 in Middlebere. Along the track at Middlebere were Common Whitethroat, Wheatear and several Blackcap. The Knepp White Stork was still at Sunnyside and the Holton Lee Little Owl was active at dawn.

The colour-ringed White Stork was still present on Sunnyside today. Few other birds are frequenting the scrape and a fox was observed prowling around early morning. Low wader numbers were observed at Lytchett Fields this morning despite the favourable water levels. Singles of Ruff, Spotted Redshank, Bar-tailed Godwit and Common Sandpiper were all recorded along with 11 Greenshank, 4 Green Sandpiper, 32 Redshank, 2 Spoonbill, 2 Yellow Wagtail and c200 Teal.

Middlebere featured the first returning Pintail for the winter. A total of 3 eclipse males were logged together with 13 Spoonbill, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Green Sandpiper, 1 Avocet, 18 Yellow Wagtail. A grilling of Holes Bay this afternoon produced 11 adult Yellow-legged Gulls at Holes Bay, mostly loafing on the rooftops by Kerry Foods. A reasonable selection of passage passerines were observed at Hartland Moor including 3 Common Whitethroat, 4 Willow Warbler, 10+ Chiffchaff, 10+ Blackcap and singles of Lesser Whitethroat, Redstart and Wheatear.

Ruff – Lytchett Bay – Ian Ballam

The colour-ringed White Stork was still present on Sunnyside today. Few other birds are frequenting the scrape and a fox was observed prowling around early morning. Low wader numbers were observed at Lytchett Fields this morning despite the favourable water levels. Singles of Ruff, Spotted Redshank, Bar-tailed Godwit and Common Sandpiper were all recorded along with 11 Greenshank, 4 Green Sandpiper, 32 Redshank, 2 Spoonbill, 2 Yellow Wagtail and c200 Teal.

Middlebere featured the first returning Pintail for the winter. A total of 3 eclipse males were logged together with 13 Spoonbill, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Green Sandpiper, 1 Avocet, 18 Yellow Wagtail. A grilling of Holes Bay this afternoon produced 11 adult Yellow-legged Gulls at Holes Bay, mostly loafing on the rooftops by Kerry Foods. A reasonable selection of passage passerines were observed at Hartland Moor including 3 Common Whitethroat, 4 Willow Warbler, 10+ Chiffchaff, 10+ Blackcap and singles of Lesser Whitethroat, Redstart and Wheatear.

Ruff – Lytchett Bay – Ian Ballam

A windy start to the day has seen gusts of 19mph and a high of just 18°C. Over at Sunnyside Scrape a White Stork was strutting about, which is one of the recently released birds from the Knepp Estate translocation project. Also there was a Hobby which took a meadow pipit on the ground and several Yellow Wagtail overhead. At Lytchett Fields a Wryneck was seen a couple of times briefly on the approach track down to the viewpoints, but darted into cover both times and couldn’t be relocted. Out on the fields were 1 Ruff, 1 Spotted Redshank, 1 Common Sandpiper and the usual spread of commoner waders. A Hobby was chasing a lone Swallow over Wareham Town Centre this AM and 3 Marsh Harrier including the really dark juvenile left the West harbour roost and a fourth flew over at dawn. 

Sightings were limited on Brownsea with just 4 Black–tailed Godwit and large numbers of Oystercatcher but an Osprey did fly over.  Bog Lane/ Frome Flood fields logged a collection of 13 Lapwing and a pair of Buzzard. A Marsh Harrier was seen cruising at Middlebere, along with a Green Sandpiper. Little Egret and Spotted Redshank were recorded at Holten Pools and at Baiter Park; c30 Ringed Plover, 2 Dunlin, c30 Turnstone, 2 Wheatear (1 juv), 4 Meadow Pipit and a Sandwich Tern. Finally Holes Bay recorded 27 Wigeon and a Wheatear. 

Finally, some sad, but great news….ALL OUR OSPREY CHICKS HAVE LEFT! We received a final signal at 9:15am yesterday morning from chick 019, and by 11:30am there was no signal at all, meaning that the final six left yesterday morning. We’ll write a full 2019 overview in due course but to know they’ve now all left (apart from poor 025 which was predated by a Fox just days, maybe even hours before leaving on migration), and are all heading south for their first winter in Africa is such a great feeling and we really can’t now wait until spring 2020 to see what exciting updates follow.

White Stork – Sunnyside Farm – Nick Mudge

A windy start to the day has seen gusts of 19mph and a high of just 18°C. Over at Sunnyside Scrape a White Stork was strutting about, which is one of the recently released birds from the Knepp Estate translocation project. Also there was a Hobby which took a meadow pipit on the ground and several Yellow Wagtail overhead. At Lytchett Fields a Wryneck was seen a couple of times briefly on the approach track down to the viewpoints, but darted into cover both times and couldn’t be relocted. Out on the fields were 1 Ruff, 1 Spotted Redshank, 1 Common Sandpiper and the usual spread of commoner waders. A Hobby was chasing a lone Swallow over Wareham Town Centre this AM and 3 Marsh Harrier including the really dark juvenile left the West harbour roost and a fourth flew over at dawn.

Sightings were limited on Brownsea with just 4 Black–tailed Godwit and large numbers of Oystercatcher but an Osprey did fly over.  Bog Lane/ Frome Flood fields logged a collection of 13 Lapwing and a pair of Buzzard. A Marsh Harrier was seen cruising at Middlebere, along with a Green Sandpiper. Little Egret and Spotted Redshank were recorded at Holten Pools and at Baiter Park; c30 Ringed Plover, 2 Dunlin, c30 Turnstone, 2 Wheatear (1 juv), 4 Meadow Pipit and a Sandwich Tern. Finally Holes Bay recorded 27 Wigeon and a Wheatear. 

Finally, some sad, but great news……ALL OUR OSPREY CHICKS HAVE LEFT! We received a final signal at 9:15am yesterday morning from chick 019, and by 11:30am there was no signal at all, meaning that the final six left yesterday morning. We’ll write a full 2019 overview in due course but to know they’ve now all left (apart from poor 025 which was predated by a Fox just days, maybe even hours before leaving on migration), and are all heading south for their first winter in Africa is such a great feeling and we really can’t now wait until spring 2020 to see what exciting updates follow.

White Stork – Sunnyside Farm – Nick Mudge

A Cattle Egret spent the day sulking about the River Frome Flood Fields, Wareham accompanied by 13 Lapwing (4 immatures). A White Stork drifted south-west over Corfe Castle late-afternoon. Middlebere featured c40 Yellow Wagtail and a modest selection of waders totalling 1 Greenshank, 2 Whimbrel, 2 Green Sandpiper and 1 Hobby.

A similar wader assemblage from yesterday was on show at Lytchett Fields today with highlights of 3 Curlew Sandpiper, 5 Knot and 3 Ringed Plover. A stunning dark form Marsh Harrier was also quartering the fields this morning, observed at Middlebere yesterday. Sunnyside also picked up a Marsh Harrier and a pair of Wheatear.

A Cattle Egret spent the day sulking about the River Frome Flood Fields, Wareham accompanied by 13 Lapwing (4 immatures). A White Stork drifted south-west over Corfe Castle late-afternoon. Middlebere featured c40 Yellow Wagtail and a modest selection of waders totalling 1 Greenshank, 2 Whimbrel, 2 Green Sandpiper and 1 Hobby.

A similar wader assemblage from yesterday was on show at Lytchett Fields today with highlights of 3 Curlew Sandpiper, 5 Knot and 3 Ringed Plover. A stunning dark form Marsh Harrier was also quartering the fields this morning, observed at Middlebere yesterday. Sunnyside also picked up a Marsh Harrier and a pair of Wheatear.