Being in lockdown (hate that phrase) means it’s rather tricky to carry much of our hoped for Osprey nest monitoring to log when different birds arrive back into the harbour. Luckily there are still a few people who are able to get out to local areas for their daily health walks, which resulted in another Lytchett Bay Osprey this evening, the third this spring already! Sadly, once again it didn’t hang around and we still wait for one to drop on to one of our Poole Harbour nest platforms. Luckily, despite the drop in monitoring efforts we still have three trigger cameras set up on three other nest platforms around the harbour, which work via the phone network, so every two hours we get photo updates of what’s been triggering the cameras. To date it’s mostly been wind and Carrion Crows but there’s always that moment of excitement when we get the updates.

Today the male Peregrine was on the Asda building feeding, but there was no sign of the female. Is she on eggs somewhere or has she given up on a hopeless lover?

We’re also just about to start updating our Poole Harbour list with additional info (historic and current), providing you with more about the birds you see (or may never see) out around the harbour, so be sure to click on our PH List link over the coming weeks.

Still images from the other nest cams we’re monitoring

Today’s icy blast was a shock to the system compared to last weeks very welcome warm spell. As seems common practice now, the day started off with….yep, you guessed it….a Red Kite, this one over Lytchett Bay again. A Black Redstart was in Somerby Road, Oakdale and in Holes Bay a 60 tardy Wigeon were lingering on and the Brownsea Lagoon was still busy with 2000+ Black-tailed Godwit, low numbers of Avocet and c10 early returning Sandwich Tern. The wind is due to ease off again by Tuesday meaning we can all get back to sky/garden watching again pretty soon, and with Swallows, House Martins and other passerines all arriving during April, we can carry on bolstering our lockdown garden lists.

It was also April 1^st 2019 when female Osprey CJ7 arrived back into the harbour and began showing real interest in Middlebere nest platform. She spent many days being active on that nest before another larger female came along at the end of April and booted her off before CJ7 then came back again in May. The larger female then arrived back later in the summer whilst CJ7 decided she preferred a nest platform elsewhere in the harbour. Well….April 1^st is this Wednesday! Will she be back on time? To help build excitement, Brittany Maxted, our Osprey project officer has put together a great film which includes all the still images taken by our trigger camera that was set up on the Middlebere nest last year.

The cold wind began to build today but it’s due to drop right down tomorrow. That said, several Red Kite still popped up with birds over Lytchett Bay, Upton and Canford Heath.

Our partners in the Osprey reintroduction project also published some interesting data today too, highlighting that male Osprey S1, who spent the summer of 2017 in Poole Harbour is now making his way up the west coast of France and only days away from entering UK airspace. Now, he’s already faithful to a nest at Rutland so may stop here for a quick feed but will almost certainly be looking to get back to Rutland ASAP. What is interesting about S1 is that he’s the same age as CJ7 meaning she could possibly be on the same time line in terms of an arrival date. Lets wait and see!

Male Osprey S1 current position – data & map from Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation

Another gorgeous day, and thanks to everyone who supplied sightings from their ‘health’ walks today. Along Soldiers Road there were 6 Fieldfare with another 5 on the edge of Slepe Heath. A Red Kite flew over central Upton with another over Studland and amazingly 5 over Baiter just after mid-day. It seems everyone is getting familiar with their local Buzzards with numerous photos appearing on social media as they fly over peoples gardens. Today, we even began photographing different individuals that flew over to see if we could work out exactly how many regular ‘locals’ there are and how many just pass on by…..good fun….if at home all day! Blackcap are definitely beginning to arrive and move on to their territories with birds singing at Holmebridge, Slepe Copse and Upton CP and there’s certainly no shortage of Chiffchaff.

Today, we’d like to play a sound that we recorded around this time last spring which is a typical mid March. This was recorded on the edge of Slepe Heath and was our first Chiffchaff of the spring that year as a Great Spotted Woodpecker drummed in the distance.

Fieldfare – Soldiers Road 

Well, it’s all about the garden birding for now, and Red Kites seem to be the order of the day, with numerous households across the harbour now keeping an eye out to add this regal raptor to expanding garden lists. It’s good to hear that many people are taking government guidance and walking to their local patches, and getting rewards too! The Swineham Scrapes known as the Stilt Pools held 3 Little Ringed Plover and the scrape nearest the road had a Green Sandpiper too. Out at Wareham Common the Siberian Chiffchaff was still there and a Ring-necked Parakeet flew by too. It seems no matter where you are in the harbour at the moment Chiffchaff are singing from every block of woodland and Blackcap are now winding up, getting primed to be in full voice by April. In Holes Bay there are still c100 Wigeon left and a few Teal and Shoveler and a night sound recording session at Lytchett Bay produced a handful of Redwing still couple of Coot. Red Kite passed over Lytchett Matravers, Upton and Sandford.

As many of you will already know, Arne has also now closed to the public as have many public areas to help prevent the spread of Covid-19. This of course means it will be hard for many people to get their birding/spring fix so we’re hoping to post several sounds of spring over the coming weeks to help bring spring to life a bit more, which we started a few days ago with a singing Woodlark and Meadow Pipit over Slepe Heath from back in 2014. Well, as mentioned it’s hard to go anywhere currently without hearing Chiffchaff going for it, but if you haven’t heard one yet this summer……here’s one from a mild March morning back in 2016 which was being accompanied by a Dunnock and distant Green Woodpecker on Slepe Heath.

Common Chiffchaff & Dunnock song – Slepe Heath – 23/03/16

Eurasian Coot – Call of a night time migrant – Lytchett Bay – 26/03/20 @ 00:45 (Nick Hull)

Stonechat – Hartland 

Hi everyone, firstly we’ve been asked to forward on two bits of info to the local birding community, which are to come into immediate effect as of tomorrow, March 24^th 2020.

Firstly, all Poole Harbour National Trust bird hides will be closed to the public. These include the Middlebere hide, the Brands Bay hide and the Studland Little Sea hides.

Secondly, Livability Holton Lee will be closed to the public tomorrow for the foreseeable future, meaning that neither the public or members can visit the estate for walks or birding sadly.

These restrictions are obviously in line with recent government advise on helping to restrict the spread of the current Covid-19 virus.

Both organisations have said they’ll inform us as soon as the situation changes and are happy for normal service to resume.

Thanks all in advance for your cooperation – Purbeck NT Team and Livability Holton Lee.

Now, this obviously comes as sad news seeing as the weather is finally on the turn, but tonight’s announcement from Boris Johnson also stated that some individuals can still get out once a day for an exercise activity. With this in mind it sounds like a healthy walk can still be had once a day, as long as you take into account the other guidelines the government have put forward. So, just make sure you hang a pair of bino’s around your neck when out for your spot of exercise. We also understand that there will be individuals out there who won’t be able to get out over the following weeks and we promise we’ll do everything we can to make this spring as accessible as we can for you by providing sound recordings, videos and photos of birds from around the harbour during this very strange and difficult time.

From everyone here at BoPH we’re wishing everyone a safe and productive next few weeks, and we look forward to seeing you all again soon x

It really felt more like spring today as the wind dropped off (a bit) and in sheltered areas butterflies were soaking up the sun. It seemed like Brimstone were everywhere and Peacock and a few Comma were active. Bird wise it was a tad quieter with highlights being Great White Egret on Little Sea, Studland and another at East Holme, 2 Siberian Chiffchaff were at Wareham Common, a Red Kite over Ashley Cross and a Great Northern Diver out in South Deep. On the Brownsea Lagoon 3 Sandwich Tern were settled for a while and in the strong ENE wind 6 Gannet were out in Poole Bay as a Fulmar passed too.

Great White Egret – Little Sea – Garry Hayman

It seemed a few people got up early to see if the Garganey were still on Wareham Common, but alas…they had gone by dawn. However, they had been replaced by 101 Black-tailed Godwit and a stunning Ruff. There was a Little Ringed Plover on the Sunnyside Scrape along with 2 Egyptian Geese and 100+ Redwing. The springs first Willow Warbler was singing along the Turlin shoreline at Lytchett Bay and Red Kites were seen over Upton, Wareham and Lytchett Matravers.

The forecast for the rest of the week is looking promising with the wind easing away and changing direction from NE to SE which should be great for dropping more early spring migrants onto our shores. Having already had a decent run of spring migrants, what will be next over the next week? The first Yellow Wagtail? Common Whitethroat…..Hoopoe?

Ruff – Wareham Common – Clive Hargrave