Today was the calm before the storm, with the next week set to be a tad wet and wild. With that in mind, efforts were made to survey Bittern again from Swineham GP at dusk as birds only depart during settled weather. Tonight provided the best experience out of the last three nights with an individual Bittern lofting out of the surrounding reed bed at 18:37, circling above the pit several times, calling regularly before departing NE. I don’t think we’ve ever experienced this three nights in a row before, so whether it was three different staging Bittern leaving over the last three nights or the same bird finally leaving tonight, having dropped back down into the reed beds last night and the night before. Either way, with the rest of March to go, there’s still opportunity for more to arrive, stage and leave later in the month. The moment was captured beautifully by our HQ manager Joe Parker in the below sound recording as it flew over the pit heading NE into the dark.

We also received more info from Tim Mackrill from the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation who kindly gave us info that the White-tailed Sea Eagle (G393) that was present locally last week, passed through the harbour again yesterday, this time spending an hour here as it made its way in from the NW, across the Wareham Channel to Arne, before then making its way to Studland and away north up over Bournemouth. The most incredible thing is, that not a single member of the public saw the bird during it’s whole hour in the harbour yesterday, despite passing over what are typically often busy areas. Both the male and female Peregrine were on the Barclays building today.

White-tailed Sea Eagle G393 tracking data from yesterday

It was another glorious day which led to another Bittern leaving Swineham at 18:40. It was so dark that initially only it’s calls could be heard but a thermal image scope was then used which picked it up heading NE out over the Wareham Channel. Also at Swineham were c10 Sand Martin, 1 Swallow, 6 Chiffchaff, 3 Spoonbill (over), 2 Bearded Tit, 2 Marsh Harrier, 2 Pochard and 1 Peregrine. At the Asda building the pair of Peregrine were present again and it looks as if the blue ringed male ‘HF’ is back, meaning the un-ringed male seen recently is a new visitor on the block. Has ‘HF’ got a bit of competition now? At Whitley Lake there were still 95 Bar-tailed Godwit and 41 Oystercatcher and there were 3 Goosander in the lower Piddle. On Canford Heath there were several Crossbill feeding in pines. There was still also 1 Great Northern Diver off Jerry’s Point and 2 partial summer plumaged Black-necked Grebe. 

Great Northern Diver – Jerry’s Point

An exciting day for several reasons, firstly because it was sunny and warm again. A fine spring day to really enjoy if out in your local patches. Firstly, the springs first departing Bittern left Swineham this evening at exactly 18:30. It’s possible this bird over-wintered, but no sightings of Bittern were logged this winter period so its actually more likely this is a staging individual, using Swineham as a refuelling station before carrying on it’s journey north. These dusk departures are special if encountered, but they’re not easy to experience, often with several attempts under your belt before witnessing the magic on a cold march sun set. Also at Swineham were 2 Pochard, 6 singing Chiffchaff, 2 Marsh Harrier, 11 Sand Martin and 6 Spoonbill. The other exciting news is that one of our Osprey chicks from the translocation in 2019, female 019 was yesterday seen and photographed in the Gunjur Quarry, Gambia which is where it was also seen back over the Christmas period of 2019!! Her arrival in Africa back in 2019 was great news, but her survival was never guaranteed with many Osprey perishing in their first year. To know that she has survived the last two years in Africa is fantastic news. She is now due back to the UK this spring, but as a two year old it probably won’t be until at least May before we potentially see her. Or will she do as 014 did last spring and bypass Poole Harbour and head to Wales?? We hope not, it would be great to see here back in Poole Harbour. Big thanks to Alison Copland for the speedy news from Chris Wood in the Gambia, also to Fansu Bojang for sending a series of photos of her. It’s great to see her looking so fit and healthy. Around Jerry’s Point/Brands Bay there were 32 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Black-necked Grebe, 2 Long-tailed Duck, 1 Scaup, 5 Common Scoter, 61 Red-breasted Merganser, 19 Sanderling, 73 Knot, 22 Grey Plover and 1134 Black-tailed Godwit. The Peregrines were splitting their time between the Barclays and Asda building and there were 3 partial summer-plumaged Black-necked Grebe off Studland Beach.

Female Osprey 019 photographed in The Gambia this week – Fansu Bojang

A cold NE wind which seemed to hold up a number of new arrivals, most notably 27 Sand Martin at Swineham with 2 Swallow. Plus 6 Spoonbill were seen leaving north at dusk over Swineham, possibly suggesting a departure of our over-wintering birds now heading back to breeding grounds. The Little Gull was still over the main pit and a Barn Owl was seen there at dusk. Plenty of Buzzard were displaying across the harbour and a Peregrine was over Corfe Castle. At Middlebere a ringtail Hen Harrier was seen and a Spotted Redshank was in the channel. At Little Sea the Great White Egret was still present and 2 Firecrest were near the Triangle Hide. A pair of Mandarin Duck were seen in the piddle Valley. Off Jerry’s Point there were 4 Slavonian Grebe, 2 Black-necked Grebe, 1 Scaup, 4 Common Scoter, 225 Shelduck, 450 Black-tailed Godwit, 32 Bar-tailed Godwit, 105 Grey Plover and 37 Sanderling. It was also nice to see the first Sand Lizards emerging today on some of the local heaths, sheltering from the cold NE wind in little sun pockets tucked up amongst the heather.

Finally, yesterday we launched a fundraiser to raise the final amount needed to get the new Sunnyside Screen underway. Anticipating it to take at least a couple of weeks, we couldn’t believe it when we managed to raise the £450 needed in less than 24 hours. A huge thank you to everyone that donated and responded so quickly. We’re now aiming to hopefully have it completed by the end of March. Top work!

Sand Lizard – Hartland

Grey Seal – Brownsea Channel

It was pretty cold again today but 2 Swallow and 5 Sand Martin were at Swineham GP along with 3 singing Chiffchaff and the Little Gull was still on the main pit. Off Jerrys Point there were 2 Great Northern Diver, 2 Slavonian Grebe, 1 Black-necked Grebe, 5 Common Scoter, 41 Sanderling, 17 Bar-tailed Godwit, 23 Red-breasted Merganser, 15 Great Crested Grebe and 1 Greenshank. The PCW Drain still had 2 Cetti’s Warbler and c10 Common Chiffchaff.

We’ve also just launched a small fundraising campaign too. If you can help at all we’d really appreciate it. Sunnyside Scrape is a small but important wetland in the south of Poole Harbour owned by Natural England. Over the last five years we’ve been helping develop and enhance the site for passage and breeding waders as well as good numbers of over-wintering Jack Snipe and Woodcock. During the winter of 2019/20 we began our popular Sunnyside ringing demos which were a fundraiser to raise money for a new viewing screen to be built and replace the dilapidated old one. We were due to host more ringing demos during the 2020/21 winter period but sadly Covid:19 prevented them from happening. This means that were sadly now just short of our target to get the screen completed.

Can you help us raise the last £450 needed to get a new and better viewing screen installed at Sunnyside which in recent years has attracted more and more visitors, many of whom have been treated to great views of Little Ringed Plover, Lapwing, Hobby, Wood Sandpiper and even White Stork.

Thank you – https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/sunnyside

Current screen looking like it needs some TLC!

White Stork photographed from the old Sunnyside screen September 2019

A much colder day today but there seemed to have been ‘a fall’ of early migrants across Dorset, mainly in the Weymouth area where c40 Chiffchaff and a Willow Warbler were logged and the first Dorset Osprey of the spring passed north over Broadwey. Here in the harbour 2 Swallow were the only noted summer migrants but a Short-eared Owl out in the Lower Frome Valley is likely to have been a passage migrant and a small trickle Meadow Pipits began moving north too over Greenlands Farm and Hartland. The Little Gull was feeding over Swineham GP and there are still 10 Spoonbill using Shipstal at Arne. At the PCW Drain there were 6 Chiffchaff and the Cetti’s Warbler was still in the scrub there.

Grey Wagtail – Norden SW 

A pretty uneventful early spring day with the Little Gull at Swineham the main highlight. The IOW White-tailed Eagle was again seen at Church Knowle just south of the harbour recording area but not seen since mid afternoon. Med Gull are certainly becoming a feature with plenty of full summer plumaged birds being logged and showing early signs of display with c40 constantly in Poole Park and 100+ around the Baiter area. More singing Chiffchaff were logged at different sites around the harbour and one of the Peregrines was sat on the Barclays building all morning.

Today, we also carried out some spring-cleaning on the Osprey nest cam, (hopefully) prepping for CJ7 safe return in a few weeks time. On other wild Osprey nests the birds will usually sort out the winter mess by themselves, but it’s always good to give a helping hand and try to speed up the process, therefore allowing more time to try and find a mate!

Osprey nest cam spring-clean

The day began with a Great White Egret heading east over Wareham Common, landing along the Piddle north of Mount Pleasant. The low water levels at Poole Park drew in 1 Black-tailed Godwit, 5 Redshank , 10 Oystercatcher, 21 Mediterranean, c.600 Black-headed and 120+ Herring Gulls. The steady increase in returning Greylag Geese to Poole Park reached 47 today, while U060 continues to reside at Swineham. Despite the thick mist early morning, Baiter produced 1 Great Northern Diver, 19 Turnstone, 9 Great Crested Grebe, 14 Red-breasted Merganser, 2 Shag, 6 Brent Goose and 9 Oystercatcher. Similar challenges at Holes Bay revelaed 300+ Black-tailed Godwit, 89 Redshank, c.30 Dunlin, 25 Curlew and an absence of Avocet. PC World Drain offered 3 Chiffchaff, 1 Water Rail, Goldcrest, Redwing, Little Grebe and Grey Wagtail. At Swineham the Little Gull was still over the Lower Piddle floods and a Swallow was over the main pit. Although just outside the recording area a 1st winter Glaucous Gull was at the Alderney/Canford Heath water treatment works which could well be the individual thats been roosting on Brownsea in recent weeks.

Greylag Goose U060 – Swineham – Clive Hargrave

Finally….the true start of spring. The month we tend to see our first Ospreys, Wheatears, Willow Warblers and Little Ringed Plovers. Today heralded the first White Wagtail of the spring and we’ve already had the first Sand Martins and a Swallow last week, so hopefully the next ‘firsts’ will be sooner rather than later. Chiffchaff are now singing at numerous sites across the harbour. Some could potentially be early southern European migrants, but it’s likely many of these early singers are over-wintering birds warming up before moving off to their breeding grounds. The White-tailed Eagle that was in the harbour on Sunday spent all day just south of the harbour in the Church Knowle area, and was seen eating a rabbit. It’s great to know its still kicking about and could quite feasibly make its way north again back into the Poole Harbour recording area. At Swineham the Little Gull was still feeding above the Lower Piddle floods and at Holme Lane there were 11 Egyptian Geese on the pit. Woodlark are in full voice on numerous heathlands as are Skylark now. There were still 3 Slavonian Grebe off Jerry’s point. At Lytchett Fields there was a Marsh Harrier with another at Middlebere plus there was late news of both a male and female Hen Harrier in Middlebere on Saturday.

White Wagtail – Lytchett Fields – Shaun Robson