Three Shoveler dropped into Lytchett Bay first thing before moving onto the Fields with the rising tide, joining a decent selection of 142 Redshank, 127 Black-tailed Godwit, 18 Green Sandpiper, 13 Greenshank, 4 Dunlin, 2 Ringed Plover and 2 Common Sandpiper. Other highlights around the bay included a migrant Whinchat and 2 Osprey fishing over the Bay. A further Osprey was spotted in a favoured dead trees at Middlebere and one even drifted over the Brownsea Lagoon. The Lagoon also hosted a juv Curlew Sandpiper along with 180 Dunlin, 48 Ringed Plover, 18 Greenshank, 14 Avocet, 10 Common Sandpiper, 1 Sanderling 1 Bar-tailed Godwit and 120 Black-tailed Godwit. There were 2 Whinchat near the Middlebere track and a Spotted Flycatcher.

Don’t forget to join us at Ham Common on Monday for another Osprey watchpoint between 9AM and midday. More details can be found here.

Nightjar – SRG ringing session – Shaun Robson

Today saw the first of our Osprey cruises of the autumn and we were treated to 4 Osprey within 15 minutes of the trip starting as female CJ7, male 022, a migrant female and one of our translocated juveniles, chick 372 were all circling together at the far end of the Wareham Channel before all going their separate ways. Chick 372 seemed keen to stick with CJ7 and 022 and even settled on a harbour nest platform with 022 for a while. There were 3 seen togther over Lytchett Bay too which were likely to be 3 of the birds we saw. Things are really picking up Osprey wise and give it another week or so and we’ll begin to see more juveniles arrive from further north which is always great to see. Also seen were 2 Marsh Harrier, plenty of Sandwich Tern moving around, on the Brownsea Lagoon there were 5 Spoonbill, c100 Dunlin, c50 Ringed Plover, 7 Avocet, 2 Common Sandpiper, 7 Greenshank, c200 Black-tailed Godwit and 12 Curlew. A ringing session in Lytchett Bay produced 3 Grasshopper Warbler, 1 Tree Pipit, 8 Willow Warbler and 9 Sedge Warbler.

Osprey chick 372 on harbour nest platform

Grasshopper Warbler – Lytchett Bay

There were more Osprey sightings today with 3 in the Wareham Channel area, single around Lytchett Bay on and off during the day, 1 in Middlebere and 1 towards Wytch Lake. One even decided to have a bit of a battle with a Peregrine mid-afternoon. Also in Middlebere were 2 Spoonbill, 1 Marsh Harrier and 1 Hobby. Local raptor watcher Peter Hadrill kindly informed us that in the last three weeks up to 6 migrant Marsh Harrier had ‘staged’ in the harbour before moving off soon after. These individuals consisted of an adult male (8^th), adult female (high north west 9^th), juvenile female (high south east 11^th), both a well-splashed female and a moulting male (17^th) and an immature female (19^th). There were 2 Yellow Wagtail with cattle at Sunnyside with a Common Snipe on the scrape too. Many thanks to Martin Adams for the reporting of a BTO leg ring (still attached to the leg!) found under the Peregrine feeding site near Asda. Since then data has been returned highlighting that the ring (and the leg) belonged to a Sandwich Tern which was originally ringed as a chick at Cemlyn on Anglesey 18th June 2019. A great recovery as Sandwich Tern leg rings are always incredibly hard to recover.

Sandwich Tern leg and BTO ring – Asda, Poole – Martin Adams

Another great day with Autumn migration building really nicely. The first 2 Little Stint of the autumn were on Lytchett Fields with 15+Greenshank, 10 Ringed Plover, c15 Dunlin, c200 Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Green Sandpiper, 1 Common Sandpiper and 100+ Redshank. There were also 2-3 Osprey hunting in Lytchett Bay, with another on the Middlebere platform eating a large fish, and 2 more seen in the Wareham Channel area. At Middlebere  3 Yellow Wagtail flew over the cattle fields near the hide and in the channel were 4 Greenshank, 1 adult Yellow-legged Gull, 4 Spoonbill, 1 Marsh Harrier and 1 Knot. At Arne there was a single Spotted Flycatcher and 2 juvenile Hobby have fledged and were seen on/near Hydes Heath.

Osprey – Middlebere nest platform

An exciting day today with several highlights. The main one being the extraction of an Aquatic Warbler out of some ringing nets in Lytchett bay this AM. These are Europes rarest breeding passerine which sees their autumn migration take a Westerly route from central/eastern Europe back south into Africa. The westerly route often only goes as far as northern France, but with an easterly wind regularly drops a few into the UK each August. However, there hasn’t been a sniff of an easterly wind for several weeks so where todays juvenile came from is anyones guess. Still a great result though, and the first to be seen in the UK this year. Also in Lytchett Bay today was a Red-breasted Goose, which sadly was more likely to be an escapee from a local collection rather than a true vagrant from Arctic Siberia. If it had been seen mid-winter within a Brent Goose flock then the origin may be slightly different, but a lone individual in mid-August is rather questionable. Still lovely to see though. It was Osprey mania today with individuals seen in many areas. On the nest cam 022 made a rare appearance with a second bird passing over the top of the nest. There were 2 hunting in Lytchett Bay at dawn with another in Brands Bay Studland. At Middlebere 2 adult females were present with one sitting on the Middlebere nest platform eating a fish for most of the morning. We also think one of our recently fledged juveniles was in the Wareham Channel today too for the first time, although we couldn’t get a good enough look at the ring to confirm. Elsewhere there were 2 Marsh Harrier in the Wareham Channel, 3 Common Whitethroat were at Hartland, 3 Wheatear were on Ballard and Grasshopper Warbler were seen at PCW Drain and Lytchett Fields.

Aquatic Warbler – Lytchett Bay

Un-ringed adult female Osprey – Middlebere nest platform

Another good August day, with light northerly winds, dropping some more migrants our way. There were 3 Wheatear at Baiter and more up on Hartland, Lytchett Fields and at Coombe Heath. There were a minimum of 4 adult Osprey in the harbour with 3 around the Middlebere Channel including CJ7, and 2 were seen fishing in Lytchett Bay this morning. Also in Middlebere were 4 Knot, 11 Greenshank and an adult Yellow-legged Gull. On Brownsea there were 4 Spoonbill and 10 Avocet. A random lone Brent Goose in Middlebere was probably a hanger on from the summer (last winter) rather than a new arrival and at Lytchett Fields there were 7 Ringed Plover and a Marsh Harrier. At Baiter there were also 6 Ringed Plover and 15 Turnstone whilst at Holes Bay there were good numbers of Black-tailed Godwit with a fly over Grey Pover. More passerines were logged at Lytchett Bay with 1 Redstart, 1 Tree Pipit, 12 Willow Warbler, 3 Common Whitethroat, 10 Grasshopper Warbler, 65 Sedge Warbler and 16 Reed Warbler logged during a ringing session.

Wheatear – Baiter Park – Martin Adams

It was another Osprey day today, for a number of reasons. Firstly there were multiple sightings from around the Arne area with individuals seen over Middlebere and Hydes Heath. Then, this evening one was hunting out in Lytchett Bay. However, it could all get a bit busier with Osprey over the coming weeks as we announced today that we have now released all of our 2021 Osprey chicks as part of our Poole Harbour Translocation Project, meaning that by the latter part of August it could be Osprey-tastic around the harbour. For now they’ll stay close to the release site which is a private area, but over the coming weeks they’ll begin exploring places like the Wareham Channel and Middlebere. For more information click THIS LINK.

A rare visitor to Studland in the form of a Little Ringed Plover (juvenile) was found on the wet heath at South Haven and in Brands Bay there were 16 Ringed Plover, 3 Whimbrel, 1 Grey Plover and 1 Sanderling was at Shell Bay. On Brownsea 2 Peregrine were sparring and there were 2 Marsh Harrier again in the Wareham Channel.

Newly released Osprey chicks 370 and 373