Having been in West Dorset since late last week, female White-tailed Eagle G466 returned today and joined younger female G801 in the Wareham Channel, whilst male G463 stayed away and was up along the Frome Valley for most of the day. There was some more Osprey mischief this morning when yesterdays un-ringed female Osprey visited a harbour nest platform, only for our male ‘022’ to then appear a few minutes later. They stayed on the nest together for around 25 minutes before he then returned to CJ7 at the nest site. He was probably just following her to make sure she didn’t cause any mischief, but this is great that we have another female hanging around because as soon as our male 374 reappears again she may be able to ‘woo’ him pretty quickly. July and August could be exciting. There were also c60 summer-plumaged Black-tailed Godwit in Middlebere which suggests some failed breeders are already moving back south and arriving here in the harbour.

Un-ringed female Osprey and 022 at different nest platform early this morning. 

There was some excitement at the Osprey nest site today when an un-ringed individual appeared around 4pm. Both CJ7 and 022 responded in the typical way, both mantling low on the nest as the ‘intruder’ passed over head. What we couldn’t see on the camera was that off screen an on off 45 minute aerial chase and battle commenced around the valley with CJ7 dive bombing and chasing the new bird out of the area. This wasn’t too unsurprising because early this morning an un-ringed female Osprey landed on a different harbour platform. It’s very likely that this was the same bird at the nest site today trying her luck. The big question is, was this the un-ringed female from earlier in the year? We haven’t looked at the photos closely enough yet, but this is great news, as all it will take is our new male ‘374’ to re-appear and for this new female to still be around and we could be looking at a new harbour pair! Elsewhere there were 2 White-tailed Eagle in the Wareham Channel.

There were more signs of ‘autumn arrivals’ today with the first returning Spoonbill of the autumn seen flying over Hydes Heath, towards Middlebere. Although there have been between 1-3 for most of the spring and early summer there haven’t been any sightings for a few weeks suggesting this is a returning bird. Also on Hydes Heath there were 2 Cuckoo and an un-ringed Osprey flew over. It was good to see the released juvenile Peregrine from Barclays doing well, as it sparred with it’s sibling this afternoon.

Un-ringed Osprey – Hydes Heath – Alison Copland

Nightjar – Holme lane – Garry Hayman

Barclays Peregrines – Poole – Ren Goad

Mid-June….a very quiet time indeed. Sweltering heat made things tricky but along the Piddle Valley a Marsh Harrier Headed high west over the Osprey nest area and a Hobby was active there too. The mid-summer gathering of Great Crested Grebe began in Brands Bay with 15 present and another 8 in the Wareham Channel and the female Eider was in Studland Bay north. There were 3 different White-tailed Eagle around the Wareham Channel, although strangely, the female of the pair, G466 has gone for a very long wander way into West Dorset. At Lytchett Fields a single Ringed Plover was present, a Cuckoo was at Coombe Heath RSPB Arne and a Hobby was at Hydes Heath.

IMPORTANT: It was announced by the Dorset Wildlife Trust today that unfortunately several dead birds were found on the Brownsea Lagoon with suspected Bird Flu. All have been sent for testing and the nature reserve is now currently closed until further notice.

Male Osprey 022 near nest site – Alison Copland

Come on, we need some rain now. These warm days are lovely, but several days almost topping 30 degrees is a bit much! This evening it stayed very mild for the duration of our Puffin Cruise which only returned 1 Puffin tonight, compared to 6 that were present yesterday evening. There were also 8 Fulmar on the water off Durlston and the two Peregrine families were still present at Durlston and Old Harry.

This morning we were thrilled to be able to help support on the release of the juvenile Peregrine Falcon that was found on Sunday evening in Poole Town. The bird was one of the Barclays Peregrines and was taken into care by ‘Wildlife Rescue’ from Ringwood having flown head first into a glass balcony. Thankfully it made a full recovery which allowed us to get the bird back on the Barclays building this morning where it was soon joined by both it’s parents and one of it’s siblings. A White-tailed Eagle was over Swineham this AM, being mobbed by one of the local Marsh Harriers. A Red Kite was over Lytchett Bay.

Marsh Harrier (above) and White-tailed Eagle (below) – Swineham – David Camp

Well, we always bang on about it, every year without fail. But today is the day Autumn migration begins! This is always marked when the first Green Sandpiper of the season arrives at Lytchett Fields, and today was that day. This is usually a mid-June occurrence with numbers of passing ‘Green Sands’ often building through June and July, before peaking in early August. Later in June the first passage Little Ringed Plovers will also arrive and before we know it, the floodgates will open, and we’ll be treated to five glorious months of autumn migration. There have also been some great experiences with Nightjar over the last few nights/days with a few local birders capturing stunning images of these usually shy birds. This evening our Puffin Cruise out to Dancing Ledge was busy with 4 (possibly 5) Puffin, 1000+ Guillemot, 6 Razorbill, 2 Peregrine families, 14 Fulmar, 6 Kittiwake, 3 Gannet, 7 Common Scoter and the usual constant passing of Sandwich and Common Tern. In the Wareham Channel 2 White-tailed Eagle were seen briefly and male Osprey 022 was seen in the mouth of the Frome. An Osprey was also seen off Coombe Heath, RSPB Arne.

Nightjar – Poole Harbour – Tony Furnell

Nightjar – Dunyeats Heath – David Forster

Nightjar – Lytchett Heath – Ian Ballam

It was good to receive some rain today, even if it was only a light drizzle for the first part of the morning. It was a much needed dampening down for the area. It didn’t seem to down any rare or common migrants en route north (or south), but did deliver some more juvenile Lapwing to Lytchett Fields with 5 there today. This evening our Puffin Cruise was finally able to depart after weeks of steady SE winds, with 4 Puffin seen, mostly on the cliffs of Dancing Ledge and the 2 Eider were still in Shell Bay on the way back. A White-tailed Eagle was seen from the Ham Common viewpoint this morning and 3 were still in the general vicinity of the Wareham Channel late afternoon. Also, we fully understand everyone is gripped to the Osprey nest cam, however, don’t forget we have two equally exciting webcams set up on the Brownsea Lagoon which we put up earlier this year in partnership with Dorset Wildlife Trust which are focused on the Common Tern and Sandwich Tern colony. Both colonies have hatched juveniles with the Sandwich Terns a few weeks more advanced. You can view both ‘Tern Cams’ HERE.

Screen grabs from the Brownsea Tern Cams