For the first time in almost a week there was no sign of our new male Osprey ‘374’. Maybe he’s disappeared off again on another tour along the coast. No doubt he’ll be back soon. There were 2 White-tailed Eagle in the Wareham Channel though, once again feeding on the gull islands this morning. At Lytchett Fields there was a full summer plumaged Cattle Egret this afternoon and 2 Crossbill flew over this morning. In Middlebere there was a single Whimbrel and Spoonbill and there were 3 adult Yellow-legged Gull on the Swineham scrapes. At Holme lane GP there was 1 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Barnacles Goose and 6 Egyptian Geese.

Cattle Egret – lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

As we mentioned yesterday, it was great to see 3 Avocet chicks on the Brownsea Lagoon. A welcome and positive achievement considering the hardship the DWT Brownsea team had suffered this summer with the loss of many gull and tern chicks due to bird flu. We all hope these young ones make it. Not only because of the bird flu issue, but also because it will be the first successful fledging and rearing of Avocet chicks in Dorset for many, many years! Many thanks to one of our guests from last nights cruise, Ian Harrison for sending us through his atmospheric photo of the Avocet youngsters. Elsewhere an Osprey was in Middlebere, 2 Crossbill flew over the Piddle Valley, in Holes Bay 1 Whimbrel and 76 Curlew were feeding and the White-tailed Eagle pair were viewable off the Ham Common nature reserve this morning.

Avocet chicks – Brownsea Lagoon (from Safari Cruise) – Ian Harrison

There were more wader arrivals today with a minimum of 12 Green Sandpiper now on Lytchett Fields, plus the seasons first juvenile Little Ringed Plover with 2 adults present too. There was also 1 Spotted Redshank, 2 Whimbrel, 1 Greenshank, 1 Marsh Harrier and the seasons first juvenile Mediterranean Gull also at Lytchett Fields. From this evenings Sunset Safari, Common Sandpiper were on the increase with 4 in the mouth of the Frome, 1 on Long Island and 2 on the Brownsea sea wall. The highlight was 3 pretty decent sized Avocet chicks on the lagoon which looked as if they could well survive until adulthood, although there were plenty of Great Black-backed Gulls watching on! Also from the cruise male Osprey 022 caught 2 fish in quick succession and there was a distant White-tailed Eagle on the Holton shoreline with a Marsh Harrier hunting along the RSPB Arne shoreline. There was also an Osprey on the ‘new’ Middlebere perch/platform today which sadly didn’t land on the nest, meaning we couldn’t get a positive ID on it. Elsewhere a Golden Pheasant was seen on the Furzey slipway from Studland, there were 7 Grey Plover and a Whimbrel in Brands Bay. Also, it looks as if Teal successfully bred at Lytchett Bay again this year which is probably one of only a handful of pairs across the county.

Juvenile Eurasian Teal – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

Very exciting afternoon at the Osprey nest with CJ7 fiercely defending the nest from a blue-ringed male Osprey (most likely 374). An Osprey was also seen in the Middlebere Channel on one of the nest platforms shortly beforehand, but appeared to have followed 022 back to the nest site as he returned with a fish. An amazing high count of 10 Green Sandpiper at Lytchett Fields on the Sherford Pools this morning. The Black-headed Wagtail was also seen by the Middlebere cottage again this morning (photos here).

Ringed Osprey – Carey – Seb Haggett

There was a reversion back to some scorching weather today and blistering sunshine. This meant that our planned ringing of the Osprey chicks had to be done at first light before it got too hot to climb the tree. The nest tree is a decent size, being at least 33m, so it takes quite an effort to climb. To reduce any potential risk to the chicks we decided to ring in the nest this year which speeds up the process and means we don’t have to lower them to the ground. Big thanks to Adam Day for his support today in helping in the process. We started the climb just before 6am and managed to get the job done fairly quickly, with ring numbers 5H3, 5H4 and 5H5 allocated to the 3 chicks. We think 5H3 and 5H4 are male and 5H5 is definitely female. Now let’s hope for a successful fledging in a few weeks time!

Elsewhere an Osprey was seen over Shipstal, 5 Spoonbill were in Middlebere, 2 White-tailed Eagle were in the Wareham Channel, a Black-headed (or Grey-headed) Wagtail was at the Middlebere cottages and in Brands Bay 1 Whimbrel, 71 Curlew, 3 Black-tailed Godwit and 32 Med Gull.

Osprey chicks (left to right) 5H3, 5H4 and 5H5 lying low in the nest during ringing this morning.

A Red Kite was seen over Lytchett Fields this morning, with 1 Whimbrel on the pools as well as 1 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Green Sandpiper, 4 Redshank, 7 Curlew and 1 Lapwing. 1 White-tailed Eagle was seen from Ham Common viewpoint over the Wareham Channel this morning, and 1 Osprey was present in the Middlebere Channel in the afternoon. In Holes Bay, 40 Black-tailed Godwit were counted. Our Sunset Safari this evening yielded a whole range of species including 2 Eider and 2 Common Sandpiper off Furzey Island, 14 Bar-tailed Godwit off Green Island, 1 Spoonbill, 1 Spotted Redshank, 2 Marsh Harrier, c200 Black-tailed Godwit and 2 (distant) White-tailed Eagle in the Wareham Channel. There were also still reasonable numbers of Sandwich and Common Tern hunting near Brownsea and the male Peregrine was on the Poole docks crane when we arrived back at the quay.

Whimbrel, Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

A few downpours today but some dry weather this morning allowed for a few sightings. At Lytchett Fields this morning a flock of c.140 Swift were present heading towards Holton Lee, along with 6 Green Sandpiper, 30 Redshank and 22 Lapwing on the fields, with 1 Spoonbill circling over before heading into the Bay. 1 Osprey was seen flying along the Middlebere Channel this morning, with 1 summer-plumage Spotted Redshank, c.85 Black-tailed Godwit and 1 Marsh Harrier seen around midday. In Holes Bay, 32 Redshank, 27 Black-tailed Godwit and 9 Curlew were present.

Osprey chick soaked through on the nest this afternoon

A blustery day but there seems to be lots of birds re-appearing in the harbour with the Wareham Channel busy with birds this evening during our first evening Safari of the summer. On the rising tide there was 1 Spotted Redshank, c300 Black-tailed Godwit, c15 Common Redshank, c50 Curlew and c40 Shelduck off Giggers Island with 1 adult female Marsh Harrier over Swineham Point. There were also big numbers of Mallard young around too and 77 Mute Swan. A White-tailed Eagle was off Rockley Point in the Wareham Channel and on Brownsea there was 1 Avocet, c80 Oystercatcher and a reasonable spread of Sandwich and Common Tern, despite the lagoons current situation. There were also 2 Spotted Redshank in Middlebere this morning with 1 Spoonbill, 81 Black-tailed Godwit and 1 Greenshank and at Lytchett Fields 1 Greenshank, 4 Green Sandpiper, 11 Redshank, 1 Little Ringed Plover and 1 Oystercatcher.

2 Spotted Redshank and 1 Spoonbill – Middlebere – James Lever (Twitter – @BirderOtbt)