Today was the calm after the storm, with the harbour like a mill pond pretty much all day. There were 2 Northern Wheatear on the rocks at Baiter, one of which was doing it’s best to try and look rarer having seemingly gone for a swim, and looked dark in colour all over. There was another Northern Wheatear at Greenlands Farm and 1 up on Ballard. The White-tailed Eagle pair were in Lytchett Bay before disappearing off towards Holes Bay. Wigeon numbers are certainly building day by day with what looks like a four figure count now in Holes Bay and c400 in Lytchett Bay. Pintail numbers seem to be building slower than normal but there were 18 in Brands Bay and 42 were in Holes Bay. We still have an Osprey! with an adult (probably Scottish 511) eating a fish in Brands Bay this morning. A Merlin was on Hartland Moor this evening, Marsh Harriers were in Lytchett Bay, Middlebere and Swineham, there were 61 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon with c400 Avocet and the 2 Spotted Redshank were still at Lytchett Fields.

Kestrel – Hartland Moor – Rob Johnson

What a beautiful October day. Certainly the calm before the storm. Once again there were plenty of good birds around with the Black Redstart on Brownsea Quay again this morning and another in the Millfield area of Poole, just north of Holes Bay. Also in Holes Bay was a high count of 101 Shoveler which were new in. An Osprey was in Middlebere this morning with one being seen over the Brownsea Lagoon, and then one (probably the same) over Middle Beach, Studland going south. Was this our final Osprey of the year departing? The Brownsea Lagoon had 55 Spoonbill, 344 Avocet, 19 Greenshank and 455 sinensis Cormorant. This morning 3 Red-breasted Merganser flew into the harbour, 2 Spotted Redshank were at Lytchett Fields, the Goshawk was sat in a dead tree again viewable from Coombe Heath and a Great White Egret was in Middlebere. A few Swallow were passing over Coombe Heath too and 2 Red Kite passed over there too.

Black Redstart – Brownsea Quay – Nicki Tutton

Osprey and Avocets – RSPB Arne – Mark Wright

There have been plenty of birds migrating over night in the last few nights, mostly Redwing. However there were two great examples of what can sneak over your house during the course of the night whilst your tucked up in bed. One was this early this morning when a Hawfinch was sound recorded over an Oakdale garden at 05:36 this morning. The second was a night migrating Yellow-browed Warbler sound recorded over one of our teams gardens in Lytchett Matravers at 07:37 yesterday morning. The recordings and accompanying sonagrams can be found below. The Hawfinch recording is a perfect series of flight calls which they regularly do whilst migrating at night, with the sonagram providing a visual representation of that call. The Yellow-browed Warbler is harder to hear, but starts at 4.5 seconds into the recording. The sonagram for this call helped clinch the ID and again, is the typical contact call of this species. Both are considered scarce autumn migrants in Dorset and are hard enough to find during the day, so to have them flying over peoples gardens in the dead of night just goes to show that not only should we be looking, but constantly listening too (and never go to bed).

Elsewhere (during daylight hours), the Brownsea Lagoon was still busy on the high tides and held 65 Spoonbill, 401 Avocet, 11 Bar-tailed Godwit, 17 Greenshank and the autumns first Black Redstart was son Brownsea Quay. A Short-eared Owl was in the Wareham Channel this evening, Keysworth side, and female White-tailed Eagle G466 was in Brands Bay this afternoon. A Goshawk was perched up in a tree at Middlebere and an Osprey was also in Middlebere which was apparently Scottish male 511 who is amazingly still around since arriving a few weeks ago. This is the male that was also around last autumn and didn’t leave until October 28th, so he may stick around for another week or so yet. There were singles of  Spotted Redshank in Lytchett Bay and on the Brownsea Lagoon with a minimum of 5 Marsh Harrier in the harbour. A Golden Plover was on Shell Bay Beach, Studland this AM along with 7 Sanderling.

Hawfinch – Call of night time migrant, Oakdale – 18/10/24 @ 05:36 – David Foster

Yellow-browed Warbler – Call of night time migrant, Lytchett Matravers – 17/10/24 @ 03:37 – Paul Morton

Golden Plover – Shell Bay Beach – David Foster

This morning heralded the first proper Redwing arrival of the autumn with flocks ranging between 20 -200 individuals passing over multiple sites during the course of the morning. Initially, as dawn broke, the flocks were heading south as freshly arrived birds from further north continued their southward journey. However, by around 8:30am, the flocks were all then heading north, preferring to head back in land to find food and feed for the day rather than attempt an open water crossing in broad daylight. Redwing weren’t the only birds moving this AM with a Hawfinch also heading north over Holes Bay NE this morning. Up on Ballard there were plenty of newly arrived Blackbirds in the scrub plus 2 Ring Ouzel plus 15 Chiffchaff. Around the harbour there were 2 Osprey along the southern shores this morning, with one then later being seen in Middlebere. The White-tailed Eagle pair were circling together over the Wareham Channel, being beaten up by 2 Raven and there were 3 Marsh Harrier at Swineham. The Brownsea Lagoon looked great and had c60 Spoonbill, c400 Avocet, 2 Grey Plover, 11 Bar-tailed Godwit, c300 Dunlin, c20 Ringed Plover, 8 Turnstone, c300 Black-tailed Godwit and 5 Greenshank. There were a further 2 Spoonbill on the ‘Curlew’s Cottage’ pools at Swineham. At the PCW Drain 2 Firecrest were in scrub opposite KFC and c30 Chiffchaff were actively feeding. The Middlebere track Ring Ouzel was still there this morning feeding with 3 Mistle Thrush. 

Ring Ouzels – Ballard Down – Nick Hopper

It seems the harbour managed to avoid the worst of the weather today with torrential rain just north of us this morning, whilst the harbour even bathed in brief sunlight and warmth. Our Autumn Safari jammed in on great views of female White-tailed Eagle G466 who was perched up in Brands Bay but decided to go off hunting just as we passed, giving great flight views just off the side of the boat, before she then u-turned and flew back past us again. We then later had nice views of male White-tailed Eagle G463 sat out on the gull islands. The Brownsea Lagoon was busy due to the high tide and saw 61 Spoonbill, c300 Avocet, c40 Dunlin, c150 Black-tailed Godwit, 11 Bar-tailed Godwit, 13 Greenshank and 5 Knot. A Kingfisher was on the sea wall of Poole Quay with other individuals seen on the Brownsea sea wall and Goat Horn Quay. At Swineham 3 different Marsh Harrier were logged and on the Stilt Pools at Swineham c80 Shoveler, c100 Teal and c150 Black-tailed Godwit. There were Great White Egrets in Middlebere and Lytchett Bay with 1 Spotted Redshank at Lytchett Fields. A Black-necked Grebe was out off Jerry’s Point and c20 dark-bellied Brent Geese were in Middlebere. At Wareham Common 10 Cattle Egret were feeding with cows and 29 Swallow were out on the floodplain there feeding.

Black-tailed Godwits and Teal – Swineham Pools 

Despite being a fairly grey, murky day there were more new arrivals, including the 3rd Yellow-browed Warbler to be ringed at the Carey Secret Garden ringing station within the last two weeks. An occurrence that would have been unheard of 20 years ago. Almost equally unheard of is the fact that you can now see all three egret species quite easily at semi-urban sites around the harbour during the course of the year with all three present at urban sites today. A Great White Egret was off the Turlin Moor shoreline, a Cattle Egret was in Upton CP and Little Egret were…well, everywhere. The Middlebere track Ring Ouzel still hasn’t moved off yet, and was feeding in the Rowan tree again, joined by four other thrush species (Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Blackbird and Redwing) meaning at times there were five of the possible six UK thrush species feeding in just one bush, with Fieldfare being the notable absentee. There were c45 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon, a Spotted Redshank was in Lytchett Bay, the White-tailed Eagle pair were in the Wareham Channel all day and there were 5 more Cattle Egret at Holmebridge.

Great White Egret – Lytchett Bay – Alison Copland

Cattle Egret – Upton CP – Nick Woods

Ring Ouzel – Middlebere Track – Peter Moore

Blackbird – Middlebere Track – Peter Moore

Song Thrush – Middlebere Track – Peter Moore

Mistle Thrush – Middlebere Track – Peter Moore

Redwing – Middlebere Track – Peter Moore

With super calm conditions all day and yesterdays obvious arrival of birds, it was no surprise multiple Yellow-browed Warblers were logged today with a minimum of 3 seen including singles at South Haven at Studland, Middlebere and yesterdays Broadstone bird was still at Hillborne Copse. At Middlebere the Ring Ouzel was still feeding in Rowan along the Middlebere track and a Brambling was also there. From our Autumn Safari this AM we had a good mix of summer and winter birds with a juvenile Osprey fishing in the Wareham Channel and a flock of c100 Swallow feeding over Swineham Point, whilst there were 5 Red-breasted Merganser off the Brownsea western shore, 3 Marsh Harrier at Swineham and weirdly both White-tailed Eagles were seen bombing off fast over Poole Town centre, heading towards Tower Park, quite possibly in a territorial response to female White-tailed Eagle G818 being over towards the Bournemouth area. The Brownsea Lagoon held 44 Spoonbill, c200 Avocet, c40 Ringed Plover, 6 Greenshank and c100 Dunlin. The PCW Drain was still busy with Chiffchaff with c40 feeding along the channel plus 1 Firecrest and 3 Blackcap. At Lytchett Fields there were 3 Spotted Redshank plus 4 Redwing and the first dark-bellied Brent Geese of the year with 4 off of Rock Lea View.

Red-breasted Merganser – Central Harbour – Alison Copland

Osprey – Wareham Channel – Alison Copland

This morning heralded the first ‘semi-decent’ winter thrush arrival of the season with Redwing, Blackbird and Song Thrush all arriving overnight. Only semi-decent because it was several flocks of a few hundred birds passing over a few sites this morning. However through the rest of October and into early November these totals will grow, and on a few ‘perfect’ mornings, the total number of Redwing, Song Thrush and Blackbird could actually reach several thousand arriving (with a few Ring Ouzel thrown in for good measure). Talking of Ring Ouzel, a lone individual was feeding on berries along the Middlebere track this morning and this afternoon, but we’re now in ‘peak Ouzel’ time, so there will definitely be more about…they just need to be found. The Yellow-browed Warbler arrival continues, this time with the first urban individual of the season with one in Hillborne Copse, Broadstone this morning. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were only 16 Spoonbill today, and a tiny number of Avocet, but there were 203 in Middlebere so they’re not totally absent. This is a very low total of Avocet for the time of year considering as we had c600 this time last year. We’ll just have to wait and see if and when any more turn up, but hopefully they’ve just been delayed. The White-tailed Eagle pair were in the Wareham Channel up until midday at least, an Osprey was high over the Arne road with a fish, a Red Kite drifted over there too and a Merlin was on Greenlands Farm, Studland.

Ring Ouzel – Middlebere – Mark Wright