After a relatively quiet weekend, things landed with a bang again today when the Forster’s Tern suddenly reappeared on the Brownsea Lagoon mid-morning. This isn’t only good news for local birders, but highlights the amazing feat of bird movements, as it seems this very bird was up in Lancashire at 19:30 yesterday evening, before being re-found on the Brownsea Lagoon late this morning! Thats a distance of 255 miles covered in about 15 hours….thats pretty good going. There’s the obvious 2-bird theory to rule out, but looking at comparison head shots of yesterdays Lancashire bird and the Poole bird, the eye mask pattern seems to match up. There were more Osprey arrivals today, including the return of Beaky, who touched down on the Middlebere Channel nest at 18:12 this evening. She arrives every year, normally around April 1st, and stays for about a week before moving on to her breeding grounds, wherever that may be? Female Osprey 1H1 is still touring the harbour looking for a suitable male and was seen on the Middlebere Farm nest this morning, and was then later giving CJ7 and 022 hassle again at their nest site. White-tailed Eagles were seen over Wareham Common, Middlebere, the Wareham Channel and Swineham and 4 Spoonbill were also in Middlebere. There were up to 4 Mandarin Duck on the River Piddle between Carey and Wareham Common.

Female Osprey 1H1 in Middlebere this AM catching breakfast – twamers.bsky.social

Crass comparison of Lancashire Forster’s Tern yesterday (left) Paul Slade and Poole Harbour Forster’s Tern Aiken Lau

Another gorgeous day, which delivered the first Common Tern of the spring on the Brownsea Lagoon, where there were also 45 Sandwich Tern. This evening 46 Cattle Egret went into roost which is a good early spring total. Lets hope they stay a few more months yet. Raptors were seen displaying right across the harbour with Marsh Harrier, Buzzard and Sparrowhawk, Goshawk all displaying over areas west of the harbour, with a Goshawk even observed drinking from a water body this afternoon along the Piddle Valley. Up to 7 Spoonbill were moving between Middlebere and Shipstal, 3 White-tailed Eagle were moving around the Wareham Channel and Swineham area, including the local adult pair and a Green Sandpiper was on the Sunnyside Pools. In the still morning warmth, it was a delight to hear multiple Woodlark singing at traditional breeding sites, with a chorus of Chiffchaff as the backdrop.

Woodlark – West Poole Harbour

This sun is lovely, but the blasting NW wind thats building each day is keeping birds at bay. There were 7 Spoonbill in Middlebere this morning and 11 Cattle Egret were near Holmebridge. Raptors were displaying this morning with Marsh Harrier and White-tailed Eagle active in the Wareham Channel. A trickle of Swallow were coming through but there weren’t any new migrant species logged today. Brownsea Lagoon was busy with Med Gulls and saw 158 counted and 2 Little Ringed Plover were on the Lower Piddle Floods.

Great news in Poole Town as the newest pair of Peregrines that have been eyeing up the Asda flats this spring are now incubating on top of the flats. They haven’t taken to the 2 nest boxes that were installed by Dorset Raptor group, but instead opted for a gutter, where a tray was installed by the group just in time to provide a dry, safe spot for the eggs to be laid.

Peregrine – Asda flats 

Despite the wind and the early morning rain, it turned out alright today, with more good birds passing through. There was news of 2 Common Crane that had been seen arriving in to the Lower Frome Valley this morning from the west, before moving off east towards Arne. Unfortunately they were only seen by the lucky observers, so presumed to have passed on through the harbour. More settled were the Cattle Egret with 20 still in fields around Holmebridge. Hirundines are starting to trickle through now with smaller pules of Swallow now arriving and small gatherings of Sand Martin now a daily occurrence, calling above different sections of the Frome and Piddle Valley. White-tailed Eagles were seen over Corfe Castle, in the Wareham Channel and in Middlebere and there was an intruding Osprey that kept visiting our nest site which we assume is female 1H1 still, but being late March we could now start seeing other ‘interested’ individuals also give our pair hassle. Yesterday, Peter Hadrill logged the springs first Hobby, which drifted over the ridge of Slepe Heath, highlighting another incredibly early spring record. There are still a few Redwing clinging on with c10 at Carey Secret Garden this morning. There was no sign of yesterdays 2 Garganey reported at Lytchett Fields, but the Spotted Redshank was still there, and there are now up to c40 Sandwich Tern back in the harbour. A Willow Warbler was singing in SE Creekmoor. There have been good numbers of Red Kite passing through already with passage normally occurring from February through to May, with individuals logged over the Piddle Valley, Swineham and Slepe Heath today.

Red Kite – Slepe Heath 

Today was a tale of two halves. A foggy half and a non-foggy half. Thankfully our Spring Safari Cruise was this morning with blissful sunshine for the majority of the trip and a stack of great birds. A /the Long-tailed Duck was out in central harbour with Red-breasted Merganser and off Shipstal a male Goshawk passed over, likely the male from the Arne pair. In the Wareham Channel 4 White-tailed Eagles were present including female G466 sat on a post, plus a Hen Harrier was quartering across Keysworth, and then over Swineham Point, with Peregrines also seen hunting over Lytchett Bay and Swineham. A 1st winter Little Gull was seen bouncing over Swineham GP (and is likely to be yesterdays reported Bonaparte’s Gull at that site) and there was also a Red Kite high above the channel. Up to c500 Black-tailed Godwit were still feeding on the edge of the Wareham Channel and a flock of 31 Common Snipe were flushed from the Piddle Valley by a Marsh Harrier. In the Lower Piddle Valley up to 7 Little Ringed Plover were on the floods, a single Spoonbill was on Shipstal Point and there were 2 Spotted Redshank and a single Cattle Egret in Lytchett Bay.

With female Osprey CJ7 arriving back yesterday, we thought things would sort them selves out today, but the new intruding female didn’t give up easily, visiting the nest site several times today, and followed male 022 around the harbour for parts of the day. Hopefully she’ll get the message soon and bump into our other male 374 at some point in the next few weeks!

Female White-tailed Eagle G466 – Wareham Channel from Spring Safari Cruise this AM – Dave Ward

Despite the early morning fog there was plenty of excitement over the course of the day, concluding with our female Osprey ‘CJ7’ returning this evening at 18:28. The other female 1H1, who’s been getting a bit too comfortable with 022 over the last 24 hours was soon put out of her place and of all things, decided to take her grievances out on 022 by chasing him off of the nest, not before having a minor pop at CJ7 for ruining the party. This is good news for multiple reasons as it means our resident pair are now back and will hopefully go on to have another successful season, plus we now have another female who’s ‘very keen’ to breed locally, so if our ‘spare’ male 374 arrives back over the coming week, it could be game on. No doubt CJ7 and 022 will return to the nest tomorrow morning and start nest building together and re-building their bond, with lots of mating no doubt.

There was also another Osprey around at lunchtime which wouldn’t have been CJ7 as she would have landed on the nest then, but we are wondering if that could have been 374 coming in for a sneaky peek to see what was happening at the nest site. No doubt more excitement and drama will unford in the comings days.

Elsewhere the Forster’s Tern was giving great views off Shipstal Beach, RSPB Arne, and we managed to see it brilliantly from our Spring Safari cruise this afternoon sat on a channel marker. There was a short passage of Red Kite this afternoon with 5 drifting over Swineham Point, north over a period of 5 minutes whilst 3 Marsh Harrier were quartering over Giggers Island. There were up to 5 White-tailed Eagle in and around Arne/Wareham Channel this morning with both adults cruising into the Wareham Channel this afternoon. There were still 4 Spoonbill in Middlebere, a single Swallow dashed through across the mouth of the Wareham Channel with another off Middlebere, a few Red-breasted Merganser and dark-bellied Brent Geese remain and a decent count of c1000 Black-tailed Godwit were feeding off Swineham Point. At Holmebride there were still up to 24 Cattle Egret feeding and a Barnacle Goose was on the floods. A Willow Warbler was singing at Swineham, Blackcaps were singing at the PCW Drain and finally a Bonaparte’s Gull was reported at Swineham this morning, as was a Little Gull a few hours before.

Forster’s Tern – Shipstal Beach, RSPB Arne – Dave Ward

Forster’s Tern – Shipstal Beach, RSPB Arne – Dave Ward

Forster’s Tern – Spring Safari Cruise this afternoon – Aiken Lau

Forster’s Tern – Spring Safari Cruise this afternoon – Carolyn Hancocks

Eurasian Curlew – Spring Safari Cruise this afternoon – Carolyn Hancocks

CJ7, 022 and 1H1 having an awkward moment upon CJ7’s arrival back at 18:30

Female Osprey 1H1 having a pop at CJ7 for ruining the party before chasing off 022 in a rage!

High drama on the Osprey nest today when a blue ringed female Osprey landed on the nest with 022, who wasn’t CJ7. The leg ring was quickly revealed as ‘1H1’ which tells us this is a 2022 female from the main Manton Bay nest at Rutland Water. This isn’t our first encounter with 1H1 as she actually visited the harbour several times last year, and even paired up with another of our males 374. Both 1H1 and 374 semi-paired up last summer and spent July and August touring the south coast looking for possible suitable nest sites. They took an interest in our Middlebere Farm nest, opposite RSPB Arne, but were both seen off by….you’ve guessed it….022! We were hoping 1H1 would return this spring and all being well 374 will soon too. Although she currently looks very comfortable with 022, we’ve actually seen this scenario before back in 2023 when an un-ringed female Osprey settled on the nest with 022 a few days before CJ7 returned. However, order was soon restored and CJ7 saw off the un-ringed intruder. We’re pretty sure the same will happen again and that CJ7 (all being well) will arrive back over the next week, and will soon see off 1H1, meaning she can go off and pair with 374, where ever he may end up!

In the Lower Piddle Valley today 2 Blue-headed Wagtail were found and this evening 5 Little ringed Plover were still on the floods and a Spoonbill dropped in. The Forster’s Tern was seen off Shipstal Point again, 4 Spoonbill were in Middlebere and 3 White-tailed Eagle were in the Wareham Channel. A Black Redstart was on factory roofs on Holton Heath trading estate. There was some vis-mig this morning which saw 140 Redwing traveling north, along with 72 Chaffinch and 3 Swallow.

Male Osprey 022 eyeing up newly arrived female 1H1

Male Osprey 022 trying to impress newly arrived female 1H1 with a stick

Blue-headed Wagtail – Lower Piddle Valley – James Leaver

Nationally, Spring has really ‘sprung’ into action already, despite only being March 23rd, with a mass of early migrants coming through. The country has seen multiple Sedge Warbler arrive already, plus quite a few Yellow Wagtail too. There seems to have been a big ‘dump’ of Hoopoes with c50 in western Britain and multiple Osprey are back early. The harbour saw it’s own early arriver today, with the years first Common Whitethroat on Upton Heath. Another amazing (re)find today was the returning Forster’s Tern, which is now back for it’s 3rd year in a row. Today it was seen flying up and down Middlebere a few times and will no doubt stick around for a few more days/weeks? Male Osprey 022 visited his nest site a few times, as did 2 Red Kite which were giving him a bit of grief. But with no CJ7 yet, he was also logged on other harbour nest platforms, probably checking out any local competition. Another un-ringed Osprey was seen along the southern shores near Middlebere this afternoon, but didn’t visit any nest platforms. Along the Middlebere track there was 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Wheatear and a Woodlark was singing overhead. This morning 2 Red Kite and 2 White-tailed Eagles were over Stoborough and 2 White-tailed Eagle were over Corfe Mullen. A single Swallow flew over Scotland Farm, a Yellow Wagtail was over the Frome and 2 Spoonbill were in Middlebere. The Spotted Redshank was in Holes Bay again, there were quite a few small parties of Bearded Tit off Swineham Point and a Black Redstart (yesterdays?) was seen around the Middlebere cottages again.

Male Osprey 022 touring the harbour, visiting other nest platforms today, including here at Middlebere

Returning Forster’s Tern for it’s 3rd year – Middlebere – Mark Wright

One of 2 Red Kite causing mischief at the osprey nest this morning

Well, it seems that being March 22nd was quite a good omen, as our male Osprey 022 arrived back today, three days earlier than he’s ever been back before. This is a great moment, and all being well, heralds the start of the 2025 Osprey season. Female CJ7 arrived back on March 26th last year, but with 022 arriving early, we could easily see CJ7 arrive back over the next couple of days. It seems he caught his first fish of the the year in Middlebere, and was seen flying past our Spring Safari cruise this morning, before making his way to his nest site. Welcome back matey, and here’s looking forward to another great season. There was loads going on today, with a female type Black Redstart on the Middlebere cottages, this evening 2 different Short-eared Owls were logged with 1 on RSPB Arne Moors and another on Slepe Heath. There were 2 White-tailed Eagles in the Wareham Channel this morning, 3 Bearded Tit were at Swineham and 7 Spoonbill were in Middlebere. Over Swineham GP several Sand Martin were feeding, the Willow Warbler from yesterday was still singing in Broadstone, 2 male Northern Wheatear were on Hartland Stud and several Red Kite passed over during the day.

Male Osprey 022 hunting in Middlebere – Mark Wright

Black Redstart –  Middlebere – Mark Wright