Today was our fourth Osprey cruise of the week and the target species didn’t disappoint. We had two hunting/fishing in the Wareham Channel both of which headed off north with a fish, with another already well placed with breakfast in talons perched up on a favourite perching branch on the Arne shoreline. Then, out of the blue one of our translocated chicks (008) came into the Wareahm Channel and spent 20 minutes practice fishing which was a sight to behold and and a very proud moment. We then also had anoth two of our translocated juveniles soaring over the mouth of Wytch Lake giving a great flight display…pure bliss. Then a real early autumn bonus popped up as a juvenile Hen Harrier hunted actively along the Keysworth shoreline wowing the crowd with a Marsh Harrier showing briefly a bit later too. Too add to the species list we had 11 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon along with 2 Sanderling, c20 Ringed Plover, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, c300 Black-tailed Godwit, c500 Oystercatcher, 25 Avocet and c60 Dunlin. Later in the day a more accurate set of counts were made which added 2 Curlew Sandpiper to the list along with 12 Greenshank, 78 Redshank, 2 Med Gulls and 204 Cormorants. There were also 2 Pied Flycatcher and 3 Spotted Flycatcher in a tit flock containing 15+ Coal Tit. It certainly seems a few more migrants are coming through now and up on Ballard 15 Willow Warbler, 27 Sedge Warbler, 9 Grasshopper Warbler, 36 Blackcap, 4 Garden Warbler, 20 Common Whitethroat, 1 Redstart and 1 Whinchat moved through. The high water levels on the Brownsea Lagoon seem to be pushing birds towards Lytchett Fields which saw 128 Redshank, 18 Dunlin, 14 Green Sandpiper, 10 Greenshank, 7 Ringed Plover, 1 Spotted Redshank and 3 Common Sandpiper along with 10+ Yellow Wagtail, 6 Sedge Warbler, 2 Garden Warbler and 1 Tree Pipit also logged. In Holes Bay north things are shaping up nicely for the winter with 300+ Black-tailed Godwit, 129 Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 1 Whimbrel, 14 Curlew and 2 Common Sandpiper on the low tide. At Greenlands Farm there were 25 Yellow Wagtail, 4 Common Redstart, 4 Wheatear, 5 Common Whitethroat, 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 10 Willow Warbler and Whimbrel calling in Brands Bay. At Arne it seemed busy with migrants too with 1 Whinchat on Coombe Heath, 1 Whinchat and 1 Redstart on Arne Farm and a good general number of Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler around the area.

Shelduck – Brownsea Lagoon – Nick Gadeene

Swallow – Brownsea Lagoon – Nick Gadeene

Translocated Osprey chick 008 – Alison Copland