Well, it’s not even March yet, but it’s all beginning to happen. This morning the first 2 Wheatear were reported down in Cornwall and in Hampshire the first migrant White Wagtail was logged, which basically means….spring migration has arrived. The first few days of March often bring the first Sand Martin or Garganey, but with todays wind coming up from the SSE, it’s no surprise a few early birds have arrived into the UK.

Our highlight today (well, yesterday actually) was not a newly arrived migrant, or a rare vagrant from far and wide, but in fact a biscuit hiding Raven which after our nest check yesterday of the Poole Harbour Osprey nest cam, decided to hide two Bourbon Biscuits in the newly moss carpeted nest. Firstly, no, the biscuits weren’t ours. Yes, we had been on site that morning doing the work, but we definitely didn’t have any Bourbon biscuits. So, where the raven got it’s sweet treats from is anyones guess, but the behaviour alone provided a fascinating insight into what these birds get up to, and also really caught the publics imagination with the tweet showing the footage having been viewed 40k times by this evening and liked c2500 times!

Away from webcams, the 3 Swineham Tundra Bean Geese were back in the paddocks at Swineham again and a Goshawk was seen flying over the southern edge of Wareham Forest being chased by Ravens and the/another Goshawk was seen again in and over Arne where there was also a Great White Egret and Marsh Harrier. At Lytchett fields the male Brambling was at the feeders again and there was also a Siberian Chiffchaff at Swineham calling with 2 Common Chiffchaff. A massive count of 10,500 Black-headed Gull entered the pre-roost in Lytchett Bay this evening but only 65 Med Gull were logged. In Studland bay there was at least 1 Slavonain Grebe and 3 Black-necked Grebe, one of which is in near full breeding plumage and on Shipstal there were still 5 Spoonbill. 

Goshawk – Arne – Mark Wright

Great White Egret – Arne – Mark Wright

Summer-plumage Black-necked Grebe – Middle Beach – Peter Moore