It’s hot! Most of the bird activity was early morning and late evening with birds and birders sheltering from the high temperatures. Nice to see dispersing Great White Egret numbers starting to grow with 3 in the Wareham Channel this morning. There was also 1 Osprey, 2 Bearded Tit and 1 Yellow-legged Gull here. There were 4 juvenile and 1 adult Little-ringed Plover on RSPB Arne Moors, showing another successful season for this species. 1 Osprey was sat in trees in Lytchett Bay this morning plus a stunning Water Rail was in the mouth of the Frome. There have been good numbers of Swifts at known traditional breeding sites, likely bolstered by transiting non-breeding birds investigating various colonies. This evening male Osprey 022 did a lovely fly by of our Sunset Safari, plus there were 2 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon.

No doubt the heat wave this week will be impacting our birds particularly those with young in nests with risks of heat stress and dehydration. Our Ospreys seem to be coping well considering, with CJ7 providing shade throughout the day. Ospreys are also used to these sorts of temperatures, wintering in West Africa and the ability to nest throughout southern Europe. Birds don’t have sweat glands and so rely on panting to cool them down. As we expect more and more heatwaves with climate change it makes it even more important to create more ponds and wetlands to provide water for our wildlife. Even something small in a garden can make a real difference for amphibians and birds.

Common Seals – Near Round Island – John Thorpe

The warm weather was (semi) welcomed with an easterly airflow, and being mid-June, there’s always an (outside) chance of a mid-year mega! There was a pale morph Booted Eagle in South Devon yesterday and this weather system is ideal for a Black Stork. Today we had to make do with 3 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon and 7 Cattle Egret were on Wareham Common. A male Osprey was over Morden Bog this afternoon and one was in the Wareham Channel this morning.

Osprey – Morden Bog – Mark Wright

With both the summer solstice and the new heatwave arriving on the same day today, perhaps a new bird related arrival wasn’t out of the question too? Well thats exactly what happened during our Summer Safari Cruise this morning when a female Red-backed Shrike was found from the boat in a dead tree on the corner of Swineham GP, in exactly the same spot the Red-spotted Bluethroat was hanging out earlier this spring. With 2 great quality birds favouring that exact same area this year, it makes that 10m sq area one of the most productive rarity hotspots in the whole harbour. This is also our second Red-backed Shrike of the spring which is great considering they’re often only a one in 5-year occurrence! The one a few weeks ago was a pristine adult male, and todays a female, so it’s a shame they didn’t coincide their visits as there’s plenty of great habitat around.

Despite the blazing sign, a true sign of more early autumn migration was the first southward Common Sandpiper of the season in the mouth of the River Frome, along with 1 Ringed Plover, 10 Lapwing and small numbers of Curlew, Redshank and Black-tailed Godwit. The brownsea Lagoon held 15 Avocet, 5 Spoonbill and multiple young Common and Sandwich Terns. Ospreys were a tad trickier to find today with only distant sightings over Middlebere and the Wareham Channel, Bearded Tits were showing well in the reed beds at Swineham Point.

Female Red-backed Shrike – Swineham Point – Trevor Warwick

Female Red-backed Shrike – Swineham Point – Peter Moore

Things are about to heat up….hopefully both Ornithologically as well Meteorologically! June can often be referred to as ‘the quiet month’, but so much happens, which although is subtle, still offers great birding before the main pulse of autumn migration kicks in in mid-July. June see the arrival of ‘summer herons’, whether it be dispersing juvenile Grey Herons and wandering adults, plus there’s always a rise in Little Egret in late June/early July which are probably younger birds (not juvs) moving about, which is then followed by a peak in August. Following this theme 5 Cattle Egret were seen arriving into the Wareham Channel this morning, which could also be dispersing/wandering failed breeders? as all were in full summer plumage. It was another raptor fest in the SW of the harbour with 3 Osprey interacting over Middlebere this AM which included female 6J8 and males 5H3 and his Dad, 022. Plus, 2 Peregrine flew over, as did a White-tailed Eagle, 1 Goshawk and 1 Marsh Harrier. The Brownsea Lagoon held 11 Avocet, 2 Spoonbill, 8 Bar-tailed Godwit and 1 Common Ringed Plover. There were 3 Little Ringed Plover on the Stilt Pools at Swineham and 25 Black-tailed Godwit in the Wareham Channel. A decent count of 21 Swift were over Upper Parkstone this evening and yesterdays hatchling in our Wareham Swift box seemed to be doing well today with several feeds from the adults.

Newly hatched Swift getting a feed from one of the adults

Female Osprey 6J8 on harbour nest platform

We have a golden rule here at BoPH….Never be put off by the weather. Although you could barely see any of the harbour shore line this morning, the murk soon cleared to reveal a whole suit of birds right across the area. A White-tailed Eagle was in the Wareham Channel this morning and then female G466 gave incredible flight views right past our Summer Safari Cruise just before midday. At Swineham there were 3 Marsh Harrier floating around, and 1 Great White Egret, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 4 Bearded Tit and c10 Common Swift were around the Stilt Pools, Swineham. A Little Tern was off the Brownsea south shore with c20 Common Tern and c10 Sandwich Tern. The Brownsea Lagoon held 2 Spoonbill, 6 Bar-tailed Godwit, 8 Avocet and 3 Common Redshank. An Osprey was hunting in the Wareham Channel, and there were several more signs of early autumn movements with a few small parties of Curlew moving around RSPB Arne Moors and Keysworth, plus the mid-summer arrival of Little Egret is definitely underway with several groups now forming along shorelines and on the Brownsea Lagoon. A Garden Warbler was singing next to the gravel pit at Swineham, a Goshawk was seen at Middlebere along with 2 Peregrine. 

Bearded Tit – Swineham Point – Joe Parker

Female White-tailed Eagle G466 – Goat Horn Penninsular – Joe Parker

Spoonbill – Brownsea Lagoon – Joe Parker

Still not much sign of the sun, but mild temperatures and overcast sky’s do provide good conditions for moths, and there was a bumper haul at Carey Secret Garden last night/this morning with 153 species logged from 3 traps, including a Dotted Fan-foot which is possibly only the 3rd Dorset record, plus a Scarce Merveille De Jour which is red data book species. There were also some possible early signs of autumn dispersal with 3 new adult Blackcap ringed at Carey Secret Garden, suggesting some possible local dispersal due to failed breeding? Also 11 Chiffchaff were ringed which would have been local youngsters, but dispersing into the local landscape, before their longer migration later in Sept and Oct. In the Frome Valley 4 summer plumaged Cattle Egret were between Holmebridge and Wareham, where a 2nd cal year White-tailed Eagle was having a fight with a Red Kite, and was then later seen at Carey having a fight with female Osprey CJ7. The summering male Red-breasted Merganser was off Jerry’s Point this afternoon and on Brownsea there were 11 Avocet and 1 Spoonbill.

Finally, some good news, there’s been a hatching in our Swift box! The first feed seemed to be around 20:10, and with their growth being substantially faster than our Ospreys, the next 14 days should be a facinating insight into Swift nest ecology and behaviour. To watch all the drama on our Swift Cam visit: https://www.youtube.com/live/uS1oq61EuOA

Dotted Fan-foot – Carey Secret Garden – Ed Betteridge

Scarce Merveille De Jour – Carey Secret Garden – Ed Betteridge

Wareham Webcam Swift pair feeding their newly hatched young

It was much of the same today, left overs from teh weekend with 2 Osprey in and around Middlebere and the southern shores, 1 adult and 1 2nd cal year White-tailed Eagle over Corfe and Middlebere, a Spotted Flycatcher was at RSPB Arne and another at Carey Secret Garden. An Osprey caught a fish on Lytchett Fields during the high tide, a Goshawk was over Holton Lee and 2 Marsh Harrier were in and around Swineham Point.

Male Osprey ‘5H3’ near RSPB Arne yesterday – Mark Wright