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