With it due to get really hot again in the next few days, there was quite the surprise this afternoon when a Bittern leapt out of the reeds on the edge of RSPB Arne Moors and dropped down onto Swineham GP. As far as we’re aware this is the first July record for Poole Harbour and almost certainly suggests a staging migrant heading somewhere. Over the last few years July has seen the arrival/passage of other heron species including Great White Egret and Cattle Egret, highlighting the fact herons do move early in the season, but is this an annual mid-summer passage we’ve simply been missing over the years? We normally associate March as being the Bittern passage/departure month here in Poole Harbour, but is July (maybe August) also a passage/arrival month for them too? There was also some drama in the Wareham Channel this afternoon with female Osprey CJ7 trying to duff up the White-tailed Eagles, before she soon gave up and went fishing instead. The Brownsea Lagoon is building nicely with 209 Dunlin, 86 Redshank, 36 Turnstone, 9 Ringed Plover, 2 Grey Plover, 1 Avocet and 1 Common Sandpiper. The first migrant juv Whitethroat of the autumn was ringed at Carey Secret Garden, a Hobby dashed through Lytchett Fields, 3 Yellow-legged Gull were on the Stilt Pools, Swineham, both Peregrines were on the Asda flats this morning and last night Slepe Heath was ‘jumping’ with Nightjars with 7-8 seen, one even having a fight with a bat species briefly!