Spring was in full swing today with 1 Little Ringed Plover present in the field opposite Swineham Gravel Pit, as well as 20 Sand Martin over the pit itself. Off Swineham Point were 4 Ruff, 1 Greenshank and 2 Spoonbill, with 2 Marsh Harrier over the reedbeds and 1 Red Kite over Arne Moors. It was an White-tailed Eagle bonanza in the harbour today, with 4 seen on Shag Looe point in the Wareham Channel, including two in flight over Swineham, and two also reported over Creekmoor. With spring movements underway, 1 Tree Pipit was recorded headed north over Rempstone, and 1 Sand Martin over Wareham Common.

Four White-tailed Eagles(!) – Shag Looe, Wareham Channel – @kayakpoole.bsky.social

The 2025 Osprey season has officially started with the first birds back at Rutland water today! Hopefully not long until our cameras go live. Not only could we see the return of our nesting pair, but any of the young reared on the nest back in 2023 (ringed 5H3, 5H4 and 5H5), as well as prospecting male 374. Watch this space…!

The Siberian Chiffchaff was seen at Lytchett Bay View again this morning. The Long-tailed Duck was reported in Bramble Bush Bay this morning along with 5 Red-breasted Merganser. In Holes Bay, 700 Black-tailed Godwit and 50+ Pintail were reported on the high tide.

Siberian Chiffchaff – Lytchett Bay View – Ian Ballam

Spring is here! 20+ Sand Martin were reported over the Frome water meadows east of Holmebridge this afternoon. Sightings from our pop-up at Jerry’s Point this morning were fairly quiet, but the highlight was a distant Slavonian Grebe, along with counts of 210 Dunlin, 23 Redshank, 20 Curlew, 8 Turnstone and 6 Red-breasted Merganser.

Nice record from Lytchett Fields of a two Belgian-ringed Mediterranean Gulls, which have returned for a third spring. Also reported from Lytchett Fields was a probable Siberian Chiffchaff (although no vocalisations heard). There were reports of decent numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing again at Sunnyside Farm.

Probable Siberian Chiffchaff – Lytchett Fields – Shaun Robson

Belgian-ringed Mediterranean Gull – Lytchett Fields – Shaun Robson

The wind turned more northerly today bringing cold air and halting much more spring migration for the time being. 1 male Merlin was at Middlebere this afternoon and a flock of c50 Fieldfare were at Sunnyside Farm. 1 juvenile White-tailed Eagle was still in the Wareham Channel this morning and 4 were seen this evening circling over Hartland Moor. There have been lots of Red Kite sightings over the last few days all over the harbour, including Poole, Lytchett, Wareham and South of the harbour too. Let’s hope a pair or 2 decide to breed within the harbour boundary this year. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were still a number of wintering waders holding on with c50 Avocet, c50 Bar-tailed Godwit and c200 Black-tailed Godwit. The 3 Slavonian Grebe were still off Jerry’s Point today. 5 Spoonbill were feeding at the Stilt Pool at Swineham in the early evening.

In other news our Spring Safari Cruises begin this weekend as the first spring migrants have already been turning up around the country. Tickets are selling fast!

With the spring warmth developing, with it comes an increase in activity, especially from birds of prey, as courtship, displaying and local movements all come into play. It was an absolute raptor-fest today, which incredibly saw NINE different White-tailed Eagles moving around the Poole Harbour/Purbeck area during the course of the day. This has been a typical pattern for all the eagles since the translocation started in 2019, in that early spring sees movements of younger birds, leaving wintering areas and starting to explore, whilst looking for other eagles. This volume of eagles won’t remain locally, and could easily all be in another county in 24 hours time, but the fact that there were nine eagles locally is simply mind blowing. Other raptors moving about included several Red Kite with birds over Middlebere, Ham Common and Upton. A 2nd cal year Goshawk flew over Middlebere, Marsh Harriers were active over Middlebere and Swineham and a male Merlin was still active around the Hartland area. We’d like to congratulate local birder and photographer Mark Wright who today managed to capture the elegance and beauty of many of the raptors that were out and about today in the spring sunshine. Elsewhere 3 Great White Egret came out of the roost at Swineham this morning and 50 Fieldfare were still at Hartland stud.

Marsh Harrier – Mark Wright

Goshawk – Mark Wright

White-tailed Eagle – Mark Wright

Merlin – Mark Wright

Finally, the first Sand Martin of the year arrived today with just a single bird over Swineham GP this evening. It took a while considering there have been so many in the UK already this spring. There were 2 more Osprey reports in the UK today, highlighting they’re on their way! In Middlebere this afternoon 8 Spoonbill were settled on the the salt marsh, and two different White-tailed Eagle flew low over the Middlebere Channel, an adult and a juvenile, with another 2 in the Wareham Channel mid-afternoon. This evening 2 Great White Egret and 27 Cattle Egret went in to the Swineham roost.

White- tailed Eagle and Herring Gull – Middlebere – Izzy King

White- tailed Eagle and Herring Gull – Middlebere – Izzy King

A Really tough day where the fog was supposed to have disappeared by 9am, but in fact, stayed smothering the harbour all day. There were a few snippets of birding interest including 5 Black-throated Diver still in-between Evening Hill and Brownsea Island, a Guillemot was off Poole Quay, a redhead Goosander was in Holes Bay NE, near the PCW Drain, 2 White-tailed Eagle were seen in the Wareham Channel this afternoon briefly and a single Hawfinch was still in St Marys churchyard at Lytchett Matravers.

In brighter news, there was some more historic Poole Harbour info today, in that the first ever wild Beavers in England were released into Little Sea, Studland this afternoon under the new Government license scheme which was announced and rolled out and last week. The National Trust have been working on this application for several years, hoping that the licenses would have been granted some time ago. However various secretaries of states  over the years have kicked the can down the road and put the scheme on the back burner for far too long. Late last week though, the current Environment Secretary ‘Steve Reed’ announced that licenses would now be considered for wild beaver releases, and so with all the hard work already completed the National Trust Purbeck team acted incredibly quickly, got their paper work in order, went to Scotland, caught some Beavers under license from wild populations up there in partnership with the Beaver Trust, and brought them down to the harbour at the start of this week. Talk about a speedy response. The reason this is significant is because all other beaver releases across the England up until this point have been within enclosures, meaning they can’t spread out and create the great dynamic wetlands they’re well built to do. Now with Beavers wild in Purbeck they’ll spread over time and start to create rich, dynamic wetlands across Purbeck and beyond. A huge congratulations to all involved.

European Beavers – Little Sea, Studland – The Beaver Trust