There’s apparently a bit of heat relief by the end of the week, well, at least some cloud cover. It feels like it’s been crystal clear blue sky’s for months now! There are plenty of juvenile birds out on the wing now with juvenile Dartford Warblers, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Woodlarks, Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Stonechats, Dunnock and many more all now fending for themselves. Some species are only just getting into the groove with Spotted Flycatcher seen nest building today and Reed Warbler and  Sedge Warbler still incubating. There were a couple of White-tailed Eagle sightings in the Wareham Channel area today and male Osprey 022 caught a Bass in the mouth of the Frome, off Swineham this evening. At Lytchett Bay a singing Willow Warbler was a notable June record and there were 3 Ringed Plover out on the fields. It was good to hear that a few family parties of Crossbill were seen and heard around Morden Bog today having been a bit thin on the ground earlier in the year.

Blackbird feeding young – Canford Heath – John Newman

A slight drop in the wind today made for very warm conditions and plenty of activity! Visitors to Hyde’s Heath at Arne enjoyed views of Sparrowhawk, Hobby, Marsh Harrier, alongside Dartford Warbler, Woodlarks, Stonechats, plus distant Curlew and Lapwing. A Red Kite was seen over the Wareham area again, and nearby at Morden Bog there were 3 Cuckoo, 1 Hobby, a pair of Redstart with young. Gadwall appear to have bred successfully in Lytchett Bay once again with 9 young following a female around the Fields early this morning, where 3 Ringed Plover and 1 Greenshank were also present. Over on Brownsea Lagoon, 3 summer plumage Grey Plover were a treat for observers, along with lots of Sandwich Tern chick activity. And in central Poole, 3 Peregrine chicks were all visible on the balcony of the Barclays Building.

Marsh Harrier – Hyde’s Heath, Arne – Kate Plater

Juvenile Stonechat – Hyde’s Heath, Arne – Kate Plater

There were 2 Red Kite seen from Rock Lea Viewpoint over Lytchett Bay this morning, as well as what appeared to be an unringed Osprey hunting in the Bay. Hopefully we will get more reports of this bird soon and confirm whether it is ringed, as we are keeping our eyes out for any translocated returnees! At Lytchett Fields, the Little Gull was present again today. 6 Lapwing were reported from Coombe Heath this morning. From our Carey Osprey Tours today, aside from the Osprey pair regularly feeding the three chicks, there was plenty of Buzzard activity, as well as 1 Red Kite and 1 Hobby high over the site.

Red Kite – Lytchett Bay – Alison Copland

There was some great coverage on Springwatch this evening with female White-tailed Eagle seen hunting a couple of gull chicks on the gull islands. There was also a new Osprey in the harbour today, with one seen in the Wareham Channel just after 022 had caught a fish. Out on the mud in the Wareham Channel were 50 Dunlin and 10 Ringed Plover. At Lytchett Fields a Little Gull was on Frenches Pools, the drake Garganey was on the Swineham scrapes. There was more good news from Poole Town Centre in that there are now 3 Peregrine chicks on show on the Barclays building with the whole family of 5 on view this morning. Finally, the week looks like it may finish just as it started with a new Osprey chick in the nest, as tonight the final egg started hatching and all being well, should be out by tomorrow morning/afternoon.

Little Gull – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

Third egg begining to hatch on Osprey nest

The clear blue skies are perfect for birds of prey, with 4 Red Kite seen over Fleetsbridge this morning, and 1 near Lytchett Fields later on. Also at Lytchett Fields, one male Little Ringed Plover was present today on French’s Pool. In Lytchett Bay, 1 Osprey (likely 022) was reported as well as 1 Marsh Harrier and 2 Common Tern. Not quite in the Poole Harbour area, but a Squacco Heron was also reported near Wool this afternoon flying west along the River Frome – wouldn’t it be nice if it flew back towards the harbour?!

Very exciting update from the Osprey nest, as the first chick hatched shortly after 10pm last night, and the second early this afternoon. We’ve been treated to close up views of the first feeds today through our livestream webcams and hopefully it won’t be long before we see signs of hatching on egg number three!

Two chicks getting fed by CJ7 and 022 this afternoon

It’s an extremely exciting time to be watching the Poole Harbour Osprey webcam, as today we have two(!) eggs starting the hatching process! One chick is further along, regularly showing its beak out of a large hole in the egg which first appeared mid-morning, whereas the second is currently showing a small crack from the early afternoon. The typical incubation window for Osprey is 36-40 days (though there can be exceptions), and today marks day 38 for egg number one, and 35 days for egg number 2. Hatching can be a lengthy process, sometimes taking more than a day, but hopefully it won’t be too long until we see the first chick out of the egg, with the second not far behind. Our two webcams show different views of the nest, and the aerial cam is now coming into its own, giving us clear views of the progress when there is a break in incubation. You can WATCH BOTH OSPREY WEBCAM VIEWS HERE.

Our windy Spring Safari Cruise this morning delivered some great sightings, the highlight being a Black Tern in the Wareham Channel over the gull islands – unfortunately only seen by a few lucky people on the boat! Other highlights included Osprey 022 catching a fish in the Wareham Channel before quickly returning to the nest and at least 3 Hobby seen during the trip, firstly over Swineham Gravel Pit, a second high over RSPB Arne and the third putting on a good display over the north Brownsea shoreline while it hunted on the wing. There were 2 Little Ringed Plover on the scrapes at Swineham. Around 200 Black-tailed Godwit were feeding on the exposed mud near Gigger’s Island, where 1 Marsh Harrier was also active. Interestingly, 14 Avocet were logged on the Brownsea Lagoon, having only been 1 present over the last month or so, which could well be failed breeders from elsewhere who are now using the lagoon as an optimal feeding spot. Alongside the breeding Common and Sandwich Tern were 26 Bar-tailed Godwit, the 2 Dark-bellied Brent Geese that are seemingly over-summering. 1 White-tailed Eagle was also reported over Wareham this afternoon, heading in the direction of Sandford.

Osprey nest with 022 feeding on a fish. Egg number 1 is at the rear, with number 2 on the front right.

There was certainly a lot more going on today than yesterday! The continued warm weather obviously got the White-tailed Eagles going with sightings of individuals over Wareham Common, Sandford and the Wareham Channel. There was also Red Kite on the move again with 7 over Carey, 5 over Lytchett Bay, 1 over Fleetsbridge and 2 over RSPB Arne. The Poole Peregrine chick(s) have finally come into view with the first sighting of a chick precariously walking along the balcony edge of the nesting ledge. It’s not known whether there’s more than one yet but a group of keen watchers are visiting daily currently to keep an eye on them. On the Brownsea Lagoon there was a small number of waders including 28 Bar-tailed Godwit, 6 Dunlin, 1 Redshank, 1 Avocet and 1 Grey Plover as well as 2 dark-bellied Brent Geese. Yesterday a Great White Egret headed down the Piddle Valley.

Finally, we had some really exciting news today. Huge thanks to Tim Mackrill for speedy news and photographer Robert Lewis for allowing us to share this exciting picture, which appears to show an Osprey with blue ring 374. The photo was taken on May 13th in SW Wiltshire by Robert who recently shared the photo with Tim. The reason it’s so exciting is because blue 374 is one of our 2021 males, which is of course another great step for the project, because like male 022, it’s the males that eventually set up the territories in their natal area. In this case, Poole Harbour. Being two-years old 374 will probably spend the summer exploring the south coast, hence why he went to Wiltshire, but will hopefully return to the harbour area in July or August and begin looking for potential future nest sites in this area. There’s a high probability that he’s already visited the harbour upon his arrival, but just sneaked through un-seen. In fact on May 12th (the day before he was in Wiltshire) an Osprey was seen near the nest site with 022 briefly, which could easily have been him. This is fantastic news, and who knows, maybe the un-ringed female from earlier in the year may eventually find a mate and settle in Poole Harbour after all. Let’s just hope he doesn’t end up in Wales!

Male Osprey 374 – Wiltshire on May 13th – Robert Lewis

Peregrine on Barclays Balcony –