Huge fall today at Portland – in fact a staggering 470 birds were ringed at the Observatory by midday! Turning to the Harbour, migrants arrived in the form of a reeling Grasshopper Warbler on Wareham Common and Willow Warbler recorded in good numbers across the recording area.  There was late news of two singing Cuckoo at Middlebere briefly on Friday, the first of the year for Poole Harbour. The gorgeous weather encouraged Woodlark into full song across heathlands and 2 Spotted Redshank was still present from Rock Lea View. There were 4 Common Sandpiper at Lytchett Fields with a Sedge Warbler and 14 Whimbrel and a Common Sandpiper were at Holes Bay while Wheatear were thinly spread with individuals at Lytchett Bay, Holton Lee and Arne. Venturing beyond the recording area, a Hoopoe occupied the cricket field in Swanage. Upton Skylines enjoyed 2 Yellow Wagtail and a circling Red Kite. A White-tailed Eagle was logged over the northern fringes of Poole Town as well as the western shorelines of Arne/Hydes Heath through the day. At Swineham this evening there were over 1000 hirundines this evening with c820 Sand Martin, c205 Swallow and 25 House Martin, also 1 Cuckoo, 3 Sedge Warbler and 6 Reed Warbler. There are still a few Spoonbill kicking about with 1 on Brownsea and 2 in Middlebere.

Wheatear – Lytchett Bay – @nikodogtwite

Mid-April often delivers the next wave of migrants and that rung true today with the harbours first Common Whitethroat of the year in the PCW Drain, and there was a stunning adult Yellow Wagtail on Wareham Common with Lytchett Bay seeing its first Reed Warbler of the spring. A Hobby was over Hartland, Swallow, Sand Martin and House Martin were logged passing in small numbers at numerous locations around the harbour. Off Hydes Heath, RSPB Arne, the White-tailed Eagle pair were seen out in the Wareham Channel, one chasing down a Canada Goose. Our Osprey pair were mega busy this morning nest building and bringing in material to the nest, possibly suggesting that CJ7 could be ready to lay her first egg any moment now.

Yellow Wagtail – Wareham Common – Joe Parker

Umm, the less said about today the better! Another wet and windy day, although bright horizons are just around the corner according to the mort recent forecast. The best (so far) of today was 4 Wheatear at Hartland Stud and 14 Sand Martin flew through Lytchett Bay. It didn’t seem too many people were out birding, but those that were need congratulating for perseverance.

Wheatear (yesterday) – Hartland – Peter Moore

An Osprey with a blue ring on right leg briefly landed on one of the nest perches this morning. Too far away to be able to read it sadly, but it will be an English or Welsh hatched individual! Hopefully it will stick around and touch down on one of our platforms so we can confirm the ring number. In other exicting news, the first Puffins have been sighted back at Dancing Ledge along the Purbecks. Two individuals were spotted c.200m out at sea. A White-tailed Eagle was seen soaring low over the Ham Common Viewpoint. A Red Kite was picked up over Lytchett Bay Airspace around 11AM and 4 Wheatear occupied Sunnyside. An impressive 607 Black-tailed Godwit, many having now acquired their stunning summer plumages.

Puffins – Dancing Ledge – Back of camera shot taken by @Snowfla93053790

High winds, rain and hail have no doubt hampered birding opportunities today, but a few weather windows provided some nice sightings… A scan of Brownsea Lagoon before the high winds set in reported 24 Sandwich tern and 6 Common Tern on the islands, along with several pairs of Black-headed Gull now getting settled to breed. An early morning count at Swineham showed a minor arrival with 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Reed Warbler, c80 Sand Martin, c20 Swallow and c10 House Martin with the single Barnacle Goose was still present, as well as 18 Shelduck, 2 Shoveler, 10 Gadwall, 4 Teal, 1 Curlew, 4 Lapwing, 11 Black-tailed Godwit and 6 Redshank. At Lytchett Fields, 1 Cattle Egret was seen in flight this morning heading west, and 1 Spotted Redshank was present on French’s pool. From Rock Lea Viewpoint at Lytchett Bay, 87 Black-tailed Godwit, 11 Redshank, 3 Curlew, 2 Sandwich Tern and 12 Mediterranean Gull were counted. A nice sighting of 2 Eider were reported off Middle Beach mid-morning. 150 Black-tailed Godwit and 1 Avocet were also counted at Holes Bay.

Black-headed Gulls – Brownsea Lagoon – Nicki Tutton

Lytchett Bay was stealing all the action today with multiple sightings of Osprey, 1 White-tailed Eagle, and at least one each of Red Kite, Peregrine and Marsh Harrier all seen from Rock Lea View, the latter of which flushed a Ringed Plover from the main bay. The fields were busy too with 109 Black-tailed Godwit, 30 Redshank, 3 Greenshank, 1 Green Sandpiper, plus Little Ringed Plover and Spotted Redshank both present once again, and the first 3 Whimbrel of the year on French’s Pool. Elsewhere 1 drake Pintail was still in Holes Bay, and a Hobby – probably newly arrived – was seen high over East Morden heading towards Wareham Forest. The Garganey was still on the Stilt Pools at Swineham.

Peregrine with Black-tailed Godwit prey over Poole Quay yesterday – David Turner

The forecast tomorrow brings the bank holiday good cheer to an end with heavy rain and strong wind bedding in for a couple of days. For that reason we moved our Monday cruise to today instead and managed to log 2 Osprey in the Wareham Channel, 3 Marsh Harrier around the mouth of the Frome, 3 Spoonbill, c20 Avocet, c100 Sandwich Tern, 4 Greenshank, 1 Sanderling, c20 Bar-tailed Godwit and c150 summer plumaged Black-tailed Godwit on the Brownsea Lagoon, c30 Sand Martin and 3 Swallow over Swineham GP , 1 Barnacle Goose and 4 Egyptian Geese on the Stilt Pools at Swineham and out of view from the boat a White-tailed Eagle flew over Middlebere. This morning a Garden Warbler was singing in the PCW drain with 2 Willow Warbler there too. On Hartland there were 4 Wheatear with another on Coombe Heath, RSPB Arne and another along the Turlin Moor shoreline. At Lytchett Fields a Spotted Redshank was still on Sherford Pools. A Red Kite passed over RSPB Arne and another was over Studland Beach.

Marsh Harrier – Swineham – Rene Goad

Another beauty of a day with more great birds dotted around the harbour. Our Spring Safari this morning returned the goods once more with 3-4 Osprey, including sightings over Middlebere, the Wareham Channel, Lytchett Bay and Studland. A White-tailed Eagle was soaring over Arne and we had incredible displays from several Sparrowhawk. Surprise raptor of the morning was a ringtail Hen Harrier over the moors. At Swineham the drake Garganey was on one of the scrapes and a Little Ringed Plover was on the ‘Stilt Pools’. This evening there were 300+ Sand Martin feeding over the gravel pit and 3 Swallow. The Barnacle Goose was also on the Stilt Pool with 2 Egyptian Geese. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were still at least 15 Avocet, 15 Bar-tailed godwit and 1 Greenshank and the first passage summer plumaged Dunlin was on Lytchett Fields along with 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 in full summer plumage. A male Brambling was in a private garden in Wareham briefly this afternoon.

Female Osprey ‘Beaky’ on Middlebere platform before her departure early afternoon – Paula and John Thorpe