What a day. Bright blue, crystal clear sky’s. Perfect for migration to really get going, so there’s a good opportunity to find a few decent birds over the next few days. Swallows were passing through in small numbers for most of the day, a Sedge Warbler was at Swineham, a Ring Ouzel was along the Middlebere track, there were 2 Little Ringed Plover on Lytchett Fields and there were 3 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon. Ospreys were logged in almost all areas of the west harbour including Middlebere, Wareham Channel, Lytchett Bay and Shipstal, where one was seen to be having a stand off with a White-tailed Eagle. There was another White-tailed Eagle seen over Sandy Lane late afternoon. Best bird of the day though was a Corn Bunting on the south end of Ballard…an incredibly rare Poole Harbour bird.

Adder – Middlebere

A fairly typical early April day, with a few drips and drabs making their way through, but the WNW wasn’t helping things much. Over Swineham there was a mix of mostly Sand Martin and Swallow but with 2 House Martin mixed in. On the Swineham scrapes the drake Garganey was still there and the Barnacle Goose dropped in again. An Osprey was hunting off Swineham Point and 2 Marsh Harrier were over Giggers Island. At Middlebere there were 3 Spoonbill this evening and a Spotted Redshank this morning, along with the lone female Osprey who was still sat on the Middlebere nest platform. At Lytchett Fields a Spotted Redshank was still present and 4 Cattle Egret flew by Rock Lea view again. The White-tailed Eagles were viewed over Swineham this afternoon before being seen of the Ham Common viewpoint this evening and earlier this afternoon 3 were having a ding dong super high above the Frome Valley. A Hobby was over Hartland this morning. Finally, an Osprey was seen hunting in Lytchett Bay this morning and Blackcap were reported singing from multiple sites.

Garganey – Swineham Scrapes – Clive Hargrave

Barnacle Goose – Swineham Scrapes – Clive Hargrave

There was a classic winter/spring mix right across the harbour today with this mornings Spring Safari returning the goods as well as other goodies popping up here and there. There was a minimum of 4 Osprey with our pair, plus another 2 un-ringed individuals, each of which were on different ‘other’ nest platforms at the same time, one of which was even joined by our male 022 who was having another snoop around to see who the new arrivals were. There were2 White-tailed Eagle over RSPB Arne, and later in the afternoon 3 over Swineham. On the Swineham scrapes the drake Garganey was showing brilliantly and there were 5 Little Ringed Plover, plus the spring first Sedge Warbler was in scrub opposite Ridge Wharf boat yard. Also around Swineham were 2 Marsh Harrier and there was also a decent pulse of Swallow and Sand Martin going through. A Great Northern Diver was off the Brownsea southern shore and the Brownsea Lagoon still seemed really busy with c200 summer plumaged Black-tailed Godwit, c40 Bar-tailed Godwit, c20 Avocet, c100 Sandwich Tern, c100 Oystercatcher, 2 Common Tern, 8 Wigeon and there were 18 dark-bellied Brent Goose still dotted around. In the PCW drain 2 Willow Warbler and a Blackcap were singing, at Greenlands Farm 3 Wheatear and a Merlin were seen and on Ballard another 2 Wheatear. At Lytchett Fields there were 4 Cattle Egret.

Osprey – Wareham Channel – John Thorpe

More beautiful blue sky’s today and some some warmth to go with it. There were 4 Little Ringed Plover on Lytchett Fields this morning with 1 each of House Martin and Swallow over, at the PCW drain 3 Willow Warbler were opposite KFC and 2 Blackcap were in scrub. At Middlebere 2 Osprey were around the Middlebere nest platform, one of which looked like male Osprey 022 being nosey and taking a look to see who else was in the harbour. There were 2 White-tailed Eagle over Arne and 3 Marsh Harrier were at Swineham with a Barnacle Goose on the Swineham scrapes.

Mediterranean Gull – Daniel Nash

What a beautiful day. Loads of Brimstone Butterfly were on the wing and it definitely felt like there were more Chiffchaff around and the first wave of Blackcap had arrived in various woodlands. It’s seemed to have been a slow spring for Med Gulls in the harbour so far, but 329 over Lytchett Bay this evening in just over an hour suggested that there could be a bit of a late arrival. There were more new Osprey arrivals today with our old favourite ‘Beaky’ dropping down on to her favoured Middlebere nest platform mid-morning, and another was seen on another nest platform briefly on private land. ‘Beaky’ often spends around a week utilising the Middlebere platform before moving on to a destination unknown. There were White-tailed Eagle sightings over the Wareham Channel and Middlebere

This evening, we also published an exciting job advert which see’s us looking to build our team with a dynamic and varied job role on offer. If you think you have what it takes to help us build and deliver our growing range of public events, including our expanding public and school bird boat schedule, then you can read the full job advert HERE.

Osprey on Middlebere nest platform

Early April is such an exciting time. It has the feeling that the floodgates could open at any moment. There were a few hints of this today with a male Pied Flycatcher at Middlebere this afternoon and a Hoopoe just outside our recording area at Harman’s Cross. At the PCW Drain 2 Willow Warbler were singing, on Brownsea the first 2 Common Tern of the spring were settled with Sandwich Tern and at Swineham there was 1 House Martin, 5 Swallow and c30 Sand Martin. A hint of winter was had along the southern shore with a Barnacle Goose tagging along with a small Canada Goose flock near Newton Bay and a Great Northern Diver was off Jerry’s Point. In Lytchett Bay 5 Cattle Egret appeared late afternoon. Our Spring Safari Cruise this AM really delivered the goods with a low flying unringed Osprey flying straight over the boat and the White-tailed Eagle pair G466 and G463 sat on the edge of the saltmarsh at Swineham, giving what was probably our best ever views of these incredible and epic birds…..as you’ll see below of the photos taken by local birder Mark Wright. Just wow!

White-tailed Eagle pair male G463 (left) and female G466 (right) from our Spring Safari this AM 

Unringed Osprey from our Spring Safari this AM – Wareham Channel

Here we are, April 1st, normally a date we prime our selves for as it’s often female Osprey, CJ7’s normal return date. However, before April even started we’ve had nest dramas, love triangles and sky battles! Will April deliver any more surprises? It seems the nest situation has sorted it’s self out now with CJ7 present on and off the nest all day, with fish deliveries, nest building and mating attempts carried out. There’s been no sign of the un-ringed Osprey around the nest site, although we believe she was seen at Morden Bog this afternoon eating a fish. At Lytchett Fields a Spotted Redshank was feeding, 2 Willow Warbler were in the PCW Drain in Poole and 2 White-tailed Eagle were touring the harbour and south Purbeck’s being seen over Wareham, Wareham Channel, Corfe and Sandford. There were still 12 Pintail in Middlebere and c400 Black-tailed Godwit with 1 Greenshank. 

Unringed Osprey – Wareham Forest – Garry Hayman

Well March disappeared as quickly as it arrived! We’re now approaching April with not one, not two but THREE Ospreys interested in the Poole Harbour nest platform thanks to the safe and welcome return of CJ7 early this morning. It’s fantastic to see last year’s breeding female (and local celebrity) back on the nest, but it seems the intruding female is not going to give up without a fight – very interesting hours, days and weeks ahead! Elsewhere, the harbour received limited coverage with the weather providing little inspiration to venture out! A high tide count on Brownsea Lagoon featured 102 Avocet, 58 Bar-tailed Godwit, 176 Black-tailed Godwit, 18 Dunlin, 2 Spoonbill, 6 Mediterranean Gull and a surprising 27 Lesser Black-backed Gull exploiting the site’s shelter and Lytchett Fields enjoyed a Willow Warbler along Arable Field hedgerow.

Poole Harbour Osprey Nest Cam (left to right: 022, unringed female, CJ7)

Close up of CJ7 on the nest platform

When are we going to see some decent sunshine and warmth? I think we’ve all had enough of this blowy wet weather. It certainly hasn’t delivered too much, other than a lot of Sand Martin at Swineham with c600 there yesterday with 20 Swallow. There was one exciting encounter today when an Osprey and White-tailed Eagle had a minor dispute over the Wareham Channel this morning, a sight that we saw a few times last summer but seemed to have a bit more aggression tagged to it today. In this instance, it seemed the Osprey won! At the nest site today, there were actually 3 different Osprey interacting, possibly suggesting CJ7 had arrived back, although it turned out just to be a passing visitor which was soon  seen off. At Lytchett Fields a Little Ringed Plover was on the fields and 3 Wheatear were on site.

Osprey seeing of White-tailed Eagle – Wareham Channel – John Thorp

Another windy and wet day but with plenty of birdsong in the air nonetheless. A count at Holes Bay produced 660 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Avocet, 3 Brent Geese, 79 Shelduck, 261 Teal, 59 Wigeon, 8 Mallard, 8 Shoveler, 5 Pintail and 25 Mute Swan. Activity on the Osprey nest has stepped up a gear, with both 022 and the unringed female bringing in nesting material and making at least 3 mating attempts today. There are still a few days to go until CJ7’s typical return date, which is usually in the first week of April, so it will be interesting to see what unfolds before then. It is very positive to have another female interested in breeding in Poole Harbour, regardless of whether CJ7 returns in the next week and the events that follow. Hopefully a sign of the exciting season to come!

Unringed female and 022 Mating Attempt 

022 on Nestcam