Super sweltering today which saw more Osprey excitement and a potential mystery solved. Earlier in the week our new male ‘374’ returned to the harbour, and was joined by an unidentified ringed female. We weren’t able to read the ring on Wednesday of the new arrival, but since then, a mystery Osprey has been hassling our pair at the nest site, and at around midday our Osprey engagement officer, Mya, got a great photo as the mystery bird flew over our viewing platform, revealing leg ring number ‘1H1’. This is  a 2022 Rutland born female who actually visited us about a month for the first time. Is this who was with ‘374’ on the nest platform on Wednesday? He himself then appeared this afternoon in Middlebere, and although he didn’t appear on any nest platforms, it’s great to hear he’s come back! All eye’s to the sky’s this weekend and lets hope they encounter each other again and find a nest platform to settle on. Also this evening there were 5 Spotted Redshank in Middlebere.

2022 born Rutland female Osprey ‘1H1’ causing mischief at the nest site

After yesterdays excitement, it was all quiet on the western front toady, with no re-sightings of the new Osprey pair anywhere in the harbour. However, this afternoon, an intruding Osprey appeared at the nest site and spent the late afternoon and early evening pestering CJ7 and the family, which resulted in several quite incredible aerial battles, before the new arrival was soon seen off. We’re not sure who the intruding individual was, but hopefully it will visit another nest platform over the coming days. Elsewhere the White-tailed Eagle pair were in the  Wareham Channel area all day, a Hobby was calling at dusk near Slepe Heath and there were a minimum of 8 Nightjar tonight during over Nightjar walk. The first migrant Garden Warbler was ringed at Carey Secret garden this AM with another juvenile Sedge Warbler.

Whimbrel – Middlebere – Mark Wright

A really interesting day today in many regards. Firstly, a Wigeon appeared out of nowhere in Holes Bay NE this morning, which is over a month earlier than the ‘normal’ first returning individuals, which don’t normally appear until the last week of August. Perhaps this is a wandering over-summering individual, or perhaps breeding success has been so poor in northern Europe this year that birds are already beginning to arrive back??!! Our Summer Safari Cruise this AM was a busy raptor-fest with a fly over Osprey in the Wareham Channel (more on that later), 2 White-tailed Eagles, 1 Marsh Harrier over Swineham, 3 Hobby (2 Arne Moors, 1 Swineham), 1 Peregrine, a few soaring Buzzard and 2 Kestrel. Not a bad haul! The Brownsea Lagoon held 3 Avocet, 2 Ringed Plover, 2 Grey Plover , 2 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Curlew, 4 Greenshank, 16 Turnstone, 21 Dunlin and 2 Common Sandpiper. A new ringing site at Carey Secret Garden has just started operating and this morning the team there caught the first autumn migrant Sedge Warbler of the year and the first migrant juv Willow Warbler of the autumn.

Then, this afternoon, we received some photos from one of our trail cameras on another harbour nest platform of an Osprey eating a fish. Our resident male 022 has been using various platforms over the last few weeks, so we assumed it was likely to be him. However, when we recived the HD images we were thrilled to see it was our ‘missing’ three-year old male 374! He was last seen in the harbour about 3 months ago, and had only been sighted a few times in Hampshire since, so his whereabouts has been quite a mystery. Then, to our shock, an hour later we recived another photo of not 1 but 2 Ospreys on the nest, one which was definitely 374, the other which was an unidentified ringed female! Frustratingly, the HD image didn’t allow us to read the ring number, and we weren’t able to ID her, which is a real shame. Hopefully they’ll come back to the platform again tomorrow and we’ll get a positive ID on who this new arrival is.

There is an extra element to this story. We also caught our resident male 022 on the same nest cam, giving new kid on the block ‘374’ a hard time, which may account for why ‘374’ hasn’t stuck around this spring and summer. We hope that because there’s a new female on the scene, it may give 374 more cause to stay around and hold his ground. Or….will he/they just disappear again in the blink of an eye, just like he did earlier in the spring? This evening there was also a report of an Osprey flying off north over Nuffield in Poole, heading over Canford Heath……was this 374 leaving again? We’ll just have to wait and see. Regardless, this is another exciting development of the Poole Harbour Osprey saga!!!

Male Osprey 374 arriving back earlier this afternoon

Male Osprey 374 being joined by a mystery female about an hour after arrival

Resident male 022 coming and sticking his beak in where it’s not wanted and seeing off the ‘new pair’

Early returning Wigeon – Holes Bay – Tony Furnell

Lovely reports at RSPB Arne today, with 1 White-tailed Eagle reported in the morning, 2 Spoonbill and 6 Spotted Redshank seen on the low tide from Coombe Heath, as well as a Meadow Pipit feeding a juvenile Cuckoo! A Peregrine was seen perched on the distant shoreline of Lytchett Bay, as well as an adult Mediterranean Gull with 3 juveniles, 2 Whimbrel, 14 Redshank, 10 Greenshank, 22 Curlew and 39 Black-tailed Godwit reported from the Rock Lea Viewpoint. On Brownsea Lagoon, 3 Avocet and 30 Redshank were reported.

Spoonbill – Middlebere Channel from Coombe Heath – Barbara Bisset

A wet day in the harbour meaning sightings are limited, but hopefully the downpours will cause some  early migrants to stop-off in the harbour, after the nice weather clearouts recently. 1 Little Ringed Plover was in Lytchett Fields along with 3 Greenshank, 1 Common Snipe, 1 Common Sandpiper and 2 Mediterranean Gull. In Bramble Bush Bay there were 4 Common Sandpiper and 2 Whimbrel and in Brands Bay 46 Curlew, 18 Redshank, 7 Dunlin, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, a brood of 5 Shelduck, and a/the summering Little Tern. In Middlebere this evening 5 Spotted Redshank were present in various stages of moult, plus 3 Spoonbill and 1 Common Sandpiper. An early returning Kingfisher was back in the PCW Drain this morning along with 6 moulting Teal. The White-tailed Eagle pair remained in the Wareham Channel area all day and male Osprey 022 was seen fishing twice off Hyde’s Heath, RSPB Arne.

Osprey chick 5R2 has now also properly fledged joining sibling 5R0 this morning. All chicks have been returning well to the nest for fish throughout the day in the wet weather.

Spotted Redshanks in the gloom and rain – Middlebere – Garry Hayman

We have a fledging……well, one and a half fledglings! This morning at 10:08am, our eldest Osprey chick ‘5R0’ took flight for the first time. It had been building for a couple of days, but with no pre-warning, he just upped and left this morning, and flew to a near by tree. Then, just over an hour later at 11:14am, sibling ‘5H2’ also took to the air, but only made it as far as the perch thats above the main camera. Within an hour all 4 were back on the nest when a fish was delivered, but now that both have left the nest for a period of time, their courage and desire to spend time on the wing will grow each day, and we’ll start to see less and less of them on the nest. This coming week will probably see all 4 fledge, and the comings and goings to the nest will mainly be to sleep and to get fed. We won’t celebrate a successful season just yet as there’s stilla lot that could happen between now, and late August/early September which is when the youngsters are likely to leave, but today definitely heralds a significant milestone in this years story…..so keep watching the webcam this week for more exciting instalments!

Our Summer Safari this AM was busy too with 2 different Osprey, one that had a fish and drifted off high towards Middlebere, then male 022 caught a fish in the Wareham Channel and headed back to the nest. Both White-tailed Eagles were being really boring and just sat in a tree on the edge of the RSPB Arne shoreline for 3 hours! Still great to see though. A Peregrine was checking out the scrapes at Swineham, and then a Goshawk was being seen off by a Hobby over Hyde’s Heath. A Little Ringed Plover was on the Stilt Pools at Swineham and Brownsea held 5 Turnstone, 3 Dunlin, c40 Common Redshank, 1 Greenshank, c80 Sandwich Terns and c40 Common Terns. A juvenile Common Redstart was found in the west of the harbour suggesting relatively local fledging.

Osprey chick 5R0 fledging this morning

Sorry for the late post this evening, we’ve been out ‘Nightjaring’ on Canford Heath this evening with Dorset Nightjar Study Group where 2 juvenile Nightjar were caught as part of their study. Sightings from across the harbour today included 6 Spotted Redshank, 3 Spoonbill, 2 Whimbrel 1 Osprey (male 022) and 1 Cuckoo in Middlebere. At Lytchett Bay the first 3 Avocet of the autumn were feeding, perhaps the same 3 that were on Brownsea yesterday? The White-tailed Eagle pair were seen off Ham Common viewpoint, out in the Wareham Channel and a Red Kite was over Ridge. Over Wareham High Street 26 screaming Swift were bombing up and down again, soon to depart!

Common Cuckoo – Middlebere – Mark Wright

There was still no fledging today by any of our Osprey chicks, despite several ‘fake’ lift off’s, as they took it in turns to hover just out of view on the webcam before settling back down again. Surely one will have fledged by the time the weekend is out? Around the harbour is was much of the same, with 9 Greenshank on Lytchett Fields and 2 on the Brownsea Lagoon where there was also 5 Dunlin and 3 Avocet, including what looked to be a newly arrived juv from elsewhere? A Marsh Harrier was quartering over Swineham, both White-tailed Eagles upped and left the Wareham Channel about 11am, heading off high SW. Many Sandwich and Common Tern families are still commuting up and down the Brownsea shorelines as the youngsters build in confidence, and parents lead them out exploring new areas. Swift families/colonies seem to be quite active now with c50 over Rockley Road in Hamworthy, c25 up and down Wareham Town Centre and 21 over Upper Parkstone. There have been between 3-5 Spoonbill in Middlebere the last few days and a Great White Egret was over RSPB Arne Moors.

Spoonbill – Middlebere – Mark Wright

Common Swift – Middlebere – Mark Wright

Beautifully settled today and nice and warm. Not too much to report other than the 5 Little Ringed Plover still on the Stilt Pools at Swineham with 4 adult Yellow-legged Gulls. The first dispersing Woodlark was heard flying south over Wareham Common and a Hobby went over there too. Holes Bay saw 101 Redshank this morning with 48 Black-tailed Godwit, 25+ Curlew & 1 Whimbrel plus 1 Teal. The White-tailed Eagle pair were in the Wareham Channel all day and male Osprey 022 caught fish in Middlebere and in the Wareham Channel and in Brands Bay on the low-tide 1 Whimbrel and 58 Curlew were feeding with 9 Common Sandpiper around the fringes of the bay.

We also got a nice reminder on our Facebook page this morning that 7 years ago this today we received our first batch of Osprey chicks for our translocation project. It was pouring with rain and freezing cold that day! Amazing to see how things have progressed from Osprey chicks in their rearing pens in 2017, to a family of six on a wild nest here in Poole Harbour.

Osprey chicks settling in to their new pens on July 11th 2017

Roll forward 7 years….and a family of six on a Poole Harbour nest