A very quiet day today with Lytchett Fields seeing 9 Ringed Plover, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 8 Greenshank, 1 late Snipe, 3 Dunlin and 83 Black-tailed Godwit. A full count was made on Brownsea and comprised of 94 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, 5 Greenshank, 6 Avocet, 3 sum plum Grey Plover, 2 Whimbrel, 10+ Teal, 2 Shoveler, 2 Wigeon, 4 Redshank, 2 Curlew, 1 Sanderling, 1 Turnstone, 5 Med Gull, 1 Yellow-legged Gull, plenty of Sandwich Tern but still fairly short of Common Tern. Also 12 Swift through with good numbers of House Martin today, 1 Cuckoo, 1 Garden Warbler and a Nightjar ‘churring’ at dusk. 

Little Ringed Plover (left) and Ringed Plover (right) – Lytchett Fieds – Ian Ballam

Today we completed our survey of ‘Gull Islands’ and despite no evidence of egging which we’re thrilled about, the number of nests counted was still very low. However, having spoken to other wardens on the south coast of Britain who are monitoring other Black-headed Gull and Med Gull colonies, the general consensus seems to be that the breeding season is a minimum of 2 weeks late, which would add up from what we’ve counted over the last couple of days. With this in mind we’re considering a re-survey in a couple of weeks time to hopefully get a more accurate count. The Hen Harrier was again out over towards Swineham.  There were several reports of Spotted Flycatcher today with birds on Upton Heath, Arne, Slepe Heath, Middlebere and South Haven. At Lytchett Fields the wader count consisted of 6 Dunlin, 9 Greenshank, 2 Whimbrel, 108 Black-tailed Godwit and 4 Swift. The warm weather got Hobby active again hunting high above Arne Moors, Arne RSPB reserve and Slepe Heath. A single Whinchat was on Hartland. Cuckoo’s were heard and seen at Swineham, Hartland, Slepe Heath and Upton Heath. 

This morning we had a team out surveying ‘Gull Islands’ in the Wareham Channel to see what impact last years egg thefts had had on the colony. Early indications show there has been zero evidence off egg collecting this spring so far which is great, however productivity still seems very low, most likely due to the cold, dry spring, meaning birds haven’t been able to feed properly. The largest island had very good numbers of Med Gulls on it, but only returned 11 Med Gull nests with eggs. We’ll be completing the survey tomorrow and will report our findings then. Other sightings from around the harbour included yesterdays Hen Harrier again out over Hartland and towards Swineham. There was again a huge push of Swallows going through with a likely final total of many thousands over the course of the day. Interestingly the flocks contained several Sand Martin and Swift but no House Martin. With the high number of hirundines going through it was sure to draw the attention of Hobby and sure enough over Arne, Slepe Heath, Swineham and Middlebere there was a minimum of 8 hawking after flying insects and the odd hirundine. At Lytchett Fields there was 1 Ruff, 7 Ringed Plover, 5 Greenshank, 45 Black-tailed Godwit and the Grasshopper Warbler was having a burst of song again. 

Approaching ‘Gull Islands’ for our annual survey

Today saw a stiff NE wind to begin with which eased off and swung around to the SW by late afternoon. The east in the wind early doors provided good lift for migrating birds throughout the day as hundreds (if not thousands) of Swallow  arrived in through the harbour from the south which were joined by Sand Martin and to a lesser extent Swift but strangely no House Martin.  A ringtail harrier seen at distance over Swineham/Keysworth was initially thought to be a Montagu’s Harrier, however it was later found out over Arne Moors and was confirmed to be ringtail Hen Harrier, a really late Poole Harbour record. There were a minimum of 5 Hobby between Slepe Heath and Arne with Tree Pipits also at the former site. At Lytchett Fields the Grasshopper Warbler that was found along Slogh Lane as still singing suggesting its on territory whilst out on the fields there were 2 Grey Plover, one in full summer plumage, 6+ Greenshank, 5 Ringed Plover, 12 Black-tailed Godwit and 1 Wheatear with a Red Kite also over Holton Lee. Middlebere was also busy with 1 Spoonbill (the first in quite a while), 5 Ringed Plover, 50+ Grey Plover, 250+ Black-tailed Godwit, 8 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 summer plumaged Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, c40 Knot and 300+ Dunlin.

Hen Harrier – Arne Road – Nick Hopper

Hen Harrier – Arne Road – Nick Hopper

Grasshopper Warbler – Lytchett Bay – Ian Ballam

A pretty quiet day with just a few reports from Lytchett Fields which consisted of 4 Greenshank, 2 Grey Plover, 1 Redshank and 8 Black-tailed Godwit. Swift continued to pulse through in good numbers. At Arne there were reports of Hobby, Marsh Harrier, Whimbrel, Knot, Ringed Plover, Yellow Wagtail and Garden Warbler. There was also a report of a Black Kite over Brownsea Island today too. 

Grey Plover – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

There was a big arrival of Swift today with good numbers over Poole Town, Lytchett Fields, Swineham and Arne. At Lytchett Fields there were both male and female Ruff, 14 Dunlin, 3 Greenshank and 1 Marsh Harrier. At Sunnyside, near Ridge there were 2 Whinchat. Our HD camera on the Brownsea Lagoon is beaming some great footage of the nesting Sandwich Terns at the moment so its well worth tuning in if you have a spare minute of ten! 

Sandwich Terns on the Brownsea Lagoon HD webcam

We’ve got a few exciting projects on the go around the harbour at the moment, some we’ll be able to update you on shortly, but its also great to see how other organisations locally are doing their bit to help interpret the harbour and provide better visitor access. The Borough of Poole and team at Upton CP have recently completed and installed new cycle paths around the park, providing a really excellent new viewing and visitor experience. They really help open the site up and with even bigger plans further down the line Upton CP could really become a great hub to learn about and experience our local natural heritage. Top work!

New paths at Upton CP 

Sightings today indicated a fall of chats around the harbour with Redstarts at Hartland, Arne and Slepe Heath. Wheatears were at Hartland, Greenlands Farm and Swineham and a Whinchat was along the Corfe to Studland Road. A Red Kite drifted low over Old Town Poole late afternoon and what’s likely to be our only record for the year (as sad as it sounds) of a Turtle Dove came from one dashing over a Poole Garden late afternoon. If anyone see’s, photographs or hears Turtle Dove within our Poole Harbour area then please let us know, this is nowadays an extremely rare species and to only have one record per year is criminal. At Lytchett Fields there were 2 Ruff, 10 Dunlin and 4 Ringed Plover. At Holton Pools (more about this site next week) a Little Ringed Plover was on the new scrapes with a single Greenshank and a Yellow Wagtail flew over. At Slepe Heath a Hobby was hawking over the eastern end and at Middlebere Dunlin, Grey Plover, Black-tailed Godwit and a single Common Sandpiper were out in front of the hide. 

Female Whinchat – Corfe Road – Paul Morton

Little Ringed Plover – Holton Pools – Paul Morton

This winter (in partnership with the Stour Ringing Group) we really upped the amount of Woodcock monitoring and ringing we did around the harbour in comparison to previous years. We finished up ringing c70 new Woodcock, between Oct 16 and Mar 17 and also re-caught over-wintering birds from previous years. Today we received info back from the BTO that a Woodcock ringed by SRG back in 2015 near Middlebere was recently shot 480km north of Moscow in Semenkovo, Russia on 31 March 2017. This is our second Russian shot Woodcock recovery from Poole Harbour, the last one being ringed at Lytchett Bay and shot 500 miles east of Moscow back in 2009. Why they have to shoot them instead of just catching them like us is any ones guess. Seems very sad to fly 2500kn to then only get shot! Map and full details below.

Sightings-wise there was a Lesser Whitethroat along the track at Middlebere, a Grasshopper Warbler at Lytchett Fields, with all 3 Ruff again, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Greenshank, 2 Whimbrel and 40+ Black-tailed Godwit. Cuckoos were at Middlebere, Hartland and Arne. Swift numbers were building slightly with 15 over Swineham GP. At Upton CP 2 Bar-tailed Godwit and 2 Whimbrel were out on the mud and a Firecrest was singing in the CP grounds. 

This morning several local birders tried another sea watch from Branksome chine but it just went to show that to produce the goods, you really need that strong SE wind. Totals today included 8 Shelduck, 1 Common Scoter, 2 Gannet, several Common and Sandwich Tern, several Med Gulls and 1 Peregrine. In Poole Harbour mouth the low tide saw a small group of 12 Common Tern feeding around one of the exposed islands. Amazingly the Hartland Great Grey Shrike is still there, this has to be potentially one of the latest Great Grey Shrikes the harbour’s ever had. At Greenlands Farm there were 7 Wheatear, 3 Stonechat, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Lesser-spotted Woodpecker (slightly further west) and several Blackcap singing. At Lytchett Fields a Grasshopper Warbler was reeling near the waterworks, a Cuckoo was calling over towards Holton Lee but later made its way near French’s Farm, on the fields there was a male Ruff, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Greenshank, 4 Whimbrel in the bay and a Marsh Harrier over. At Lytchett Heath Bearded Tit were calling from the reedbeds at the end of the heath.

Below are a few recordings we made yesterday whilst trying to sound record the Grasshopper Warbler at Lytchett Bay which annoyingly shut up once we got our gear out. However this Reed Warbler was far more obliging, the Cetti’s Warbler also wanted in on the action whilst this female Bullfinch was producing a range of calls rarely heard unless listened to at close quarters. 

 Reed Warbler – Song of male – Lytchett Bay – 01/05/17 @ 08:42

Bullfinch – Calls of a female – Lytchett Bay – 01/05/17 @ 09:04 

 Cetti’s Warbler – Outburst of song – Lytchett Bay – 01/05/17 @ 08:48