Mixed weather for our Spring Safari Cruise this morning, but we had a nice range of sightings despite the showers.  There were 2 White-tailed Eagles sat out on Shag Looe Spit. At least 100 Swift and 70 Swallow were logged during the trip, with smaller numbers of House and Sand Martin. At Swineham, 2 Little Ringed Plover were present on the scrapes, with 2 Marsh Harrier active over the reed bed and a distant Hobby was beyond Swineham and a large sub-adult female Peregrine almost caught a Wood Pigeon over Keysworth. A scan of Brownsea Lagoon provided views of 70+ Oystercatcher, 80 Black-tailed Godwit, 50 Common Tern and 100 Sandwich Tern and there were 2 dark-bellied Brent Geese on the Shingle Beach at Brownsea. Through the rest of the day, 1 Whimbrel was also present in Holes Bay this morning. The Forster’s Tern was seen again today during brief appearance on Brownsea Lagoon and feeding between Shipstal Point and Long Island. This afternoon 2 Osprey were circling over Middlebere, one was 022, but the other is a mystery new bird.

Little Ringed Plover – Swineham – Clive Hargrave

Sunshine and showers sums up today. Plenty going on with the Forster’s Tern seen again on the Brownsea Lagoon, where a White-tailed Eagle flew low over mid-afternoon. There were also 2 Spoonbill on the lagoon and at the Studland side of the harbour entrance some evidence of wader passage with 25 Dunlin, 8  Sanderling, 2 Grey Plover, 1 Whimbrel and 4 Turnstone. A new Osprey was in Lytchett Bay late afternoon, but it was unknown as to whether it was ringed or not. There was a decent sized flock of Whimbrel at Lytchett Bay with 37 heading north. The Barclays Peregrines now seem to be feeding chicks which is great news. It won’t be long until a few heads are popping up above the balcony rim, but how many will appear?! At Greenlands Farm 3 Wheatear, 1 Lesser Whitethroat and 2 Common Whitethroat were were around the field edges, a Hobby came in off the sea at Studland Bay and another Hobby was over Hydes Heath.

Sandwich Tern – Brownsea Lagoon – MarK Wright

A quiet day for sightings today, but a few highlights were reported with a total of 14 Ringed Plover, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 10 summer plumaged Dunlin, 5 Whimbrel and 1 Curlew all paying a visit to French’s Pool at Lytchett Fields. And on the Brownsea Lagoon 2 Spoonbill and the Forster’s Tern were present once again.

White-tailed Eagle from yesterday’s Up With The Lark cruise – Mark Wright

A busy morning for the BoPH team kicked off with our special Up With The Lark cruise focusing on bird sounds for International Dawn Chorus Day! Sailing up the River Frome we were immersed in the songs of Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Cetti’s Warbler, Blackcap and Skylark whilst newly arrived Swallow and Swift soared overhead. Guests also enjoyed views of a pair Bearded Tit, Marsh Harrier, and a Red Kite mobbing the 2 White-tailed Eagles, who shortly later caused some trouble of their own, chasing male Osprey 022 in an attempt to steal the fish he had just caught off the Holton shoreline. At the same time the other members of our team and a group of volunteers were out on the islands in the Wareham Channel, surveying the breeding gull colony under licence. A record total if 278 Mediterranean Gull nests were logged, along with 3,568 Black-headed Gull nests which is a decrease on the 2021 total of 3706.

Also of note this evening were 2 Spoonbill on Brownsea Lagoon, and at Swineham the drake Garganey was present once again along with 2 Cuckoo.

Wareham Channel Black-headed & Mediterranean Gull colony (surveyed under licence)

Male Osprey 022 with a fresh fish and White-tailed Eagles G466 & G463 in pursuit – Robin Morrison

It feels and sounds like there’s still another arrival due of spring migrants with multiple species seemingly on the low side. Blackcap, Swallow, Willow Warbler, Whitethroat to name a few. Passage waders are also a bit thin on the ground, but as we move into May this should sort it’s self out. It was encouraging to hear that on Brownsea today the first passage Sanderling dropped in and there were high counts of 115 Common Tern and 205 Sandwich Tern. The Forster’s Tern was also on the lagoon around 1pm and then again this evening in the roost. There were 3 White-tailed Eagle over Lytchett Bay this afternoon, at Swineham, the drake Garganey reappeared on the ‘Stilt Pool’ with 2 Little Ringed Plover there and 50+ Common Swift over the gravel pit. At Morden Bog it seemed like Woodlark city with birds singing pretty much across the whole site along with singing Tree Pipit this morning and a fly by White-tailed Eagle. This evening Nightjar were heard at RSPB Arne.

Common Tern colony – Brownsea Lagoon – Martin Adams

Today we had a female Osprey from our Translocation Project return to Poole Harbour for the first time ever! The two-year-old ringed 372 was released in 2021 and was first seen back in the UK as an adult only last Friday, on the Osprey nest at Llyn Clywedog in mid-Wales. Since then she’s clearly covered considerable ground, as this morning at 9:04am she landed on one of the artificial nests in Poole Harbour. Previous females that have returned from the project have all dispersed to Wales and stayed there, so we were very pleasantly surprised to see her return to Dorset. No doubt she’s come back to Poole Harbour to scope out any breeding opportunities, and if she stays around over the coming weeks should could be in luck, with the potential for any of our five translocated males from 2021 to also arrive back any day now. It’s so encouraging to see her back in the area, and there’s a chance she may even put in an appearance on the livestream camera at some point if she goes to check out CJ7 and 022s nest.

Elsewhere, the Forster’s Tern was seen on Brownsea Lagoon at 1pm having potentially been on a hunting trip with a flock of Sandwich Terns along the coast to Hengistbury Head where one was sighted this morning. Back in Poole Harbour, Lytchett Fields held 2 Common Sandpiper, 12 Whimbrel and 4 Greenshank on the high tide, along with 1 Osprey and 1 White-tailed Eagle over the bay. Two Red Kite were seen over Sandford and Organford, and in Poole town centre both adult Peregrine were seen making trips to the nest, the male arriving with Starling prey. More Nightjar were also reported back on the urban heathlands around Poole last night.

Translocated female Osprey 372 on a Poole Harbour nest today

It’s been a quiet day for sightings despite the lovely sunshine – the strong easterly winds coming through this week could make for some interesting arrivals. The Forster’s Tern has continued to show, moving from Lytchett Bay this morning and onto the Brownsea Lagoon early this afternoon, landing amongst the Sandwich Tern. 1 White-tailed Eagle was reported drifting over the Wareham Channel near Rockley this morning. House Martin activity has continued near Lytchett Fields, which is nice to see after trialling the call playback yesterday next to the House Martin Tower, with individuals collecting mud from the car park close to the tower.

House Martin collecting mud – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

We had a bit of a result today when the House Martin Tower we installed last summer at Lytchett Bay/Fields car park finally saw a bit of action with first prospecting House Martins of the year. There’s a colony close by and we’d been waiting for the first birds to arrive back, which they did over the Bank Holiday weekend, so decided to try and play a short bit of play back to entice birds in…..and enticed they were. Within about 5 minutes several House Martin dropped down and flew up into the structure to have a look, before then moving off again. Although these short visits won’t necessarily mean they’ll nest this season, we’re hoping that with a few more attempts at drawing them in this May we can hopefully get a few pairs to settle within the structure this summer, and therefore expanding that particular population. We took a short video which shows the first birds entering the nest cups this morning.

Bird wise it was a tad quiet, but the Forster’s Tern was still on the Brownsea Lagoon mid afternoon. A White-tailed Eagle flew over Lytchett Bay towards the Wareham Channel, there were 3 Little Ringed Plover on Lytchett Fields with 2 Yellow Wagtail overhead, and last night the first 2 Nightjar of the summer were heard churring briefly on Rempstone Heath.

Another month bites the dust! Welcome to May, as the year seems to plough on at the speed of a bullet train. It only seemed like yesterday that we were waiting and hoping for the safe return of our Osprey pair. Now we’re in the month that (all being well) will see their three eggs hatch by the end of the month. This morning, from our Spring Safari it was nice of male Osprey 022 do a fly by past Swineham and past our boat as he headed back towards the nest site with a humungous Grey Mullet. Also from the cruise this morning an aerial food pass was seen between one of the Marsh Harrier pairs, with another two seen elsewhere in the Wareham Channel, the Forster’s Tern was on the Brownsea Lagoon, today with a Little Tern as well as c100 Sandwich Tern and c80 Common Tern. The White-tailed Eagles remained elusive although 1 was seen over Lytchett Fields later in the afternoon where there was also 1 adult Little Gull in Lytchett Bay. There were also 2 Little Gull off the Upton CP shoreline at Holes Bay. A drake Garganey was on Holme Lane GP briefly. A count along the Two-rivers walk (down the Frome and up the Piddle Valley) returned 1 Great White Egret on the Stilt Pool at Swineham and 52 Reed Warbler, 8 Sedge Warbler and 30 Cetti’s Warbler.

Sandwich Tern and Forster’s Tern – Brownsea Lagoon from Spring Safari Cruise – John Thorpe

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