Finally some rain!!! A full day of on and off showers, after what seems like weeks of dry weather, finally brought down some migrants into the harbour. 2 Common Scoter dropped into central harbour from our Spring Safari Cruise this morning, before flying off high and then coming down to resettle again. 1 stunning summer plumage Knot was on the Brownsea Lagoon along with 11 Sanderling, 19 Dunlin, 1 Greenshank and 1 Avocet. The first Sandwich Tern chicks have hatched today on the Brownsea Lagoon. 4 Bar-tailed Godwit were feeding on the south shore of Furzey Island and c80 Black-tailed Godwit were still in the Wareham Channel. Interestingly c15 passage Ringed Plover and 5 Dunlin were also feeding in the Wareham Channel on the north shore of Arne. There was a family party of c10 Bearded Tit flying in the mouth of the River Frome showing successful fledging, as well as separately 2 males and 1 female. 2 Great White Egret were in the mouth of the River Piddle, including 1 in adult breeding plumage.

In other exciting news it looks like hatching on the Careys Secret Garden Osprey Nest is starting! Thanks to the eagle-eyed viewers on our YouTube chat who spotted it this evening. It will likely still be several hours before hatching so this could come overnight.

First egg showing a pip on the Osprey Webcams this evening

Sandwich Tern with freshly hatched chick – Brownsea Lagoon – Nicki Tutton

As we move into the final third of May, it approaches the time when our first Osprey egg could hatch at any moment. We assume/hope it’s going to be within the next 24 hours, with the rest following suit over the next week. Our Spring Safari this morning was nice and busy and saw the Wareham Channel Marsh Harriers perform a smart food pass, 1 White-tailed Eagle flew across the Wareham Channel, 4-5 Bearded Tit, 4 Reed Bunting and 8+ Reed Warbler were really active in the reedbeds around Swineham Point, 2 Red Kite flew over Central Harbour, 4 Common Seal were also in the Wareham channel along with c200 Black-tailed Godwit and the Brownsea Lagoon was busy with the standard back and fourth of Sandwich and Common Tern. Later in the day a further 3 White-tailed Eagle tracked through the harbour, over Sandbanks and across to the Wareham Channel and then over into Purbeck. A Little Gull was off the Brownsea shoreline this morning.

Sandwich Tern – Brownsea shoreline – @dizzygirl66.bsky.social – Bluesky

Where are all the Swallows? As each day goes by during May, we’d expect multiple sites to now be occupied with nesting Swallows. House Martin are back (albeit in low numbers) and have been seen trying to collect mud from the river banks due to the incredibly dry conditions, and last night 23 Swift were logged interacting over Wareham, but there seems to be hardly any Swallow anywhere? Ok, yes there are some back at traditional sites, and in those areas it may seem that nothing dramatic has changed, but during our recent boat trips and various walks our team have carried out over the last 3-weeks there seem to be next to none in standard farmland/rural habitats around the harbour fringes. Is this just a Poole Harbour thing or is anyone else noticing this?

A Spoonbill was in Middlebere this morning, 2 Hobby were over Swineham and another 2 were over Wareham Common. There were 3 Marsh Harrier over Swineham Point again and the brownsea Lagoon breeding sea birds were counted again by Dorset Wildlife trust and logged 251 Sandwich Tern, 108 Common Tern, 225 Black-headed Gulls (lagoon only) and 11 Great Black-backed Gulls.

Common Terns – Brownsea Lagoon – Nicki Tutton

The day started off promising with a new mystery Osprey settling really briefly on the Middlebere Channel nest platform, although frustratingly it landed in the nest and we couldn’t see if it was ringed or not. Hopefully it will re-appear over the coming days and prove its self to be one of our 2023 juveniles perhaps? With a Hudsonian Godwit appearing in Hampshire today and then disappearing by this evening, a flock of 258 Black-tailed Godwit on the Stilt Pools drew extra attention. Alas, all were checked and the Hudsonian couldn’t be found. The Poole Asda Peregrines have now hatched 3 chicks, which is great news. Hopefully they, and the adults won’t suffer the same fate many other Peregrines have around country this summer with bird flu rearing its ugly head again.

Mystery new Osprey on Middlebere nest platform this morning

It was way colder to start with today, with our Spring Safari once again seeing multiple wooly hats and thermal gloves worn to keep out the chill. There was a real mix out there today though with plenty of interest. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 2 Little Gull first thing this morning and a few Mediterranean Gulls soaring over Poole Quay. At Swineham 4-5 Bearded Tit were off Swineham Point, the Lapwing family were doing well on the Stilt Pools at Swineham with all 3 chicks still present and accounted for, plus there were c150 Black-tailed Godwit and 1 Little Ringed Plover also on the pool. There were more Swift around again with c20 over Swineham and 50+ across the lower valley landscape. The Marsh Harrier pair were busy seeing off various intruding arrivals that got close to the nest with some truly aggressive behaviour noted out over the mouth of the River Piddle. A Spoonbill was on Giggers Island, a breeding plumage Great White Egret was in Middlebere and 4 Red Kite passed north high over central harbour. There’s also been a mystery blue-ringed Osprey ‘kicking about’ over the last 24 hours which was seen at both Middlebere and the Carey Secret Garden nest site today, identifiable as the same bird with photos showing the same underwing markings. We don’t know who this is until it lands on a nest somewhere, but it could be Rutland female 3H3  back again, or it could be one of our 2023 juveniles returning for the first time. Hopefully time will tell !!

Reed Bunting – Swineham – Harry McBride

Common Tern – Brownsea Lagoon – Harry McBride

Breeding plumage Great White Egret – Middlebere – Kate Plater

Top photo – Mystery Osprey at Carey – Alison Copland / Below photo – Mystery Osprey at Middlebere – Kate Plater

The day started off slow, but got better towards the end. The Swineham ‘goosathon’ continued with a newly arrived Bar-headed Goose settling at Swineham Point this evening. This is 7th species of goose to be at Swineham over the last few months (Greylag, Canada, Barnacle, Egyptian, Pink-footed, White-fronted and now Bar-headed), which although the latter is a feral escape from somewhere, highlights the areas qualities for wildfowl and especially geese! Swineham and the Two-Rivers walk is holding good numbers of warblers with 63 Reed Warbler and 13 Cetti’s Warbler also 7 Reed Bunting, 2 Bearded Tits along the River Frome and 2 Mash Harrier. There was an intruding Osprey at the Carey nest this evening which was captured on the webcam being chased off by 022. In Middlebere a juvenile White-tailed Eagle settled briefly and was soon seen off by a Common Buzzard. Also at Middlebere were 2 Hobby, 1 Cuckoo and c20 Swift. There seemed to be more Swift around Wareham Town centre and Wareham Common today with c50 bombing around. There were 2 Hobby hunting insects over Wareham Common, a 2nd cal year Little Gull was on Lytchett Fields and 4 Red Kite were over Liliput, Poole.

Bar-headed Goose – Swineham Point – Garry Hayman

Common Buzzard mobbing juvenile White-tailed Eagle – Middlebere – Alison Copland

Dartford Warbler – Middlebere – Alison Copland

022 chasing off intruding Osprey in the background as CJ7 watches on

Another really warm May day in the harbour with most areas looking very dry and not much rain in sight! Lots of activity at Swineham this morning with 217 Black-tailed Godwit, 71 Reed Warbler, 23 Cetti’s Warbler, 3 Sedge Warbler and 1 Little Ringed Plover all recorded. At Arne RSPB from Coombe Heath 1 Osprey was fishing and 1 Cuckoo and 1 Goshawk were also seen. 3 Spoonbill were still off Shipstal. A 2nd calendar year Marsh Harrier was hunting over the Decoy Pond at Morden Bog. Good to see a few Spotted Flycatcher back here along with a couple of pairs of very active Cuckoo and Hobby. Individuals of Red Kite were over Wareham Common and Holmebridge and 1 Hobby was over Little Sea, Studland

Little Ringed Plover – Swineham – Gary Hayman

It was a quieter day across the harbour today, but the chance encounter of seeing a fully Black Adder out on Hartland Moor this morning certainly made our day. There were several slightly scarcer spring migrants with a Little Tern in Shell bay with c500 Sandwich and Common Tern, plus 15 Sanderling and 2 Dunlin were on Shell Bay beach. A Little Gull was on the Brownsea Lagoon, a Cuckoo was on Hartland and 3 Spoonbill were in Middlebere.

Black Adder Hartland Moor

Black Adder Hartland Moor