It seems we’re now entering the next phase of autumn migration with many of the early autumn migrants having passed through, for example we’ve now passed the peak passage period for Willow Warbler (45 ringed this AM) and Sedge Warbler (51 ringed this AM), but are now seeing new arrivals such as todays handsome Wryneck ringed in the Lower Piddle Valley. Wryneck are always a mid-Autumn passage migrant with peak numbers usually logged between August and early September. It also seems the second wave of Grasshopper Warbler are passing through (perhaps second broods?) with 21 ringed this morning at the same site, totalling a whopping 502 Grasshopper Warbler ringed there so far since early July. The other new phase we’re experiencing is the passage of juvenile Ospreys from much further north, which included a juvenile female from Keilder Forest, Scotland this morning, ring number 2B9 seen from our Osprey Cruise. Also logged from the cruise today were 5+ Osprey, 1 White-tailed Eagle, 3 Great White Egret, 23 Spoonbill, 2 Marsh Harrier, 14 Avocet and 1 Peregrine. At Middlebere there was a late Swift, 1 Spotted Redshank, 23 Greenshank, 1 Whimbrel and an un-ringed female Osprey. At RSPB Arne, the Saline Lagoon walk produced 1 Pied Flycatcher, 5 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Garden Warbler, 2 Common Sandpiper and 2 Osprey over. A flock of 31 Cattle Egret were near the Stoborough causeway.

Eurasian Wryneck – Lower Piddle Valley 

Juvenile female Osprey ‘2B9’ from Keilder Forest, sat a dead tree at RSPB Arne

Another really interesting day today, with some excellent observations noted, as is often typical as August progresses with birds behaviours and movements begin to change. It started off at lunchtime when an adult male Honey Buzzard landed on the Carey Osprey nest briefly, scratching at the nest as if it was searching and seeking out a potential bee or wasp nest. We often see Honey Buzzards around the Osprey nest late in the season, and in fact, what is likely to be this exact bird has been visiting the Osprey nest site since 2019, with observations logged every year since then either on the nest, or fighting with CJ7 and the Osprey chicks. In 2019 when we carried out the 3rd year of the Osprey translocation on the south side of the Carey Estate, an adult male Honey Buzzard would regularly visit and interact with the newly released Osprey chicks during late July and August and has done so ever since. Incredible to get such stunning views of it whilst it sat on teh nest today.

From our Osprey Cruise this AM around 5 Osprey were logged, including a juvenile that flew straight over the boat. Logic would suggest it would have been one of the Carey juveniles, however upon close inspection of one of her photographs, guest on board Annabelle Sharpe noticed the ring read ‘7T0’, which is actually a youngster from our ‘Nest 2’ site just north of the harbour. We believe 7T0 was male during ringing, so it’s great that he’s now also exploring the harbour now. Elsewhere a juvenile Goshawk was photographed close to RSPB Arne, with mid-August to late September being an excellent time to see these amazing birds as they start dispersing from nest sites and teaching themselves how to hunt in the local landscape. Juvenile Goshawk identification is fairly straight forward (if seen well) with youngsters hosting large dark ‘tear drop’ markings all the way down the belly and flanks (as shown in mark Wrights excellent photo below), unlike Sparrowhawk which are always barred on the belly (both adults and juveniles). Goshawk are of course much larger too.

Elsewhere there were 23 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon with 2 Knot, 15 Greenshank and 4 each of Ringed Plover and Dunlin. At Greenlands Farm, Studland there were 2 Common Redstart, 2 Wheatear, 2 Common Whitethroat, 1 Yellow Wagtail and 1 Whinchat. In Godlingston Heath there were also 2 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Wheatear, 1 Whinchat, 1 Redstart and 1 Spotted Flycatcher. 

Honey Buzzard landing on Carey Osprey nest briefly this afternoon 

Screen grab of Honey Buzzard landing on Carey Osprey nest briefly this afternoon 

Juvenile Goshawk close to RSPB Arne today – Mark Wright

Juvenile Osprey 7T0 over our Osprey Cruise this AM – Annabelle Sharpe

Close up of  7T0’s ring over our Osprey Cruise this AM – Annabelle Sharpe

Another day, another Osprey-filled set of sky’s across the harbour. At one point there were 6 at once over Lytchett Bay, and there were no less than 5-6 moving around the Wareham Channel all morning plus individuals in Middlebere. Our best guess is there are currently 10-12 present in the harbour at the moment but as migration builds the comings and goings will be hard to keep track of, but we know there are plenty more yet to come, so the harbour total could easily increase over the next week. From our Osprey Cruise this morning we logged no-less than 7 Osprey in the Wareham Channel including 2 of the juveniles from the Carey nest, plus 3-year old male 5H3, Scottish female 6J8, local breeding male and female 022 and CJ7 and 2-year old male 5R1. There was also an Osprey in Holes Bay again and 3 in Middlebere. Also logged from todays trip were 23 Spoonbill and 6 Avocet on the Brownsea Lagoon, 2 Great White Egret and 5 Cattle Egret at Swineham, 10 Teal and 3 Green Sandpiper on RSPB Arne Moors, at the Ulwell/Godlingston Gap Heath there were 3 Common Redstart, 1 Pied Flycatcher and 1 Garden Warbler.

Osprey soaring over BoPH Osprey Cruise this AM – Alison Copland

Un-ringed adult female Osprey – Lytchett Bay – Aidan Brown

2-year old male Osprey ‘5R1’ – Lytchett Bay – Aidan Brown

Although today was forecast to be hot hot, hot, the easterly wind really helped take the edge off of things and it was actually quite pleasant. Our second Osprey cruise of the season was busy again with no less than 5 Osprey seen this morning, including both CJ7 and 022, along with 2-year old male 5R1. Also logged was 1 Peregrine Falcon, 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Great White Egret, 2 (solitary) White-tailed Eagle and the over-summering Barnacle Goose. Holes Bay had a good return with a Ruff from the Upton CP lookout, plus there were 6 Common Sandpiper and 2 Green Sandpiper which are also good Holes Bay record, plus an adult female Osprey was fishing in Holes Bay north this morning. A migrant Yellow Wagtail passed over the Ham Common viewpoint, a Pied Flycatcher was in trees bordering RSPB Arne car park and this evening there were 21 Greenshank, 2 Spotted Redshank and a random Golden Plover on Lytchett Fields.

Female Osprey CJ7 over our Osprey Cruise this AM – Mark Wright

Today heralds the start of our ‘full on’ series of Osprey cruises as we host 47 boat trips over the next four and a half weeks. The reason we host so many now is because there are multiple Osprey dynamics playing out all at the same time. The local breeding families are moving around the harbour currently, often providing stunning views of this years fledged juveniles, plus, there are new pairs establishing with what seems like two newly drawn in females this summer (Scottish female 6J8 and new a mystery un-ringed adult female), plus the four new males of ours that arrived earlier this spring. Plus, as August presses on, multiple migrant Osprey from further north will be passing through adding to the mix. Todays first cruise of the season didn’t disappoint with no less than 7 seen from this mornings trip including 5 circling together at one point, plus 3 successful fish catches. In addition to the Osprey-fest there were a decent haul of 27 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon with 19 Avocet, plus 2 Peregrine, 1 Marsh Harrier and 1 Red Kite were also logged. 3+ Osprey were also logged at Middlebere and Lytchett Bay, where there were 3 Ringed Plover.

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Elsewhere, on top of Hartland/Scotland Farm, there was a good mix of common autumn migrants with 2 Common Redstart, 10 Common Whitethroat, 2 Wheatear, 6 Willow Warbler and 1 Whinchat, with another Whinchat out on Wareham Common. A Swift over Holes Bay seemed to be a decent mid-August record considering there’s been a mass exodus of Swift since late July, plus there were 5 Common Sandpiper in the Holes Bay too. There were 20+ Cattle Egret next to the Stoborough causeway with the cows and 1 Great White Egret was in Middlebere. A Ruff was on the Brownsea Lagoon.

Adult female Osprey CJ7 – Wareham Channel from our Safari Cruise – Brandon Storey

Another hot day, with a Marsh Tit at Carey Secret Garden this afternoon. At Lytchett Fields there were 9 Greenshank, 1 Spotted Redshank and 7 Common Sandpiper plus 3 Osprey were over the bay. There were another 3-4 Osprey in Middlebere and 2 in the Wareham Channel. There was even a visit to the Carey Osprey nest from 2024 male 5H6 (aka the Mighty Titch). Whether he visited to remenice about the good old days, or to perhaps plot a future take over, we’ll never know, but his presence certainly annoyed the two juveniles which were on the nest at the time. The Wood Sandpiper was still on the Sunnyside Scrape and a Whinchat was on Wareham Common.

2-year old male 5H6 (right) visiting his old nest site this AM at Carey Secret Garden

More ‘flocks’ of Osprey today with 5 over Middlebere this AM and this evening up to 5 were moving in and out of Lytchett Bay, with singles out around teh Wareham Channel. A Pied Flycatcher was on Kingswood heath, just west of Purbeck golf course and on the Brownsea Lagoon there ar now 20 Spoonbill. At Swineham there were 37 Cattle Egret and 2 Great White Egret were in the Wareham Channel. The drake Common Scoter was still on the Saline Lagoon at RSPB Arne, a White-tailed Eagle flew over Middlebere and the Wood Sandpiper was still on the Sunnsyside Scrape.

Greenshank – Lytchett Fields – Mick Brooks

It’s so hard to tell how many Osprey there are in the harbour currently, they seemed to be just everywhere this morning with multiple birds in Lytchett Bay, the Wareham Channel and Middlebere all at the same time. Our best guess is between 8-12 but it could be more, and with more migrants due to arrive over the coming weeks that number will rise. This time of year is always our favourite though, as it’s when the local juveniles venture to the harbour, and this morning both 6T6 and 6T9 were seen in the harbour, and from our Summer Safari Cruise. Also from the cruises today there were 19 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon, 15 Turnstone, 1 Knot, 1 Barnacle Goose at Swineham with 2 Bearded Tit and 2 Marsh Harrier, the 2 White-tailed Eagles were also seen this morning over RSPB Arne. The roving flock of Cattle Egret were up the river Frome Valley with c20 counted, plus 2 Great White Egret in the Wareham Channel. Elsewhere the Wood Sandpiper was at Sunnyside, Ridge, a few Whinchat were out on the south harbour heathlands, a random Marsh Tit was ringed at the Lower Piddle Valley ringing station.

Wood Sandpiper – Sunnyside Farm, Ridge – Peter Moore

Juvenile Osprey 6T9 from this AM’s Summer Safari – Alison Copland

There’s no doubt that this early/mid part of August provides the best chance to see multiple Osprey around the harbour, with an incredible total of 7 seen together over Middlebere this morning around 11am. We’ve also been getting some great footage from our monitoring cameras on nest platforms elsewhere, highlighting that next spring is shaping up to be a fascinating evolution of the project with a couple of our 2-year old males (5H6 and 5R1) seen taking sticks to a couple of different nest platforms, along with an un-ringed adult female too. It’s anyones guess as to how next spring will pan out, but we’ll certainly have front row seats. This evening there were 18 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon, along with 4 Greenshank, 9 Avocet, 12 Turnstone c100 Black-tailed Godwit, c30 Redshank and 8 Ringed Plover. There was also a good smattering of common migrants across the southern harbour heathlands this morning including 3 Common Redstart, 30+ Willow Warbler, 20+ Common Whitethroat, 10+ Spotted Flycatcher, plus a Whinchat near Godlingston along with 2 Grasshopper Warbler, 1 Garden Warbler and and 3 Spotted Flycatcher. A White-tailed Eagle flew over Middlebere. At Lytchett Fields / Bay today there were 20 Greenshank, 7 Common Sandpiper, 6 Green Sandpiper, 3 Dunlin, 3 Ringed Plover, 17 Black-tailed Godwit & 12 Lapwing.

Female Osprey CJ7 on dead tree cam – edge of Wareham Channel