With conditions good last night for departing Bittern, there was always a chance other birds could have been leaving too, so on the off chance we put a static sound recorder out last night just north of the harbour (Lytchett Matravers) and glad we did as there was a decent pulse of departing Redwing between sunset and 21:30. As is standard, the most intense number of calls came when the cloud cover was it’s lowest and most dense, then at 21:30 when the cloud cover cleared the calls all stopped as birds started to ascend higher and out of audible reach. During the rest of the night there were other birds logged migrating including 1 Water Rail, 1 Curlew, 3 Moorhen and 2 Barn Owl. The joys of having a recorder out all night is that if you leave it running long enough (this time of year), you get to hear the stunning early spring song of Blackbirds as they warm up for the busy breeding season ahead. This evening, despite the foul weather, another Bittern did leave but from Arne Moors rather than from Swineham and there were 60+ Sand Martin. The Forster’s Tern was still in Poole Park this afternoon, as was the male Mandarin Duck, the 10 Glossy Ibis were on Wareham Common where 4 Sand Martin were also feeding, a Goshawk and 2 Red Kite were over the Carey Estate, the adult Little Gull was still in Lytchett Bay, a Goshawk was also logged over Poole Town.

Night migrating Eurasian Moorhen – Lytchett Matravers – 09/03/26 @ 23:35

Male Eurasian Blackbird – early spring song Lytchett Matravers – 10/03/26 @ 05:55