With both the summer solstice and the new heatwave arriving on the same day today, perhaps a new bird related arrival wasn’t out of the question too? Well thats exactly what happened during our Summer Safari Cruise this morning when a female Red-backed Shrike was found from the boat in a dead tree on the corner of Swineham GP, in exactly the same spot the Red-spotted Bluethroat was hanging out earlier this spring. With 2 great quality birds favouring that exact same area this year, it makes that 10m sq area one of the most productive rarity hotspots in the whole harbour. This is also our second Red-backed Shrike of the spring which is great considering they’re often only a one in 5-year occurrence! The one a few weeks ago was a pristine adult male, and todays a female, so it’s a shame they didn’t coincide their visits as there’s plenty of great habitat around.

Despite the blazing sign, a true sign of more early autumn migration was the first southward Common Sandpiper of the season in the mouth of the River Frome, along with 1 Ringed Plover, 10 Lapwing and small numbers of Curlew, Redshank and Black-tailed Godwit. The brownsea Lagoon held 15 Avocet, 5 Spoonbill and multiple young Common and Sandwich Terns. Ospreys were a tad trickier to find today with only distant sightings over Middlebere and the Wareham Channel, Bearded Tits were showing well in the reed beds at Swineham Point.

Female Red-backed Shrike – Swineham Point – Trevor Warwick

Female Red-backed Shrike – Swineham Point – Peter Moore