There was Osprey mania around the harbour today with our local pair having fledged three of their four young, but out of nowhere 3 intruder Ospreys appeared at the nest site. We weren’t sure who they all were until later on when they settled on a different nest platform elsewhere in the harbour and we were able to read the ring numbers 6J8, 5R0 (both of which we know of) plus another that read 5R1. This was an amazing piece of news as 5R1 is another of our 2024 males who we didn’t even know was back, meaning we now have 4 males back in the harbour area who are all potential new breeders for the harbour area next spring. There was also an un-ringed adult female Osprey who visited the harbour nest platform at Carey. Ringing in the Lower Piddle Valley produced 35 Grasshopper Warbler, 3 Garden Warbler, 68 Sedge Warbler, 28 Reed Warbler and the first Tree Pipit of the autumn. Lytchett was good for waders again and logged 13 Greenshank and 5 Common Sandpiper, plus 2 Crossbill passed over and there plenty of Sedge Warbler in the reeds around the fields. An adult White-tailed Eagle stole a fish from an Osprey in Middlebere, a Goshawk was over Slepe Heath and 2 Marsh Harrier were seen over Wareham Town Centre.

Male Osprey 5R1 back for the first time