This really is an exciting time of year with new birds turning up all the time. Today on the Brownsea Lagoon a juvenile Curlew Sandpiper was with c100 Dunlin and 18 Spoonbill. At Arne 1 Pied Flycatcher, 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 12 Willow Warbler, 1 Redstart and 1 Osprey. At Sunnyside Scrape 1 Hobby was having a ding dong with a Sparrowhawk and there were 2 Whinchat on the wires. On Hartland there were several Yellow Wagtail at Hartland Stud along with 2 Whinchat, 1 Hobby and 1 Redstart. At Holton Pools 12 Lapwing, 2 Green Sandpiper, 6 Greenshank and 1 Redstart were counted. Today we also re-started our Osprey cruises which saw great views of several more with one flying right past the boat and a couple more fishing out in the Wareham Channel. Also logged were 3 distant Hobby, 1 Marsh Harrier, several flocks of Common Tern heading high out of the harbour following the river Frome. Other Osprey sightings saw 2 in Middlebere, 1 catching a fish in Lytchett Bay and another flying over Holton Pools. We’ve also been sound recording night migrants in the Corfe Gap these last few nights with mixed success but another Ortolan Bunting was logged last night flying over our listening station at 11:25pm last night. The previous night saw us log 117 bird flying over using a thermal imaging piece of kit which was a revelation in understanding some of the conditions and the totals of birds moving on certain nights when we’re all tucked up in bed.

Ortolan Bunting Call of night time migrant – Corfe Gap 27/08/19 @ 23:25

Migrant Osprey seen from Osprey Cruise – Stephen Menzie