At Swineham this morning there was 1 Great White Egret and a few Yellow Wagtail. 4 Osprey were hunting in Lytchett Bay this afternoon. Wader numbers are continuing to rise in the harbour with 3 Ringed Plover, 58 Curlew, 4 Whimbrel, 154 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Greenshank and 111 Mediterranean Gull in Brands Bay. 1 male Goshawk was at Holton Heath.

With the amount of Osprey and Eagle action building in the harbour, as we enter Osprey migration period, our free pop-up watches begin again at Ham Common and Rock Lea View, Lytchett Bay this coming week. Our first one is Tuesday 4th August 9am-12pm at Rock Lea View and you can find more information, all the dates and book free tickets at the link here. Hopefully we’ll have similar encounters as in recent days with at least 4 active hunting Ospreys, juveniles starting to explore the harbour and kleptoparasitism by White-tailed Eagles!

Peregrine Falcon ‘MS’ (juvenile Poole female 2026) – practice hunting BH Gulls last weekend over Brownsea from Summer Safari – Scott Newman

Peregrine Falcon ‘MS’ – ringed by the Dorset Raptor Study Group this summer – now exploring the harbour – Scott Newman

The first day of August brought with it another instance of kleptoparasitism of a White-tailed Eagle on an Osprey – this time in Lytchett Bay, where 3 Ospreys were fishing and male Eagle G463 forced one to drop its fish. It went into the water to try to claim it but failed and had to use its wings to swim back to shore. It later flew off, being mobbed by an unringed female Osprey. A juvenile male Redstart was ringed in Lytchett may along with a handful of Garden Warbler and Grasshopper Warbler. Huge numbers of Willow Warbler are passing through at the moment with yellow juveniles seemingly spread around all habitats in the harbour in good numbers.

We had the first sighting of one of the young Ospreys in the harbour today with 6T6 practising hunting in the Wareham Channel from our Summer Safari Cruise. Both adult White-tailed Eagles were active in the Wareham Channel being mobbed by Hobby and Osprey.

Osprey 6T6 from the Carey Nest – Wareham Channel – Alison Copland

White-tailed Eagle G466 being mobbed by Hobby – Wareham Channel – Alison Copland

Distant Osprey mobbing White-tailed Eagle having attempted fish theft – Lytchett Bay – Sam Levy

Seemingly few sightings reported today despite the good conditions. The two Spotted Redshank were still on Lytchett Fields, plus appearances from 2 Osprey over the bay. Eight Spoonbill were on Brownsea Lagoon, perhaps the outstanding 6 individuals that have been kicking about the harbour in recent days were out feeding in one of the channels along the south and western shorelines. Swineham featured three Yellow Wagtail in the field next to tidal flap and some much needed desk time gave us a chance to process the photos from recent safari cruises…

White-tailed Eagle male (G463) from safari cruise at the weekend – Joe Parker

As a new heatwave creeps the scorched landscape is still seeing new arrivals try and find food, with grasshoppers and crickets surely making up a substantial diet of many migrant birds currently, as theres seemingly good numbers around in overgrown, rewilded landscapes. From our Summer Safari this AM there were 2 Osprey circling over Arne Bay for much of the morning, and male 022 caught a fish in the Wareham Channel. Male White-tailed Eagle G463 was also in the Wareham Channel sat out on Shag Looe Bar. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 12 Spoonbill, c100 Black-tailed Godwit, 11 Avocet, 100+ Dunlin, 8 Greenshank but only 2 each of Common Tern and Sandwich Tern. An Osprey was in Lytchett Bay this morning, 2 Little Ringed Plover were on the Stilt Pools at Swineham with 2 Yellow Wagtail. This evening there was 1 Pied Flycatcher at RSPB Arne car park amongst a group of 5 Spotted Flycatcher of which 4 were recently fledged young. At Middlebere, in the late evening, the Spoonbill numbers are continuing to grow with 17 preening and feeding on the high tide and 1 Barn Owl was hunting at dusk.

Pied Flycatcher – RSPB Arne car park – Andy Ryde

It’s been a remarkable start to the ringing season already, which saw the 1000th newly ringed Sedge Warbler of the autumn at the Lower Piddle Valley ringing site and we’re not even into August yet! The site has also ringed 318 Grasshopper Warbler, plus today a new bird for the year in the form of a Water Rail. On RSPB Arne Moors, there were 3+ Yellow-legged Gull and 2 Little Ringed Plover, plus 26 Cattle Egret on the dried pools at Swineham with 1 Yellow Wagtail. An Osprey was seen/heard displaying over near Rempstone/Godlingston area this morning where there were also Common Redstart, Lesser Whitethroat and Spotted Flycatcher. There were also 2 more Osprey seen in Lytchett Bay this AM and another was in the Wareham Channel.

Water Rail – Lower Piddle Valley – Ed Betteridge

A strange grey sky welcomed us in today, and an even stranger wet substance fell from the cloud very briefly, but it didn’t take long for the sun to take over again and the warmth soon retuned. A brisk NW breeze set in all day though which you would have thought may take the edge off the birding, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Both Summer Safari Cruises produced the goods today with this mornings trip producing 4+ Osprey, including 3 in Arne Bay and another in the Wareham Channel, plus an incredible moment of 2 juv Peregrine Falcon hunting right off the side of the boat near Brownsea. Then, this afternoon the Dorset White-tailed Eagle pair gave a stunning fly by of the boat, having just caught a Flounder in the Wareham Channel. There were also 28 Cattle Egret at Swineham, 10 Greenshank and 4 Common Sandpiper on Brownsea. There were also 3 Great White Egret at Bestwall / Swineham, with 1 Little Ringed Plover, 3 adult Yellow-legged Gull and 7 Yellow Wagtail.

Peregrine Falcon – Brownsea shore from Summer Safari this AM – Alison Copland

As the hot weather continues the dearth of terns across the harbour is still obvious with only 5 Common Tern and 1 Sandwich Tern on the Brownsea Lagoon today, but waders were on the increase and saw 135 Black-tailed Godwit, 117 Redshank, 11 Greenshank, 14 Avocet, 2 Ringed Plover, c125 Dunlin and 11 Spoonbill. In Middlebere early this AM there were 3 Great White Egret, 1 Hobby, 1 Barn Owl, 1 Goshawk, 2 Whimbrel and an Osprey. There was quite a bit of Osprey activity in the Wareham Channel with a couple of adults moving around the area including an adult male and female, identity unknown! The Barnacle Goose was still at Swineham as were 5 Cattle Egret and 2 Yellow Wagtail. Some of our Osprey monitoring cameras are beginning to pick up new species, with Hobby currently a daily visitor to a dead tree on the RSPB Arne reserve, plus, the annual build up of Mistle Thrush is starting, with recent flock sizes in previous years consisting up to 50+ individuals. We sometimes get reports sent to us of Fieldfare flocks in August and Sept, as flocks of large thrushes are noted moving around the heaths in late summer. This would of course be impossible as Fieldfare don’t arrive until mid-late October, with folk not realising Mistle Thrush can look and behave in a very similar way during the late summer. These larger Mistle Thrush flocks are often drawn to the summer berry crops of Rowan/Mountain Ash.

Eurasian Hobby – RSPB Arne

Small gathering of four Mistle Thrush – RSPB Arne