Today was definitely a day of two halves…..birdable and not-birdable. By 7am, temperatures were already 15 degrees, but thankfully a light northerly breeze held steady taking the edge of the heat. However, by 12pm it was 28 degrees and things were tough! Even tougher for our Osprey chick number 2 that hatched this afternoon at the peak of the heat at 12:30pm. Things went well though and by late afternoon both were being fed by CJ7 and 022, and the next phase of the Osprey season is now well underway. An odd occurance, especially in 28 degree heat was a dark-bellied Brent Goose that was stying put in Brands Bay where there was a small number of passage waders including Sanderling and Dunlin, some with exceptionally short bills, and small in body structure, suggesting they’re possibly the arctica subspecies which tend to have really short bills and are currently heading up to NE Greenland. Yesterday afternoon a Glossy Ibis was enjoying Lytchett Fields and tonight from our first Puffin Cruise of the year the trip was rewarded with 3 Puffin and 3 Pomarine Skua. There were 2 Cuckoo at Middlebere, 2 Hobby along the Arne Road, 2 over Carey and 2 over Rempstone. A summer plumaged Grey Plover was on the Brownsea Lagoon and this evening an Osprey was fishing in the Wareham Channel.

Dark-bellied Brent Goose – Brands Bay – Garry Hayman

Sanderling – Brands Bay – Garry Hayman

Dunlin (possible arctica) – Brands Bay – Garry Hayman

Glossy Ibis (Yesterday) – Lytchett Bay – Ian Ballam

Well, they weren’t lying about the heatwave were they! Luckily it isn’t boiled eggs we’re discussing this evening, but the exciting news we wait for every single year, which is that today, our first Osprey chick of the 2026 season hatched. Not only that, we think it was a world record breaker in as much that it had barely started chipping out of the egg before all of a sudden it was out and a fully hatched chick had emerged. This first hatching is right on cue (if not several hours early), and paves they way for hopefully the next three to hatch over the coming week. The first feed was at 16:50 and it seemed to get a few fishy chunks down its throat. If you haven’t tuned into our Osprey nest cam before then firstly….what the hell have you been doing for the last 4 years?! and secondly you can watch all the drama (hopefully not too much) unfold live here: https://www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk/osprey-news/osprey-webcam-2025-update/

Our second bit of good news is that our new live Swift Nest Cam now has a pair of Swifts back! The first of the pair arrived back over a week ago and was using the box to roost in at night, as we anxiously waited to see if it’s mate would return. There’s definitely been a hold up of Swift, with many sites across the country reporting low numbers and late returners. Thankfully, just as the weather cleared yesterday it allowed an arrival of Swift to reach the UK including the mate of our already present adult. The pair are now back using the box top roost in, and all being well eggs should be laid some time in the coming weeks. We’ve never had a Swift nest cam before, so this is going to be incredibly educational for us too. One of the grim things you’ll notice is the horrid ‘flat fly’ that use Swifts as hosts, and can sometimes be seen crawling around the nest box. A “flat fly” on a Swift is a colloquial term for the Swift lousefly (Crataerina pallida), a species of parasitic, blood-sucking insect. They belong to the louse fly family (Hippoboscidae) and are highly specialised hitchhikers that live almost exclusively in the plumage and nests of Common Swift. Ergh!

You can watch our new Live Swift Cam here: https://www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk/swift-box-cam/

Well, the sun we’ve all been promised finally arrived today and as a result temperatures soared. Despite the overcast start to the day, the low cloud soon cleared and the Bank Holiday mega weather weekend started early. Weirdly, the fist bird of the day was a Red-throated Diver that flew over Arne just after dawn, suggesting it had been blown in in recent days and was now off with the improved weather window. This morning 2 Osprey were in the Wareham Channel, including male 022 catching just off Giggers Island. With the new RSPB Arne Moors project now well into it’s completion phase it’s interesting to note it really seems to be benefiting Shelduck already, with several hundred having been seen gathering there recently and today in the Wareham Channel there was a single flock of 204 which is pretty high for late May. At Durlston this AM, a potential male Red-footed Falcon was seen heading north which if it was could easily end up in the harbour or Wareham Forest/Morden Bog, so well worth double checking any Hobby you’re watching ove rthe harbour skylines. This would be an addition bird to the one thats currently north of Wimborne at Holt Heath.

Male Osprey (022?) flying over our Spring Safari this AM with a fish – Wareham Channel – Alison Copland

Another windy, blowy day with a short focus on the sea this morning which didn’t yield much other than 20+ Gannet, c50 Sandwich Tern, c30 Common Tern and 5 Mediterranean Gull. However all three hirundine species (House Martin, Sand Martin and Swallow) were all logged coming in off the sea highlighting that migration is still underway, plus 8 Swift also came ‘in off’. This afternoon our new Osprey arrival ‘5H6’ (aka the Mighty Titch) visited a harbour nest platform.

Adder – Purbeck Heath 

Male Osprey 5H6 on harbour nest platform today

Another windy,

A blustery day making birding difficult, but 2 Little Tern in the Wareham Channel today was a good reward, also 2 Osprey in the Wareham Channel,  several parties of Swift were over Swineham, 9 Avocet were on the Brownsea Lagoon, a 2nd cal year Kittiwake was in central harbour, plus 2 random Wigeon were on the Brownsea Lagoon this morning, also 7 Avocet including what looked like a couple ‘sitting’ individuals which would be great news for the island. A Whimbrel was on the Brownsea north shore, c150 Dunlin were settled on Shag Looe Bar, the Wareham Channel and 3 Gannet were near the harbour mouth.

Also, there was a positive update from Dorset Wildlife Trust volunteer Martin Adams providing an update on the Brownsea Lagoon terns: Encouraging signs with 106 Common Terns sitting (up from 68 on Friday,) 81 Sandwich Terns (up from 55,) and 87 Black-headed Gulls (up from 66) with 21 chicks now. The Black-headed Gulls have returned to the tern islands in small numbers where there were hardly any on Friday. 10 Great Black Backed Gulls on nests.

Whimbrel – Brownsea north shore – Kate Plater

Not much going on today on the general birding front, however we did get an exciting update from one of our harbour nest platforms this afternoon when an Osprey landed on it just after lunch. It’s been quite usual for the current two present males (5R0 and 5H3) to visit these platforms over the last few weeks, so we just assumed it was going to be one of them, or potentially local male 022 who also visits the other nests to see off local competition. However, we couldn’t quite believe it when the bird turned, showing the ring number which read ‘5H6’. This is incredible news, not only because this now means we have THREE eligible male Osprey present in the local area, which is fantastic for the project, and just what we need to see the the newly established south coast population evolve even more. Plus, without being biased, 5H6 was most definately a fan favourite due to his plucky bravery as he was dwarfed by his three older brothers. 5H6 was the last to hatch out of a clutch of 4 back in 2024, and due to the staggered hatching dates, he was half the size of his siblings for several weeks, until he finally caught up and was able to compete for food. Due to both CJ7 and 022 being such incredible parents, it meant all four chicks fledged that year, and as a result, we already have TWO back from that year, 5H6 and 5R0.

Other sightings from today included a Spoonbill flying up the Piddle Valley this morning, on Hydes Heath, RSPB Arne Tree Pipit, Cuckoo and Crossbill were logged, 2 Hobby were hunting over the Arne Road, Arne Moors area, an adult White-tailed Eagle was out in the Wareham Channel on Shag Looe Bar and a Little Ringed Plover was on the Stilt Pools at Swineham. There were other Osprey sightings too with 2 in Lytchett Bay, including 5H3 and local male 022 was seen seeing off todays new arrival over near Middlebere.

Male Osprey 5H6 (smallest on right) resting with his siblings in late May 2024

Male Osprey 5H6 (smallest on left) battling for food with his siblings in late May 2024

Touchdown – 5H6’s return this afternoon after being on his wintering grounds for last 2 years

Male Osprey 5H6 assessing the landscape this afternoon from a harbour nest platform

With a gentler head wind today, various areas saw and heard some grounded migrants arrive with a late female Wheatear on top of Hartland along with 3 grounded Whimbrel there feeding in a horse paddock, plus a flock of 6 Whimbrel over Middlebere Farm. Also a pair of Spotted Flycatcher arrived today at Carey Secret Garden and there were 2 Reed Warbler and 1 Lesser Whitethroat up on Ballard. A new adult female Osprey was seen in Lytchett Bay this morning and was noted to be a Scottish ringed individual, but annoyingly there was no sign of our current two available bachelors, males 5H3 and 5R0. There was a sighting of 2 Osprey over the Wareham Channel together which were then seen heading towards Holes Bay, so no doubt one was local male 022 escorting a potential new coloniser out of ‘his patch’!! Yesterday there were 4 summer plumaged Cattle Egret in Lytchett Bay, along with a nice mixed wader flock of Dunlin and Ringed Plover. There was a Cuckoo in the Frome Valley near Swineham, one in the Piddle Valley and 2 up at Scotland Farm.

Cattle Egret – Lytchett Bay yesterday – Ian Ballam

Dunlin and Ringed Plover flock – Lytchett Bay yesterday – Mick Brooks

A mixed day weather wise, but a day with a fantastic result. We were due to survey the harbours important gull islands early this morning out in the Wareham Channel, but decided to delay for several hours due to the cooler air temperature at dawn. Anyway, having got under way by late morning/early afternoon we were thrilled when the combined totals of both nesting islands produced a Poole Harbour record total of 369 Mediterranean Gull nests. This is a fantastic result, but highlights perfectly the nomadic and often quite unpredictable behaviour and occurrence of breeding Mediterranean Gulls in southern England. We’ve heard anecdotally that other populations along the south coast and east cost have fluctuated massively this spring with a site in Kent having had c800 nests last year have only c150 this year. Below are our survey results and totals of Mediterranean Gull nests from the Poole Harbour islands, starting in 2008 indicating a similar, variable fluctuation in population. Todays result is great news as Med Gulls are a Poole Harbour SPA (Special Protection Area) feature species, meaning the harbour is specially protected because of their presence here.

Number of Med Gull nests

2008 – 87
2015 – 64
2016 – 38
2017 – 33
2018 – 155
2021 – 109
2023 – 278
2024 – 179
2025 – 43
2026 – 369

Sadly, hidden amongst the elation of the Med Gulls success, is the concern for the Black-headed Gulls demise. During the same survey today, we only logged 2823 Black-headed Gulls nests, which is a continued decline for this species. Below are our survey results and totals of Black-headed Gulls nests from the Poole Harbour islands, starting in 2008 highlighting the steady decline. There are probably several factors involved here, the main being habitat loss. In 2008 there were three main nesting islands, now there are only two, due to erosion. Predation levels have increased with regular visits from newly returned Marsh Harriers, Peregrines, Ravens, White-tailed Eagles and Goshawk. Also, Med Gulls tend to be more dominant and can take over areas of suitable habitat on the islands, restricting areas for Black-headed Gulls.

Number of Black-headed Gull nests

2008 – 8951
2015 – 6400
2016 – 2589 (year the colony was ‘egged’ / had eggs stolen)
2017 – 5736
2018 – 4115
2021 – 3706
2023 – 3568
2024 – 3174
2025 – 2901
2026 – 2823

Elsewhere today a great count of 4 Roseate Tern were on the Brownsea Lagoon mid-afternoon, with sightings of individuals around the harbour entrance this evening. On the gull islands during teh survey a good count of 130 Dunlin were counted, plus an Osprey was hunting in the Wareham Channel, a White-tailed Eagle flew over Shipstal,

Newly hatched Black-headed Gull chick – Gull Islands

Mediterranean Gull eggs and nest