Another stunning day, but a tad cooler compared to the previous few days. It’s easy to get excited about migration when the first new birds arrive and hope that every day should be delivering new migrants, however it is only March 21st, with spring passage not properly due to get underway for another few weeks yet, so it wasn’t surprising today that although the weather was great, there weren’t too many new arrivals. The only migrants logged today were 8 Little Ringed Plover around the Swineham area (4 Swineham floods and 4 Lower Piddle Valley floods). The Forsters’s Tern was again on Brownsea for most of the day, along with 3 Spoonbill. There were 2 Marsh Harrier in Middlebere and 3 over the Wareham Channel and these clear blue sky’s really see the White-tailed Eagles get active and move about alot, with adult female G466 being seen over several urban areas this afternoon including Nuffiield Industrial Estate and Upper Parkstone. Quite remarkable really!

Adult White-tailed Eagle G466 – Upper Parkstone – Mick Brooks

Dartford Warbler – Coombe Heath, RSPB Arne – Alison Copland

Dunnock – Coombe Heath, RSPB Arne – Alison Copland

What another perfect early spring day in all regards. We appreciate we may have been a bit hasty stating that our male Osprey 022 had returned on Wednesday. There was definitely an Osprey at the nest site as we saw it fly off, but can only conclude it must have been a passing migrant as theres been no sign since. All being well one of the pair will arrive back perhaps over the weekend seeing as the weather is perfect for Ospreys to arrive. Despite no Osprey sightings today, the harbour provided a perfect transitional spectacle with elements of winter still in view, but Spring certainly taking over. A handful of Great Northern Diver are hanging on with 2 off the Brownsea shorelines and c20 Red-breasted Merganser were out in South Deep. There seems to be more Sandwich Tern about with their calls ringing out off the lagoon sea wall this morning from our Spring Safari, along with multiple calling and displaying Mediterranean Gulls. The Brownsea Lagoon hosted the Forster’s Tern this morning also 2 Eurasian Spoonbill (including a breeding plumaged individual), c30 Avocet, 2 of which were seen copulating, 8 Greenshank, 5 Bar-tailed Godwit, c400 Black-tailed Godwit and 20 Turnstone. At Swineham up to 5 Marsh Harrier were active plus a White-tailed Eagle flew across central harbour. There were also 4 Little Ringed Plover on the Stilt Pools at Swineham and 4 Sand Martin and 1 Water Pipit flew over. A bit later in the afternoon 3 White-tailed Eagle were circling over Upton, a few more Red Kite were on the move with 3 over Keysworth, 1 over Rockley Park and another over Godlingston. Another Willow Warbler arrived with 1 at South Haven, Studland and the 3 Glossy Ibis were spread across Wareham Common. There was one each of Little Gull and Little Ringed Plover at Lytchett Fields, a lone Black-necked Grebe was off Middle Beach, Studland and 20 Sand Martin were at Swineham this evening.

Mediterranean Gull – Brownsea Lagoon – Joe Parker

Sandwich Tern – Brownsea Lagoon – Joe Parker

Spoonbill and Avocet – Brownsea Lagoon – Joe Parker

Great Northern Diver – North Channel, off Baiter – Alison Copland

Another stunning day in the harbour and more spring arrivals with the first Ring Ouzel of the spring, with a male seen at Corfe Common. More Little Ringed Plover arrivals too, with 1 was seen at Lytchett Fields, 2 at Swineham and 3 later on in the Lower Piddle Valley. 1 White Stork was seen flying over Long Island heading towards Brownsea. The long-staying Forster’s Tern was still showing nicely on the Brownsea Lagoon on the ‘boomerang island’ along with 5 Sandwich Tern. Good passage of Red Kite around the harbour today with at least 7 spread around Brownsea and Hamworthy this afternoon. A total of 4 Great Northern Diver were still in the harbour, mainly in the north channel. 1 female Merlin was at Challow Hill this morning.

No more Ospreys seen today, but there was a report of 2 yesterday off Shipstal point at RSPB Arne. There were an impressive 5 White-tailed Eagle seen from the urban side of the harbour with the adult pair flying towards Bournemouth and 3 juveniles soaring over Brownsea this morning. It seems to have been a good spring already for Crossbill with good numbers around the harbour with first broods likely to have already fledged. 6+ were seen at Hydes Heath, RSPB Arne, 2 at Brownsea and 2 in Newton Bay. The 1 Little Gull was still at Lytchett Fields and 3 Glossy Ibis on Wareham Common.

White Stork – flying over Long Island – Mark Wright

What a day. Not only the glorious sunshine but a great mix of birds logged right across the area. Most significantly we believe our male Osprey 022 may be back. At midday today, we launched our 2026 Carey Osprey Nest Cams (which you can WATCH LIVE HERE), and no less than 30 minutes later an Osprey came and landed on the camera perch above the main camera, calling. However it only stayed 8 minutes before it was then seen heading off over Wareham Common, meaning we weren’t able to confirm the ID of ‘who’ it was. If it was 022 just checking in, then he’s probably gone and caught a fish somewhere and is resting up and recovering before CJ7 returns. This morning up on Ballard Down a colour-ringed male Cirl Bunting was seen at Ballard Down, and having spoken with Luke Philipps the co-ordinator for the project, he was able to confirm this bird was ringed as a fresh juvenile at Durlston CP last summer. So, if this male decides to stay and breed in the area, this will be a known 4km dispersal from it’s natal site, giving us some great data on dispersal distances for this newly recolonising species. Elsewhere the Forster’s Tern was on Brownsea again this afternoon, the 3 Glossy Ibis were still on Wareham Common, a Swallow was hawking high above Wareham and 10 Sand Martin were over Keysworth. It seems Common Snipe are currently on the move as the floodplain at Carey was surveyed yesterday and resulted in 67 Common Snipe being counted in one small area, along with 41 today and a Jack Snipe. Also on the Brownsea Lagoon were 2 Spoonbill, plus a real harbour rarity of 3 Harbour Porpoise were off Jerry’s Point this morning. Out in Studland Bay 2 Common Scoter were loafing about, a Great Northern Diver was off the Brownsea south shore and once again, the adult Little Gull was in Lytchett Bay

Colour-ringed Cirl Bunting – Ballard Down

Despite the cold, overcast start to the day, by lunchtime the harbour was basking in glorious spring sunshine which saw an instant return to good numbers of butterfly being on the wing. The sun also delivered another two new firsts for the year in the form of a Swallow over Wareham Common and a singing Willow Warbler in the PCW Drain. With the high pressure due to set in over the next couple of days, no doubt more new more will be arriving. Other than todays newbies it was much of the same including the Forster’s Tern on the Brownsea Lagoon, the adult Little Gull in Lytchett Bay and the 3 Glossy Ibis on Wareham Common. Finally, a nice late addition to todays sightings was a dusk find of a White-spotted Bluethroat at Swineham. This is just the 8th Poole Harbour record, and a hard bird to catch up with. White-spotted Bluethroat is the southern European sub-species which tends to migrate earlier in the spring (March to April), where as the red-spotted sub-species is the Northern European equivalent and they tend to be much later in the spring. Both are rare visitors to the UK.

White-spotted Bluethroat – Swineham – Peter Moore

A pretty chilly day still, but with things due to warm up a bit later in the week, we can expect some more migrants to arrive as the wind swings round from further south. The start to March (and the New Year) has been great, with an excellent birding vibe right across the harbour, with what has been arguably one of the best starts to a birding year for Poole Harbour in a very long time. So much so that visitors from far and wide have come to see some of the harbours top birds this year such as the Forster’s Tern in Poole Park. Over the last few decades the monitoring, assessment, protection and research of Dorset’s birds has been carried out by a range of organisations such as Portland Bird Obs, Durlston Country Park, CHOG, Dorset Bird Club and our local NGO’s right here in the harbour. This work has been crucial in understanding the fate of Dorsets birds, and it’s great to see friendly, familiar faces from these orgs out enjoying teh harbours bird life recently.

The Forster’s Tern was still around being enjoyed by visiting birders today, initially in Holes Bay this morning, and it was then on the Brownsea Lagoon on and off this afternoon, where there were also 2 Eurasian Spoonbill, c50 Avocet, 4 Sandwich Tern and c500 Icelandic Black-tailed Godwit. Most Great Northern Diver have now gone, but a lone bird was off Salterns Marina and 2 were in close to the harbour mouth. There seems to be fantastic numbers of Icelandic Black-tailed Godwit spread across the harbour currently. Perhaps not as many as a few weeks ago, but in the Wareham Channel this afternoon there were 1000+, many if full breeding plumage. There were 4+ Marsh Harrier around Swineham this afternoon, the Red-necked Grebe was reported out in Studland Bay again, the Little Gull was still in Lytchett Bay along with a Spotted Redshank and the 3 Glossy Ibis were still out on Wareham Common. Great news was received this morning when it was confirmed the Asda Peregrine female laid her first egg at around 3am last night. Here’s hoping for another exciting and busy season for that family again this spring and summer.

A rare and welcome sight of Portland Bird Obs wardens Martin Cade and Jodie Henderson visiting the harbour last week – Phyl England

Avocet – Brownsea Lagoon

Today the first Rutland Osprey arrived, a female known as ‘025’, signalling the start of the 2026 Osprey season. We’ve received lots of questions about when our Osprey camera will go live and we’re glad to say it will be this week. We had originally planned for it to go live this weekend, but frustratingly the storm on Thursday night last week damaged our microphone, so we had to climb the tree this weekend to fix it. Thankfully all went well and we’ve been testing it over the last 24 hours and it all looks and sounds good to go. We’ll post the link on all our social channels and on here once we go live.

Today, the Forster’s Tern was on mooring buoys off Brownsea and also visited the lagoon a few times. The 3 remaining Glossy Ibis were on the Wareham Common again, 4 Sand Martin were over Swineham GP, the adult Little Gull was still at Lytchett Bay, Spotted Redshanks were in Lytchett Bay and Holes Bay and a Northern Wheatear was at Greenlands Farm. The Icelandic black-tailed Godwit totals are still good, with lots in fine breeding colours, with 1676 in Holes Bay and 1000+ on the Brownsea Lagoon.

Climbing the osprey nest tree this weekend to fix and prep the camera for launch this week

After going missing for a couple of days the Forster’s Tern reappeared on the Brownsea Lagoon today and was seen from our Spring Safari cruise this afternoon initially on Brownsea, but then seen heading towards Baiter/Poole park. Also on the Brownsea Lagoon today were 2 Spoonbill. Another small scattering of Northern Wheatear were about this morning with birds at Ballard and Hartland Moor. An adult White-tailed Eagle flew down the Frome Valley towards the harbour this morning, the adult Little Gull was in Lytchett Bay along with the Spotted Redshank. In Studland Bay 5 Black-necked Grebe and the Red-necked Grebe were off Middle Beach. Our Spring Safari this afternoon was stunning and saw both adult White-tailed Eagles in the Wareham Channel, initially sitting out on Shag Looe and then flying/circling over the boat. We also saw both Marsh Harrier and Red Kites interacting over the Wareham Channel, but decent views of Bearded Tit at Swimeham.

White-tailed Eagle (female G466), Wareham Channel © Joe Parker

Last nights storm had thankfully passed by dawn. It was a pretty nasty night with winds peaking at 50mph amazingly. Somehow though a small flurry of Northern Wheatear managed to get through with several arriving this morning with sightings on Wareham Common, at Lytchett Bay, Greenlands Farm and Ballard Down. Despite much searching by visiting birders the Forster’s Tern couldn’t be found today, and has perhaps moved off already?? Same goes for 7 of the 10 over-wintering Glossy Ibis with the flock now reduced to just 3 individuals which were out on Wareham Common, just north of the railway this afternoon and this morning along with 42 Cattle Egret and 2 Red Kite. The adult Little Gull was still in Lytchett Bay this morning, a Red-necked Grebe was out in Studland Bay with 2 Black-necked Grebe and 6 Common Scoter. There were 2 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon and in the Lower Piddle Valley there were 4 Green Sandpiper and 1 Great White Egret. The early spring passage of migrant Icelandic Black-tailed Godwit is well underway with hundreds of beautiful summer plumaged individuals adding to the thousands that have been present the last few months.

Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits – Brownsea Lagoon – Nicki Tutton