What an incredible mid to late August day. The morning chill is definitely making things more autumnal but with the late morning warmth hitting, birds are certainly on the move and becoming more active. The most incredible scenes were played out this morning when from our Osprey Cruise, no less than 10 Osprey made an appearance, with at least 5 fish catches being seen. If that wasn’t enough then the appearance of 4 White-tailed Eagles made for spectacular viewing when at least three times, they chased various Osprey for their fish! Ospreys seemed to be everywhere today with sightings over Brownsea, Brands Bay, Lytchett Bay and a few even sat out in random locations, like out on Hartland Moor eating fish. New arrivals in were 4 Ruff over the Wareham Channel this morning and a Glossy Ibis was on Lytchett Fields. The Brownsea Lagoon held 22 Avocet, 88 Ringed Plover, 5 Greenshank and 25 Spoonbill. There were 3 Spotted Redshank at Middlebere, a Ruff was in Brands Bay, 3 Great White Egret were also in Middlebere. Finally, a good rummage around any scrub, headland, heathland area currently is producing good numbers of common migrants with Willow Warblers, Whinchat, Wheatears, Redstarts, Yellow Wagtails and Tree Pipit all being logged this AM across the south and west of the harbour, so keep a good eye (and ear) out.

Yellow Wagtail – Swineham – Peter Moore

It’s really turning out to be a phenomenal year for Ospreys in the harbour, and today was a ‘who’s who’ of visiting Ospreys. Right across the harbour birds that were either directly related to our translocation project or products of our translocation project were present, most amazingly with a surprise appearance from our male at our Nest 2 site ‘374’. He and his mate (1H1) wanted to breed in the harbour but weren’t allowed due to local male 022, so set up shop just north of the harbour last year. They’ve now had two successful breeding seasons, despite rarely visiting the harbour, and in fact, his visit today was the first time he’s actually been seen within Poole Harbour since 2024! Also today, 2-year old male 5H6 who returned this spring for the fist time, but hadn’t been seen since July suddenly turned up in the Wareham Channel this morning. Also present were 5RI, 5H3, 022, CJ7 and all four of this years offspring. It was the full dynasty today and it looked spectacular, especially for our guests on board both of todays trips. To top it off we also had stunning views of both male and female White-tailed Eagles G466 and G463 who were also active in the Wareham Channel. The Brownsea Lagoon Spoonbill crowd has now grown to 32, and there were 13 Avocet, 80 Ringed Plover, 30 Dunlin and 6 Ringed Plover. A Great White Egret at Hatch Pond was great to see, there were Spotted Redshank at Brands Bay (with a Ruff) and another at Lytchett Fields. Ringing-wise 12 Grasshopper Warbler, 11 Tree Pipit and 1 Whinchat were ringed in the Lower Piddle Valley.

Male Osprey 374 from our ‘Nest 2 site’ fishing in Holes Bay this AM – Alison Copland

Male Osprey 5H6 on our RSPB Arne ‘tree cam’ this AM having not been seen since July

Female White-tailed Eagle G466 over our Osprey Crusie this morning – Mike Gaston

Autumnal conditions during our Osprey Pop-up at Rock Lea View this morning enjoyed 5 Osprey hunting over the Bay (including 2 fish catches), plus highlights of Whimbrel, Dunlin, 2 Common Sandpiper, fly over Yellow Wagtail, Marsh Harrier, first-winter Common Tern, c40 Black-tailed Godwit, c75 Redshank, Green Sandpiper, 12 Greenshank, 5 Lapwing and 6 Curlew. We also hosted our two Osprey Cruises today which were both packed with birds and consisted of no less than 7 Ospreys spread across the two trips, plus this morning we had male White-tailed Eagle G463 in the Wareham Channel moving around various shorelines, plus a flock of 12 Greenshank, 1 Spotted Redshank, 2 Marsh Harrier, c300 Black-tailed Godwit, c10 Sandwich Tern, 1 Common Tern and 3 Great White Egret. This afternoon there were 10 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon along with c15 Avocet, c50 Ringed Plover, c150 Dunlin, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 3 Common Sandpiper and 8 Turnstone. There was another late Swift over Holes Bay, at Middlebere 2-3 Whinchat, 1 Pied Flycatcher with 2 Whinchat also out on Wareham Common. Finally, a passage (or early returning) Bittern was seen at Swineham GP this afternoon which is a great August record.

We’ve partnered with our friends at Careys Secret Garden once again to deliver two more Migrant Bird Ringing Demos. The next session is taking place this Sunday, running from 8-10am. Target species include migrant Grasshopper Warbler, Tree Pipit, Willow, Sedge and Reed Warblers, plus Kingfisher or a flyover Osprey. Book your place here!

Rain….more rain! Not much still, but enough! Well, enough to water everyone’s plants at the beginnings of the most recent hosepipe ban…good news! The other good news was that the rain also downed some new waders into the harbour with a Spotted Redshank, 7 Greenshank, 4 Ringed Plover and c200 Black-tailed Godwit were in the Wareham Channel and a Wood Sandpiper was on the Brownsea Lagoon (very rare here) plus 95 Ringed Plover, 125 Redshank, 12 Greenshank, 3 Common Sandpiper and 82 Dunlin. Our Osprey Cruises today were Osprey-filled with no less than 6 seen this morning and roughly the same total this afternoon with birds moving between Lytchett Bay, the Wareham Channel and Middlebere. A White-tailed Eagle was on Patchins Point, RSPB Arne, a handful of Yellow Wagtail were at Swineham and 3 Honey Buzzard were seen flying over the Lower Piddle Valley. 1 Whinchat was at Middlebere.

Common Sandpiper and Wood Sandpiper – Brownsea Lagoon – Nicki Tutton

Juvenile Sandwich Tern – Wareham Channel – Alison Copland

It seems we’re now entering the next phase of autumn migration with many of the early autumn migrants having passed through, for example we’ve now passed the peak passage period for Willow Warbler (45 ringed this AM) and Sedge Warbler (51 ringed this AM), but are now seeing new arrivals such as todays handsome Wryneck ringed in the Lower Piddle Valley. Wryneck are always a mid-Autumn passage migrant with peak numbers usually logged between August and early September. It also seems the second wave of Grasshopper Warbler are passing through (perhaps second broods?) with 21 ringed this morning at the same site, totalling a whopping 502 Grasshopper Warbler ringed there so far since early July. The other new phase we’re experiencing is the passage of juvenile Ospreys from much further north, which included a juvenile female from Keilder Forest, Scotland this morning, ring number 2B9 seen from our Osprey Cruise. Also logged from the cruise today were 5+ Osprey, 1 White-tailed Eagle, 3 Great White Egret, 23 Spoonbill, 2 Marsh Harrier, 14 Avocet and 1 Peregrine. At Middlebere there was a late Swift, 1 Spotted Redshank, 23 Greenshank, 1 Whimbrel and an un-ringed female Osprey. At RSPB Arne, the Saline Lagoon walk produced 1 Pied Flycatcher, 5 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Garden Warbler, 2 Common Sandpiper and 2 Osprey over. A flock of 31 Cattle Egret were near the Stoborough causeway.

Eurasian Wryneck – Lower Piddle Valley 

Juvenile female Osprey ‘2B9’ from Keilder Forest, sat a dead tree at RSPB Arne

Another really interesting day today, with some excellent observations noted, as is often typical as August progresses with birds behaviours and movements begin to change. It started off at lunchtime when an adult male Honey Buzzard landed on the Carey Osprey nest briefly, scratching at the nest as if it was searching and seeking out a potential bee or wasp nest. We often see Honey Buzzards around the Osprey nest late in the season, and in fact, what is likely to be this exact bird has been visiting the Osprey nest site since 2019, with observations logged every year since then either on the nest, or fighting with CJ7 and the Osprey chicks. In 2019 when we carried out the 3rd year of the Osprey translocation on the south side of the Carey Estate, an adult male Honey Buzzard would regularly visit and interact with the newly released Osprey chicks during late July and August and has done so ever since. Incredible to get such stunning views of it whilst it sat on teh nest today.

From our Osprey Cruise this AM around 5 Osprey were logged, including a juvenile that flew straight over the boat. Logic would suggest it would have been one of the Carey juveniles, however upon close inspection of one of her photographs, guest on board Annabelle Sharpe noticed the ring read ‘7T0’, which is actually a youngster from our ‘Nest 2’ site just north of the harbour. We believe 7T0 was male during ringing, so it’s great that he’s now also exploring the harbour now. Elsewhere a juvenile Goshawk was photographed close to RSPB Arne, with mid-August to late September being an excellent time to see these amazing birds as they start dispersing from nest sites and teaching themselves how to hunt in the local landscape. Juvenile Goshawk identification is fairly straight forward (if seen well) with youngsters hosting large dark ‘tear drop’ markings all the way down the belly and flanks (as shown in mark Wrights excellent photo below), unlike Sparrowhawk which are always barred on the belly (both adults and juveniles). Goshawk are of course much larger too.

Elsewhere there were 23 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon with 2 Knot, 15 Greenshank and 4 each of Ringed Plover and Dunlin. At Greenlands Farm, Studland there were 2 Common Redstart, 2 Wheatear, 2 Common Whitethroat, 1 Yellow Wagtail and 1 Whinchat. In Godlingston Heath there were also 2 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Wheatear, 1 Whinchat, 1 Redstart and 1 Spotted Flycatcher. 

Honey Buzzard landing on Carey Osprey nest briefly this afternoon 

Screen grab of Honey Buzzard landing on Carey Osprey nest briefly this afternoon 

Juvenile Goshawk close to RSPB Arne today – Mark Wright

Juvenile Osprey 7T0 over our Osprey Cruise this AM – Annabelle Sharpe

Close up of  7T0’s ring over our Osprey Cruise this AM – Annabelle Sharpe

Another day, another Osprey-filled set of sky’s across the harbour. At one point there were 6 at once over Lytchett Bay, and there were no less than 5-6 moving around the Wareham Channel all morning plus individuals in Middlebere. Our best guess is there are currently 10-12 present in the harbour at the moment but as migration builds the comings and goings will be hard to keep track of, but we know there are plenty more yet to come, so the harbour total could easily increase over the next week. From our Osprey Cruise this morning we logged no-less than 7 Osprey in the Wareham Channel including 2 of the juveniles from the Carey nest, plus 3-year old male 5H3, Scottish female 6J8, local breeding male and female 022 and CJ7 and 2-year old male 5R1. There was also an Osprey in Holes Bay again and 3 in Middlebere. Also logged from todays trip were 23 Spoonbill and 6 Avocet on the Brownsea Lagoon, 2 Great White Egret and 5 Cattle Egret at Swineham, 10 Teal and 3 Green Sandpiper on RSPB Arne Moors, at the Ulwell/Godlingston Gap Heath there were 3 Common Redstart, 1 Pied Flycatcher and 1 Garden Warbler.

Osprey soaring over BoPH Osprey Cruise this AM – Alison Copland

Un-ringed adult female Osprey – Lytchett Bay – Aidan Brown

2-year old male Osprey ‘5R1’ – Lytchett Bay – Aidan Brown

Although today was forecast to be hot hot, hot, the easterly wind really helped take the edge off of things and it was actually quite pleasant. Our second Osprey cruise of the season was busy again with no less than 5 Osprey seen this morning, including both CJ7 and 022, along with 2-year old male 5R1. Also logged was 1 Peregrine Falcon, 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Great White Egret, 2 (solitary) White-tailed Eagle and the over-summering Barnacle Goose. Holes Bay had a good return with a Ruff from the Upton CP lookout, plus there were 6 Common Sandpiper and 2 Green Sandpiper which are also good Holes Bay record, plus an adult female Osprey was fishing in Holes Bay north this morning. A migrant Yellow Wagtail passed over the Ham Common viewpoint, a Pied Flycatcher was in trees bordering RSPB Arne car park and this evening there were 21 Greenshank, 2 Spotted Redshank and a random Golden Plover on Lytchett Fields.

Female Osprey CJ7 over our Osprey Cruise this AM – Mark Wright