The day started off slow, but got better towards the end. The Swineham ‘goosathon’ continued with a newly arrived Bar-headed Goose settling at Swineham Point this evening. This is 7th species of goose to be at Swineham over the last few months (Greylag, Canada, Barnacle, Egyptian, Pink-footed, White-fronted and now Bar-headed), which although the latter is a feral escape from somewhere, highlights the areas qualities for wildfowl and especially geese! Swineham and the Two-Rivers walk is holding good numbers of warblers with 63 Reed Warbler and 13 Cetti’s Warbler also 7 Reed Bunting, 2 Bearded Tits along the River Frome and 2 Mash Harrier. There was an intruding Osprey at the Carey nest this evening which was captured on the webcam being chased off by 022. In Middlebere a juvenile White-tailed Eagle settled briefly and was soon seen off by a Common Buzzard. Also at Middlebere were 2 Hobby, 1 Cuckoo and c20 Swift. There seemed to be more Swift around Wareham Town centre and Wareham Common today with c50 bombing around. There were 2 Hobby hunting insects over Wareham Common, a 2nd cal year Little Gull was on Lytchett Fields and 4 Red Kite were over Liliput, Poole.

Bar-headed Goose – Swineham Point – Garry Hayman

Common Buzzard mobbing juvenile White-tailed Eagle – Middlebere – Alison Copland

Dartford Warbler – Middlebere – Alison Copland

022 chasing off intruding Osprey in the background as CJ7 watches on

Another really warm May day in the harbour with most areas looking very dry and not much rain in sight! Lots of activity at Swineham this morning with 217 Black-tailed Godwit, 71 Reed Warbler, 23 Cetti’s Warbler, 3 Sedge Warbler and 1 Little Ringed Plover all recorded. At Arne RSPB from Coombe Heath 1 Osprey was fishing and 1 Cuckoo and 1 Goshawk were also seen. 3 Spoonbill were still off Shipstal. A 2nd calendar year Marsh Harrier was hunting over the Decoy Pond at Morden Bog. Good to see a few Spotted Flycatcher back here along with a couple of pairs of very active Cuckoo and Hobby. Individuals of Red Kite were over Wareham Common and Holmebridge and 1 Hobby was over Little Sea, Studland

Little Ringed Plover – Swineham – Gary Hayman

It was a quieter day across the harbour today, but the chance encounter of seeing a fully Black Adder out on Hartland Moor this morning certainly made our day. There were several slightly scarcer spring migrants with a Little Tern in Shell bay with c500 Sandwich and Common Tern, plus 15 Sanderling and 2 Dunlin were on Shell Bay beach. A Little Gull was on the Brownsea Lagoon, a Cuckoo was on Hartland and 3 Spoonbill were in Middlebere.

Black Adder Hartland Moor

Black Adder Hartland Moor

Prime conditions for our early morning ‘Up with the Lark Cruise’ this morning, with plenty of bird song up the River Frome of 5+ Cetti’s Warbler, 10+ Reed Warbler and 1 Sedge Warbler along the river. A couple of Bearded Tit also showed really well from the mouth of the River Frome. On the Brownsea Lagoon the 2 Curlew Sandpiper were still present along with the 2nd summer Little Gull and 4 Avocet, including 2 that were looking territorial, fighting off Oystercatchers for grass space. A count of tern and gull nests was conducted by the Dorset Wildlife Trust on the Brownsea Lagoon and saw 231 Sandwich Tern nests, 87 Common Tern nests, c267 Black-headed Gull nests and 11 Great Black-backed Gull nests. 1 Red Kite was also over Poole Quay. At Morden Bog at least 4 Hobby were hunting Dragonflies but still no sign of any Red-footed Falcon in Poole Harbour. 1 passage Green Sandpiper also flew over here. At Bog Lane, along Holme Lane there were 12 Cattle Egret and 1 Great White Egret and 5 Spoonbill were still off Shipstal. Will all 5 of these over-summer? Also this evening, newly arrived Rutland female Osprey 3H9 was seen again in Middlebere.

Male Bearded Tit – Mouth of the River Frome from our Up with the Lark Cruise – John Thorpe

Curlew Sandpiper – Brownsea Lagoon from our Up with the Lark Cruise – Samantha Roberts

This morning we went and surveyed the important gull islands in the Wareham Channel, specifically to count Black-headed Gulls and more importantly, the Mediterranean Gulls. The Med Gulls are a schedule 1 species and also a Poole Harbour SPA (Special Protection Area) feature species, meaning they’re an important bird for the on going protection of Poole Harbour. We’re only able to access the islands as we obtain a Natural England schedule 1 license each year, due to the fact it’s normally illegal to intentionally disturb nesting Mediterranean Gulls. The survey yielded some low totals unfortunately, resulting in:

Black-headed Gulls – 2901 nests
Mediterranean Gulls – 43 nests
Great Black-backed Gulls – 2 nests
Sandwich Tern – 3 nests
Oystercatcher – 2 nests
Gadwall – 2 nests

We also received info of a new Osprey in the harbour this morning, which at a distance looked like it was ringed. We’re now in the period where 2-year old Ospreys begin to arrive back, and we’re on the look out for ring numbers 5H3, 5H4 and 5H5. Could this mornings bird be one of those. Fortunately it landed on one of our nest platforms which allowed us to read the ring number as 3H9. This wasn’t one of ours, but yet another Rutland female, our fourth to visit the harbour this spring! Also at Middlebere today were 5 Spoonbill, 1 Cuckoo and 1 White-tailed Eagle flew over.

Gull Islands at dawn – Terry Elborn

Black-headed Gull chick in nest – Paul Morton

Female Rutland Osprey 3H9 – Middlebere

The glorious spring weather continued in the harbour today. Quite a few waders favouring the mud at Lytchett Fields still with 7 Ringed Plover, 4 Dunlin, 1 Greenshank and 2 Little Ringed Plover. 2 Hobby were at Hyde’s Heath, 1 over Brownsea and 2 were hunting at Wareham Common. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 3 Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Knot, 1 Grey Plover, 1 Greenshank and 1 Sanderling. This evening a rather late Short-eared Owl was out hunting on RSPB Arne Moors.

House Martin collecting Mud – Lytchett Bay – Mick Brooks

Lots of passage migrants in the harbour today sporting their stunning summer plumage. On the Brownsea Lagoon from our Spring Safari Cruise this morning there were 2 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Red Knot, 2 Avocet, c40 Dunlin and 1 Greenshank. At Swineham there were 2 Little Ringed Plover and 1 Whimbrel along with c150 Black-tailed Godwit in the Wareham Channel. 2 Marsh Harrier were active here too. In Lytchett Bay 3 Whimbrel were feeding off Rock Lea View and 21 Ringed Plover were on the Fields along with 2 Little Ringed Plover and 1 Greenshank. The Russian White-fronted Goose was off Giggers Island, in the mouth of the Wareham Channel, a redhead Goosander was on the River Piddle at Carey and there was a good arrival of Ringed Plover on Lytchett Fields this morning with 22 logged and there were 3 Little Ringed Plover there too.

Summer Plumage Grey Plover and Canada Goose – Brownsea Lagoon from our Spring Safari Cruise – Alison Copland

Curlew Sandpiper – Brownsea Lagoon from our Spring Safari Cruise – Alison Copland

With a cold northerly setting in over the last couple of days, it seems to be holding a few birds up, and this morning there was an obvious arrival of Common Swift with c100 spread across the Arne Moors/Swineham area along with a steady northward passage of Swallow, House Martin and Sand Martin. The Russian White-fronted Goose was still off Swineham Point for most of the and over head 4+ Hobby were hunting above the gravel pit and 5+ Red Kite passed over too. On the Stilt Pools at Swineham there was 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Little Ringed Plover and 2 Common Redshank. A male Ruff was also in the mouth of the River Frome and what looked like male White-tailed Eagle G463 was seen being aggressively territorial up high over the Wareham Channel, seeing off another adult White-tailed Eagle. What is presumed to have been the same 2 White-tailed Eagles were seen soaring high over Poole train station about an hour later. There were no less than 3 different Marsh Harrier floating around the top end of the Wareham Channel and this morning the Little Gull that’s been roaming about was in Brands Bay where 7 Whimbrel and 1 Common Sandpiper were also feeding. There were 10 Whimbrel in Holes Bay, 5 Avocet on the Brownsea Lagoon and a Hobby entered the harbour entrance this AM before drifting off over Brownsea. This evening 4 Cattle Egret went into roost at Swineham.

Cattle Egret – Swineham – Peter Moore

Breezy conditions today for the bank holiday Monday, but that brought with it the first Curlew Sandpiper of the year at Lytchett Fields this morning. A very good spring record for the site and it was starting to moult into summer plumage. Along side it were 1 Dunlin, 10 Ringed Plover and 2 Little Ringed Plover and 2 Marsh Harrier were also present. Just outside of the harbour boundary, but 1 Marsh Tit was calling at Kilwood DWT Nature Reserve today. Totally out of the blue this evening was a Russian White-fronted Goose which appeared on Swineham Point. White-fronted Geese have been rare enough in the winter here in Poole Harbour over the last few decades, let alone on an early May morning. Where it’s come from is anyones guess, but a great addition to the the Poole Harbour year list.

With lots of Red-footed Falcon turning up all round the country in the last few days, including birds in Cornwall, Somerset and up to 10(!) birds at some sites in East Anglia, are we due a sighting in Poole/Purbeck this week?

Russian White-fronted Goose – Swineham Point – Trevor Warwick

Curlew Sandpiper (left) and Dunlin (right) this morning – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam