A blustery bank holiday but it was great to see so many people in our new BoPH HQ, at one point you almost couldn’t move in there! Lovely stuff! The day got off to an interesting start with a male Brambling singing in the car park at dawn, a phenomenon very rarely heard in Dorset. Then, an Osprey turned up off Shipstal but it didn’t hang around long and a single Wheatear was up on Coombe. In Wareham, there were still 3 Hawfinch in St Mary’s churchyard. Are we witnessing the colonisation of this species into Dorset? Surely they should all be moving off by now? Around the Swineham/Lower Frome Valley area the male Hen Harrier and a ringtail Hen Harrier were seen and a Merlin was hunting Meadow Pipits. At Holton Pools 2 Wheatear, 2 Sand Martin and 1 Swallow were on and around the pools. There was another single Wheatear at Sunnyside. Surely we’re due ‘a fall’ of Wheatear soon? It seems theres literally just ones and two’s dotted around the place. A Red Kite drifted low over Slepe Heath at dawn. At Lytchett Bay there were still 7 Red-breasted Merganser out on the water and 355 Black-tailed Godwit were on Lytchett Fields and a single Greenshank.