It seems with each new day, a new species appears, which isn’t un-typical during spring migration, but when the recent arrivals include Forster’s Tern, Great Bustard and todays ‘new arrivals’….2 Common Crane, it makes for quite exciting birding. The high pressure and clear sky’s are obviously getting birds moving, and we’re sure there will be more new arrivals over the coming days, but whats unknown is what level of scarcity will they be? The first Wheatear? The first Little Ringed Plover? Or Poole Harbours first Great Spotted Cuckoo??

Yes, today 2 Common Crane arrived in down the Piddle Valley and settled at Keysworth for a short while late morning before then heading to Arne Moors briefly, before then heading back up the Frome Valley, over Wareham. For a brief moment they were circling over the 10 Glossy Ibis and 50+ Cattle Egret around Wareham Common…..now thats not a sentence we would have predicted 10 years ago! No Bittern were logged this evening due to the fog, but there were 2 Sand Martin at Swineham today and 6 at Holmebridge, where there were also 1 Great White Egret. The Forster’s Tern seems to be preferring the urban side of Poole this spring with sightings again around Parkstone Bay, and it was even seen sat out on sticks in the middle of Poole Park boating Lake, plus it visited the Brownsea Lagoon briefly. There were 3 different White-tailed Eagles around the harbour including the adult pair and a new 2023 arrival in the Wareham Channel ‘G641’. One of teh most vocal birds singing already is Firecrest, as the Dorset/South coast colonisation continues, with males singing from pretty much every mixed deciduous/coniferous woodland around the harbour!

Singing Firecrest – Annabel Sharpe