There were more signs of movement today, despite the hot conditions when a Corn Bunting was found out in fields at Old Harry, a real Poole Harbour rarity with Cirl Bunting now actually more frequent than Corn Bunting! Other signs of southward passage included 3 more Grasshopper Warbler ringed in the Lower Piddle Valley, Carey plus 11 Sedge Warbler and 7 Reed Warbler including a worn, moulting adult which was already sporting a metal BTO ring (aka a control) , so it will be interesting to find out where this bird originates from.

We also have some Osprey updates. Starting off with Scottish female 6J8 who’s been taking a shine to Poole Harbour this Spring. That was until today when she was seen up on a nest-cam in Wales! To be fair, shes only doing what we’d expect a 2-year old female to do which is explore all the existing populations. We’re sure she’ll be back soon….hopefully. Also, we reported last week that we may have 2-new birds back that we weren’t aware of including 5H4 and 5H5. With a little bit of digging and some new info/photos, we now believe the sighting up at Leighton Moss was actually an Osprey with ring number 5M4 which looked very much like a ‘H’. Secondly, the bird seen in Devon which could potentially have been 5H5, we now believe to be 5H6 having a bit of a wander.

Control moulting adult Red Warbler – Lower Piddle Valley – Ed Betteridge