Things are about to heat up….hopefully both Ornithologically as well Meteorologically! June can often be referred to as ‘the quiet month’, but so much happens, which although is subtle, still offers great birding before the main pulse of autumn migration kicks in in mid-July. June see the arrival of ‘summer herons’, whether it be dispersing juvenile Grey Herons and wandering adults, plus there’s always a rise in Little Egret in late June/early July which are probably younger birds (not juvs) moving about, which is then followed by a peak in August. Following this theme 5 Cattle Egret were seen arriving into the Wareham Channel this morning, which could also be dispersing/wandering failed breeders? as all were in full summer plumage. It was another raptor fest in the SW of the harbour with 3 Osprey interacting over Middlebere this AM which included female 6J8 and males 5H3 and his Dad, 022. Plus, 2 Peregrine flew over, as did a White-tailed Eagle, 1 Goshawk and 1 Marsh Harrier. The Brownsea Lagoon held 11 Avocet, 2 Spoonbill, 8 Bar-tailed Godwit and 1 Common Ringed Plover. There were 3 Little Ringed Plover on the Stilt Pools at Swineham and 25 Black-tailed Godwit in the Wareham Channel. A decent count of 21 Swift were over Upper Parkstone this evening and yesterdays hatchling in our Wareham Swift box seemed to be doing well today with several feeds from the adults.

Newly hatched Swift getting a feed from one of the adults

Female Osprey 6J8 on harbour nest platform