A more blustery day in the harbour, but still bringing plenty of good birding. In the Middlebere/Hartland scrub this morning there were 4 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Whinchat, 2 Wheatear, 1  Redstart and 2 Osprey (1 juvenile and an adult female with a fish). In the Middlebere Channel there were 24 Greenshank, 2 Spotted Redshank, 80 Redshank, 4 Ringed Plover, 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Osprey, 1 Hobby and 1 White-tailed Eagle. In Lytchett Bay there were 3 Osprey, 1 Marsh Harrier, 17 Greenshank, 3 Spotted Redshank and from Turlin Moor 1 Lesser Whitethroat and 1 Garden Warbler. On the Brownsea Lagoon the Spoonbill count was at 29 today. Numbers of Avocet continue to increase with c48 along with 1 Sanderling and 6 Greenshank.

Juvenile Osprey 2B9 from Kielder Forest was again in the Wareham Channel this morning. From our Osprey Cruises today several Ospreys were active across the harbour and included an act of kleptoparasitism by 1 White-tailed Eagle in the Wareham Channel this afternoon, in successfully forcing an Osprey to drop its fish.

On last Friday’s Osprey Cruise a Marsh Harrier with a wing tag was seen and photographed. Having received the photo we could identify this as ‘J7’ with a yellow tag and sent this info off to the project. This was a female Marsh Harrier that was tagged in Suffolk near Southwold on 5th June 2026 in a brood of 3 and this is the first time she’s been resighted. One of her siblings has also been seen at Belvide reservoir in Staffordshire. This is only the third ever wing-tagged Marsh Harrier to be seen in Dorset. Hopefully she carries on her travels safely elsewhere and we can keep up with her movements. Thanks to the North West Norfolk ringing group for info.

Marsh Harrier J7 from Suffolk – Wareham Channel Osprey Cruise 21st August – Dale Franklin