As the hot weather continues the dearth of terns across the harbour is still obvious with only 5 Common Tern and 1 Sandwich Tern on the Brownsea Lagoon today, but waders were on the increase and saw 135 Black-tailed Godwit, 117 Redshank, 11 Greenshank, 14 Avocet, 2 Ringed Plover, c125 Dunlin and 11 Spoonbill. In Middlebere early this AM there were 3 Great White Egret, 1 Hobby, 1 Barn Owl, 1 Goshawk, 2 Whimbrel and an Osprey. There was quite a bit of Osprey activity in the Wareham Channel with a couple of adults moving around the area including an adult male and female, identity unknown! The Barnacle Goose was still at Swineham as were 5 Cattle Egret and 2 Yellow Wagtail. Some of our Osprey monitoring cameras are beginning to pick up new species, with Hobby currently a daily visitor to a dead tree on the RSPB Arne reserve, plus, the annual build up of Mistle Thrush is starting, with recent flock sizes in previous years consisting up to 50+ individuals. We sometimes get reports sent to us of Fieldfare flocks in August and Sept, as flocks of large thrushes are noted moving around the heaths in late summer. This would of course be impossible as Fieldfare don’t arrive until mid-late October, with folk not realising Mistle Thrush can look and behave in a very similar way during the late summer. These larger Mistle Thrush flocks are often drawn to the summer berry crops of Rowan/Mountain Ash.

Eurasian Hobby – RSPB Arne

Small gathering of four Mistle Thrush – RSPB Arne