That’s more like it, it’s felt a bit more like summer again. Good news away from the harbour is that our 2018 Osprey chick female 014 was seen again up at Dyfi Osprey project in Wales. Last time she kept her distance by sitting on one of the camera poles but this time, she really wasn’t shy and landed on the nest, much to the disgust of the resident pair! Back to the harbour, we were thrilled today when we checked an area of wetland we’ve been working on over the last couple of years with Natural England only to find 3 pairs of Lapwing with 6 (fairly) newly fledged chicks. This is a great result and shows what a small bit of habitat creation work can do and a lack of disturbance. Elsewhere it was also confirmed that Little Ringed Plover had bred on the Holme Lane gravel pit with 2 adults and a newly fledged juvenile logged, along with 1 pair of Lapwing and 2 newly fledged juveniles. Also on site were 11 Egyptian Geese and 6 Little Grebe. Out in Poole Bay a quick check for any settled mid-summer sea birds only produced 3 Gannet. At Lytchett Fields there were 2 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Hobby, c15 Lapwing and 11 Teal. Crossbill seem to be moving about a bit, certainly on the outskirts of Wareham Forest and numerous conifer plantations, but a small flock over central Poole suggests they’re now beginning to wander a bit further.

Lapwing chick – Poole Harbour wetland site