What a glorious weekend. It was hoped that the cloud cover tat crept in over Friday and a bit of Saturday would help down a few migrants, and a few were logged but there’s still no real great numbers appearing. Many will be going straight through with all this glorious weather, but with next week seeing ‘a turn’ in the weather, will our fortunes change?
The best of the weekend involved the occupation of the tern islands by both the Common and Sandwich Terns on Brownsea Island which can both be watched live on our website HERE. We know everyone’s been getting a bit obsessed with the new Poole Harbour Osprey cam, but this is arguably more exciting (and certainly a bit more entertaining….currently! More Swifts have been arriving with birds seen over Poole Town, Swineham, Wareham and Corfe. Cuckoo’s seem to be back in reasonable numbers so far with birds singing on all the local heathlands and up the river valley’s. Another Nightjar was logged, only it wasn’t on a traditional heathland site, rather it was sat in the middle of a sub-urban road in Broadstone getting mobbed by a Blackbird before it decided to take flight off over the houses. Firecrest seem to be having an INCREDIBLE year with territories being recorded right around the perimeter of the harbour. Considering this was a rare breeding bird less than 10 years ago, we’d predict there’s a minimum of 10-20 pairs currently in the harbour, and possibly more. Migrating passerines have been limited to just a couple of Yellow Wagtail and a Lesser Whitethroat at Lytchett Fields, 3 Willow Warbler and 2 Wheatear along Soldiers Road, good numbers of Reed and Cetti’s Warbler and to a lesser extent, Sedge Warbler along the Frome. A Black Redstart was in St Mary’s Churchyard, Wareham. Female Osprey CJ7 has had her share of action the last couple of days (not that kind of action). She was ‘buzzed’ by not only the local Ravens and Carrion Crows, but also Cuckoo and what looked like a Hobby too. She obviously got a bit bored a couple of time this weekend as our camera traps on other harbour nest platforms photographed her dropping in, we guess in the hunt for LS7!
Common and Sandwich Terns gathering on breeding islands – Brownsea Lagoon
So cold! Mid-week was delightful with even a hint of spring warmth, but today was proper chilly. Cold…
Find out moreAnother beautiful February day, although the slight NE wind added an edgy chill. There was both a male…
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