There was no sign of the Arne Osprey today suggesting its probably moved off now after spending three days in the harbour.  Its now been seven years since attempts to try and entice them to breed in the harbour began, by erecting 10+ decoy nests at specific sites. Since then there have been a handful of occasions of birds lingering for a week or more during the spring, always eventually moving off. Will this year be the year?

Elsewhere, bird reports were fairly thin on the ground with 4 Willow Warbler, 5 Swallow and a Whimbrel around the Coombe Heath area. At Lytchett Fields, 5 Whimbrel were a good early spring record, also present 123 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Greenshank, 20 Redshank, 1 Wigeon, 16 Little Egret and 88 Teal. At Holton Lee, it was much of the same with Tree Pipit and Woodlark singing. Med Gull numbers on the Brownsea Lagoon seem to be increasing, perhaps with more attempting to breed this year after 3 pairs successfully raised young last year.

With all this talk of spring migration, we understand not everyone gets to be outside as much as others, so we thought we’d provide a bit of spring song for you to enjoy.

Willow Warbler – Arne RSPB Reserve – 08/04/16

Common Chiffchaff – Arne RSPB Reserve – 08/04/16