Another beauty of a day with more great birds dotted around the harbour. Our Spring Safari this morning returned the goods once more with 3-4 Osprey, including sightings over Middlebere, the Wareham Channel, Lytchett Bay and Studland. A White-tailed Eagle was soaring over Arne and we had incredible displays from several Sparrowhawk. Surprise raptor of the morning was a ringtail Hen Harrier over the moors. At Swineham the drake Garganey was on one of the scrapes and a Little Ringed Plover was on the ‘Stilt Pools’. This evening there were 300+ Sand Martin feeding over the gravel pit and 3 Swallow. The Barnacle Goose was also on the Stilt Pool with 2 Egyptian Geese. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were still at least 15 Avocet, 15 Bar-tailed godwit and 1 Greenshank and the first passage summer plumaged Dunlin was on Lytchett Fields along with 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 in full summer plumage. A male Brambling was in a private garden in Wareham briefly this afternoon.

Female Osprey ‘Beaky’ on Middlebere platform before her departure early afternoon – Paula and John Thorpe