Well it looked like the Eagle may well have landed, well not quite…more like flown by when a large bird of prey was seen being harassed by gulls heading west up the Wareham Channel from Stoborough. Now, it’s not uncommon for gulls to mob many species of raptor but according to the eyewitness account, the bird in question dwarfed the Herring Gulls, even stopping to hover over Wareham Water Meadows, a classic type of behavior of Short-toed Eagle. Unfortunately the ID couldn’t be 100% confirmed as it was flying away the whole time, so the ghostly enigma continues to frustrate. Who will finally pin it down, get a photo, find it sat in a tree eating a snake?????

An evening roost watch across the Wareham Channel produced two adult female Marsh Harriers which bizarrely came in high over the channel, flew over Arne, then over Hartland and off towards the Corfe gap. Where were they going, and where had they come from? The heathlands were alive with Nightjars again, as churring males called out from every direction.