As August presses on, there’s so much to get out and see, so please make the effort to explore. At RSPB Arne today the Forster’s Tern was still off Shipstal Beach, on and off throughout the day where there were also 2 Knot, 2 Whimbrel, 1 Arctic Tern and a Pied flycatcher was in the woods. At Lytchett Bay an Osprey was hunting this afternoon whilst 2 White-tailed Eagles watched on, which were all viewable from the Rock Lea Viewpoint. A Honey Buzzard drifted along over Arne Moors and headed over up the Frome Valley and 4 Marsh Harrier came out of the west harbour roost, where an unseasonal 7 were present a few days ago. A Little Ringed Plover was vocal, flying around over Stoborough this morning and at Sunnyside a Gadwall family were out on the pool, proving breeding has taken place there. On Lytchett Fields there were 12 Greenshank, 110 Redshank, 67 Black-tailed Godwit, 6 Dunlin, 1 Curlew and 36 Lapwing. In Middlebere this evening there were 10 Spoonbill and an Osprey was on the Middlebere nest platform. Around the harbour decent numbers of common migrants such as Willow Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Reed Warbler, Blackcap, Garden Warbler and a few Wheatear are quite evident in various hedgerows and along numerous barbed-wire fences in heathland, scrubby areas.

White-tailed Eagle – Lytchett Bay (yesterday) – Mark Wright