Sightings12/05/2020

Harbour Update – posted 11/05/20

Ooof, where did the warmth go? Having been Costa Del Dorset for the last month, it was suddenly all change today as the temperature plummeted. Sensibly most people stayed inside, but an Osprey was seen heading north over Upton Heath/Corfe Mullen mid-morning and a Red Kite landed in a tree along Sandy Lane, Upton which must have been quite a sight.

We’ve also had our night sound recorder deployed at Lytchett Fields over the last week and have been through several of the files. Overall, the five nights it was deployed saw some interesting and certainly some notable birds pass over. Most notable was a Hawfinch that passed over on the night of May 6th at 23:23. We last recoded Hawfinch at night during the autumn of the big influx year back in 2017 when thousands arrived into the UK. Prior to that winter they were always an exceptionally scarce bird in Poole Harbour / Dorset with only a handful of autumn records. Since the big influx year they reverted to being a really scarce bird, so to have a spring passage migrant logged in May is certainly an eye opener. Also logged were reasonable numbers of Ringed Plover and Dunlin, several Whimbrel, Common Sandpiper, Greenshank and Avocet a couple of Spotted Flycatcher, a single Grey Plover and lots of (presumed) local movements of Coot, Little Grebe, Teal and Nightjar. The most interesting thing about all these calls is that other than Greenshank and Whimbrel none of the other night sound recorded species mentioned above were visually seen at Lytchett Fields during any of the corresponding days……highlighting just how much goes through and over our heads at night!

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