It wasn’t quite the weather that had been forecast with intermittent rain on and off all day and low cloud hanging over the harbour during the course of the day. This morning heralded the start of our Osprey Cruise Season with the first trip going out at 7am. The birds kept us waiting, but eventually, once the murk cleared male Osprey 022 came and entered the Wareham Channel, flying past the boat whilst one of our juveniles (we think 5R2) was active along the channel shorelines for about 15 minutes, constantly being perused by angry Common Terns. During the whole time of the trip, the White-tailed Eagle pair were sat in a tree on the edge of the channel for the full 3-hours! This afternoon Ospreys were seen flying around Middlebere, Lytchett Bay and the Wytch Channel again. There were also 2 Osprey seen over Morden Bog along with a full adult Marsh Harrier there too and 3 fly over Crossbill. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 21 Spoonbill with 7 in Middlebere and at Lytchett Fields there were 2 Spotted Redshank. In the Wareham Channel a Great White Egret dropped onto Keysworth, 3 Wigeon flew over Giggers Island and totals on the Brownsea Lagoon included 219 Dunlin, 19 Sanderling, 13 Greenshank, 57 Ringed Plover, but only 1 Avocet! Hopefully the wintering flock starts to build soon. Another 10 Grasshopper Warbler were ringed at the Carey ringing station along with the seasons first Common Redstart.

Common Redstart – Carey Ringing Station