With a dark rumbling sky approaching from the south it looked like we were about to experience our first drop rain for a whole week, and sure enough by 7pm the wind had built and the rain had begun, but it wasn’t until around midnight the real light show kicked off. Our first concern was the Osprey chicks and how they’d fare but you soon remember that these are wild birds who have to put up with all sorts out in the depths of wildest Scotland, and sure enough a 5:30am check on site for the first feed saw them all right as rain (and wet as rain too) eager for their next feed. Such hardy birds as well beautiful. LS0 is definitely the most advanced and is now flapping/flying from nest, to perching stump to perching bar showing real character and passion to explore its new area. That’s not to say it doesn’t often spend large parts of the day lounging about with legs stretched out as if playing the part of an ‘extra’ in Baywatch! We’ll be receiving some more footage from our CCTV monitoring system and will embed it on our sightings blog over the coming the days. In the mean time, enjoy these additional photos we’ve received from Ruth Peacey who helped out when the birds arrived last week.

Locally fledged birds are beginning to move around now and today juvenile Lesser Whitethroat and Spotted Flycatcher were seen on some of the heaths near Hartland. Two Willow Warbler were along the track down to Middlebere and at Arne an Osprey was in the dead trees at Middlebere. At Lytchett Fields there were 7 Spoonbill, 15 Green Sandpiper, 8 Common Sandpiper, 3 Dunlin, 91 Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Greenshank, 109 Redshank and 87 Lapwing. On Brownsea the 3 Avocet chicks were all present and correct with 8 adults on the lagoon now too, 2 Common Sandpiper, 3 Curlew, 1 Greenshank and ‘large numbers’ of Redshank and Black-tailed Godwit. 

Osprey chick LS2 upon arrival last week – Ruth Peacey

Spoonbill over Lytchett Bay – Ian Ballam