Although there’s been no sign of the Purple Heron for a few days at Littlesea, the ‘heron run’ continues with a Cattle Egret that was seen at Arne, heading across Middlebere this morning. It goes without saying these days that 2 Osprey were seen at Arne and Middlebere throughout the day and from now on they’ll become a daily feature as numbers begin to rise as birds start heading south for the winter. Our ringing stations around the harbour are getting busier too with our Ballard site ringing seven species of warbler including Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Reed Warbler and Sedge Warbler. At Lytchett Bay a Marsh Harrier was seen again and there was a single Common Sandpiper near the Waterworks, also 4 Sedge Warbler, c10 Reed Warbler and 15 Black-tailed Godwit. A large Starling flock of around 1000 birds dispersed west at dawn past Arne Moors which we assume is a large post breeding flock that’s forming.

Cattle Egret – RSPB Arne – Fabian Harrison

Common Sandpiper – Keith Rawling – Lytchett Bay