A stiller, calmer day produced a selection of migrants from various locations. At Swineham 7 Yellow Wagtail were in with the cattle opposite the entrance to Swineham Farm, also 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Whitethroat, 2 Sedge Warbler, 2 Willow Warbler and several Chiffchaff and Reed Warbler still about. At Holton Heath there were still 6+ Spotted Flycatcher about along with a post breeding flock of 11 Mistle Thrush feeding on Rowan Berries. At Middlebere there were 2 Osprey feeding together in the trees at Middlebere, one even looked as if it was going to perch up on the nesting platform opposite the Middlebere hide but at the last minute decided not to. On Lytchett Fields there was an arrival of Ruff with 5 by late evening along side 2 Little Stint still and a nice selection of Common and Green Sandpipers, Common Snipe, Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit and Lapwing. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 2 Curlew Sandpiper, 10 Spoonbill, 30+ Avocet, 1 Spotted Redshank and 7 Greenshank.

We also placed on social media this evening that after analysing all our night recordings from August 22^nd to 26^th its likely we may have had a passing of Ortolan Bunting each night over the five nights, including 3 likely pass overs on the night of the 24^th.  If you combine this info with the news that Nick Hopper had 4 over Portland on the night of Aug 24^th then it seems something very interesting is going on with this species at night during the latter part of August. Our recordings between August 22^nd and 26^th consist of several different call types ranging from full sequences of flight calls to just singular calls although all are distinct and seem to be consistent with Ortolan Bunting. We’ll continue our night recording sessions throughout the autumn combined with field observation work too to see if we can experience and gain more evidence of this phenomenon.

Spotted Flycatcher – Swineham – Peter Moore

Common Whitethroat – Swineham – Peter Moore

Sedge Warbler – Swineham – Peter Moore

Reed Warbler – Swineham – Peter Moore