A dream Osprey cruise departed Poole Quay this morning at 9AM. Clear blue skies and a rising tide made for the perfect conditions for a couple of our translocated juvenile Ospreys (370 & 379) to spend the morning honing in their newly discovered fishing skills, patrolling the harbour and attempting numerous failed fishing attempts for the duration of our trip! A total of 5-7 different individuals were logged across the Wareham Channel from our boat, including an unringed juvenile and 022 skydancing yet again! A real privilage to see, this behaviour has been missing from our landscape for c.200 years and is surely a fantastic indicator of his strong health and condition ahead of his migration south. A Juvenile Osprey was also causing a commotion at Brands Bay, disturbing the Spotted Redshank (scarce visitor to this area of the harbour), 23 Great Crested Grebe, 50 Teal, 5 Ringed Plover, 79 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Greenshank, 8 Knot, 15 Dunlin, 48 Mediterranean and 22 Common Gull below.

A Stour Ringing Group session at Lytchett Bay continues to capitalise on the strong Grasshopper Warbler passage this season, with another 14 birds trapped and ringed this morning. Passage passerines continue to filter through the harbour, with 5 Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Common Redstart and 3 Wheatear among the migrants at Greenlands Farm. Plenty more flycatchers, starts and chats to come through over the next couple of weeks… Dream a little bigger and you could consider finding a Wryneck, Red-backed Shrike or better??

Grasshopper Warbler – Terry Elborn

It was hard to decide which Osprey to watch at times during this morning’s Osprey Cruise!

A couple of unsuccessful osprey dives seen from the osprey cruise boat this morning. @harbourbirds @jsparker_ @Allen2Lucy @harbourospreys @BrittanyMaxted @dougaldog @LivCooper23 pic.twitter.com/8z5OMn32Uu

— Alison Copland (@alison_copland) August 29, 2021