Summer properly landed today with temperatures topping 30 degrees. The clear, still weather got birds moving though as Middlebere saw a total of 10 Spoonbill and 6 Spotted Redshank, including a newly arrived full summer plum individual. A new Osprey arrived with an un-ringed female settling briefly on one of our harbour nest platforms this afternoon. At the Carey Secret Garden ringing station this morning, the autumns first Lesser Whitethroat was ringed along with another 2 Grasshopper Warbler, 1 Kingfisher, 42 Sedge Warbler, 11 Willow Warbler and 3 Blackcap. Interestingly, a number of  birds being ringed this autumn so far have shown obvious fault bars on their plumage. Fault bars are a visible contrast in the plumage of juvenile birds which indicate periods of stress when in the nest, most regularly associated with periods of bad weather when they don’t receive enough food. This means feathers aren’t able to grow as strong as usual, leaving a visible ‘sign’ of bad weather and perhaps indicating a tough season for many young birds this year with May and June being so cold and unsettled. At Lytchett Fields this morning there were 12 Green and 7 Common Sandpiper this morning, also 7 Greenshank. A Goshawk was seen over Middlebere, 2 Hobby were over Wareham and a Marsh Harrier was in Brands Bay.

Un-ringed female Osprey – Middlebere 

Lesser Whitethroat – Carey Ringing Station – Matthew Scraggs

Obvious ‘fault bar’ on juv Sedge Warbler tail.