oday started fine and ended not so fine….torrid in fact. Still, there’s still a good suit of birds across the harbour. Ospreys are clinging on perhaps into October with 1 at Lytchett Fields, 1 at Middlebere and 1 in Holes Bay NE. The Brownsea Lagoon looked prime for a rarity but sadly it wasn’t to be but there was still a great range of species with 2 Curlew Sandpiper, 916 Oystercatcher, 1 Spotted Redshank, 9 Greenshank, 4 Grey Plover, 4 Ringed Plover, 113 Avocet, 336 Black-tailed Godwit, 7 Bar-tailed Godwit, 121 Redshank, 4 Knot, 1 Kingfisher and 1 Peregrine. From dawn there was another big push of Swallow, House Martin and Chiffchaff with a good number of Blackcap on the move too. At Middlebere/Hartland there were 12 Wheatear.In the Wareham Channel 3 Marsh Harrier were active flushing the masses of gulls that were out feeding on the flooded fields and 36 Spoonbill were feeding there too and a Cattle Egret was on the Swineham floods again. Marsh Harrier were also at Middlebere and Lytchett Fields. Kingfishers are putting on a good show at Sunnyside and Holton Pools currently and tomorrows forecast looks as if it could bring the first Redwing of the autumn with northerly winds late tomorrow night.

Curlew – Middlebere – Simon Kidner