Well, that’s March over and done with. The first three months of this year have just flown by. And what better way to sign off than having our first nest platform landing by an Osprey. It’s been a pretty strong season so far with no less than 10 migrants having been logged passing through over the last couple of weeks, but all have either gone straight through, or stopped briefly for a quick fish dinner before then carrying on. However this evening at 17:30 we had our fist migrant land on one of the harbour nest platforms meaning our 4G trail cameras were able to get a good sequence of photos. It showed that the bird wasn’t CJ7 but an un-ringed female. It visited the Middlebere nest platform a few times between 17:30 and 19:30 so potentially it could hang around stay into the first day or two of April? Another Osprey was also seen flying over Poole Town mid-morning. Lets hope April produces the same excitement and thrills as last year!

Also this morning the first Sedge Warbler was logged at Swineham, which is really early! Along with another Little Ringed Plover and 5 summer-plumaged Cattle Egret headed into roost over Swineham too which is the largest group logged in the harbour for quite some time. A Willow Warbler was heard near Corfe (with 2 also at Swineham) and the Peregrines were calling on Corfe Castle. There were 6 Little Ringed Plover at Lytchett fields and a Great White Egret was at Slepe/Hartland Moor. At dusk there were c500 Sand Martin that headed into roost and just outside the recording area a Hoopoe was over near Church Knowle.

Un-ringed Osprey on Middlebere 4G nest cam

Cattle Egret – Swineham – Peter Moore