Despite the cold, overcast start to the day, by lunchtime the harbour was basking in glorious spring sunshine which saw an instant return to good numbers of butterfly being on the wing. The sun also delivered another two new firsts for the year in the form of a Swallow over Wareham Common and a singing Willow Warbler in the PCW Drain. With the high pressure due to set in over the next couple of days, no doubt more new more will be arriving. Other than todays newbies it was much of the same including the Forster’s Tern on the Brownsea Lagoon, the adult Little Gull in Lytchett Bay and the 3 Glossy Ibis on Wareham Common. Finally, a nice late addition to todays sightings was a dusk find of a White-spotted Bluethroat at Swineham. This is just the 8th Poole Harbour record, and a hard bird to catch up with. White-spotted Bluethroat is the southern European sub-species which tends to migrate earlier in the spring (March to April), where as the red-spotted sub-species is the Northern European equivalent and they tend to be much later in the spring. Both are rare visitors to the UK.

White-spotted Bluethroat – Swineham – Peter Moore

A pretty chilly day still, but with things due to warm up a bit later in the week, we can expect some more migrants to arrive as the wind swings round from further south. The start to March (and the New Year) has been great, with an excellent birding vibe right across the harbour, with what has been arguably one of the best starts to a birding year for Poole Harbour in a very long time. So much so that visitors from far and wide have come to see some of the harbours top birds this year such as the Forster’s Tern in Poole Park. Over the last few decades the monitoring, assessment, protection and research of Dorset’s birds has been carried out by a range of organisations such as Portland Bird Obs, Durlston Country Park, CHOG, Dorset Bird Club and our local NGO’s right here in the harbour. This work has been crucial in understanding the fate of Dorsets birds, and it’s great to see friendly, familiar faces from these orgs out enjoying teh harbours bird life recently.

The Forster’s Tern was still around being enjoyed by visiting birders today, initially in Holes Bay this morning, and it was then on the Brownsea Lagoon on and off this afternoon, where there were also 2 Eurasian Spoonbill, c50 Avocet, 4 Sandwich Tern and c500 Icelandic Black-tailed Godwit. Most Great Northern Diver have now gone, but a lone bird was off Salterns Marina and 2 were in close to the harbour mouth. There seems to be fantastic numbers of Icelandic Black-tailed Godwit spread across the harbour currently. Perhaps not as many as a few weeks ago, but in the Wareham Channel this afternoon there were 1000+, many if full breeding plumage. There were 4+ Marsh Harrier around Swineham this afternoon, the Red-necked Grebe was reported out in Studland Bay again, the Little Gull was still in Lytchett Bay along with a Spotted Redshank and the 3 Glossy Ibis were still out on Wareham Common. Great news was received this morning when it was confirmed the Asda Peregrine female laid her first egg at around 3am last night. Here’s hoping for another exciting and busy season for that family again this spring and summer.

A rare and welcome sight of Portland Bird Obs wardens Martin Cade and Jodie Henderson visiting the harbour last week – Phyl England

Avocet – Brownsea Lagoon

Today the first Rutland Osprey arrived, a female known as ‘025’, signalling the start of the 2026 Osprey season. We’ve received lots of questions about when our Osprey camera will go live and we’re glad to say it will be this week. We had originally planned for it to go live this weekend, but frustratingly the storm on Thursday night last week damaged our microphone, so we had to climb the tree this weekend to fix it. Thankfully all went well and we’ve been testing it over the last 24 hours and it all looks and sounds good to go. We’ll post the link on all our social channels and on here once we go live.

Today, the Forster’s Tern was on mooring buoys off Brownsea and also visited the lagoon a few times. The 3 remaining Glossy Ibis were on the Wareham Common again, 4 Sand Martin were over Swineham GP, the adult Little Gull was still at Lytchett Bay, Spotted Redshanks were in Lytchett Bay and Holes Bay and a Northern Wheatear was at Greenlands Farm. The Icelandic black-tailed Godwit totals are still good, with lots in fine breeding colours, with 1676 in Holes Bay and 1000+ on the Brownsea Lagoon.

Climbing the osprey nest tree this weekend to fix and prep the camera for launch this week

After going missing for a couple of days the Forster’s Tern reappeared on the Brownsea Lagoon today and was seen from our Spring Safari cruise this afternoon initially on Brownsea, but then seen heading towards Baiter/Poole park. Also on the Brownsea Lagoon today were 2 Spoonbill. Another small scattering of Northern Wheatear were about this morning with birds at Ballard and Hartland Moor. An adult White-tailed Eagle flew down the Frome Valley towards the harbour this morning, the adult Little Gull was in Lytchett Bay along with the Spotted Redshank. In Studland Bay 5 Black-necked Grebe and the Red-necked Grebe were off Middle Beach. Our Spring Safari this afternoon was stunning and saw both adult White-tailed Eagles in the Wareham Channel, initially sitting out on Shag Looe and then flying/circling over the boat. We also saw both Marsh Harrier and Red Kites interacting over the Wareham Channel, but decent views of Bearded Tit at Swimeham.

White-tailed Eagle (female G466), Wareham Channel © Joe Parker

Last nights storm had thankfully passed by dawn. It was a pretty nasty night with winds peaking at 50mph amazingly. Somehow though a small flurry of Northern Wheatear managed to get through with several arriving this morning with sightings on Wareham Common, at Lytchett Bay, Greenlands Farm and Ballard Down. Despite much searching by visiting birders the Forster’s Tern couldn’t be found today, and has perhaps moved off already?? Same goes for 7 of the 10 over-wintering Glossy Ibis with the flock now reduced to just 3 individuals which were out on Wareham Common, just north of the railway this afternoon and this morning along with 42 Cattle Egret and 2 Red Kite. The adult Little Gull was still in Lytchett Bay this morning, a Red-necked Grebe was out in Studland Bay with 2 Black-necked Grebe and 6 Common Scoter. There were 2 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon and in the Lower Piddle Valley there were 4 Green Sandpiper and 1 Great White Egret. The early spring passage of migrant Icelandic Black-tailed Godwit is well underway with hundreds of beautiful summer plumaged individuals adding to the thousands that have been present the last few months.

Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits – Brownsea Lagoon – Nicki Tutton

No departing Bittern tonight….just 40mph winds! The Forster’s Tern was seen in Poole Park a few times during the day and only 3 Glossy Ibis were seen on Wareham Common…..perhaps 7 have left on migration back to Spain? A quick check of Poole Bay yielded just 1 Fulmar. An Osprey was photographed flying over the New Forest today, so it seems despite the crumby weather, migrants were still able to get through, and with the weather clearing by Saturday, hopefully a few more Osprey will start to arrive.

Facebook post reporting Osprey over the New Forest

For a third night in a row, Bitterns have left the Lower Frome Valley on migration, this time it was 2, with one over the Swineham GP and the other having arrived in down the Frome Valley, before both disappeared off north about 18:45. Last night Kevin Lane caught some great thermal image footage of the Bittern that left Swineham, highlighting its ascent as it pushed off north.

Elsewhere the Forster’s Tern was showing well in the Poole Park again all day, the 10 Glossy Ibis were on Wareham Common, 2 Red Kite were over Carey Secret Garden and the Wareham Channel, the harbour first Northern Wheatear was at RSPB Arne yesterday, there were Great Northern Divers off Brownsea and in the harbour entrance and a Little Ringed Plover was calling at dusk at Swineham again.

Bittern departing Swineham last night after dark – Kevin Lane

With the low mist over the weekend it seemed inevitable that a pea soup fog would roll in at some point, and it certainly did this morning. It didn’t take too long to burn off, and when it did it revealed a few surprises, not least a Snow Bunting found at the Lytchett Bay feeding station feeding with Greenfinches and Chaffinches this afternoon. An incredibly good, if not rather random find for a species that prefers rugged, coastal habitats during the winter, rather than woodlands next to a sewage works on the edge of town! The Forster’s Tern was still showing off in Poole Park all day, still attracting decent crowds and the Little Gull was still in Lytchett Fields. Around Sandbanks a Black-throated Diver was off Shore Road Beach, a Purple Sandpiper was on groyns  along from the Haven Hotel, a Red-necked Grebe was reported in Studland Bay with Black-necked Grebe and the 10 Glossy Ibis were on Wareham Common. Tonight a dusk watch/listen produced a good total of c60 Sand Martin and the first Little Ringed Plover of the Spring, also 2 Spoonbill, c60 Cattle Egret, 3 Great White Egret and 2 Marsh Harrier. Plus, a Bittern left in near total darkness at 18:43 which was heard but not seen as it seemed to have tracked quite far north before it was heard calling as it left. We set up a static recorder just in case any Bittern decided to leave and managed to just about get seven calls as it flew off into the darkness, but it was already quite far off before it started calling, so we’ve stated the seconds within the recording that you can hear the bird call: Bittern calls can be heard at 3, 8, 11, 18, 28, 38 and 46 seconds. Bittern calls sit at a very low frequency with the peak of the call only reaching 1.4kHz as highlight on the sonagram below.

Eurasian Bittern call sonagram – Swineham GP – 09/03/26

A return to decidedly wintery conditions again today. The Forster’s Tern continued to show well at Poole Park. Lytchett Bay featured the Little Gull again from Rock Lea View, plus two Pintail (a site scarcity). Our wintering icelandic Black-tailed Godwit are preparing for spring, with many moulting into breeding plumage. The colour ringed individual (centre) roosting on Brownsea Lagoon was originally ringed at at Axe Estuary in Nov 2013. Highlights from today’s safari five smart Black-necked Grebe back of the islands, a White-tailed Eagle in the Wareham Channel, four Great Northern Diver, six newly-arrived Sandwich Tern and two Spoonbill on Brownsea Lagoon. Other niceties around the harbour include a Spotted Redshank at Holes Bay NE Creekmoor outflow, 2,500 Black-tailed Godwit and two Knot in NW sector, while a circuit from the hide through the woodland clocked 12 singing Firecrest. Finally, the long-staying Glossy Ibis flock were doing the rounds, first logged at Wareham Common, then later over Careys Secret Garden.

Islandic Black-tailed Godwit, Brownsea Lagoon © Joe Parker