It’s been a remarkable start to the ringing season already, which saw the 1000th newly ringed Sedge Warbler of the autumn at the Lower Piddle Valley ringing site and we’re not even into August yet! The site has also ringed 318 Grasshopper Warbler, plus today a new bird for the year in the form of a Water Rail. On RSPB Arne Moors, there were 3+ Yellow-legged Gull and 2 Little Ringed Plover, plus 26 Cattle Egret on the dried pools at Swineham with 1 Yellow Wagtail. An Osprey was seen/heard displaying over near Rempstone/Godlingston area this morning where there were also Common Redstart, Lesser Whitethroat and Spotted Flycatcher. There were also 2 more Osprey seen in Lytchett Bay this AM and another was in the Wareham Channel.

Water Rail – Lower Piddle Valley – Ed Betteridge

A strange grey sky welcomed us in today, and an even stranger wet substance fell from the cloud very briefly, but it didn’t take long for the sun to take over again and the warmth soon retuned. A brisk NW breeze set in all day though which you would have thought may take the edge off the birding, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Both Summer Safari Cruises produced the goods today with this mornings trip producing 4+ Osprey, including 3 in Arne Bay and another in the Wareham Channel, plus an incredible moment of 2 juv Peregrine Falcon hunting right off the side of the boat near Brownsea. Then, this afternoon the Dorset White-tailed Eagle pair gave a stunning fly by of the boat, having just caught a Flounder in the Wareham Channel. There were also 28 Cattle Egret at Swineham, 10 Greenshank and 4 Common Sandpiper on Brownsea. There were also 3 Great White Egret at Bestwall / Swineham, with 1 Little Ringed Plover, 3 adult Yellow-legged Gull and 7 Yellow Wagtail.

Peregrine Falcon – Brownsea shore from Summer Safari this AM – Alison Copland

As the hot weather continues the dearth of terns across the harbour is still obvious with only 5 Common Tern and 1 Sandwich Tern on the Brownsea Lagoon today, but waders were on the increase and saw 135 Black-tailed Godwit, 117 Redshank, 11 Greenshank, 14 Avocet, 2 Ringed Plover, c125 Dunlin and 11 Spoonbill. In Middlebere early this AM there were 3 Great White Egret, 1 Hobby, 1 Barn Owl, 1 Goshawk, 2 Whimbrel and an Osprey. There was quite a bit of Osprey activity in the Wareham Channel with a couple of adults moving around the area including an adult male and female, identity unknown! The Barnacle Goose was still at Swineham as were 5 Cattle Egret and 2 Yellow Wagtail. Some of our Osprey monitoring cameras are beginning to pick up new species, with Hobby currently a daily visitor to a dead tree on the RSPB Arne reserve, plus, the annual build up of Mistle Thrush is starting, with recent flock sizes in previous years consisting up to 50+ individuals. We sometimes get reports sent to us of Fieldfare flocks in August and Sept, as flocks of large thrushes are noted moving around the heaths in late summer. This would of course be impossible as Fieldfare don’t arrive until mid-late October, with folk not realising Mistle Thrush can look and behave in a very similar way during the late summer. These larger Mistle Thrush flocks are often drawn to the summer berry crops of Rowan/Mountain Ash.

Eurasian Hobby – RSPB Arne

Small gathering of four Mistle Thrush – RSPB Arne

In Lytchett Bay this morning there were 15 Greenshank, 52 Redshank, 21 Lapwing, 7 Black-tailed Godwit, 6 Green Sandpiper, 5 Common Sandpiper, 1 Spotted Redshank and 1 Whimbrel. Numbers of Teal are continuing to increase in the harbour with 10 on the Brownsea Lagoon. along with 11 Spoonbill, 1 Avocet, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Ringed Plover, 149 Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Greenshank, 170 Redshank, 3 Common Sandpiper and 130 Dunlin.

A successful first bird ringing demo of the early autumn at Careys Secret Garden today with 2 Kingfisher, 2 Grasshopper Warbler, 1 Whitethroat and 1 Tree Pipit along with the usual common migrants. 1 Osprey and 1 Hobby also flew overhead. We have another Bird Ringing Demo coming up this Saturday with a few places still left: Find out more here.

Some excellent news that could be announced today. with the first Dorset Puffin fledgling seen for over 30 years! 1 of the pairs at Dancing Ledge was successful and has raised one chick and although monitoring is difficult it is thought there has not been successful fledging for 10 years with intensive monitoring taking place in the last 4 years. Excellent work by the volunteers including Dr Richard Caldow and all the National Trust team for putting in all the effort and time to conduct this monitoring. A glimmer of hope for the last remaining Puffin colony on the south coast.

Kingfisher – Birds of Poole Harbour Bird Ringing Demo – Joe Parker

Puffling – Dancing Ledge – Mark Singleton

Come on 6T9, you can fledge! Very active at the Carey Osprey nest today, with all three fledged chicks gaining their confidence when it comes to flying. 6T9 was helicoptering high up off the nest, any moment now…

Other sightings today included 6 Little Ringed Plover on Stilt Pool, Swineham as well as 1 Great White Egret, and 1 Yellow Wagtail with the Cattle. Swifts seem to be having a good year, with over 35 recorded today over Crest Road, Poole and 67 over Swanage, with non-breeding birds already gathering to leave on migration back to sub-Saharan Africa. Another 26 Grasshopper Warbler were ringed in the Lower Piddle Valley.

6T7 flying during today’s Carey Osprey Tours – Martin Wright

There was Osprey mania around the harbour today with our local pair having fledged three of their four young, but out of nowhere 3 intruder Ospreys appeared at the nest site. We weren’t sure who they all were until later on when they settled on a different nest platform elsewhere in the harbour and we were able to read the ring numbers 6J8, 5R0 (both of which we know of) plus another that read 5R1. This was an amazing piece of news as 5R1 is another of our 2024 males who we didn’t even know was back, meaning we now have 4 males back in the harbour area who are all potential new breeders for the harbour area next spring. There was also an un-ringed adult female Osprey who visited the harbour nest platform at Carey. Ringing in the Lower Piddle Valley produced 35 Grasshopper Warbler, 3 Garden Warbler, 68 Sedge Warbler, 28 Reed Warbler and the first Tree Pipit of the autumn. Lytchett was good for waders again and logged 13 Greenshank and 5 Common Sandpiper, plus 2 Crossbill passed over and there plenty of Sedge Warbler in the reeds around the fields. An adult White-tailed Eagle stole a fish from an Osprey in Middlebere, a Goshawk was over Slepe Heath and 2 Marsh Harrier were seen over Wareham Town Centre.

Male Osprey 5R1 back for the first time