It was a tad grim to start today, but at least it wasn’t blowing 1000mph! The rain dropped a few migrants around with 2 Willow Warbler in the Piddle Valley, 1 at Arne, 1 at Soldiers Road and another at Greenlands. There were also 3 Wheatear at Greenlands with c10 Swallow. At Middlebere an un-ringed Osprey was on the nest platform pretty much all day and there were 6 Spoonbill in the channel. At Brands Bay the last remaining Pintail were still present with only 13 counted. A White-tailed Eagle was also reported from Hydes Heath out over the Wareham Channel suggesting one had returned. Other Osprey sightings included 1 seen fishing in the Wareham Channel off Giggers Island this morning and another in the Wareham Channel. Finally, the Green-winged Teal showed up again on the fields at Lytchett Fields.

Un-ringed osprey on Middlebere nest platform

The high temperatures and blue skies of last week have been replaced by a strong northerly wind, which has put a bit of a damper on migration. Swallows and Sand Martins can be found in small numbers, but it does feel the season is slightly behind. Welcome news of the first Poole Harbour Sedge Warbler singing away at Swineham appeared this morning and 3 newly arrived Wheatear added a splash of colour to an otherwise quiet visit to Greenland’s Farm, Studland. At least 3 Osprey were recorded in the harbour today, with one individual recorded over Holes Bay and shortly after low through Lytchett Fields around midday. An unringed bird was feeding on the perch opposite Middlebere hide and CJ7 continued her tour of the harbour, also visiting the Middlebere Channel.  Inspired by the strong winds, a seawatch at Middle Beach, Studland produced a single Gannet, 2 Fulmar, 2 Kittiwake, 4 Auk sp. and 3 Sandwich Tern. Lytchett Bay logged another increase of Black-tailed Godwit, with 805 this morning and 1 Spotted Redshank. An evening sea watch from Middle Beach saw the first Manx Shearwaters of the season head SE with 13 seen in total past Old Harry. There were 2 Fieldfare on Hartland.

CJ7 visits Middlebere nest

Wheatear (male) – Greenland’s Farm, Studland – Rob Johnson

Our Spring Safari Cruise departed Poole Quay at 9am and set off into the Wareham Channel where 400 Black-tailed Godwit were feeding at the top end and 3 Marsh Harrier offered close views, interacting over Giggers Island. To everyone’s delight, female Osprey CJ7  put in an appearance, flying across the front of the boat from Ham Common towards RSPB Arne, and was even spotted by visitors over the Arne car park! The boat also logged good numbers of Redshank and Curlew, while several Swallow zipped around Swineham. A walk along the Two Rivers Walk added 3 singing Willow Warbler around the gravel pit and 58 Black-tailed Godwit on Stilt Pools. Middlebere Channel featured singles of Spoonbill, Spotted Redshank, Yellow Wagtail, Swallow, Peregrine and Raven. The Lytchett Bay Green-winged Teal showed through the day, staying faithful to the rear end of Sherford Pools. Middle Beach, Studland offered Great Crested Grebe, 2 Gannet offshore and 3 Sandwich Tern.

CJ7 is behaving just like she did in 2020, touring the harbour upon her arrival, landing on another harbour platform this morning. It took her a number of days in 2020 to return to the nest cam, so keep watching… And with CJ7 now back and exploring the harbour, this is the perfect time to get out birding around the harbour. Our new series of Spring Safari Cruises are running bi-weekly and offer the best way to access, view, and enjoy the Wareham Channel, the harbour’s prime Osprey feeding hotspot! Spring Safari Cruise tickets are available to book here…

The winds calm from tomorrow, making way for what will be a beautiful birding introduction ID course we are delivering in partnership with Careys Secret Garden tomorrow. The event has been rescheduled due to the strong winds, so grab your last minute tickets while they’re still available! Introduction to birding course bookings available here…

CJ7 visiting another harbour platform

CJ7 from our Spring Safari Cruise – John Thorpe

Greenshank & Black-headed Gull – Holton Pools – Kieran Hobbs

Well, she kept us waiting, but like the legend she is, female Osprey CJ7 arrived back into the harbour this evening at 17:50. She was captured on one of our nest trail cams on a different harbour platform where she only stayed for about 45 minutes before disappearing off. We’re sure she’ll visit the nest cam over the next few days so make sure you keep a close eye on that. This is such good news, but of course, it takes two to tango, so our anxious wait now continues to see if her mate from last year, male 022, returns. He arrived back on May 18th last year which is pretty standard for a 2-year old Osprey, but knowing he may have a mate this season, he should (in theory) return a lot sooner. So, it’s now just a waiting game to see if and when he arrives back which will be another landmark moment for the project. We’re trying not to get too over optimistic as don’t forget, we’ve been in this exact same position before in 2020 when CJ7 was waiting for her previous mate, LS7 to return, and sadly, he ever did. So, we’ll take each day as it comes, and should he suddenly arrive then it could be….game on! The next few weeks are going to be really interesting.

There seemed to be a sudden arrival of Osprey this evening because no sooner had CJ7 arrived another (un-ringed) individual was photographed on a different harbour nest platform eating a fish. There was also one photographed eating a fish at Morden Bog this afternoon too. How many will there be tomorrow?

Elsewhere, yesterdays Green-winged Teal was again seen at Lytchett Fields along with 5 Little Ringed Plover and 3 Spotted Redshank. There were 6 Spoonbill at on Shipstal at Arne. A Hen Harrier also passed by in Middlebere

(non HD image) CJ7 arriving into the harbour this evening 

Hen Harrier – Middlebere – ‘PennHillman’

Today was the first day in just over a week with no Osprey sightings but there will be more on the way and of course, CJ7 is yet to turn up. There was more than enough to keep things interesting though with a Green-winged Teal being found at Lytchett Fields this evening. A great early April find. Also at Lytchett Fields were 4 Little Ringed Plover, 4 White Wagtail and in the arable field along Slough Lane 4 Wheatear and a Willow Warbler. At Swineham this afternoon the first Cuckoo of the year was calling, there was also a Great White Egret, 1 Wheatear and c40 Swallow were feeding over the gravel pit. In Brands Bay the first Whimbrel of the spring was also present and there were still 13 Brent Geese but just 2 Pintail left. In Middlebere there were 5 Spoonbill and 3 Spotted Redshank with another Spotted Redshank in Lytchett Bay. In the Piddle Valley there was another Willow Warbler and over the river 4 Sand Martin and a single Swallow were feeding.

Green-winged Teal – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

A stunningly calm morning out on the harbour made for another excellent Spring Safari Cruise. The undoubtable highlight was a fly-by Osprey at the top of the Wareham Channel, first passing close over the boat and later returning north with a freshly caught fish clutched in its talons. Another Osprey was in the Wareham Channel later in the day and one was at Morden Bog. We were also treated to a prominently perched White-tailed Eagle, a displaying pair of Marsh Harrier, and a very distant Goshawk.  It’s been a busy day for Goshawk, with an early morning visitor causing a commotion as it flew through Lytchett Bay, and another this evening over Swineham, flushing 4 Cattle Egret from the lower Frome as it hunted. At Swineham there was also 1 Great White Egret this evening along with 4 Sand Martin, 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Merlin flew by. There were also thousands and thousands of gulls again in the Wareham Channel this evening on the low tide, mostly Black-headed Gulls.

There were plenty of signs of spring in the air, with a Willow Warbler at Fleetsbridge, the first House Martin of the year through the harbour entrance, and flocks of Sand Martin in both the Frome and Piddle Valleys. Sandwich Tern also continue to build in numbers and were active throughout the harbour, including over the Brownsea Lagoon. Other highlights in this area were 1 Grey Plover, 1 Greenshank, 1 Spotted Redshank, 30+ Avocet and a few lingering Wigeon. Two other long-staying species seen in the central harbour were a couple of Brent Geese and a single Guillemot off Baiter. In Hamworthy there was a Black Redstart on a roof near the Old Lifting Bridge and access roundabout to Poole Port and in Holes Bay there were still c70 Wigeon and another Spotted Redshank. There were 3 Spoonbill and another Great White Egret in Wytch Lake and a few Swallow were on the move with birds over Slepe Heath, Middlebere and Lytchett Minster.

Osprey – Wareham Channel – Mark Wright

White-tailed Eagle – Wareham Channel – Mark Wright

Sandwich Tern – Wareham Channel – Mark Wright

Cattle Egrets – Swineham

It was a bit of an anti-climax today, with the weather and wind calming down we thought a flurry of migrants would arrive, but the only flurry was more snow! There were 2 Osprey sightings today, one in Lytchett Bay early doors and one over Coombe Heath later in the day. Interestingly there were still 8 Spoonbill at RSPB Arne which is a decent April total. A White-tailed Eagle was in the Wareham Channel at midday and 4 Marsh Harrier were in the same area. There were 2 Little Ringed Plover at Lytchett Fields.

Spoonbill – RSPB Arne – Mark Wright

Cold…..oh so cold! We had an early start, carrying out an Osprey/raptor watch to see if there were any signs of CJ7 inbound into the harbour, and although we did locate a couple during the course of the morning, there were no signs of her during the day. One Osprey was in Lytchett Bay at dawn and there were a couple more sightings later in the day of Hydes Heath, but to be honest, despite the beautiful day, the cold north wind made things really tricky with the weekends weather looking far more settled and suitable for an Osprey channel crossing. Also out in the Wareham Channel were 4 Marsh Harrier, well over 300 Med Gulls flying to and fourth to the gull islands and on the rising tide still c300 Black-tailed Godwit feeding. Female White-tailed Eagle G801 was only seen briefly in the Wareham Channel but it’s good to know she’s still about. There were a couple of Wheatear with one at Lytchett fields and one at Baiter. On Brownsea there were still c90 Avocet, c30 Bar-tailed Godwit, c300 Black-tailed Godwit, c10 Grey Plover and 21 Sandwich Tern were back on the breeding islands. There were also 110 Med Gulls on Brownsea with roughly the same total on Baiter during the evenings low tide.

Med Gulls (background) and Black-headed Gulls (foreground) – Brownsea Lagoon – Martin Adams

Well, thats March over and done with, and what did we finish with…..snow! Several small short blizzards hit late afternoon and almost sub-zero temperature were sustained all day with a biting cold NE wind which will certainly be a shock to the system for those hundreds of butterflies that were on the wing last weekend and the young hatchlings that are already in nests being fed by mum and dad. There was still enough to keep people entertained with more Osprey sightings, all from the Wareham Channel area including what looked like a new un-ringed individual. At Lytchett Fields there were 6 Little Ringed Plover and a Brambling was still under the feeders. This evening at Swineham 5 Cattle Egret and a Great White Egret went into the roost and there were c30 Sand Martin and a single Swallow was over the gravel pit and a drake Pochard was on the water. There was a Black Redstart in the Godlingston Gap at Studland and a Willow Warbler was singing at South Haven, Studland.

Osprey over Wareham Channel – Alison Copland

What a day. Spring migration presses on and more arrivals continue to appear. After yesterdays appearance of migrant Osprey ‘8C’ on the nest cam, today we clocked a new Osprey from our Spring Safari Cruise that was bearing a blue ring on the left leg, suggesting it was Scottish. Frustratingly it was too distant to read the ring, but as luck would have it, it later landed on one of our other harbour platforms and gave us great views of the ring, ‘FE’. Currently we don’t know the origin or age of this bird, but have sent all the details to the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation so will hopefully get some info on it soon. There were other Ospreys today too with one over Holes Bay Asda, a second was also in the Wareham Channel during mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Our Spring Safari boat this morning really jammed in on some great highlights with the Osprey eating a fish off the side of the boat, then a second flying in Arne Bay. Both White-tailed Eagles were also in the Wareham Channel, with one giving incredible views as it sat up perched on a post and then flew by, with the second sat in a small dead tree as 2 Marsh Harrier flew by. Up at Swineham there were 10+ Sand Martin and 2 Swallow over the gravel pit with c20 Black-tailed Godwit, 5 Egyptian Geese, 5 Shoveler and several Wigeon and Gadwall on the scrape. The Brownsea Lagoon was still fairly busy with c40 Avocet, c30 Bar-tailed Godwit, 5 Grey Plover, 10 Sandwich Tern, c40 Oystercatcher and a few Redshank. Elsewhere there was a Ring Ouzel on Hartland/ Slepe Heath, 2 Little Ringed Plover at Lytchett Fields, 1 Red Kite over Slepe Heath and another in the Frome Valley.

Migrant Scottish Osprey ‘FE’ on a Poole Harbour nest platform

Red Kite perched on pylon – Frome Valley

Assumed Osprey ‘FE’ seen from bird boat before it landed on nest platform – Clive Hargrave

White-tailed Eagle seen from bird boat in Wareham Channel – Alison Copland

White-tailed Eagle seen from bird boat in Wareham Channel – Clive Hargrave

Video of White-tailed Eagle seen from bird boat in Wareham Channel – Alison Copland