Some heavy showers earlier in the day, but plenty of sunshine later on this afternoon. The Carey Ospreys were looking slightly damp! During our Carey Osprey Tours this afternoon they were getting more and more confident with their flying abilities, with all four chicks appearing on the nest throughout the day. We also had fantastic views of 3 Spotted Flycatcher next to the Osprey viewing platform. The first Snipe of the season was spotted at RSPB Lytchett Fields this morning, alongside a new season high of 13 Greenshank, as well as 2 Spotted Redshank, 14 Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Common Sandpiper, and multiple Green Sandpiper. There was 1 Osprey in Lytchett Bay today, seen from Rock Lea Viewpoint. 1 Honey Buzzard was seen this morning over Coombe Heath, Arne heading towards Wytch Channel. Before the showers, a further 94 birds were ringed in the Lower Piddle Valley, with 56 Sedge Warbler, 6 Grasshopper Warbler, 10 Willow Warbler, 2 Garden Warbler, and 8 Reed Warbler. The first juvenile Goshawks are now begining to be seen with one in the south of the harbour this afternoon. From our Sunset Safari cruise tonight we saw 3 different Osprey, one of which turned out to be 2nd cal year male 5H3 which was seen in Middlebere, plus there were 5+ Bearded Tit at Swinham Point along with 5 Common Sandpiper. Both White-tailed Eagles were in the Wareham Channel during the day, and on the Brownsea Lagoon there were 8 Spoonbill, 4 Avocet, 100+ Dunlin, 1 Spotted Redshank, 15 Greenshank and 8 Ringed Plover.

CJ7 and 5R6 eating a fish each on the Carey nest

Fresh juvenile Goshawk – Poole harbour south – Mark Wright

Honey Buzzard – Poole harbour south – Mark Wright

There was 1 Honey Buzzard was over Morden Bog today plus a 1 Whinchat was on Wareham Common again, along with 2 Spotted Flycatcher. At RSPB Lytchett Fields there were 2 Spotted Redshank, 11 Greenshank, 8 Green Sandpiper, 2 Common Sandpiper and 4 Whimbrel. The White-tailed Eagle pair were in the Wareham Channel, an un-ringed Osprey was at Lytchett Fields and 2 were seen in the Wareham Channel. Talking of Ospreys, juvenile male 5R6 was doing brilliantly today, despite his possible injury yesterday. He was flying around all day and fed well multiple time, so it looks as if the injury was only a minor one.

Honey Buzzard – Morden Bog – Aidan Brown 

It was nice to feel some rain today, although only very briefly, but the landscape really, really needed it. The brisk wind during the day made birding tricky, but not as tricky as our youngest Osprey, male 5R6’s first flight this afternoon which resulted in a 5 hour absence from the nest, only to then arrive with what looked like fresh blood of his on his neck and breast. His fledge seemed rather panicked (possible Goshawk close by?), which meant he took off for the very first time during quite strong winds. He was flying around beautifully for several minutes, highlighting that he was ready to fly, but then dropped down into the valley below where there was then no sign of him for 5-hours. It’s likely that in the strong wind he probably crash landed somewhere, injuring himself in the process. Thankfully, later this afternoon he returned to the nest, and quite happily ate 3 fish, so for now, it looks like he’s going to be fine…..fingers crossed!

There was plenty more going on again today with a newly arrived Curlew Sandpiper on the Brownsea Lagoon this evening from our Sunset Safari Cruise and both White-tailed Eagles were in the Wareham Channel. There were 2 Common Crane out on Arne Moors briefly this afternoon and there was a good arrival of waders with 29 Green Sandpiper on Lytchett Fields this morning, 15+ Common Sandpiper on the Brownsea north shore and 9 Greenshank were in Middlebere. There were also 8 Spoonbill in Middlebere along with 1 Goshawk. The Purple Heron was a Little Sea, Studland again.

Male Osprey chick ‘5R6’ returing to the nest this afternoon with blood on his front.

The deluge didn’t effect us here in Dorset, which meant birding could be achieved from dawn to dusk. Interestingly, with the Purple Heron at Little Sea, Studland was observed at both dawn and dusk as it left and entered its roost site. It was seen sporadically on and off during the day too moving between the main body of the lake. Also at Little Sea, 2 Great White Egret were observed coming in off the sea, seemingly by-passing the lake and headed off north-west towards Brownsea and Poole. There was also a decent gathering of 200+ Swift high above Studland, feeding with a mixture of hirundines. There were 2 un-ringed Osprey at Morden Bog this afternoon, one definitely an adult female. In the Lower Piddle Valley, it was another Grasshopper Warbler-fest with 21 ringed this morning, also 48 Sedge Warbler, 11 Reed Warbler, 2 Garden Warbler, 1 Treecreeper and a handful of Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler. 

Treecreeper – Lower Piddle Valley – Ed Betteridge

Garden Warbler – Lower Piddle Valley – Ed Betteridge

Autumn migration seems to be building really early this year, with some species moving in big numbers already, most notably Grasshopper Warbler. The full time ringing station in the Lower Piddle Valley last year didn’t catch it’s first Grasshopper Warbler until July 27th, which to be honest is a fairly typical date for the first ‘Gropper’. However, this morning another 27 were ringed meaning a total of 50 new Grasshopper Warbler have been ringed already this season at the ringing station in the last three days….and its only July 18th! The peak passage for these shy, cryptic birds isn’t until mid-August, so if things carry on at this rate it could easily be a record breaking year! The Purple Heron at Little Sea, Studland was seen again a few times at the southern end. Both adult White-tailed Eagles were in the Wareham Channel during the course of the day, a female Honey Buzzard drifted over Lytchett Matravers at midday and a Whinchat was out on Wareham Common. Spoonbill numbers have risen again from 6 at the start of the week to now 8 and this morning several groups of Common Crossbill were logged flying over Carey Secret Garden.

Grasshopper Warbler – Lower Piddle Valley Ringing Station

A mixed bag of weather with sea mist lingering over the Purbeck hills for much of the day. The juvenile Purple heron remains on Little Sea, Studland, although often elusive. It’s often been seen from the Rees Cox bird hide at dusk.

Swineham was watched well today with Kestrel, 2 Lapwing, 1 Green sandpiper, 2 Skylark, 2 Cetti’s warbler, 2 Reed bunting and 3 Bearded tit all seen from the area closest to the harbour. This is one of the best sites in the harbour for Bearded tit, often initially located by their distinctive ‘pinging’ calls. Elsewhere at Swineham, along the river walk, 60 Reed Warbler, 100 Sand martin, 240 Starling, 1 Marsh harrier and 1 Greenshank. 

At Lytchett Bay, 2 Osprey were seen throughout the day and it appears that one is without a blue davic ring, indicating a new unknown, individual is now in the area. A juvenile Peregrine falcon was also seen and photographed, it appears to be one of the recently fledged Poole birds and looks to be confidently finding its way around the harbour.

6 Spoonbill, a Whimbrel and good numbers of Linnet were recorded on Coombe heath.

During the morning’s Summer Safari Cruise, we watched 2 Osprey hunting together along the northern edge of the Wareham channel. Later, a single Osprey landed with a fish in a pine tree on the Arne peninsula. These could have been the same individuals that were later seen in Lytchett Bay. A distant White-tailed eagle caused mayhem in the Wytch channel with dozens of gulls and egrets erupting into the air. The eagle was soon lost to view in the light rain that was moving in from the south west. Black-tailed godwit numbers continue to rise with at least 170 recorded, also 10 Greenshank, 4 Avocet, 20 Dunlin, 4 Mediterranean gulls and 2 Turnstone were the highlight on the Brownsea lagoon.

This evening an un-ringed male Osprey was hunting in the Wareham Channel along with a ringed individual. Last night a Wood Sandpiper was noc-migged over an Oakdale garden, and this morning it was another amazing morning for Grasshopper Warbler with 17 ringed in the Lower Piddle Valley.

Juvenile Peregrine Falcon – Lytchett Bay – Mark Wright

Linnets – Coombe heath – dizzygirl66.bsky.social