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

A rather quite windy affair today with a peak gust of 42mph in the harbour, but that didn’t stop the birding for many people. From our Summer Safari this morning, female White-tailed Eagle G466 was sat on a sign over at Shipstal, RSPB Arne and we just caught a view of male Osprey 022 before he headed up the Piddle valley to deposit a fish to the nest site. We also had 2 juvenile Peregrine that were causing trouble in the Wareham Channel, firstly annoying one of a local Marsh Harrier, and then 2 Hobby started giving them grief over Arne Hill. The Brownsea Lagoon Spoonbill arrival seems to be getting going with 4 last week, 5 yesterday and present 6 today. Also on the lagoon today were 2 Avocet, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 11 Dunlin, 6 Greenshank, c400 Common and Sandwich Tern and 5 Common Sandpiper. In Lytchett Bay there were 2 mystery Osprey this afternoon which were in trees at the back of Sherford Pools before flying off over Holton Lee and esterdays Purple Heron was seen again in Little Sea at Studland. Last night we helped set up a ringing station at Carey Secret Garden, and opened the nets at dusk on the off chance a few Nightjar were around. By 10:15pm 3 were flying about and we managed to catch an adult male.

Greenshank – Wareham Channel, from Summer Safari Cruise – Mark Wright

Common Sandpiper, Brownsea shoreline, from Summer Safari Cruise – Mark Wright

Nightjar ringed last night in Lower Piddle Valley

Hopefully the final day of the heat wave today as the weather is due to cool off for the week coming. There was plenty of bird of prey action in the Wareham Channel this morning. The resident White-tailed Eagle pair were active on the sandy cliffs and shorelines, attempting to fish themselves and steal fish off of cormorants. Osprey 022 caught a fish and 1 of the juvenile Marsh Harriers was exploring further afield in the channel. 1 juvenile Peregrine was soaring over Arne Moors. On the Brownsea Lagoon the 5 Spoonbill were still present along with 2 Avocet, 5 Dunlin and 7 Greenshank. From Rock Lea View in Lytchett Bay there were 1 Marsh Harrier and 1 Greenshank. At Holton Heath there was 1 Garden Warbler present along with a party of 3 Crossbill heading East.

In other exciting news, we had even more fledging today! 2 more chicks from the Careys Secret Garden Osprey nest fledged this morning, 5R3 and 5R4. Just 5R6 to go! They’ll continue to come back to the nest site for many more weeks as they’re still reliant on their parents while they begin to take their first exploratory flights.

White-tailed Eagle G466 – Wareham Channel from our Summer Safari Cruise – Alison Copland

Apologies, for the delay in getting sightings up for today. Great news as the first chick of the Carey Osprey Nest 5R5, fledged successfully at 7:38pm. 1 Osprey was also in the dead trees at Middlebere, as seen from Coombe Heath at RSPB Arne, and 2 Spoonbill were feeding in the channel. From the Middlebere National Trust Hide 6 Greenshank, 1 Whimbrel, 1 Common Sandpiper and 1 Great White Egret were all seen. Interestingly, there are now 5 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon, having joined the group of 4 over-summering 2nd calendar year birds. Our main flock of Spoonbill from continental Europe normally don’t start arriving until the start of August, when they’ll continue to build until the peak of ~80 in October. So, this new arrival could just be another wandering young bird, or possibly an early returner (failed breeder) from the continent.

Osprey 5R5 taking his first flight and semi-fledging to sit with CJ7 on the camera perch – Carey Osprey Tour

A few small flocks of Crossbill were heading north this morning over Wareham Common and Carey . 6 Cattle Egret were in cow field off Nutcrack lane this evening, including 1 fresh juvenile, which could be a sign of semi-local breeding and dispersal. 2 Red Kite were over Wareham Forest. 1 Peregrine was sat on one the pylons in Lytchett Bay and 1 was hunting over Holes Bay this evening which could well be some of the juveniles from the Asda building dispersing and exploring.

More increases in wader numbers this evening from our Sunset Safari Cruise with c80 Curlew and c200 Black-tailed Godwit in the Wareham Channel. There were also 4 Greenshank here on the low tide and then a total of 12 Greenshank on the Brownsea Lagoon at high tide, although there may be some overlap of these birds. 2 Spoonbill were feeding on Brownsea Lagoon along with 2 Common Sandpiper and c10 Dunlin. 1 Osprey caught a fish in the Wareham Channel this evening and 1 White-tailed Eagle flew in while we were heading out of the Wareham Channel. 1 juvenile and 1 adult Marsh Harrier were also active here.

A really nice find by Trevor Warrick yesterday of 1 Whinchat (pictured below) on Wareham Common . Could this be a local dispersal or a very early migrant?

Whinchat – Wareham Common – Trevor Warrick

Nightjar – Slepe Heath from our Nightjar Walk last night – Paul Morton

Another scorching hot day with clearly quite a few flying insects about, as there were several big groups of Black-headed Gull and Mediterranean Gull hawking for insects in the thermals. Numbers of waders are steadily building in the harbour as showcased on the high tide at Lytchett Fields with 40+ Redshank, 15+ Lapwing, 6 Green Sandpiper, 2 Greenshank, 1 Curlew, 1 Whimbrel and 1 Oystercatcher. There was an intruder Osprey at the Carey Osprey nest today at 1pm, who was quite persistent in showing interest until CJ7 drove it off. Looking at the quite tatty plumage, this is likely ‘6C6’ the Lancashire female who has been hanging around for a couple of weeks now, especially in Lytchett Bay.

In other news, yesterday evening we ringed the 2 Osprey chicks on Nest 2, the second breeding pair of Ospreys in southern England. These were the juveniles of our translocated male 374 and the Rutland female 1H1. The chicks were ringed 5R7 and 5R8, both with intermediate weights of 1.64kg so sexes couldn’t be immediately determined, although that should become clear in the coming weeks.

Preparing to weigh one of the Osprey chicks at nest 2 yesterday evening