Although the weather forecast doesn’t look particularly inspiring over weekend, we can’t wait to get out into the field! Winds coming in from south and south east overnight could set up some interesting seabird passage over the next two days. Brave the heavy rain and a scope out into Poole Bay could produce the likes of skuas, seaducks and shearwaters… all difficult species to record from elsewhere in the harbour. Today’s glorious sunshine welcomed more spring arrivals, with a notable 21 Wheatear (including 2 Greenland ssp. candidates), 2 Spotted Flycatcher and a Whinchat logged across Greenlands Farm. A Cuckoo was also heard calling from Newton Heath and 3 Cattle Egret were observed in Frome Valley. A Whinchat was at Lytchett Fields.

CJ7 – Lytchett Bay – Tony Furnell

It was a fine still day for most of the day, which aesthetically looked good for a big fall of migrants, with dark a sky looming and spring chill in the air. However a large bank of rain sat out just off the Dorset coast seemed to halt any early new dawn arrivals but it didn’t matter as there was sill plenty on offer. At Swineham there was a Sanderling on the Stilt Pools which is a major Swineham rarity, and it was feeding with 2 Dunlin and 1 Ringed Plover. There were 5+ Sedge Warbler and 10+ Reed Warbler and also 2 Marsh Harrier off Swineham Point. It was great to see so many Swift back with c20 over Swineham and another c20 over Hamworthy. Up on Hartland 6 Wheatear were in the top fields near Scotland Farm as was a Lesser Whitethroat and a Hobby went over. In the Holes Bay area there were 2 Cetti’s Warbler, 1 Sedge Warbler and 2 Blackcap in the PCW Drain and 9 Whimbrel in Holes Bay NE. The Brownsea Lagoon had good numbers of Common Tern but very few waders with just 2 Dunlin, 1 Common Sandpiper, 2 Avocet, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit and 10 Black-tailed Godwit. There were still c20 Great Crested Grebe out on the open areas of the harbour which was interesting for early May and Gadwall were conspicuous in many places around the harbour including the Wareham Channel and Brownsea. Gadwall have always been a scarce/rare breeding bird in the harbour but if the 30+ seen today are breeding residence then the breeding population has grown considerably.

Juvenile Stonechat – Holton Lee (currently closed to public) – Tony Furnell

There seemed to be a mini arrival of birds today as the cold wind began to build early/mid morning. In the PCW Drain there was a single Garden Warbler, 1 Sedge Warbler and 1 Whitethroat along with 2 Cetti’s Warbler, 2 Chiffchaff and 2 Blackcap all on territory. In Brands Bay this evening there were c50 Dunlin, 2 Ringed Plover, 4 dark-bellied Brent Geese (they still think its winter)!, 2 Whimbrel plus 2 Willow Warbler in scrub and c30 Swallow around. At Stoborough Heath a Red Kite passed over and a Cuckoo was on Slepe Heath. It’s been a tough cold spring but for some reason Sedge Warbler have been present in good numbers at some sites with more than usual around Swineham plus plenty of individual migrants popping up in scrub areas along the river valleys and one was up on top of Hartland. A Hobby was over Wareham Hospital with 13 Swift present over Wareham too. Whitethroat are certainly back on territory up on Ballard with 5 males singing but Lesser Whitethroat have been incredibly scarce this spring. There were 2 Wheatear up on Hartland with up to five Woodlark, several Dartford Warbler, 1 Cuckoo, 9 Swift, a few Swallow and (finally) 2 Lesser Whitethroat. Only 1 Little Ringed Plover was seen at Lytchett Fields.

Dunlin – Brands Bay – Garry Hayman

Common Swift – Swineham GP – Peter Moore

The previous nights gale force winds eased today but there was still a stiff NW wind making birding efforts a tad tricky. Swift were logged over Wareham and Poole but seemed to be passing rather than scoping out nesting sites. On a chilly night the first Nightjar of the season was on a southern harbour heathland which must have been a shock to the system for the freshly arrived visitor from southern central Africa. Another first for the harbour this spring was a Spotted Flycatcher at Parkstone Heights playing field. Also this afternoon, female Osprey CJ7 laid her 3^rd and final unfertilised egg as she finished off her breeding cycle for the season. This process each spring is strengthening her bond with the harbour, and hopefully with the potential arrival/return of some of our 2019 chicks over the coming weeks or months she could get some company soon!

CJ7 moments after laying her third unfertilised egg.

What started off as a fairly decent day, descended into what was an almost autumn gale like situation with winds building up to 40mph by late evening. Female Osprey CJ7 had had enough of trying to stay on her nest and took off vertically around tea time simply by opening her wings. We hope she’s safe somewhere and returns to the nest sometime soon. The winds did make it good sea watching conditions with a morning and afternoon session carried out and saw 14 Manx Shearwater, 2 Whimbrel, 1 Eider, 30 Gannet, 1 Arctic Skua, 1 Fulmar and a decent passage of Sandwich Tern. There were 2 Cuckoo around Lytchett Bay and 6 Little Ringed Plover at Lytchett Fields with 19 Whimbrel, 10 Greenshank, 6 Dunlin and 1 Common Sandpiper. There were still 13 Turnstone at Baiter and at Swineham just the two Egyptian Geese and a Greenshank were on the scrapes but there were 13 Whimbrel on the fields.

Whimbrel – Swineham – Peter Moore

Find of the day goes to a Pied Flycatcher picked up at Middlebere – a scarce spring migrant in a Poole Harbour context! The experience improved further with Wheatear and a vocal Cuckoo dashing around. The rising tide at Middlebere Channel offered few birds, with a single Greenshank and Whimbrel this highlights. The National Trust track down from the lay-by produced a singing Lesser Whitethroat first thing not far from the parking spaces and a Red Kite drifting high over Arne, while a passing visit to Soldiers Road offered 2 more Wheatear. Three Cattle Egrets on Frome Flood Fields this morning, viewed at distance from from Bog Lane.

CJ7 visiting another Poole Harbour nest platform

Superb spring migrant counts coming in from Swineham again today thanks to Peter Moore… 76 singing Reed Warbler and 18 Sedge Warbler, Common Sandpiper (Redcliff slipway), Little Ringed Plover (Stilt Pool) and 9 Whimbrel (8 over the main pit, 1 in N Bestwall paddocks). An impressive 41 singing Cetti’s Warbler, 9 each of Blackcap and Chiffchaff, 3 Willow Warbler and 3 Whitethroat. A Hoopoe was in a private garden at Studland and other notables included 5 Wheatear on Stoborough Heath and a Chiffchaff collecting nest material at Lytchett Bay SANG. An Osprey was reported over the River Piddle at 2:30, likely CJ7.

Whitethroat – Swineham – Peter Moore

Typical views of Reed Warbler – Swineham – Peter Moore

Sedge Warbler – Swineham – Peter Moore

Chiffchaff collecting nesting material – Lytchett SANG – Ian Ballam

Poole Towns good run continued today with a Nightingale found at Luscombe Valley by Nick Mudge. It sang on and off early to mid-morning but then went quiet. It just highlights the value of these migration corridors through the town as there was also Willow Warbler, Whitethroat, Blackcap and Chiffchaff also there. At Swineham after the rain stopped a decent number of Sedge Warbler were along the gravel pit footpath with 6+ singing plus at the far end there was a Garden Warbler, Whitethroat, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler and Blackcap all feeding in one bush, suggesting they’d literally just arrived. Plus, one of the Ring-necked Ducks was back on the main GP and a Cuckoo was there too. There were also 10+ Swift, 100+ Sand Martin and 50+ Swallow with 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Little Ringed Plover and 2 Egyptian Geese on the scrapes and 9 Whimbrel overhead.

Greenshank – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

These cold mornings are a killer on the fingertips still. We were kind of hoping that dawn birding would become a pleasant experience by now but it certainly isn’t yet. A cold nippy NE wind was still rippling across the harbour this AM, not helped by the initial crystal clear sky’s. The Poole Park Garganey seemed to have disappeared but two more were found (a male and female) at Swineham in the mouth of the River Piddle. The Gravel Pit at Swineham was busy with Sand and House Martin, Swallow and 2 Swift. There were 4 Sedge Warbler and 5+ Reed Warbler in the reeds around the pits, but the best news is that the high spring tide and rain has re-filled the Swineham Scrapes just in time for May wader passage….roll on the Broad-billed Sandpiper?! We had to make do with 1 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Greenshank, 18 Black-tailed Godwit and 1 White Wagtail along with 1 Egyptian Goose. A Marsh Harrier was high over Rempstone, so a presumed migrant, and on Brownsea there were 30+ Common Tern, 1 Spoonbill, 10+ Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Ringed Plover, 1 Wheatear, 2 Avocet, c30 Dunlin, 3 Greenshank, 4 Shoveler and 2 Redshank. In Holes Bay there were 11 Whimbrel with 15 Reed Warbler now back around the bay fringes and there were 6 Whimbrel on the Brownsea shoreline.

We’ve also had the recorder out the last couple of nights at Lytchett Fields to listen out for Common Snipe and other waders. There were a lot of Greenshank calls and some nice passage of nocturnally migrating Avocet as highlighted in the recording below.

Whimbrel – Holes Bay – @HolesBayNature (Twitter) 

The arrival of a drake Garganey at Poole Park was the clear star of the day, delighting birders in the heart of Poole Town, generally keeping close to the islands on the small duck pond. A Lesser Whitethroat in sub-song was also picked up in small bit of scrub while observing the Garganey. Other highlights included 2 Whimbrel in Holes Bay north and 9 in Holes Bay south. A full summer plumaged Cattle Egret was in the Frome Valley and 3 flew over Wareham Channel at dusk and on Slepe heath there was 1 Cuckoo, 1 Willow Warbler and a Tree Pipit flew over. Whitethroat were conspicuous with quite a few logged across the harbour and there were 2 Lesser Whitethroat at Middlebere. There was a Marsh Harrier out in the Wareham Channel and in the Frome and Piddle Valley around c300 hirundine were feeding, mostly Sand Martin but also good numbers of House Martin and Swallow along with 1 Swift. At Lytchett fields there were 4+ Little Ringed Plover, 4+ Greenshank, 5 Whimbrel, 2 fly over Yellow Wagtail and 4 Wheatear. 

Garganey – Poole Park – Clare Slade