Another day, another White-tailed Eagle within the Poole Harbour recording area! However, the difference today was that someone actually saw it! None of the previous five or six occurrences within the harbour recording area in the last 12 months were seen by human eyes, rather the data from the eagles sat tags frustratingly letting us know several hours too late. However, ‘eagle-eyed’ Liz Woodford managed to clock one heading north over Lytchett Bay this afternoon which is presumably the same one that was seen flying over Dorchester at 10am today. Despite it’s brief appearance today, the recent frequent occurrence of the IOW sea eagles within the harbour/Dorset area provides an exciting and brief insight of things to come over the coming years here on the south coast…..exciting times! Also (although not in Dorset) the first Osprey of the spring returned to Rutland Water in the Midlands today meaning the floodgates will now be open and Osprey passage will almost certainly pick up now over the coming week, hopefully with the first harbour spring record sometime before the weekend is out. Also today a Cattle Egret dropped on to Lytchett Fields early morning and a ringtail Hen Harrier was in the Lower Frome valley near Ridge before being seen to circle high and head NW. There were 2 Long-tailed Duck still off Jerry’s Point and 1 Great Northern Diver. A Wheatear was on Hartland Moor and 2 Sand Martin were over Swineham GP where 5 Pochard were present. The 3 Peregrines were all active in the Barclays, Asda building area with quite a lot of calling this evening apparently. At Shipstal, Arne there were still 4 Spoonbill and a single Marsh Harrier was at Swineham.

Northern Wheatear – Hartland Moor – Garry Hayman 

A fairly typical mid March day. No sign of any Wheatear today but 1 Swallow and 2 Sand Martin were over Swineham GP and Chiffchaff were singing in many areas of the harbour. Also on Swineham GP were 4 Pochard and the path around the Two Rivers walk logged 30+ Reed Bunting, 11 Cetti’s Warbler, 2 Marsh Harrier and 2 Lapwing were on the scrape. At Sandbanks 2 Purple Sandpiper were still on the groynes and the first Sandwich Tern of the spring was on the Brownsea Lagoon. A night survey around the Hartland area produced c15 Woodcock, 5 Jack Snipe and c10 Common Snipe. Holme Lane GP had a pair of Egyptian Geese and the Peregrines around Barclays were getting very vocal.

Purple Sandpiper – Sandbanks – Ian Ballam

Spring ramped up a notch again today with the first 2 Wheatear of the season appearing near Scotland Farm, Hartland. There was also news that two Osprey had returned to a nest site just south of Paris meaning that incoming Osprey are imminent, certainly when this W/NW wind eases away over the next couple of days. Our prediction is that the first of the year arrives/passes through some time of the next 4-7 days. At Holes Bay NE the Spotted Redshank was again at the outflow and at the PCW Drain there were 7 Chiffchaff, 1 Cetti’s Warbler and 1 Firecrest. At Swineham, despite the breeze c10 Sand Martin were feeding high over the gravel pit at least 5 Cetti’s Warbler were singing around the lake. The 3 Peregrine’s were active in and around the Barclays/Asda building and off Baiter there was a single Great Northern Diver.

Stonechat – Hartland Moor 

It’s been a fairly quiet and windy last couple of days, halting any early spring passage it seems. Just a couple of Sand Martin at Swineham Yesterday were the birds of note. There were 3 Peregrine in Poole Town with 2 on the Barclays building and 1 on the Asda building at the same time. Poole Park is offering great views of multiple harbour species with Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit, Oystercatcher, Redshank and Turnstone all logged today as well as numerous gull species including c20 smart summer plumaged Mediterranean Gulls. Off Jerry’s Point there was still 2 Great Northern Diver, 1 Black-necked Grebe and 51 Red-breasted Merganser. Along Soldiers Road, in an area where Woodlark feed a flock of 10 Skylark were feed, a scarce sight in Poole Harbour. Up On Ballard there were another pair of Peregrines. At Lytchett Fields a Marsh Harrier flew through and a Merlin was at Middlebere.

Mediterranean Gulls – Poole Park – David Foster

Many Poole Harbour birders were gripped by the 3rd calendar year Laughing Gull at Abbotsbury. Swineham continues to feature 2 Pochard on the gravel pit, while 2 Egyptian Geese were observed on the rugby club field, 5 Chiffchaff, 7 Cettis Warbler, Reed Bunting, Curlew and a single Adder were also logged across the area. Both Poole Town Peregrine were seen on Barclays at early evening.

Pochard – Swineham GP – Garry Hayman

Adder – Swineham – Garry Hayman

A flock of 95 Black-tailed Godwit were exploiting the wet conditions in the Piddle flood fields behind Wareham Hospital. Last spring the site saw Garganey, Ruff and Little Ringed Plover. Certainly worth keeping an eye on the site if local. Two Peregrine occupied the ASDA highrise block and there was late news of a Wheatear at St Aldhelm’s Head yesterday.

Ringed Sparrowhawk – Swanage Garden – Steve Hobbs

Today was the calm before the storm, with the next week set to be a tad wet and wild. With that in mind, efforts were made to survey Bittern again from Swineham GP at dusk as birds only depart during settled weather. Tonight provided the best experience out of the last three nights with an individual Bittern lofting out of the surrounding reed bed at 18:37, circling above the pit several times, calling regularly before departing NE. I don’t think we’ve ever experienced this three nights in a row before, so whether it was three different staging Bittern leaving over the last three nights or the same bird finally leaving tonight, having dropped back down into the reed beds last night and the night before. Either way, with the rest of March to go, there’s still opportunity for more to arrive, stage and leave later in the month. The moment was captured beautifully by our HQ manager Joe Parker in the below sound recording as it flew over the pit heading NE into the dark.

We also received more info from Tim Mackrill from the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation who kindly gave us info that the White-tailed Sea Eagle (G393) that was present locally last week, passed through the harbour again yesterday, this time spending an hour here as it made its way in from the NW, across the Wareham Channel to Arne, before then making its way to Studland and away north up over Bournemouth. The most incredible thing is, that not a single member of the public saw the bird during it’s whole hour in the harbour yesterday, despite passing over what are typically often busy areas. Both the male and female Peregrine were on the Barclays building today.

White-tailed Sea Eagle G393 tracking data from yesterday

It was another glorious day which led to another Bittern leaving Swineham at 18:40. It was so dark that initially only it’s calls could be heard but a thermal image scope was then used which picked it up heading NE out over the Wareham Channel. Also at Swineham were c10 Sand Martin, 1 Swallow, 6 Chiffchaff, 3 Spoonbill (over), 2 Bearded Tit, 2 Marsh Harrier, 2 Pochard and 1 Peregrine. At the Asda building the pair of Peregrine were present again and it looks as if the blue ringed male ‘HF’ is back, meaning the un-ringed male seen recently is a new visitor on the block. Has ‘HF’ got a bit of competition now? At Whitley Lake there were still 95 Bar-tailed Godwit and 41 Oystercatcher and there were 3 Goosander in the lower Piddle. On Canford Heath there were several Crossbill feeding in pines. There was still also 1 Great Northern Diver off Jerry’s Point and 2 partial summer plumaged Black-necked Grebe. 

Great Northern Diver – Jerry’s Point

An exciting day for several reasons, firstly because it was sunny and warm again. A fine spring day to really enjoy if out in your local patches. Firstly, the springs first departing Bittern left Swineham this evening at exactly 18:30. It’s possible this bird over-wintered, but no sightings of Bittern were logged this winter period so its actually more likely this is a staging individual, using Swineham as a refuelling station before carrying on it’s journey north. These dusk departures are special if encountered, but they’re not easy to experience, often with several attempts under your belt before witnessing the magic on a cold march sun set. Also at Swineham were 2 Pochard, 6 singing Chiffchaff, 2 Marsh Harrier, 11 Sand Martin and 6 Spoonbill. The other exciting news is that one of our Osprey chicks from the translocation in 2019, female 019 was yesterday seen and photographed in the Gunjur Quarry, Gambia which is where it was also seen back over the Christmas period of 2019!! Her arrival in Africa back in 2019 was great news, but her survival was never guaranteed with many Osprey perishing in their first year. To know that she has survived the last two years in Africa is fantastic news. She is now due back to the UK this spring, but as a two year old it probably won’t be until at least May before we potentially see her. Or will she do as 014 did last spring and bypass Poole Harbour and head to Wales?? We hope not, it would be great to see here back in Poole Harbour. Big thanks to Alison Copland for the speedy news from Chris Wood in the Gambia, also to Fansu Bojang for sending a series of photos of her. It’s great to see her looking so fit and healthy. Around Jerry’s Point/Brands Bay there were 32 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Black-necked Grebe, 2 Long-tailed Duck, 1 Scaup, 5 Common Scoter, 61 Red-breasted Merganser, 19 Sanderling, 73 Knot, 22 Grey Plover and 1134 Black-tailed Godwit. The Peregrines were splitting their time between the Barclays and Asda building and there were 3 partial summer-plumaged Black-necked Grebe off Studland Beach.

Female Osprey 019 photographed in The Gambia this week – Fansu Bojang

A cold NE wind which seemed to hold up a number of new arrivals, most notably 27 Sand Martin at Swineham with 2 Swallow. Plus 6 Spoonbill were seen leaving north at dusk over Swineham, possibly suggesting a departure of our over-wintering birds now heading back to breeding grounds. The Little Gull was still over the main pit and a Barn Owl was seen there at dusk. Plenty of Buzzard were displaying across the harbour and a Peregrine was over Corfe Castle. At Middlebere a ringtail Hen Harrier was seen and a Spotted Redshank was in the channel. At Little Sea the Great White Egret was still present and 2 Firecrest were near the Triangle Hide. A pair of Mandarin Duck were seen in the piddle Valley. Off Jerry’s Point there were 4 Slavonian Grebe, 2 Black-necked Grebe, 1 Scaup, 4 Common Scoter, 225 Shelduck, 450 Black-tailed Godwit, 32 Bar-tailed Godwit, 105 Grey Plover and 37 Sanderling. It was also nice to see the first Sand Lizards emerging today on some of the local heaths, sheltering from the cold NE wind in little sun pockets tucked up amongst the heather.

Finally, yesterday we launched a fundraiser to raise the final amount needed to get the new Sunnyside Screen underway. Anticipating it to take at least a couple of weeks, we couldn’t believe it when we managed to raise the £450 needed in less than 24 hours. A huge thank you to everyone that donated and responded so quickly. We’re now aiming to hopefully have it completed by the end of March. Top work!

Sand Lizard – Hartland

Grey Seal – Brownsea Channel