We’re not quite sure where to start this evening, with the harbour quite literally brimming with good birds and totals from every corner of the harbour. We apologise in advance if we miss anyone’s sightings they’ve reported to us, but we’ll try and include everything from today. Starting off with Ospreys (well why not), it seemed that the northerly wind didn’t see too many leave but instead perhaps increased totals with 3-4 present in the Wareham Channel on and off for most of the day, along with another 3 or so in Lytchett Bay and numerous sightings of 3-4 birds from Middlebere too. It could easily be estimated that there were between 7-10 Osprey in the harbour today. Quite amazing. At Swineham there was a single Cattle Egret in the cattle field and on Arne Moors (viewed from Swineham) 3 Ruff were feeding. On Swineham GP and roost of c200 Sand Martin were feeding before soon moving off and 2-3 Marsh Harrier were present near the mouth of the Frome and in Lytchett Bay. Lytchett Fields also saw 3 Ruff, along with 2 Whinchat, 3 Wheatear, a few Dunlin and Ringed Plover, 4 Green Sandpiper, 2 Hobby, 2 Marsh Harrier and a Peregrine. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 2 juvenile Little Stint and 2 juv Curlew Sandpiper along with 19 Knot, 20 Sanderling, 95 Redshank, 2 Spotted Redshank, 6 Greenshank, 35 Ringed Plover, 21 Avocet, 285 Dunlin, 17 Spoonbill and 1 Peregrine. In Brands Bay the first 2 Great White Egret of the autumn were present, along with 10 Wigeon, 1 Spotted Redshank, 5 Whimbrel, 19 Great Crested Grebe and 31 Med Gulls. In Holes Bay there were 676 Black-tailed Godwit and 100+ Redshank. Passerines finally gave themselves up after a cold start with a good spread of Wheatears, Whinchats, Redstarts, Spotted Flycatchers, Common Whitethroat, Yellow Wagtails and Willow Warbler right across the harbour especially the Hartland, Slepe Heath, Middlebere, Arne and Greenland’s Farm area. There were 9 Pintail in the mouth of Middlebere this afternoon highlighting the fact that winter is almost here. This is obviously just a snippet of what can be seen in the harbour currently. Add all this to the other species you can experience whilst ambling about out around the harbour and there’s no better place to be on a bank holiday Monday….so we can’t wait to hear about what turns up tomorrow!!!

Pintail arrival – Middlebere 

Wheatear – Hartland Moor

It’s really beginning to feel autumnal now, with a brisk northerly wind settling in over night and a cold crisp morning making it now necessary to wear a jacket when first leaving the house. We love this time of year, with so much promise available on each trip out somewhere. Starting in order of birds being reported to us. Things kicked off with an Osprey fishing is Lytchett Bay, soon followed by another. The Whinchat was still in the approach fields at Lytchett Fields and there were 3 new Ruff on Lytchett Fields along with 1 Spotted Redshank, 3 Knot, 4 Dunlin, 5 Greenshank, 1 Peregrine, 1 Hobby and 1 Marsh Harrier. In Creekmoor 2 Raven flew over. On the Brownsea Lagoon highlights included 15 Spoonbill, 2 Curlew Sandpiper, 11 Knot and the 1^st returning Grey Plover of the winter. In Middlebere 3 different Osprey were on view together at one point and 2 Marsh Harrier were logged with 1 Green Sandpiper, 4 Greenshank and c10 Yellow Wagtail in the cattle fields approaching the cottages. At Holme Lane GP there were 19 Egyptian Geese and 7 Little Grebe. There was a nice group of 25 Turnstone on Baiter Beach with a few Sandwich Tern there too. Holes Bay north saw 500+ Black-tailed Godwit, 150+ Redshank, 13 Curlew and 2 Spotted Flycatcher near the Stone Bench. On Stoborough Heath 3 Wheatear and 5 Yellow Wagtail were around the cattle along Soldiers Road and a Hobby was hunting above the road. At Greenlands Farm there was another Osprey along with 14 Yellow Wagtail, 13 Wheatear, 1 Whinchat, 1 Spotted Flycatcher and 2 Whitethroat. Just below Wareham Walls 9 Yellow Wagtail were with cattle on the floodplain along with 20+ Sand Martin. It’s also Stonechat galore around the harbour currently with every gorse bush seeming to be hopping with these perky chats! They’ve obviously had an incredible breeding season, with the numbers present almost suggesting some sort of record-breaking year in the harbour! Finally, we conducted a co-ordinated Osprey count on Wednesday morning last week (Aug 26^th), and the results have highlighted that with taking things like timings, locations, sexes etc of differnet birds it was worked out that we had a minimum of 8 in harbour that day, possibly u to 11 or 12!!!!!

Spotted Flycatcher – Hartland Stud – David Foster

More sunshine and showers, but the showers seemed more productive this afternoon, seeming to down quite a few migrants in certain areas of the harbour On top of Hartland there was a great mix of species with 2 Redstart, 3 Whinchat, 9 Wheatear, 7 Willow Warbler, 30+ Yellow Wagtail and 1 Spotted Flycatcher between Scotland Farm and Hartland Stud. At Lytchett Fields it was another Osprey day again with 1-2 seen on and off in the morning along with sightings of Hobby, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Whinchat. At Swineham an Osprey was off Swineham Point in the Wareham Channel, there were 12 Yellow Wagtail behind Curlew Cottage with a few Willow Warbler and 4 Fulvous Whistling Duck seem to have taken up residence on Swineham GP. Baiter saw a nice total of 20 Ringed Plover, 25+ Turnstone and 15+ Oystercatcher. In Brands Bay there were 140 Black-tailed Godwit, 56 Curlew, 11 Redshank, 25 Oystercatcher, 11 Ringed Plover, 40 Dunlin, 9 Turnstone and 1 Kingfisher. At Arne, Osprey were active in Middlebere on and off all day with individuals seen in the dead trees and with on feeding on the T-perch again. Also in Middlebere was a Marsh Harrier, c100 Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Greenshank and 2 Spotted Redshank.

Whinchat – Lytchett Fields – David Foster

There was a good return of sightings today despite it being a wet start to the week. Best from the harbour included Osprey sightings from Middlebere with 2-3 seen and 2 different individuals seen catching fish in Lytchett Bay. Also at Lytchett Fields were 2 Ruff, 2 Spotted Redshank, 4 Knot, 18 Ringed Plover, 9 Dunlin, 3 different Marsh Harrier, 1 Whinchat and 1 Hobby. In Holes Bay there were 40+ Teal and a Kingfisher. In the Middlebere Channel there were 4 Greenshank, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Whimbrel and 11 Yellow Wagtail at Hartland Stud with 25+ on Hartland Moor with 1 Wheatear. Along the Sunnyside Track (screen still closed) there was 1 Whinchat, 8 Willow Warbler, 1 Whitethroat and 9 Stonechat.

Marsh Harrier – Swineham – Rene Goad

Today was our penultimate Osprey cruise of the season, with out last being this coming Wednesday due to a cancellation mid-week. The wind had eased off somewhat and made the birding that much easier. There was another nice list of highlights that corresponded with the rest of the trips this week which included 3-4 Osprey with one (almost certainly CJ7) sat on its favoured perching post, with 2 seen together over the SW corner of the Wareham Channel and other hunting along the Holton Shoreline. There were 2 different Marsh Harrier, a fresh juvenile and a sub-adult male and in the mouth of the river Piddle 2 Common Seal were basking again. We had a decent low tide with c560 Black-tailed Godwit out on the mud and 11 Spoonbill flew by which were later seen well on the lagoon. The Brownsea Lagoon had been drained again meaning the smaller waders were feeding close to the sea wall which allowed for views of c200 Dunlin, c80 Ringed Plover, 4 Sanderling, 2 Knot, c300 Oystercatcher, 4 Avocet and 4 Greenshank. Elsewhere in the harbour there were 2 Ruff at Lytchett Fields along with 2 Spotted Redshank, 4 Knot the Wood Sandpiper. Other Osprey sightings included 3 around Middlebere, 1-2 over Lytchett Bay and 1 at Morden Bog. Along the Sunnyside track (screen still closed) there were finally some Yellow Wagtails to report with 9+ and 3 Spotted Flycatcher and several more Yellow Wagtail at Hartland Meadow along with 12 Wheatear, 1 Whinchat and 13 Woodlark. Along the North Walls of Wareham leading to Wareham Common there was a single Redstart, 3 Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Wheatear, and Whitethroat. Finally, at Asda the Peregrine was again seen roosting on the tall section of the building.

Wood Sandpiper – Lytchett Fields – 23/08/20

Osprey (likly CJ7) – Wareham Channel – Rene Goad

Little Grebe – Wareham Channel – Rene Goad

Common Seal – Wareham Channel – Rene Goad

Our Osprey cruise this AM was a bit steadier compared to yesterdays, and again produced Osprey, this time 2 with one hunting in Arne Bay and another along the Wareham Channel. Also 2 different Marsh Harrier were seen at the top end of the Wareham Channel. Osprey sightings separate to our trip included 1 over Lytchett Bay, 2 over Middlebere and 1 seen hunting over Swineham GP. In the Middlebere channel there were 9 Greenshank, 1 Spotted Redshank, 1 Whimbrel, 300+ Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Green Sandpiper and 1 Marsh Harrier. At Lytchett Fields a new Ruff had arrived with 2 present as did 2 new Knot arrive. Also the Wood Sandpiper was still there with 5 Green Sandpiper and a juv Marsh Harrier was active around the site. On Brownsea the Spoonbill flock was still there, plus a Yellow-legged Gull, 1 Knot and a spread of Ringed Plover and Dunlin.