It turned out to actually be a glorious day today, despite the fear mongering of icy temperatures. However that could still come over the coming days. There was four different Osprey in the harbour this morning with CJ7 on her nest platform, the un-ringed female on the Middlebere nest platform and then a third was seen flying in from the Corfe direction heading towards the Wytch Channel and a fourth over Holes Bay area. CJ7 was only on her nest for an hour or so this morning and then not seen on there for the rest of the day. We did manage to locate her whereabouts for most of the afternoon as she was hiding out on another nest platform on the south side of the harbour eating a fish and then preening for several hours. This behaviour isn’t unexpected and in fact mirrors her behaviour last year when she spent a week touring the harbour, feeding up, getting her self in good breeding condition before finally settling on her nest platform on April 8^th and nest building until later on in April. Whether she’ll lay eggs again (if failed to find a mate) on this nest platform again we’re not sure but with pretty much the whole of April still left to try and woo in a passing male then its going to be an exciting 3-4 weeks. Red Kite are definitely now on the move in small numbers with one taking a swipe at the un-ringed female Osprey at Middlebere and others seen over Studland, Hartland and Upton. There were 5 Little Ringed Plover at Lytchett Fields and 2 at Swineham where there were 2 Willow Warbler too. A nice sized group of a dozen House Martin came in over Lytchett Fields too.

Female Osprey CJ7 – Wareham Channel – Alison Copland

We were hoping it may happen today and it did! Female Osprey CJ7 arrived back at her nest site at around midday, firstly with a fish and playing camera shy, sitting on the perching branch above the nest cam before eventually dropping down on to the nest around 12:30pm and starting to make her self feel at home. She didn’t do too much home prepping, just a small bit of branch clearing and nest scraping, but we hope that over the next few days/weeks she settles in some more and begins to make the nest site her 2021 home again. You can watch al the comings and goings of the nest on our website HERE or on our YouTube Channel HERE, What a great day!

Also, the other female Osprey from yesterday evening was on the Middlebere nest all day, and although initial doubts set it, we think it could well be ‘Beaky’. Similar return date, similar behaviour, similar plumage and features. If so, it could mean that that she’ll stick around for a while giving all the more reason for some more males to arrive this spring!

Also, the first Reed Warbler of the spring arrived at Swineham and there was a Sedge Warbler too with 3 Little Ringed Plover on the scrape. A Ring Ouzel was at the Houseboast, Studland and Swallow were arriving throughout the day at various site sand a Great White Egret was in the Lower Frome Valley with 2 Marsh Harrier.

Cj7 arriving back at midday on the webcam nest platform

Well, that’s March over and done with. The first three months of this year have just flown by. And what better way to sign off than having our first nest platform landing by an Osprey. It’s been a pretty strong season so far with no less than 10 migrants having been logged passing through over the last couple of weeks, but all have either gone straight through, or stopped briefly for a quick fish dinner before then carrying on. However this evening at 17:30 we had our fist migrant land on one of the harbour nest platforms meaning our 4G trail cameras were able to get a good sequence of photos. It showed that the bird wasn’t CJ7 but an un-ringed female. It visited the Middlebere nest platform a few times between 17:30 and 19:30 so potentially it could hang around stay into the first day or two of April? Another Osprey was also seen flying over Poole Town mid-morning. Lets hope April produces the same excitement and thrills as last year!

Also this morning the first Sedge Warbler was logged at Swineham, which is really early! Along with another Little Ringed Plover and 5 summer-plumaged Cattle Egret headed into roost over Swineham too which is the largest group logged in the harbour for quite some time. A Willow Warbler was heard near Corfe (with 2 also at Swineham) and the Peregrines were calling on Corfe Castle. There were 6 Little Ringed Plover at Lytchett fields and a Great White Egret was at Slepe/Hartland Moor. At dusk there were c500 Sand Martin that headed into roost and just outside the recording area a Hoopoe was over near Church Knowle.

Un-ringed Osprey on Middlebere 4G nest cam

Cattle Egret – Swineham – Peter Moore

Today was another really beautiful day with more migrants arriving by the hour. Most excitingly (but also frustratingly) was an un-ringed Osprey that landed on our Osprey nest cam, however it only touched down briefly (4 minutes) and only sat on the perch just above the camera meaning we didn’t get to see it live! It was only when one of our team alerted us to its presence that we were able to re-wind the footage (as you can too on our YouTube channel) and see the shadow arrive in at 11:07.10 and then you can hear it land at 11:07:40. Later in the day two Osprey were also out hunting in the Wareham Channel with one venturing over Lytchett Bay and away north. A Red kite was also out over Lytchett Bay too and a stunning full adult male Marsh Harrier (very scarce plumage type in Poole Harbour) passed over Lytchett Fields. and there were 5 Little Ringed Plover on Lytchett Fields and a Willow Warbler there too. Another Willow Warbler was in the top end of the PCW Drain along with 5 singing Chiffchaff and 2 singing Blackcap, plus a singular Ruff was in with the Black-tailed Godwits at Holes Bay too. Swallow and Sand Martin passed over in small numbers, often high because of the glorious weather. Reminders of winter were still around with 2 Long-tailed Duck off the south shore of Brownsea along with a Black-necked Grebe, c30 Great Crested Grebe and c80 Red-breasted Merganser. There was also a Little Ringed Plover on the Swineham scrapes and 2 Spoonbill were on the Brownsea Lagoon including a white colour-ringed individual. A possible Goshawk was seen out off Sea View viewpoint at the top of Constitution Hill and it’s also nice to see and hear so many Sandwich Tern out around the harbour now….a true sound of summer.

Fairly typical shot of a Poole Harbour Osprey as it fly’s away!

Adult male Marsh Harrier – Lytchett Fields – Alison Copland

A great day all round with plenty to be had at various locations. Spring migration definitely landed with the first Hobby of the year over Hartland Moor and an Osprey over Soldiers Road. There was a Black Redstart at Knoll Farm too along Soldiers Road with 4 Wheatear in the fields at Hartland Stud. There were 6 Little Ringed Plover at Lytchett Fields and 2 at Swineham GP scrapes. There were also c400 Sand Martin and Swineham too this evening with 3 Swallow. Willow Warbler were logged at Ridge and Holes Bay. There were also 2 Barn Owl at Swineham and a Merlin at Hartland. There were also 3 Wheatear at Lytchett Fields, 17 Sand Martin and 1 Tree Pipit was also reported. A Purple Sandpiper was still at Sandbanks and 2 Black-necked Grebe in summer plumage. Add all that to the now regular singing Chiffchaffs, displaying Dartford Warblers and nest building Blackbirds we think it’s safe to say……winter has officially gone and spring is here with a vengeance.

Sand Martin flock at dusk – Swineham GP

Black Redstart – Soldiers Road – Paul Swann

There were definitely more signs that spring migration is now building nicely with another run/arrival of some well known early movers making landfall today. At Little Sea, Studland there was all three common hirundines with multiple Sand and 1 House Martin as well as several Swallow. There were also Swallow over Brownsea, Goathorn, Lytchett Bay and Holes Bay. There were also more Little Ringed Plover with 2 at Lytchett Fields and 3 near Holme Lane. There were also 2 more Osprey with one sat on the southern shore of the Wareham Chanel eating a fish, a trait they often do in their wintering grounds but rarely seem to do in the UK. Plus another was seen flying over Brownsea with a fish. There was also a Cattle Egret at Lytchett Fields this evening and a Great White Egret was seen over Arne. A Purple Sandpiper was still on the groynes at Sandbanks and there were 2 Spoonbill and 3 Wheatear on the Brownsea Lagoon. A Willow Warbler was heard at Bestwall, a Woodlark was  at Studland and Sandwich Tern numbers are building nicely on Brownsea with c30 logged today. The Poole Peregrines were active again and seen on both the Asda and Barclays building.

Little Ringed Plover – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

Purple Sandpiper – North Haven, Sandbanks – Joe Parker

Yesterday saw an arrival of Wheatear and today certainly saw a rush of Osprey with 3 different individuals logged within an hours time frame out in the Wareham Channel. Each caught a fish and headed towards the Arne area but couldn’t be pinned down to a feeding snag to check for leg rings. For those that don’t know, as well as the live Osprey nest cam, we also have cameras on five other nests within the harbour area too. These aren’t live webcams, but in fact 4G trail cams that link to the phone network and send us images every 2 hours from 5am – 11pm, so when/if an Osprey lands on a remote nest platform within a private area we’ll know about it. As expected all of this years Osprey so far have been staging/passage birds that are having a quick feed in the harbour before continuing off north. It won’t be for another week or so until non-breeding individuals begin arriving and could start showing an interest in some of the nest platforms, and that hopefully includes CJ7 too. There were still several Wheatear on top of Hartland and 1 at Stoborough Heath and a Great White Egret was at the base of Hartland Moor out on Slepe Moor. At Swineham first thing there were c100 Sand Martin which left pretty quickly and the Egyptian Geese that have been on the Rugby pitch have now got goslings. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 2 Spoonbill, in Oakdale a Red Kite drifted overhead.

Great White Egret – Swineham (yesterday) – Peter Moore

Finally, some new migrants! There was definitely a mini fall of Wheatear across the harbour today with 3 on Coombe Heath, Arne, 5 at Scotland Farm, 1 at Lytchett Bay (with a White Wagtail) and even 1 on our Osprey nest cam briefly around 13:22. Today also heralded our first Little Ringed Plover of the year with one on the Swineham Scrapes, which was joined by a Great White Egret too. There were also photos that emerged yesterday of the Poole Peregrines being seen to mate which is encouraging for a potential successful breeding attempt this season…..where ever that ends up being. There were 4 Sandwich Tern feeding off Baiter and Spotted Redshanks were seen in Lytchett Bay and Holes Bay north.

Wheatear (female) – Osprey nest cam

We received (written) word of an Osprey sighting over Middlebere this afternoon at 4pm. Thanks to whoever left the note in the hide! Another visit at 6pm produced 101 Black-tailed Godwit and 13 Grey Plover. Swineham offered 10+ Sand Martin over the gravel pits and a Great White Egret feeding on Curlew Pools before heading up the Frome. Otherwise not much wildfowl around the site, however the Egyptian Goose was observed on the rugby field again. A total of 7 singing Chiffchaff made up the other migrants noted at Swineham. There were also plenty of other Chiffchaff singing plus several on the Ballard headland suggesting a fall/arrival had occurred. This was also highlighted by a photo we were sent showing a freshly arrived Chiffchaff (outside our harbour recording area) in Langton Matravers which had a face full of sticky pollen on its face, a regular feature of birds that have been feeding as they make their way up through Europe.  The first hirundine was recorded over Lytchett Bay, with 1 Swallow making a brief appearance in the morning. It also seems some over-wintering Blackcap are beginning to move around local gardens with ‘new’ birds appearing in areas. Our summer migrant Blackcap don’t tend to arrive until April so new arrivals into gardens are likely to be over-wintering birds moving out of winter territories before moving off back to breeding grounds themselves.

Osprey sighting – Middlebere hide – photo taken by Sean Walls

Canada Goose – Redhorn, Brand’s Bay – Nick Gadenne

Pollen-faced Chiffchaff – Langton Matravers – Pete Christie

Female Blackcap – Poole – Paul Swann

We’re still hanging on to a few winter visitors, with the likes of Fieldfare still being logged in small numbers locally. But early signs of migration are evident with plenty of Meadow Pipit to be found and encountered overhead across the harbour and a Wheatear was photographed at Studland Bay mid-morning. After yesterday’s flurry of Osprey sightings, the only record today came in at 06:05 over the Arne Peninsula, with no further observations.

Wheatear – Studland, Shell Bay – Richard Adams

With just over 2 weeks to go until The Reintroduction & Rewilding Summit that we are running, hosted by the Self-Isolating Bird Club on Saturday 10th April, you can now sign up here to receive the link to stream the event for free! We hope you can join us.