Well, it finally happened. Osprey season has once again begun. This morning, not one but two individuals were seen hunting out in the Wareham Channel with one catching a fish then settling on the southern channel shoreline in a Silver Birch Tree and then the second heading off over towards Middlebere. Then, around 12:30pm another Osprey was seen in Holes Bay, which could have actually potentially been a third individual which is excellent. Migrant Osprey this early in the season all tend to be established breeders further north so rarely stick around. And it was no surprise that there we didn’t capture any todays birds on any of our 6 nest cams around the harbour. Give it another week and not only will we hopefully see the return of CJ7 but also numerous other non-breeding individuals that may be interested in sticking around. At least the floodgates have now opened. Yesterday, one of the IOW White-tailed Eagles also passed over the harbour heading north, having passed over the Wareham Channel and then over Holes Bay. Now that would have been a sight and a half! Plus, with two being photographed together over Christchurch Harbour this morning it seems this could soon become a regular and very exciting sight from now on. There were 31 Sand Martin at Swineham GP with 1 drake Pochard there too, and 4 Sandwich Tern were off Baiter.

Record shot of Osprey over Wareham Channel taken from Ham viewpoint – Joe Parker

A beautiful day signalled with singing Skylark on Hartland, displaying Meadow Pipit on Slepe Heath, singing Blackcap in Poole, Peregrines carrying out food passes on the Barclays building, Brimstone Butterfly’s dancing on woodland edges at Arne, Buzzards soaring over most of the harbour skyline and a sun set that was hard to beat. A Bittern watch was carried out at Swineham at dusk which produced sadly no Bittern but there were other obvious departures with a flurry of Redwing ‘zeeting’ into the darkness just after sunset, three separate flocks of Common Snipe and what looked to be 2 Jack Snipe lifting off and heading stratospherically high north on their voyage back to their breeding grounds plus several flocks of Teal heading off in the inky, gloomy darkness calling and saying good bye until winter. There were also 27 Sand Martin over the main pit, 1 Barn Owl flew by and 4 Chiffchaff were singing. Two Red Kite drifted south of Lytchett which signals the start of the big spring migration and there was still a single Purple Sandpiper with 16 Sanderling on the Sandbanks groynes. Poole Park had a number of Med Gulls still, 11 Black-tailed Godwit and 1 Kingfisher. There was also a stunning Common Buzzard logged on our Osprey nest cam along with a Kestrel. Hopefully not long until the first Ospreys are logged in the harbour!

Pale Common Buzzard on Osprey nest cam

The conditions today were much better today, and despite the forecast of low, cold cloud cover all day, the sun did actually come out around lunch time making it actually quite ‘hot’. This prompted numerous reptiles to emerge with quite a few Sand Lizard reported and a few Adders being seen around the Hartland/Middlebere area. Bird-wise though the early spring migrants were no-where to be seen with not a single Wheatear, Sand Martin or Little Ringed Plover reported. A few more Meadow Pipit were on the move and Chiffchaff are now definitely established in many areas. The wind swings round SW this week which could push some more birds our way, and hopefully our first passage Osprey too. There was a single Marsh Harrier in the Wareham Channel and 2 Spoonbill were in Brands Bay.

Sand Lizard – Hartland Moor

With the wind easing it made for a more pleasant days birding for those out and about. There was a Meadow Pipit passage going o high above the harbour where a vigil from the top of Slepe Heath logged a minimum of c800 passing north but realistically it would have been more than 1000+ with birds crossing in different areas. They were passing on a broad front, but the bulk of the passage seemed to be coming from the Corfe Gap area, over Arne/Wareham Channel area and over Keysworth/Holton Lee. Also logged were 2 Sand Martin over Swineham and weirdly 15 Fieldfare heading high south! A Peregrine was seen taking a wader from Middlebere and the Great White Egret was still at Little Sea. Holes Bay is still holding a few birds with 19 Pintail still, also 210 Wigeon, 6 Shoveler, 52 Shelduck, 10 Great Crested Grebe, and 138 Black-tailed Godwit. On Swineham GP there were 4 Pochard, 13 Great Crested Grebe and 23 Reed Bunting, 5 Cetti’s Warbler and 3 Chiffchaff around the lake. With the winds finally swinging SW on Monday, will we see a greater influx of early common spring migrants?

Plenty of ‘cronking’ Raven around the harbour now

There were various bouts of excitement today, some concealed with a bit of sadness too with certain events taking place outside of our Poole Harbour recording area, but are still of interest to us. Firstly, the Rutland Water Osprey pair arrived back onto their nest at Manton Bay, incredibly within 30 minutes of one another. Then just 4 minutes later they were already copulating! We hope it’s not too long that here in the harbour we can be expecting regular returning Osprey year in, year out and to successfully breed every year. However, we’ve still got quite a long way to go until that becomes a reality and until then we’re simply keeping our fingers crossed for CJ7’s safe return in a few weeks time and that she manages to ‘woo’ a suitable mate over the coming years. The other really interesting discovery today was that a Pine Marten was delivered to us by local birder Luke Westercott, which was sadly dead having been found on the side of the road on the outskirts of Wareham Forest. These are traditionally animals of Northern Scotland and to a less extent, northern England and Wales. Where this one has come from is anyone’s guess, but sightings in the New Forest have increased over the last few years (possibly due to an unauthorised release) and we could be seeing dispersal from there into new uncharted territory. There was an amazing piece of footage from last summer where a Pine Marten was caught on a CCTV camera at the chain ferry end of the Sandbanks peninsular. Considering they’re not even supposed to be in this area of the country, let alone in urban areas, what one was doing there we really have no idea! The big question is just how many more are there out there????

Bird wise today it was quite quiet with 12 Knot in Lytchett Bay being a surprise as they’re really quite scarce here, also a Great White Egret at Little Sea, Studland and 7 Sand Martin were over Swineham GP. A Barn Owl was observed hunting along the causeway between Wareham and Stoborough at dusk.

Pine Marten – Sandbanks – May 2020 – Brownsea_Boatman (YouTube)

The poor Pine Marten that was discovered on the roadside near Wareham Forest today

The cold north wind continues which seems to be holding up a number of early spring migrants. Our first Osprey last year was on March 16^th, so we’re already a few days late for this species. Also with only a handful of Wheatear logged so far it seems there could be a small rush as soon as soon as the wind turns southerly. Sand Martin seem to be getting through with c40 over Swineham GP today and there was a definite arrival of Chiffchaff too with almost all areas of the harbour reporting singing individuals. A Red Kite drifted over Lytchett Bay and there was a White Wagtail out on Baiter Park. The Barclays Peregrines were calling a lot and dropping down behind the balcony on the top floor. These are encouraging signs and indicate a possible breeding/nesting attempt. They’re certainly interested in that location. Redwing are moving through/off at night now with birds heard over Poole Town last night.

Despite the cold wind, Adders are finding small pockets of warm sunshine – Hartland Moor

No White-tailed Eagles today, in fact rather quiet compared to yesterday. Highlights included 45 Sand Martin over Swineham GP at dusk with a Barn Owl fly by. Still decent numbers of Brent Geese and Black-tailed Godwit in the Middlebere area and a steady stream of Meadow Pipit migrating across the harbour on a broad front with flocks of between 5-20 birds passing by at a time.

Water Rail – Poole Park – Ian Ballam

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