It was nice to finally feel a bit of squelchy mud under foot over the last couple of days with it having been so dry over the last few months. When out and about, we rarely see Moles, in fact hardly ever, but in the last couple of weeks have seen several, manoeuvring their way across the surface of the ground. Wondering why we’re suddenly seeing these seekers of the darkness so often recently, it occurred to us that with the ground being so dry, perhaps they’re being forced above ground in search of food with earthworms becoming harder to find? We’d be interested to hear whether anyone else has suddenly begun seeing more moles in recent weeks? Bird-wise, it’s pretty much of a much-ness although more signs of autumn are beginning to creep in with the first Spotted Redshanks logged on the NE coast heading south, with Poole Harbours surely due over the next week or so. Lytchett Fields or the Brownsea Lagoon is typically where you’d expect to see one of these early returners south, but until then Lytchett Fields was only able to offer 2 Green Sandpiper, 21 Lapwing, 38 Black-tailed Godwit, 11 Redshank, 1 Dunlin and 1 Hobby…..not bad! The Brownsea Tern islands are now ‘stuffed’ with chicks which is great to see, and you’re able to watch them live on our Brownsea Lagoon webcams HERE. Female Osprey CJ7 is still about, but not visiting any nest platforms, but has been changing her behaviour slightly, even beginning to sit on channel markers out in the Wareham Channel….not something we’ve seen her do before. At Arne 2 Spotted Flycatcher were seen feeding young near the car park which is great news. After the rain today, a mass of hirundines began feeding in the river valley’s including the highest recorded total of Sand Martin so far this year with c120 in the Piddle Valley along with c30 House Martin.

Kestrel brood about to fledge – Edge of Wareham Forest

There were more elements of interest today with raptor numbers good again out in the Wareham Channel area. Female Osprey CJ7 was circling high over the Wareham Channel and even made a (now rare) visit to the Osprey nest cam briefly before being seen off by a crow. 3 Hobby were active between Arne moors and Hartland. The female Marsh Harrier seems to be playing hard to get now with very rare appearances during early morning watches but 2 Peregrine are very busy now as the chicks at Corfe seem be getting hungrier and hungrier. At Lytchett Fields a Green Sandpiper was seen along with 11 Black-tailed Godwit and c15 Lapwing.  There were both a Peregrine and Barn Owl hunting late morning at Middlebere and 3 Hobby hunting at Morden Bog along with a Cuckoo there too.

Raven – Ballard

It was a fairly quiet weekend with a few reports coming our way, including female Osprey CJ7 being sighted out over the Wareham Channel and Arne. Hobby were over Arne, Hartland, Lytchett Fields and Middlebere. The female Marsh Harrier was seen out over Giggers Island and the Sandwich Terns on Brownsea are doing well and are already growing flight feathers. It also sounds like it’s a good time to listen out for Crossbill as numerous small flocks have recently been heard moving from breeding sites to potential new feeding areas with birds being heard over Parkstone, Merley, Wareham and Arne. Below is an Autumn recording to familiarise yourself with the flight calls they make whilst on migration.

What a difference a year makes. It was June 12^th 2019 that saw all of our hearts here at BoPH go through the roof when we received a photo from one of our Poole Harbour nest cams of 2 blue-ringed Osprey on one of the Poole Harbour nest platforms, one of one we knew to be female CJ7 but the second was a mystery male. It was exciting because spring 2019 was when we could possibly see the return of one of the chicks we raised and relapsed back in 2017 return for the first time. What followed was a day of intense fieldwork around the harbour trying to track down this mystery bird to see if we identify who it was. Anyway, after several hours of trying we eventually got lucky and were able to confirm it to be one of our males from 2017, LS7. Last summer they pair boned and things were really looking good for this spring. Sadly, as we all know by now poor LS7 never made it back this, likely having dies on migration either last autumn or this spring. Interestingly, from conversations with other osprey workers around the UK it sounds as if a number of ‘adult’ Osprey didn’t arrive back this spring, possibly due to the cold and persistent NE wind stayed in place in southern Europe during the latter part of March and early April, possibly forcing migrating birds out into the Atlantic. We’ll never know what happened to LS7, but what we experienced this spring is one of the tragic realties of Osprey ecology, and all we can do is press on, hope and wait for female Osprey CJ7 to find a new mate over the coming springs. We’re confident she will, but we just wanted to take some tome today remembering LS7 and provide some nice photos of when he was active around the harbour last summer.

Else in the harbour today at Lytchett Fields a Spoonbill dropped down onto Lytchett Fields which is a good early summer record. Crossbill seem to have a good season with numerous groups in and around the outskirts of Wareham Forest. On the Brownsea Lagoon, Sandwich Tern chick totals currently stand at 175 which is great news and is apparently a higher than normal rate of productivity according to the DWT.

First image we received of LS7 on this day last year

First photo we took after tracking him down later that day

First time CJ7 and LS7 visited their ‘chosen’ nest together

Common Crossbill – Southern edge of Wareham Forest

It sounds like the pink wave may have reached Poole Harbour, although sadly it was enjoyed (so far) by only one lucky household. On Wednesday evening a resident along the North Walls of Wareham reported a Rose-coloured (Rosy) Starling in their garden feeding with Common Starling. The finders description sounded perfect, and the location was equally suitable so, despite no photo it really sounds like we had a Rose-coloured Starling grace Poole Harbour albeit briefly. Despite much searching by the Wareham birding fraternity it wasn’t relocated but there are multiple Starling flocks in and around Wareham/Northmoor and masses of gardens for it to hide in, so there’s every chance it could still be around! These flamboyant rarities from SE Europe tend to turn up in autumn and it’s usually the very drab juveniles that make it here. However, this springs influx has seen a wave of pink beauties arrive here in the UK, meaning others could also be lurking in urban gardens around the area. At Lytchett Fields there were 11 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Oystercatcher, 16 Lapwing, 8 Curlew, 26 Gadwall and 17 Teal (autumn really has started)! A short survey in some woodland in the west of the harbour in search of juvenile Long-eared Owl sadly didn’t produce the goods, but 4 Tawny Owl chicks from two separate pairs were logged.

Stonechat – Soldiers Road 

That’s better. The cold wind soon moved off and the blanket of warmth returned. There were plenty of interesting finds and reports from the last couple of days with confirmed breeding of Little Ringed Plover at the Holme Lane GP with a juv and 2 adults seen, along with 11 Egyptian Geese, 4 Lapwing, 2 of which were fledged juveniles and 5 Little Grebe. From Slepe Heath 2 Hobby were seen and there were 2 Cuckoo still calling. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 3 Spoonbill and up to 5 Avocet are now (potentially) sitting on eggs, which is a great result! Lets hope they can collectively bring some young off. Female Osprey CJ7 was seen at Morden Bog by several people and photographed flying right overhead. The female Marsh Harrier was out over Giggers Island but sadly the male she got friendly with a couple of weeks ago has now moved on. Post breeding groups of Mistle Thrush are now beginning to form with flocks of between 5 and 15 appearing on different heathland sites around the harbour. At Lytchett Fields there’s still 2 Little Ringed Plover, also c15 Lapwing including the first juv of the ‘autumn’ to arrive on site. There was an interesting gathering of 33 Sanderling roosting on the end of Redhorn, which is a late date (and high total) for this species in the harbour. Finally and rather randomly, this handsome Fulvous Whistling Duck has appeared in Poole Park and seems to be attracting a small crowd!

Fulvous Whistling Duck – Poole Park – Clare Slade