The warmth (and the good times) are apparently coming to an end as colder unsettled weather beds back in again by mid-week with autumnal wetness heading our way, so many birders were out this AM making the most of the late summer sunshine. The first Ring Ouzels of the autumn were seen up on Ballard Down with 3 together. October tends to be ‘Ouzel Month’ but with the NE winds recently it’s obviously delivered a few early arrivals. Vis-mig was much quieter for Siskin with only c300 logged but 108 Lesser Redpoll was notable. A likely dark-morph juvenile Honey Buzzard was seen over Wareham Common heading south, when what was possibly the same bird was then photographed over Durlston an hour or so later. On Lytchett Fields there were 2 Curlew Sandpiper on French’s Pools with 33 Dunlin. At Swineham, the long staying Pectoral Sandpipers were still on the Stilt Pools with 2 Cattle Egret still in the same field. In Holes Bay the Wigeon flock hit a new high of 364 which for mid to late Sept is a good total, plus there were 9 Pintail, 2 Shoveler, only 198 Black-tailed Godwit and 110 Redshank.Little Sea hosted at least 3 Great White Egret when visited at high tide. 23 Little Egret and 4 Grey Heron were also present.

Crossbill – Lytchett Fields (yesterday) – Ian Ballam

Visible migration really ramped up this morning with the UK’s third highest count of Siskin logged up on Ballard with 2632 counted heading NE into the wind along with 13 Crossbill, 5 Lesser Redpoll (first of the autumn), 1 Tree Pipit, 4 Yellow Wagtail, 93 Meadow Pipit, 30 Goldfinch and a good number of Swallow and House Martin. Birds were moving east along the river valley’s too with c500 Swallow & House Martin, 4 Woodlark, 6 Crossbill, 1 Common Snipe and c70 Siskin all heading down the Piddle and Frome Valley with 2 Great White Egret logged heading west up the Piddle Valley at dawn. There was also a Great White Egret at Lytchett Fields first thing and a Red Kite drifted north over Holes Bay NE. Avocet numbers on the Brownsea Lagoon are building with 292 now present along with 362 Teal. The only Osprey of the day was reported late in the day sat in the dead trees at Middlebere. At Swineham the 2 Pectoral Sandpiper were again on the Stilt Pools and 2 Cattle Egret were in the same field and another was next to the road on the Wareham Causeway. There were 2 Curlew Sandpiper on Lytchett Fields with 151 Dunlin and 4 Curlew Sandpiper were on Brownsea.

Yellow Wagtail – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

Autumn took on different twist today with a species we normally associate with later in the season as a Lapland Bunting passed over South Haven at 8am, along with a high count of 745 Siskin, 190 Swallow and 18 Meadow Pipit which highlights the Vis-Mig season is building nicely. At Lytchett Fields 3 different Great White Egret were seen with one during the morning and then two together late afternoon. Also at Lytchett fields were 9 Greenshank, 43 Dunlin, 2 Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Green Sandpiper, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Hobby and 10 Yellow Wagtail. At the Holme Lane GP there were 20 Egyptian Geese and 5 Tufted Duck. Both Pectoral Sandpiper were still on the ‘Stilt Pools’ at Swineham, 3 Cattle Egret were in the same field and the first group of Spoonbill have already de-camped from Brownsea and were seen on the Shipstal Spit with 20 roosting around midday. Out in the Wareham Channel 2 Osprey were seen hunting, both looked to be juveniles.

We’ve also just finished putting together a video that highlights how much the Osprey season, and specifically CJ7 meant to us as a team and to our friends and partners. Please watch the video below for an insight to the emotional connection we all made to the harbour this spring……..

Ok, things calmed down a bit today but it was still a great day to be out. The Pectoral Sandpiper was still on ‘The Stilt Pools’ at Swineham where 2 Cattle Egret later joined it. Osprey were still numerous with 2-3 in Lytchett Bay and other sightings of 2-3 in the Wareham Channel area. Having spoken to Roy Dennis today about the high ‘stop over’ rate in the harbour this autumn he explained to us that it’s likely these are birds that have been struggling to feed sufficiently enough up on their breeding grounds and are looking to put on maximum weight before departing soon. There’s no doubt we’ve seen more activity this autumn than in previous years which just goes to show that Poole Harbour is absolutely the right place to try and re-establish a south coast breeding population. The Brownsea Lagoon saw the Spoonbill flock increase to 41 and there were also 6 Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Little Stint, 143 Avocet, 554 Dunlin, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, 4 Knot, 6 Greenshank, 24 Ringed Plover, 85 Redshank and 20 Curlew. Around Lytchett Bay there was a decent fall of 38 Blackcap and 58 Chiffchaff caught at Lytchett Heath during a ringing session along with 4 Grasshopper Warbler, 4 Cetti’s Warbler, 1 Garden Warbler and 1 Whitethroat plus a Great White Egret was on Lytchett Fields from mid-morning.

Pectoral Sandpiper – Swineham

Cooooor…September is such a great month. It was a great range of birds today, with a Barred Warbler reported at Swineham near the ‘Stilt Pools’ (sadly couldn’t be re-found) where one of the two Pectoral Sandpiper was still present.  Also a possible Black Kite drifted west between Norden Park and Corfe. On the Brownsea Lagoon the Spoonbill flock is building nicely with 35 present today. At Lytchett Fields there were 2 Ruff, 2 Spotted Redshank, 20 Dunlin and 3 Green Sandpiper. Osprey were back in force with 3 together over Lytchett Bay, plus sightings from the Wareham Channel and Middlebere. Holes Bay north had 746 Black-tailed Godwit, 118 Wigeon, 8 Pintail, 2 Water Rail and 1 Kingfisher. Middlebere held a really good range of species which included 26 Little Egret, 29 Pintail, 50 Wigeon, c500 Black-tailed Godwit, c100 Avocet, 10 Knot, 1 Spoonbill, 4 Curlew Sandpiper, 29 Redshank, 1 Spotted Redshank, 24 Dunlin, 2 Greenshank, 2 Whinchat and 3 Yellow Wagtail. The Swineham Fields had 2 Cattle Egret too.

Meadow Pipit – Hartland Moor