Autumn passage really ramped up today, and as is standard for late June, the first Spotted Redshank of the Autumn arrived today, with adult females having left their Arctic breeding grounds in the second week of June, and which are now starting to be seen across the UK. Spotted Redshank have very predictable, rigid migrations, and are unusual in as much that once the females have laid eggs on their Scandinavian/Siberian breeding grounds, they depart south for ‘the winter’, leaving the males to both incubate and then raise the chicks. When these early passage females start passing through in late June and early July, they do so in their fine black breeding plumage, just like todays, although they often moult very quickly into their grey, speckled plumage. Also in Middlebere today was the adult Yellow-legged Gull and today Scottish female Osprey 6J8 was obviously feeling a bit more friendly towards 5H6 as she was sat with him all morning, having been a tad ‘off’ with him yesterday. At Lytchett Fields there were also more passage waders including 8 Black-tailed Godwit , 15 Lapwing, 13 Redshank, 3 Greenshank, 1 Curlew and 10 Green Sandpiper. ‘Green Sands’ are a bit similar to Spotted Redshank as they too breed on Arctic breeding grounds with females often leaving early having only been on the breeding grounds for roughly a month, which is why we tend to see numbers build quite quickly around now.

At the Osprey nest at Carey Secret Garden today it was very busy with birds during both of todays viewing sessions with a juvenile White-tailed Eagle over twice, 1 Goshawk, 6 Hobby, 4 Kestrel, 1 Woodlark and 3 Crossbill over. Plus, Scottish female Osprey 6J8 also came and visited, causing mayhem, and for CJ7 to go into full display, protection mode.

Back of camera shot of Spotted Redshank that dropped into Middlebere this evening – Garry Hayman

Yellow-legged Gull – Middlebere – Garry Hayman

With the weather cooling down ever so slightly today, things still seem to be hotting up with the local Osprey drama. CJ7 and 022 continue to raise their family as is standard for this time of the season, and actually, (currently) there haven’t been too many dramas other than the annoying Magpies, but elsewhere Osprey interactions are building, and it’s quite possible we may be witnessing a third pairing with 3-year old male 5H3 and 2-year old Scottish female 6J8 seemingly hanging out together on a near permanent basis. They’re currently visiting various local harbour platforms and seem content within each others company, which was in stark contrast to this afternoon when 2-year old male 5H6 (the Mighty Titch), who we haven’t seen for a few weeks, suddenly appeared and tried to settle next to 6J8, who was most upset and angered by this and soon saw him off. All of this behaviour bodes well for next spring, but of course, there’s a long way to go between now and spring next year! There was also an Osprey sat out on the depth markers out in the middle of Lytchett Fields this afternoon which drew the attention of local male 022 who tried to see it off.

Elsewhere there were Red Kites over Wareham and Carey, the Common Swift chicks on our Swift nest box cam are doing well and growing fast (Watch Live Here: https://www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk/swift-box-cam/) and there were 2 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon. More autumn passage signs with 7 Green Sandpiper and 2 Greenshank ‘new in’ at Lytchett Fields, a Goosander and 3 ducklings were on the River Piddle and a Hobby and Kestrel were fighting over Wareham Common.

3-year old male Osprey 5H3 and 2-year old female 6J8 content on a harbour nest platform this AM

2-year old male Osprey 5H6 and 2-year old female 6J8 not quite so content on a harbour nest platform this PM

Adult Swift and 2 chicks in our Swift nest cam box

As we write, things have cooled a small amount, although its now 27 degrees as apposed to 37 degrees, so still pretty warm, and whilst this may effect bird activity to not do very much, it certainly gets moths going, and there have been huge numbers moving along and around the Dorset coast over the last couple of nights. That included a great Poole Harbour record of a critically endangered Speckled Footman, an exceptionally rare heathland specialist which is almost restricted almost entirely to a few areas of heathland around WNW Poole Harbour and Wareham Forest. Bird sightings were pretty few and far between today, mainly because most folk were hidden away indoors, but female Osprey CJ7 could have done without a persistent Magpie that was bothering her and the chicks all afternoon, and Scottish female Osprey 6J8 was in Middlebere this evening with a male, presumed to be male 5H3. Theres also been a stunning adult Yellow-legged Gull around the Swineham area this last week and was on a channel marker near Swineham Point this evening.

Speckled Footman – Near Wareham Forest – Kate Fox

CJ7 warning off an annoying Magpie that persisted after ‘fish bits’ for most of the afternoon.

Yellow-legged Gull – Swineham – Joe Parker

It’s hot! Most of the bird activity was early morning and late evening with birds and birders sheltering from the high temperatures. Nice to see dispersing Great White Egret numbers starting to grow with 3 in the Wareham Channel this morning. There was also 1 Osprey, 2 Bearded Tit and 1 Yellow-legged Gull here. There were 4 juvenile and 1 adult Little-ringed Plover on RSPB Arne Moors, showing another successful season for this species. 1 Osprey was sat in trees in Lytchett Bay this morning plus a stunning Water Rail was in the mouth of the Frome. There have been good numbers of Swifts at known traditional breeding sites, likely bolstered by transiting non-breeding birds investigating various colonies. This evening male Osprey 022 did a lovely fly by of our Sunset Safari, plus there were 2 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon.

No doubt the heat wave this week will be impacting our birds particularly those with young in nests with risks of heat stress and dehydration. Our Ospreys seem to be coping well considering, with CJ7 providing shade throughout the day. Ospreys are also used to these sorts of temperatures, wintering in West Africa and the ability to nest throughout southern Europe. Birds don’t have sweat glands and so rely on panting to cool them down. As we expect more and more heatwaves with climate change it makes it even more important to create more ponds and wetlands to provide water for our wildlife. Even something small in a garden can make a real difference for amphibians and birds.

Common Seals – Near Round Island – John Thorpe

The warm weather was (semi) welcomed with an easterly airflow, and being mid-June, there’s always an (outside) chance of a mid-year mega! There was a pale morph Booted Eagle in South Devon yesterday and this weather system is ideal for a Black Stork. Today we had to make do with 3 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon and 7 Cattle Egret were on Wareham Common. A male Osprey was over Morden Bog this afternoon and one was in the Wareham Channel this morning.

Osprey – Morden Bog – Mark Wright

With both the summer solstice and the new heatwave arriving on the same day today, perhaps a new bird related arrival wasn’t out of the question too? Well thats exactly what happened during our Summer Safari Cruise this morning when a female Red-backed Shrike was found from the boat in a dead tree on the corner of Swineham GP, in exactly the same spot the Red-spotted Bluethroat was hanging out earlier this spring. With 2 great quality birds favouring that exact same area this year, it makes that 10m sq area one of the most productive rarity hotspots in the whole harbour. This is also our second Red-backed Shrike of the spring which is great considering they’re often only a one in 5-year occurrence! The one a few weeks ago was a pristine adult male, and todays a female, so it’s a shame they didn’t coincide their visits as there’s plenty of great habitat around.

Despite the blazing sign, a true sign of more early autumn migration was the first southward Common Sandpiper of the season in the mouth of the River Frome, along with 1 Ringed Plover, 10 Lapwing and small numbers of Curlew, Redshank and Black-tailed Godwit. The brownsea Lagoon held 15 Avocet, 5 Spoonbill and multiple young Common and Sandwich Terns. Ospreys were a tad trickier to find today with only distant sightings over Middlebere and the Wareham Channel, Bearded Tits were showing well in the reed beds at Swineham Point.

Female Red-backed Shrike – Swineham Point – Trevor Warwick

Female Red-backed Shrike – Swineham Point – Peter Moore

Things are about to heat up….hopefully both Ornithologically as well Meteorologically! June can often be referred to as ‘the quiet month’, but so much happens, which although is subtle, still offers great birding before the main pulse of autumn migration kicks in in mid-July. June see the arrival of ‘summer herons’, whether it be dispersing juvenile Grey Herons and wandering adults, plus there’s always a rise in Little Egret in late June/early July which are probably younger birds (not juvs) moving about, which is then followed by a peak in August. Following this theme 5 Cattle Egret were seen arriving into the Wareham Channel this morning, which could also be dispersing/wandering failed breeders? as all were in full summer plumage. It was another raptor fest in the SW of the harbour with 3 Osprey interacting over Middlebere this AM which included female 6J8 and males 5H3 and his Dad, 022. Plus, 2 Peregrine flew over, as did a White-tailed Eagle, 1 Goshawk and 1 Marsh Harrier. The Brownsea Lagoon held 11 Avocet, 2 Spoonbill, 8 Bar-tailed Godwit and 1 Common Ringed Plover. There were 3 Little Ringed Plover on the Stilt Pools at Swineham and 25 Black-tailed Godwit in the Wareham Channel. A decent count of 21 Swift were over Upper Parkstone this evening and yesterdays hatchling in our Wareham Swift box seemed to be doing well today with several feeds from the adults.

Newly hatched Swift getting a feed from one of the adults

Female Osprey 6J8 on harbour nest platform