With the wind easing it seemed things were a bit better over at Wareham Forest though 150 Fire Fighter remained on the scene. Incredibly though, a reptile search out on Hartland Moor yesterday morning found two newly used disposable BBQ’s right on the edge of Hartland Moor, in amongst the brittle dry gorse and heather. It really does beggars belief that some people haven’t taken note or understood the serious of the situation and carry on regardless. It was a true case of beauty and brainlessness, as not 30m away from the BBQ’s a stunning male Nightjar was found perching on a log which allowed for some wonderful photos as it sat motionless only 1m away from the finder. Another lovely scene was the interaction between 2 Roseate Terns on the Brownsea Lagoon which we were able to STREAM LIVE on our Lagoon webcam. Roseate Terns are one of the UK’s rarest breeding sea birds and don’t usually breed in Dorset, but in 2009 one pair successfully raised chicks on the lagoon which was fantastic. Roseate Terns drop in and use the lagoon each spring whilst on migration, and we have actually had them on our cameras before but not since 2014 so it was great to have some back today that the public could enjoy whilst Brownsea is closed. A White Stork was seen further up the Frome Valley at Wool and 2 Hobby were active over Bog Lane. And finally 4 Crossbill went over Meyrick Park Golf Club.

Roseate Tern – Brownsea Lagoon webcam

Newly used disposable BBQ’s found on Hartland Moor today

Well, the wind built all day today, and sadly by the end of the day 200 Fire Fighters were back on scene at Wareham Forest. Fire Crews from across southern Britain were helping out by creating controlled burns elsewhere in the forest to help stop the spread. The chief fire officer said this was an ‘unprecedented situation’ and asked pleaded with the public to please stay away over the Bank Holiday weekend as the safety of the general public is paramount, and with the situation not improving it’s just too dangerous to be in the area. So, we’d also like to advise that birders please stay away from Wareham Forest, including Morden Bog as the fire has slowly bit surely made it’s way in that direction and the situation is very unstable. Thank you.

Bird news saw the first Roseate Tern on Brownsea settled briefly on one of the Sandwich Tern islands. It’s been some time since one has been on these islands and previously we’ve been able to get them live on the webcam so lets hope that can be the case over the coming days. The wind kept female Osprey CJ7 at bay today as she only visited the nest cam very briefly mid afternoon, no doubt sheltering somewhere for most of the day. At Swineham it seems the Temminck’s Stint has definitely moved on, but there was a Little Ringed Plover and 2 Cuckoo. At Lytchett Fields 2 Little Ringed Plover dropped in as did a few Ringed Plover and a single Bar-tailed Godwit.

Well, we’re sad to say that with the wind building today, it was enough to really get the Wareham Forest fire going again and by 5pm this evening 150 Fire Fighters were back on site trying to tackle the blaze. The fire service investigation announced today that the cause of the fire was due to a disposed of BBQ or left bonfire. And now with the fire raging again it looks as if more habitat and wildlife will be destroyed. It’s estimated that it will take roughly 30 years for the heathland to fully restore, and although heathland burning can have a positive impact, it’s all about scale and control, and in no instance would you ever want such a huge area (currently c200ha) lost in one go, in one area. So, with the Bank Holiday upon us, we urge everyone to refrain from having BBQ’s in sensitive areas, especially when it hasn’t rained for weeks and the ground is tinder dry.

The wind kept the birding low key today, but Swifts were loving the SW blast, with c50 over Swineham at lunchtime. At Lytchett Bay, 2 summer-plum Sanderling were on the rising tide and 8 were present on Shell Beach yesterday. Hobby were over Ridge, Hydes Heath and Slepe Heath.

Common Lizard on burnt tree stump – Wareham Forest – Terry Bagley

Wow, if things hadn’t been eventful enough over the last couple of days things really ramped up today when we received some exceptionally exciting news, not from here in the harbour though, but from the western edge of Wales. At around midday a mystery Osprey was spotted on the Dyfi Osprey project webcam, trying to land briefly on the nest with Telyn, their breeding female. Telyn wasn’t really happy about this and the intruder was forced away and eventually settled on one of the perches near by, still in camera view. Thanks to the excellent zoom function on the Dyfi nest cam, the team up there were able to zoom in the newcomer, only to see it was a blue-ringed individual on the right leg…..an British bird! Was it another returning Welsh youngster, or perhaps even a Rutland youngster doing the rounds? Nope. After an agonising wait for the bird to reveal the ring number it eventually did, revealing the code 014!!!! This is a female 2018 Poole Harbour translocated chick. EXCELLENT! As you may remember 2018 was a difficult year for the team and the project with the intense heat wave of that summer sadly impacting on some of the chicks development with several sadly not making it through to migration. However, out of the six that did leave (3 male and 3 female), we knew they were all strong birds and there was a chance we could see one or two back, especially 013 and 014 which were always really big and strong birds from the very start. And now here we are, two years later and 014 is now back in the UK. Her arriving in Wales is pretty typical of a two-year old as youngsters often spend their first summer back in the UK touring the country, interacting with other Ospreys before often then returning to their natal sites later in the summer/early autumn for a short period of time. They’ll then leave south for the winter before hopefully returning back to their natal sites the following spring. The truth is, with 014 being female, she could quite easily be tempted away to breed at another established site, like Wales or Rutland, but we hope we can have enough returning males visiting Poole Harbour each spring over the next 4-5 years that will do their best to make her want to stay here instead! The dyfi team have put this excellent video together documenting 014’s visit to the nest today

Plus, this morning, the Loch of the Lowes youngster from the day before, female Osprey PT0 joined CJ7 on the nest again, with both eye-balling each other from opposite sides of the nest before CJ7 saw off PT0 who wasn’t then seen again for the rest of the day, assumed to have carried on with her migration.

Other bird news today saw the Temminck’s Stint still present at Swineham on the new scrapes along with 1 Little Ringed Plover. At Lytchett Fields 13 Ringed Plover dropped in and a Cuckoo was calling. At Slepe Heath 4 Hobby were active over the area and a migrating Marsh Harrier was seen over central Poole.

What will tomorrow bring??

Female Osprey 014 when she arrived with us in July 2018

Here’s her a couple of days after fledging, settled on a telegraph pole in Poole Harbour (Aug 2018)

And here she was today at the Dyfi nest site, Wales. Photo credit Dyfi Osprey Project.

Well, it was another fine weekend with opportunities to top up your tans! Interests seem to be expanding as they often do this time of year, from birds to reptiles, moths, butterflies, dragonflies etc. As May progresses, the opportunities to learn about this exciting range of fauna that Dorset and Poole Harbour is so famous for becomes easier with more species on the wing or enjoying basking in the sun. A mini reptile foray over the weekend produced all six native species of reptile including numerous pristine male Sand Lizards and a whopper of a Grass Snake Slepe Heath on the edge of a muddy pool. Bird-wise it’s been quite busy with plenty of Swifts now back over established breeding grounds, but more on that later. In the Wareham Channel possible Garganey (2 male and 2 female) flew west up the channel and 22 Little Egret entered the harbour colony at dusk on Sunday suggesting a reasonable number are breeding. The Cattle Egret didn’t show but has been seen in the Frome Valley several times over the last week. Hobby have been numerous with a peak count of 8 over the Arne Road area and singles over Slepe, Hartland and Stoborough Heath. At Lytchett Fields a Little Ringed Plover and 4 Ringed Plover were on the fields. Female Osprey CJ7 has been wandering the harbour a bit more and has been photographed by our trail cams on several more platforms and a migrant Osprey travelled high over the harbour on Sunday afternoon. Out in the Wareham Channel there seems to be an over-summering flock of 11 Great Crested Grebe that are hanging around, which we assume are young non-breeders. Also, on the gull islands, despite there being many hundreds of Med Gulls present only a couple of weeks ago, there seems to be hardly any again now with only a handful spread across the islands. The local Tawny Owl near the Osprey nest cam also came in for a sneaky look last night too to see if any late night supper may be available!

We mentioned Swifts earlier on and the fact they’re now seeming to be pairing up and seeking out old and new breeding sites. Well, we’re glad to say that with the lockdown restrictions having been eased ever so slightly we’ve been able to react quickly and continue our work on the Swift city Project we started last year. You can read our latest update HERE, but essentially we’ve been able to get another 15 boxes up in the last few days both in Wareham and Hamworthy just in time for this breeding season which is great news!

Sand Lizard (female) and Adder – Slepe Heath

Its all much of the same currently as spring migration now winds down. Waders can continue to pass right the way through May, but with all this high pressure birds are simply by-passing the south coast/UK and making good time in terms of reaching their breeding grounds further north. Today was a good example of that with a small selection of waders dropping in briefly at Lytchett Fields including 9 Ringed Plover, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Dunlin, 3 Whimbrel, 1 Curlew and the 2 (semi) resident Oystercatcher. The first Marsh Harrier for nearly a month in the Wareham Channel area was seen and 3+ Hobby were active over Slepe Heath. Cuckoo’s were in the Frome Valley and there are now numerous newly fledged Stonechats out across the heathlands. An Osprey was seen over Holes Bay heading north which could well have been the visitor to CJ7’s nest the night before, plus a Common Tern was roosting near the Stone Bench at Upton CP. Don’t forget, May is also the best time to see fresh, bright green male Sand Lizards as they begin to start chasing females around heathland fringes. Check out this gorgeous photo by Ian Ballam from his local heathland yesterday. It also clearly highlights why male Sand Lizards are so regularly taken by heathland breeding Kestrels compared to the females!

Sand Lizards – Lytchett Heath – Ian Ballam