It was just too hot today, and it was no surprise that by 10am many birds had gone into hiding. Still, it was our first Osprey watch point session up at Ham Common View point today which was well rewarded when 3 Osprey were located out over the Wareham Channel within 15 minutes! Over the 3 hours that our team were there they were seen on and off out towards Keysworth. Over the 3 hours around 30 visitors attended, coming to learn about the project and of course, hopeful in trying to see Osprey. There will be another session tomorrow morning between 9am and 12pm and each weekend day throughout the rest of August. If early September is looking good too, then we’ll possibly host a couple more as well. …full details can be found here. Yesterdays male Honey Buzzard was seen again out over the Wareham Channel out towards Keysworth before being seen flying off NW. Wheatear are now becoming ‘a feature’ with one on the sea wall of the Brownsea Lagoon and 4 at Greenland’s Farm along with 2 Yellow Wagtail and 4 Willow Warbler. Proof that migrants are pushing through early on was highlighted with a ringing session at Lytchett Heath producing 6 Grasshopper Warbler, 51 Sedge Warbler, 26 Reed Warbler, 1 Garden Warbler, 3 Common Whitethroat and 28 Willow Warbler! At Slepe Heath a Redstart and a Whinchat and further up on top of Hartland a Tree Pipit flew over.

With the weather heating up this weekend, we are starting to see a great range of sightings spread across the harbour. The highlight of the day was an adult male pale Honey Buzzard that flew west over the north of the Wareham Channel, past the entrance to Lytchett Bay this morning. In a ringing session at Lytchett Bay this morning, 2 Grasshopper Warbler were ringed, as well as 1 Common Sandpiper. In the Wareham Channel, highlights included 2 Little Tern feeding, 2 Common Sandpipers, 380 Black-tailed Godwit, c.60 Little Egret and 6 Common Seal. At Swineham, 4 Bearded Tits and 2 Green Sandpiper were present, as well as a Hobby over the gravel pits.

On the Brownsea Lagoon, 1 Spoonbill, c.80 Dunlin, 3 Ringed Plover, 1 Wigeon, 20 Teal, 1 Greenshank, c.25 Redshank and 5 Avocet were present. Also on the Brownsea shoreline were 10 Common Sandpiper. The harbour is teeming with both juvenile and adult Sandwich and Common Tern. Over in Studland Bay, 4 Gannets were present and 1 summer-plumage Sanderling was seen in Shell Bay. In the exposed mud around Ower and Newton Bay, c.20 Whimbrel and 150 Curlew were sighted.

Osprey sightings are becoming more common across the harbour. Over the weekend, the team will be stationed at Ham Common Viewpoint for our public Osprey Watch events in partnership with BCP Council, where the movement of Ospreys over the Wareham Channel will be reported. Hopefully, we may get further sightings of the Honey Buzzard from there too. Today, 1 Osprey was sighted perched on a marker post in the mouth of the River Frome and another was sighted over Lytchett Bay this morning.

Common Sandpiper, Lytchett Bay

A band of grizzly drizzle welcomed us this AM meaning that pre-planned birding efforts were curtailed and didn’t get going until mid-morning. The drizzle did produce several Sedge Warbler in scrub around Lytchett Fields and there were 16 Greenshank, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Spotted Redshank, 1 Common Snipe, 161 Black-tailed Godwit and an Osprey flew over the bay mid afternoon. There were more Osprey sightings with 1 seen eating a fish near the mouth of the Frome with another high above the Wareham Channel and finally another at Morden Bog again eating fish. There were 2 Hobby over the Piddle Valley and another over Slepe Heath. When the drizzle did stop a small push of Willow Warbler went through with several at Arne, Middlebere and Slepe and Swineham.

A chillier day with a building SW wind meant migration seemed to be halted. The female Osprey was again at Morden Bog south of the decoy pond. Another Osprey was seen over Lytchett Bay where there was also 14 Little Egret, 154 Black-tailed Godwit, 17 Lapwing, 1 Avocet, 1 Whimbrel, 1 Common Sandpiper and a Yellow Wagtail. There was a whopping count of 65 Little Egret at Holes Bay north along with 342 Black-tailed Godwit.

This morning we carried out a coordinated count, to try and find out how many Osprey were present in the harbour due to yesterdays high number of sightings. With thanks to several members of the public and some of our team we managed to track down 3 definite different birds with a potential 4^th seen too. CJ7 was on her nest cam pole at 8am whilst another un-ringed bird was at Morden Bog. Then, a bit later birders at Lytchett Fields had an un-ringed bird in the dead trees at the back of the field whilst the Morden bird was still present. Reports of another out over the Wareham Channel were received indicating a possible 4^th, but by then it could have been any of the other 3 so it was hard to say. Also present out in the Wareham Channel were an adult female Marsh Harrier, an adult male and what looked to be a fresh juvenile. In Lytchett Bay the first Grey Plover of the autumn appeared and on the fields were 3 Common Sandpiper, 200+ Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Little Ringed Plover and 2 Greenshank. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 3 Spoonbill and c25 Dunlin. A ringing session at Lytchett Heath carried out by Stour Ringing Group saw 5 Grasshopper Warbler, 1 Garden Warbler, 20 Willow Warbler, 35 Sedge Warbler and 12 Reed Warbler. At RSPB Arne, the main overflow car park produced some goodies this evening in the form of 1 Pied Flycatcher, 2-3 Spotted Flycatcher and 3 Willow Warbler.

Today was the first ‘Osprey’ day of the autumn with multiple sightings during the peak time of between 9am and 11am. There was almost certainly 3 different individuals and possibly more with 2 seen over Lytchett Bay together and singles observed at Ridge, Middlebere, Morden Bog, Holton Lee and Brands By. How many bird were actually involved was hard to say, but a coordinated count early tomorrow morning may shed some light on that question. Migrants continued to push through with 2 Whinchat, 4 Wheatear, 2 Pied Flycatcher, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Redstart, 12 Chiffchaff, 3 Willow Warbler, 3 Blackcap and 2 Whitethroat at Ballard. At Middlebere there were 2 Peregrines (over Hartland Moor, 1 adult, 1 hungry juvenile), 4 Chiffchaff, 5 Shelduck, 4 Little Egret, 2 Grey Heron, 1 Common Gull, 3 Buzzard, 2 Kestrel, 1 Sparrowhawk, 37 Black-tailed Godwit & a steady stream of Swallow, with 1 Sand Martin. At Lytchett Fields there were 246 Black-tailed Godwit and 3 Common Sandpiper. A Nightjar count on Slepe Heath saw only 3 individuals and very limited song, providing sad evidence that the Nightjar season is almost over and before long all the adults would have left although juveniles will linger on into September.

Un-ringed female Osprey – Morden Bog