Today saw a great return in birds for people who were out for their health walks. A proper April morning! Firstly, thanks to everyone that’s been sending in sightings to us so that we can still publish info for everyone. We know times are tough, but it’s great to hear that people are being sensible by walking to favourite (remote) areas to get their daily exercise and still able to enjoy spring to a certain extent. Without doubt the two best birds were a Hoopoe on the outskirts of Wareham near Mill Lane which sadly didn’t hang around for long before flying off south over the town, only then for the same observer to look up 10 minutes later and see a White Stork drift high west down the Piddle Valley, heading towards East Stoke. The harbours first Reed Warbler of the spring was at Swineham and a Tree Pipit was at Wareham Forest. In Lytchett Bay an Arctic Tern was in the bay and a migrating Marsh Harrier was seen at Lytchett Bay, heading west, only to be seen passing over Wareham about 10 minutes later. There were 2 Osprey n the harbour again today with both active out in the Wareham Channel but keeping their distance.
Poole Harbour sightings blog
A record of all interesting and notable sightings from around the harbour throughout the year.
Latest Sightings
Harbour Update – posted 06/04/20
Harbour Update – posted 04/04/20
Well, there’s still no definitive sign of CJ7 since Wednesday but an Osprey was seen out over the Wareham Channel yesterday afternoon, which was seen to catch a fish and take it towards Wareham Forest. There was a nice little fall of Willow Warblers with several around Lytchett Bay and in peoples gardens. Last night there were also plenty of people out seeing if they could add Common Scoter to their garden lists with the understanding that many have been migrating at night recently, and amazingly they were heard over central Poole, Lytchett Bay, Ridge and Lytchett Matravers which is just astonishing. The springs first Whimbrel for the harbour also passed over Lytchett Matravers last night with many more likely to be recorded over the coming weeks. There were also still 2 Little Ringed Plover on Wareham Common flood. Our Osprey nest cam is offereing some ‘interim’ entertainment whilst we wait for the return of male Osprey LS7 with a Kestrel on there today which was seen carrying a male Sand Lizard. This is typical behaviour for Kestrel that nest on or on the edge of heathland habitats, the Kestrel pair at Arne almost feeding exclusively on Lizards.
Kestrel with male Sand Lizard on Osprey Nest Cam
Harbour Update – posted 03/04/20
Lytchett Fields had a good suit of birds with 1 Spotted Redshank, 1 sum plum Water Pipit, 108 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Greenshank, 1 Green Sandpiper and 38 Redshank. Red Kites were seen over Lytchett Matravers, Upton and Poole. There were 2 Little Ringed Plover on the Wareham Common floods. There were more Common Scoter on the move with 3 flocks over just north of the harbour between 10:30pm and midnight. No Osprey appeared on any nest platforms today but one was seen over Wareham mid-morning.
Starling – Upton Garden
Harbour Update – posted 02/04/20
Today was ‘one of those kind of days’ where, despite being in lockdown, we still managed to punch the air with excitement for a number of reasons. Firstly, lets get ‘the general’ sightings out of the way. The welcome sound of a Willow Warbler was heard on Slepe Heath this afternoon and (more) Red Kite were logged over Lytchett Fields, Lytchett Matravers and Studland. In Holes Bay there were still 116 Wigeon despite most of the harbours over-wintering population having now left and those that have been able to make it out onto local heathlands have been enjoying plenty of singing Dartford Warbler. There were an initial 2 Osprey sightings at Lytchett Bay with 1 heading NE from the Bakers Arms area and a second heading north over Sandy Lane.
As many of you will know, for 5 years now we’ve been undertaking night sound recording sessions at different sites across the harbour to try and understand what, when and how often different species migrate across and over the harbour during the hours of darkness. We now have 2 recording devices that we can deploy with one on long-term deployment currently in the Piddle Valley and a second we can install on a chosen night. Luckily, we had both running last night and we’re glad we did as the UK experienced an incredible passage of Common Scoter across the country which began just after dark up north and after 10pm here on the south coast. We’re still yet to retrieve the data from our device in the Piddle Valley, but our gear just north of the harbour on top of a hill in Lytchett Matravers had 4 flocks of Common Scoter fly over between 10:45pm and midnight. Birdguides have done a great write up highlighting where the main passage areas were but as more people begin submitting data it looks as if it was almost the whole of the UK that had these open sea duck traveling over them last night. Almost as interesting (but not quite) was the fact we also had 122 Redwing fly over too, which for very early April is pretty good going. Also logged were a Wigeon flock, 2 Oystercatcher, 1 Moorhen, 1 Grey Heron and the local Tawny Owl’s. Below is an example of one of the Common Scoter flocks that passed over our listening station last night.
Then, the best news of the day, week, year so far…..is that after a long cold, wet and miserable winter and hoping for the safe return of either Osprey CJ7 or LS7 (ideally both), we caught a glimpse of CJ7 on one of the Poole Harbour nest platforms today meaning SHE’S BACK! This is everything we’ve been hoping for all winter, and now, the fingers remain crossed that LS7 isn’t too far behind. It’s unlikely he’ll arrive (if he arrives) for a week or so yet, but the truth is we just don’t know so despite the lockdown, our team are ‘on it’, and will be keeping a tab on all behaviour and activity this spring and promise to share as much as we’re able to with the public.
During this tough and dark time, we hope this is the glimmer of hope and positivity we deserve and look forward to seeing how the story develops over the coming days, weeks and months.
Female Osprey CJ7 – Touch down in the harbour having just returned from Africa
Harbour Update – posted 31-01/04/20
Here’s a round up from the last day of March and first day of April. At Lytchett Bay, the 3rd Osprey of the spring was fishing mid-afternoon. On Lytchett Fields 1 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Spotted Redshank and 1 Green Sandpiper were present. Red Kites flew over Lytchett Matravers, Swanage, Upton and Evening Hill. A Swallow also zoomed past one of our team’s house windows mid-morning.
WE also saw an update from Tim Mackrill from the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation that one of their tagged Osprey S1 is now on the move north and we hope that CJ7 is with him somewhere. It was on April 1st 2019 that she arrived back last year so it should be any day now all being well.
Harbour Update – posted 30/03/20
Being in lockdown (hate that phrase) means it’s rather tricky to carry much of our hoped for Osprey nest monitoring to log when different birds arrive back into the harbour. Luckily there are still a few people who are able to get out to local areas for their daily health walks, which resulted in another Lytchett Bay Osprey this evening, the third this spring already! Sadly, once again it didn’t hang around and we still wait for one to drop on to one of our Poole Harbour nest platforms. Luckily, despite the drop in monitoring efforts we still have three trigger cameras set up on three other nest platforms around the harbour, which work via the phone network, so every two hours we get photo updates of what’s been triggering the cameras. To date it’s mostly been wind and Carrion Crows but there’s always that moment of excitement when we get the updates.
Today the male Peregrine was on the Asda building feeding, but there was no sign of the female. Is she on eggs somewhere or has she given up on a hopeless lover?
We’re also just about to start updating our Poole Harbour list with additional info (historic and current), providing you with more about the birds you see (or may never see) out around the harbour, so be sure to click on our PH List link over the coming weeks.
Still images from the other nest cams we’re monitoring
Harbour Update – posted 29/03/20
Today’s icy blast was a shock to the system compared to last weeks very welcome warm spell. As seems common practice now, the day started off with….yep, you guessed it….a Red Kite, this one over Lytchett Bay again. A Black Redstart was in Somerby Road, Oakdale and in Holes Bay a 60 tardy Wigeon were lingering on and the Brownsea Lagoon was still busy with 2000+ Black-tailed Godwit, low numbers of Avocet and c10 early returning Sandwich Tern. The wind is due to ease off again by Tuesday meaning we can all get back to sky/garden watching again pretty soon, and with Swallows, House Martins and other passerines all arriving during April, we can carry on bolstering our lockdown garden lists.
It was also April 1st 2019 when female Osprey CJ7 arrived back into the harbour and began showing real interest in Middlebere nest platform. She spent many days being active on that nest before another larger female came along at the end of April and booted her off before CJ7 then came back again in May. The larger female then arrived back later in the summer whilst CJ7 decided she preferred a nest platform elsewhere in the harbour. Well….April 1st is this Wednesday! Will she be back on time? To help build excitement, Brittany Maxted, our Osprey project officer has put together a great film which includes all the still images taken by our trigger camera that was set up on the Middlebere nest last year.
Harbour Update – posted 28/03/20
The cold wind began to build today but it’s due to drop right down tomorrow. That said, several Red Kite still popped up with birds over Lytchett Bay, Upton and Canford Heath.
Our partners in the Osprey reintroduction project also published some interesting data today too, highlighting that male Osprey S1, who spent the summer of 2017 in Poole Harbour is now making his way up the west coast of France and only days away from entering UK airspace. Now, he’s already faithful to a nest at Rutland so may stop here for a quick feed but will almost certainly be looking to get back to Rutland ASAP. What is interesting about S1 is that he’s the same age as CJ7 meaning she could possibly be on the same time line in terms of an arrival date. Lets wait and see!
Male Osprey S1 current position – data & map from Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation
Harbour Update – posted 27/03/20
With the wind really due to build over the weekend and the temperature due to drop, today saw a good opportunity to really build those lockdown garden lists with potential ‘fly overs’ making use of the thermals. Once again Red Kites were the highlight of the day for several garden watchers with individuals over Oakdale, Upton, Hamworthy and Lilliput. Highlight of the day was another Osprey which spent a bit of time over the Wareham Channel and Holton Lee before disappearing never to be seen again. It tends to be that these early migrant Osprey are already established breeders further north so are unlikely to stay for very long, and almost certainly won’t land on one of our nest platforms. It’s from next week that things could begin getting interesting for us. At Swineham the 2 Little Ringed Plover were still on the ‘Stilt Pools’ and a White Wagtail was near Curlews Cottage. Out in Lytchett Bay on the low tide 2 Spotted Redshank and 5 Greenshank were feeding.
Todays recording is one we made around this time but back in 2018 which is of a male Stonechat, fresh back on territory singing to a female that was just a few meters away on another bush. You can also hear a Linnet calling and a few short harsh tones of Dartford Warbler too.
Red Kite – Oakdale – Ian Ballam
Harbour Update – posted 26/03/20
Another gorgeous day, and thanks to everyone who supplied sightings from their ‘health’ walks today. Along Soldiers Road there were 6 Fieldfare with another 5 on the edge of Slepe Heath. A Red Kite flew over central Upton with another over Studland and amazingly 5 over Baiter just after mid-day. It seems everyone is getting familiar with their local Buzzards with numerous photos appearing on social media as they fly over peoples gardens. Today, we even began photographing different individuals that flew over to see if we could work out exactly how many regular ‘locals’ there are and how many just pass on by…..good fun….if at home all day! Blackcap are definitely beginning to arrive and move on to their territories with birds singing at Holmebridge, Slepe Copse and Upton CP and there’s certainly no shortage of Chiffchaff.
Today, we’d like to play a sound that we recorded around this time last spring which is a typical mid March. This was recorded on the edge of Slepe Heath and was our first Chiffchaff of the spring that year as a Great Spotted Woodpecker drummed in the distance.
Fieldfare – Soldiers Road
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