A stunning, sunny day in the harbour, with a clear out of some of the migrant Ospreys which were in the harbour yesterday, although 1 juvenile and 2 adults (including an unringed male) were still visible in the Wareham Channel. On our Young Birders Summer birds and conservation cruise this morning we had great views of at least 2 recently fledged juvenile Bearded Tit in the mouth of the River Frome, c20 House Martin flying low over Swineham Gravel Pit, c150 Black-tailed Godwit at the top of the Wareham Channel and 1 Sparrowhawk mobbing the Ospreys briefly. On the Brownsea Lagoon, there were 15 Spoonbill on the Tamarisk Island, 2 Sanderling in with the c100 Dunlin, 10 Ringed Plover, 20 Avocet, and 6 Common Sandpiper along the northern shoreline. Earlier this morning, 1 Great White Egret flew past the Rock Lea Viewpoint at RSPB Lytchett. On the rising tide at RSPB Lytchett Fields, there were 2 Peregrine Falcon, 2 Spotted Redshank, 7 Green Sandpiper, 2 Common Sandpiper, 3 Common Gull, 7 Greenshank, and 46 Redshank. The White-tailed Eagles were active in the harbour today, with 1 adult seen with a fish being harassed by a juvenile Osprey. Various ringing sessions took place including at Lytchett Bay where 2 Redstart where the highlight and the Lower Piddle Valley where 3 Tree Pipit and still good numbers of Sedge Warbler were ringed. A Great White Egret was also on Lytchett Fields.

2 Spoonbill – Middlebere – Alison Copland

Adult White-tailed Eagle – Middlebere – Alison Copland

Juvenile Osprey (likely from Carey nest) – Middlebere – John Thorp

Tree Pipit – Lower Piddle Valley – Ed Betteridge

The calm after the storm in the harbour today and it seems it’s brought a number of migrant Ospreys, as they were all across the harbour today. A left-leg blue ringed Osprey was in Lytchett Bay this morning (meaning it is a bird that was ringed in Scotland). We had 7 different Osprey in the Wareham Channel from our Summer Safari Cruise this morning, including at least 2 juveniles, likely from the Carey Nest. This included one fish catch and another bird carrying a fish. There were 2 Osprey at Middlebere, including a juvenile and an adult catching a fish, but no doubt some of these birds overlapped in the Wareham Channel. It certainly bodes well for a very busy season of Osprey passage this August and September.

There were also 12 Spoonbill and 1 Great White Egret in the Middlebere Channel. 1 White-tailed Eagle was also soaring over the southern parts of the harbour. On the Brownsea Lagoon at high tide there were 2 stunning summer plumaged Knot along with 14 Spoonbill, c150 Dunlin, c15 Ringed Plover, 2 Sanderling and 20 Avocet. In Lytchett Bay, the 3 Spotted Redshank were still present.

At the Piddle Valley Ringing site 2 milestones were hit today, with over 2000(!) birds having been ringed this Autumn already and the 1000th Sedge Warbler. 76 Sedge Warbler were ringed today, 3 Grasshopper Warbler, 1 Whitethroat, 6 Willow Warbler and 1 Linnet.

Linnet – Piddle Valley Ringing Site – Ed Betteridge

An excellent Summer Safari cruise this morning! Both the territorial White-tailed Eagle pair were present, with the male G463 sat on Gold Point and the female G466 sat on Shag Looe in the Wareham Channel. They were both still sat there an hour later! 2 Osprey were present, one juvenile (likely a chick from the Carey nest) and an adult female. c200 Black-tailed Godwit were feeding out on the exposed mud and 1 Great White Egret was sat along the shoreline. On the Brownsea Lagoon, there were 9 Spoonbill, 8 Avocet, 9 Ringed Plover, and 1 Wheatear briefly on the lagoon wall. 1 Ruff was seen at RSPB Lytchett Fields and 6 Yellow-legged Gull were present on Arne Moors this evening.

Male White-tailed Eagle (G463) – Gold Point – Alison Copland

Osprey – Wareham Channel – Alison Copland

Great White Egret, Black-tailed Godwit, and Cormorant – Alison Copland

There were plenty of general migrants around today with Willow Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Common Whitethroat and Stonechats seemingly on the move in good numbers. There were multiple Osprey once again withe 3 seen in Lytchett Bay, 3-4 seen around the Wareham Channel and sightings also in Middlebere. The Brownsea Lagoon held 12 Spoonbill, 6 Sanderling, 120 Dunlin, 1 Knot  full summer plumage, 22 Avocet, 72 Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Ringed Plover, 19 Greenshank, 53 Common Redshank and 17 Common Sandpiper. At RSPB Arne a Pied Flycatcher was on Coombe Heath.

Female Osprey CJ7 seeing off yesterdays male Honey Buzzard – Carey Secret Garden

It’s August! A month full of potential and migrant birds. With autumn migration having started so early this year, it will be interesting to see how extensive and busy the main passage month will be for many of our warbler, flycatcher and chat species, not to mention Ospreys, waders and a whole host of other birds. Today a fine adult male Honey Buzzard came and gave our Osprey family some grief briefly, before soon being escorted out of the area by male Osprey 022. It already feels like it’s going to be a busy Osprey season this year, with 3 over Lytchett Bay together this morning, 2 in Middlebere, 3 seen in the Wareham Channel and at one point at Carey 5 together, one of which was definitely an intruder Osprey. Although some of these will relate to the same individuals, including our family of 6 from the Carey Secret Garden nest, there’s probaly no less than 10 present currently. Also in Middlebere were 7 Spoonbill, 1 White-tailed Eagle over, 1 Great White Egret and 1 Hobby. At South Haven, Studland a Grasshopper Warbler and 2 Whitethroat were in scrub and at the PCW Drain, Fleetsbridge a Garden Warbler and 2 Whitethroat were in the ditch.

During the sunset safari this evening, female White-tailed eagle, G466, was ensconced on Gold point, Arne, watching and ruling over her harbour. An Osprey successfully caught a fish in the Wareham channel and headed west towards the Carey nest, soon afterwards another Osprey but this time an unringed individual was hunting in the same location. A few Bearded tit were ‘pinging’ in the reed bed at the mouth of the harbour and two harbour seal were loafing on the edge of the salt marsh.

During the journey over to Brownsea lagoon and on the lagoon itself, a noticeable increase in Mediterranean gulls with at least 20. 8 Spoonbill were seen flying west towards Ower bay and a further 6 were on the lagoon. On the lagoon; 30 Dunlin, 8 Ringed plover, 6 Turnstone, 6 Common sandpiper, 5 Greenshank and 10 Redshank and a single Wheatear on the sea wall

Bullish passing male Honey Buzzard giving the Carey Osprey family grief at 10:45am today

A rainy end to July which made birding tricky with intermittent downpours. Nice numbers of waders building up in Holes Bay for our pop-up watch today with c15 Curlew, 3 Whimbrel, 3 Common Sandpiper and c50 Black-tailed Godwit as well as 2 Peregrine sat very distantly on the Asda building in Poole. In the early afternoon at the Middlebere hide there were 2 Greenshank, 2 Green Sandpiper, 1 Osprey, 1 Hobby, 2 Whimbrel and c200 Black-tailed Godwit. At Shipstal point there were 1 Spoonbill and 2 Whimbrel.

At the Piddle Valley ringing site another 80 birds were ringed before the rain came in with 38 Sedge Warbler, 4 Grasshopper Warbler, 2 Reed Warbler, 6 Chiffchaff and 10 Willow Warbler. There was also a bit more variety with the first Lesser Whitethroat of the season, 1 Firecrest and 1 Grey Wagtail.

We have a couple of bird ringing demonstrations coming up, including 1 next Friday, hoping to show you some of these autumn migrants up close and talk to you all about the bird ringing process. Book online here.

Lesser Whitethroat – Piddle Valley Ringing Station – Ed Betteridge

Firecrest – Piddle Valley Ringing Station – Ed Betteridge