A cloudy start soon cleared and the sun came out with a high of 24°C. Brownsea Island web cams picked up a variety of species including; 7 Curlew, 3 Little Egret, 4 Spoonbill, 2 Greenshank and an impressive 105 Dunlin. A peregrine was also seen last thing last night on the Island where the spoonbill often roost, needless to say the Spoonbill disappeared along with most of the other birds! At Arne 7 Willow Warbler were along the Raptor Trail and an Osprey was seen over the Wareham Channel. Out towards Morden Bog another 2 Osprey were seen. Finally a Great White Egret was reported at Middlebere mid-morning. 

With temperatures taking a downward turn sightings are on the up. Lytchett Fields has logged a variety of species including Lapwing, 2 Little Ringed Plover, a Whimbrel, a Curlew, Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin, 2 Common Sandpiper, 20 Green Sandpiper, 2 Spotted Redshank, 2 Redshank, 9 Greenshank, 1 Hobby, 2 Little Egret and, most significantly, a Yellow-legged Gull.

A brief scan around the Lagoon on the webcam picked up some lovely images of c42 Dunlin in flight and mingling with the Common Tern. 2 Black-tailed Godwit, 7 Spoonbill and 4 Avocet were also spotted. Holten Lee has reported Lapwing, Green Sandpiper and a Little Egret.

Yet again, Lytchett Fields produced the most sightings with a decent haul of passage waders across both fields. Totals included 56 Common Redshank, 2 Spotted Redshank, 7 Greenshank, 3 Common Sandpiper, 19 Green Sandpiper, 48 Lapwing, 1 Whimbrel, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 36 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Dunlin, 1 Oystercatcher and 21 Teal. At Sunnyside Farm 3 Lapwing, 1 Gadwall, 1 Grey Heron and 1 Little Egret were out feeding on the new and improved scrape. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 12 Dunlin, 1 Greenshank, 17 Redshank and 32 Black-tailed Godwit. At Middlebere there were 2 Whimbrel, 4 Greenshank, 2 Hobby, 1 Peregrine and an Osprey flew up the channel. A reeling Grasshopper Warbler was heard on Slepe Heath, presumed to be a migrant. At Arne a Spotted Flycatcher was seen and Willow Warbler numbers are picking up slowly with several around the Stoborough Heath/Sunnyside area.

With last night’s heavy rain and incredible lightening storm it was only ever going to be another really hot day, and sure enough it was. That said, it seemed to get some birds moving last night with a night recording session at Sunnyside Farm producing 1 Curlew flock, 1 Redshank flock, 2 Oystercatcher and 1 Common Sandpiper passing over between 10:30pm and 4:00am. There was also plenty of Nightjar activity recorded between Slepe Heath and Sunnyside Farm with loads of contact calls logged during the hours of darkness too. At Lytchett Fields there were 21 Green Sandpiper, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Little Ringed Plover and the 1^st returning Snipe of the autumn. An Osprey was seen over the Wareham Channel and another (or the same) was over Holton Pools. At Sunnyside Scrape 3 Willow Warbler, 4 Chiffchaff, 4 Stonechat and c10 Linnet were along the track leading down to the scrape and on the scrape were 3 Lapwing, 1 Gadwall and 1 Grey Heron. A second Wood Sandpiper of the autumn was seen on the Brownsea Lagoon.

Common Sandpiper (and Nightjar) call of night time migrant 24/07/19 @ 0249 Sunnyside

Nightjar contact calls – Sunnyside Farm – 24/07/19 @ 03:35

A hot and humid day today in the harbour with a high of 29°C and little breeze. Brownsea Lagoon has been quiet with 7 Spoonbill, a Curlew and some returning Redshank have been recorded. A lot of the Common Terns are now resting over on Boomerang Island. At Lytchett Fields from Sherford viewpoint the 1st Wood Sandpiper of the autumn arrived, also there was 1 Green Sandpiper, 4 Common Sandpiper, 6 Greenshank and a Marsh Harrier were logged.

Our second to last Nightjar walk was an absolute belter with a minimum of 6 seen and multiple birds heard singing. With Nightjar ducking, diving and hovering around us, it was a truly magical experiance on a balmy summers evening. 

With a mini heat wave due to kick in tomorrow with a steady easterly breeze its now we can begin thinking about the first Wood Sandpipers and Ruff beginning to arrive into the harbour. Sites like Lytchett Fields, Sunnyside Scrape, Holton Pools and of course the Brownsea Lagoon will all begin seeing an increase in wader numbers over the following weeks and with a trickle of North American goodies already filtering into the UK over the 7 days, be on the look out for ‘something a bit different’.

On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 7 Spoonbill, 3 Avocet, 71 Dunlin, 46 Redshank and 1 Peregrine. At Lytchett Fields there were 2 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Common Sandpiper, 4 Green Sandpiper and 40+ Redshank with 2 Whimbrel out in Lytchett Bay. Osprey were seen over Coombe Heath and Holton Lee. At the PC World drain 7 Blackcap and 1 juv Willow Warbler were in the scrub, and despite a late return to the party, it looks as if Swifts have had a good end to the summer with decent numbers now screaming over Old Town Poole, upper Poole (hospital area), Wareham and Corfe.

Willow Warbler (juv) – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

Spoonbill – Middlebere – Simon Kidner

The Spoonbill have reunited on Brownsea Lagoon with 7 sited. 134 Common Tern and c30 Sandwich Terns were recorded indicating that some may have moved on from the Lagoon or perhaps feeding out in the deeper waters of the Harbour. High numbers of Oystercatcher have been recorded today with 153 in the Lagoon along with 2 Avocet, 6 Little Egret and 6 Dunlin.

Over at Middlebere 6 Curlew, c50 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Redshank and 2 Whimbrel were spotted. Lytchett Fields recorded a Little Ringed Plover and a Common Sandpiper. Over at Studland a male Common Scoter has been reported in addition to 2 Whimbrel, a Greenshank, a Black-tailed Godwit and a Dunlin.

Seen at Poole Park was the usual wildfowl including the Greylag flock, 18 moulting Mute Swans, c70 Mallard Ducks and a Tufted Duck with her 3 ducklings.The Spoonbill have reunited on Brownsea Lagoon with 7 sited. 134 Common Tern and c30 Sandwich Terns were recorded indicating that some may have moved on from the Lagoon or perhaps feeding out in the deeper waters of the Harbour. High numbers of Oystercatcher have been recorded today with 153 in the Lagoon along with 2 Avocet, 6 Little Egret and 6 Dunlin.

Over at Middlebere 6 Curlew, c50 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Redshank and 2 Whimbrel were spotted. Lytchett Fields recorded a Little Ringed Plover and a Common Sandpiper. Over at Studland a male Common Scoter has been reported in addition to 2 Whimbrel, a Greenshank, a Black-tailed Godwit and a Dunlin.

Tufted Duck – Poole Park

.

The weather soon cleared up this morning leaving us with a few clouds, 17mph SW winds and a high of 23°C. Many of the Greylag Geese in Poole Park have moved on with only c70 seen this morning, however 10 have been seen at Swineham, which is interesting to hear, helping us to get a better understanding of where they head on their travels.  The beautiful song of a male singing male Blackcap was also heard at Poole Park.

Over at Lytchett Bay 3 Willow Warbler were reported and over on the Fields a Yellow-legged Gull, 5 Whimbrel, 3 Greenshank, 2 Dunlin, 3 Little Ringed Plover and 2 Spotted Redshank were seen. An Osprey, LS7, was also seen over Lytchett Bay heading off over Lytchett Fields whilst another Osprey was also spotted fishing over Middlebere and heading over to Wytch Channel. Also reported at Middlebere was a staggering c400 Black-tailed Godwit and it looks as though 5 of the 7 Spoonbill, normally resident at Brownsea Lagoon, have flown over to join c5 Redshank and a female Peregrine. At Sunnyside Farm, 2 Little Ringed Plover were on the scrape with 5 Green Sandpiper.

A wet and windy day in the harbour today with strong South-Westerlies, so sightings are few! The Brownsea webcameras are playing up in this weather but from what we can see there are 60+ Oystercatcher, 1 Curlew, 15+ Great Black-backed Gulls with juveniles, 1 Moorhen with a juvenile, 30+ Cormorant, the late c10 Common Terns pairs are still nesting on the far island from Mac hide (right hand side as looking out) that was previously used by the Sandwich Terns and Black-headed Gulls. 

6 Mediterranean Gull were on Littlesea.

Redshank numbers are up in Holes Bay as well as other waders. Usual Godwits, Curlew, 5 Little Egret and 6 Spoonbill on Brownsea Lagoon. 2 Little Ringed Plover at Sunnyside Farm Scrape. Marsh Tit juv seen on private residence in around Lytchett Bay and bthere was as Marsh Harrier and single Osprey seen over Middlebere 10AM. At Middlebere there were 4 Greenshank and 2 Whimbrel plus 2 Osprey from Hydes heath, Arne.