Not much of a turnover of birds at the moment with just a small trickle of Sand Martin and Swallow pulsing through and small parties of Meadow Pipit. With April kicking in tomorrow we should begin to start seeing some numbers of birds arrive, hopefully in the shape of Pied Flyctacher or Nightingale, both of which a really, really tough birds to get in Poole Harbour in spring. But as April progresses species such as Whitethroat, Yellow Wagtail, Whinchat, Swift and Spotted Flycatcher should become evident and of course, the odd rarity or two wouldn’t go down too badly either. Today the main sightings consisted of the Red-necked Grebe still at Swineham, 6 Cattle Egret at Bog Lane, 1 Osprey (and possibly a second) over the Wareham Channel, 1 Little Ringed Plover at Swineham and 21 Sandwich Tern back on Brownsea.

Yesterdays Garganey wasn’t seen during the day but gave its self away by calling at dusk somewhere around the Swineham GP area. The Red-necked Grebe was still present and c200 Sand Martin came into feed. Also in the Wareham Channel area 1 female Marsh Harrier, 1 Osprey and 1 Peregrine. In Poole Park there were still c150 Black-tailed Godwit present with 10+ Redshank and at Baiter a Peregrine went over north and a lone Sand Martin dashed over the quay. At Lytchett Fields 2 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Ruff and 240 Black-tailed Godwit were on the fields and at Greenland’s Farm 5 Wheatear, 1 White Wagtail and 2 Willow Warbler were logged.

There was a nice pair of species together on Swineham GP when the Red-necked Grebe was joined by a drake Garganey for most of the day. Not a pair of birds you’d expect to see bobbing about next to one another! There was also a nice mini fall of Little Ringed Plover with 4-5 present at Lytchett Fields along with 2 Green Sandpiper, 1 Ruff and 1 Spotted Redshank with 2 Spoonbill also out in the bay. There were still 6 Cattle Egret in fields at Bog Lane which is a good early spring sign that they might just hang on into the breeding season. At Swineham there were 2 Swallow with 20 Sand Martin and 3 Swallow went through Middlebere. Along the PC World Drain 1 Willow Warbler, 2 Blackcap and 4 Chiffchaff were singing.

Little Ringed Plover – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

We apologise for the late posts, but have been down in Majorca enjoying a bit of spring birding. Now we’re fully refreshed and primed for the Med arrival of Black-winged Stilts, Kentish Plovers and Woodchat Shrikes into the harbour…if only. Still, it was nice to see the Red-necked Grebe still on Swineham GP with a handful of Sand Martin and 3 Swallow there too. Up on Slepe Heath a late-ish pair of Merlin zipped by the top of the ridge and an Osprey was seen over the Wareham Channel later in the day. At Lytchett Fields a Little Ringed Plover was calling at dawn in the fog, but was later found on the fields.

Another fine spring day which started with some good fall conditions and saw Willow Warblers at the PC World Drain, Swineham and Arne. Best find of the day was a moulting Red-necked Grebe at Swineham GP which was a 1^st for the site. Also at Swineham were 3 Sand Martin and an Osprey was seen hunting over the Wareham Channel. A bit later in the day another, or the same Osprey was seen high over the Wareham Channel heading north. A few additional sightings were sent in from yesterday which included the harbours firth Little Ringed Plover of the year, flying around and calling at dusk down at Swineham where an Osprey was again logged and Bearded Tit were really vocal in the reed beds. Jack Snipe, Ruff and Greenshank were all logged flying around Swineham Point near dusk.

Wow, what a day to be out. We circumnavigated the whole harbour, prepping for the launch of a project that we’ll be announcing on April 1^st.  But until then, lets just talk about the birds. There was a great mix of species out there today with winter, spring and summer all represented in one way or another. It began at Swineham GP where the harbours first Willow Warbler was singing down by the gravel pit, just as the over-wintering White-fronted Goose passed overhead and landed on the pit. Also on Swineham were 4 Pochard, 6 Great Crested Grebe and 4 Little Grebe. At Holmebridge a Grey Wagtail was in full song and at Harland Stud a single Wheatear was out on the fields. A rare visit to Old Harry and Ballard returned 3 Swallow in off the sea, 4 Rock Pipit (2 singing) and a small party of Linnet. At Challow Hill, Corfe, a Blackcap was singing as were 2 at the PC World drain. Chiffchaff continue to be ‘well heard’ around the harbour, certainly in any wooded area. At the end of the day a vigil from Slepe Heath was carried out with much success. It began with 2 Swallow passing through and a few Sand Martin, when it was noted a female Marsh Harrier was soaring high above the Wareham Channel who was then joined by a female Hen Harrier. Both soared for several minutes together before then going their own separate ways. Then within a few seconds an Osprey drifted in from the SW and was instantly hassled by gulls. However, unperturbed it carried on regardless and caught a fish only 10 minutes later before then heading towards Arne and was soon lost to view. On Brownsea today 3 Spoonbill now resided and c20 Sandwich Tern were settled. Up On Hartland a small scattering of Fieldfare remained despite the warm temperatures and Meadow Pipit seemed to be on the move for most of the day. At Hatch Pond the first Great Crested Grebe chicks of the year hatched.

Blackthorn in full spring flower – Old Harry

April 1st spoiler 

Despite the calmness of the weekend, today saw a cold and chilly NW wind blow. We had a school bird boat at dawn which was lovely when went down wind, but bloody cold in any other direction! The main area of interest was the Brownsea Lagoon which saw 2 Spoonbill, c60 Med Gull, c20 Avocet, c15 Grey Plover, c200 Black-tailed Godwit but out on the water only c20 each of Red-breasted Merganser and Great Crested Grebe remained. At Holton Pools a single Wheatear dropped in with a second on Baiter playing fields and at the PC World Drain a male Blackcap was singing back on territory. Poole Park had a new species attracted to it in the shape of a Knot, but there were still also 251 Black-tailed Godwit, 43 Med Gulls and 32 Oystercatcher.

Blackcap – singing at PC World Drain – Ian Ballam

A perfect spring day today which saw us actually witness a staging event for a migrating Osprey. At 9:10am whilst carrying out a vigil from the top of Slepe Heath an Osprey arrived in high from the south and immediately began fishing in the Wareham Channel where it was getting hassled by the local gulls. It soon caught a fish and headed to Arne somewhere but we couldn’t relocate it sadly. After carrying out some monitoring work elsewhere in the harbour, we returned to Slepe Heath to carry out another watch, only to see the mornings Osprey lift from the SW corner of Arne, catch a thermal until it was super high and then bee-lined off north. To see an Osprey is always a special event, to see one actually stage in the harbour before leaving again was pure magic. There was also a small passage of Red Kite today through the harbour with one over Studland, another over Stoborough and a third over Holton Lee. On Brownsea the Sandwich Tern totals continue to increase with 15 there today, along with 460+ Black-tailed Godwit, 20+ Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Spotted Redshank, 1 Greenshank and 40+ Grey Plover. At Middlebere a single Cattle Egret was feeding in fields with a small group of Little Egret. Finally, this weekend has been a busy for our camera traps on the Osprey nesting platforms dotted around the harbour. It seems the nests are attracting everything other than Osprey at the moment. But hey, its still early days in terms of Osprey migration so we’re still hopeful these will play a key role in helping us ID individual birds of the coming weeks.  

Peregrine caught on Osprey platform camera trap 

Wood Pigeon caught on Osprey platform camera trap 

Great Tits caught on Osprey platform camera trap 

Chaffinch caught on Osprey platform camera trap 

Good conditions today and a nice little flurry of spring migrants came through the harbour. There were Wheatear at Hartland Stud (3), 2 at Baiter Park, 1 at Arne, 1 at Sunnyside Farm and 4 on Hartland. At Swineham GP a big count of 120+ Sand Martin were feeding over the pit at dusk. Chiffchaff really arrived today with birds singing everywhere it seemed today. In Poole Park 4 Ringed Plover were feeding with c300 Black-tailed Godwit and 62 Med Gull were settled on the mud. Off Coombe Heath 2 Spoonbill were feeding in Middlebere. The male Black Redstart was still along the quay, behind the Thistle Hotel around midday. At Bestwall the White-fronted Goose was still hanging on with a small group of Greylag Geese.

Yesterdays Osprey was seen again briefly at dawn at Middlebere but sadly disappeared as quickly as it was found! At Stoborough a Great White Egret was seen flying over the Causeway, heading east towards the Wareham Channel. On the Brownsea Lagoon 13 Sandwich Tern were settled on the Boomerang, but so far only Med Gull and Black-headed Gull have shown interest in the nesting islands, which is typical for this time of year. Sadly an adult male Golden Pheasant was found dead face down in the water just off Round Island. In Poole Park there were 304 Black-tailed Godwit and 45 Med Gulls. Our school bird boat only returned very small numbers of Red-breasted Merganser, Brent Geese and Great Crested Grebe.