During the autumn its always nice when you’re able to give an area ‘a real good going over’ and a full Brownsea Lagoon count produced 1 Little Stint, 1 Curlew Sandpiper, 18 Avocet, 689 Oystercatcher, 150 Dunlin, 2 Ringed Plover, 1 Spotted Redshank, 30 Common Redshank, 8 Greenshank, 20 Little Egret, 7 Spoonbill, 1 Peregrine and 1 Kingfisher along with a spread of Shoveler, Teal and Shelduck. At Lytchett Bay there were 2 Osprey hunting on and off through the day and a Red Kite and Peregrine passed on through with only 2 Dunlin, 5 Ringed Plover, 3 Greenshank and 1 Avocet on the fields. At Arne it was the beginning of our Autumn Dorset Discovery Tour and our group had a huge House Martin passage overhead along with 2 Redstart, 1 Whinchat, 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Swift, several Dartford Warbler and a Sand Lizard.

The Brownsea Lagoon was watch pretty intensively again today but totals weren’t as high as previous days. Only 2 Spoonbill were present for most of the day and a single Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Spotted Redshank, 6 Greenshank, 3 Knot, 150 Dunlin, c400 Oystercatcher, 1 Peregrine and 2 Kingfisher were the main highlights. Also present on the lagoon (and also Brands Bay) were the first 8 returning Pintail of the autumn. Around Lytchett Bay there were 40+ Dunlin, 7 Ringed Plover, 3 Yellow Wagtail, a flock of 33 Little Egret over, 2 Osprey and 18 Wigeon out in the bay and 1 Wheatear near Lytchett Fields. Things seemed a bit quieter today on the migrant front with 19 Whitethroat, 1 Redstart, 4 Whinchat and 1 Reed Warbler logged up around Old Harry and in Brands Bay waders consisted of 81 Black-tailed Godwit, 12 Bar-tailed Godwit and 113 Curlew along with a juv Osprey seen again. From Coombe Heath, Arne Ospreys commuted between the Middlebere nesting platform and the dead trees at the back of the channel and a Peregrine flew through several times as did a Marsh Harrier with Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, Whimbrel, Ringed and Grey Plover all present in Middlebere. At Sunnyside a Hobby flew through and there were several Yellow Wagtail around. Wigeon numbers in Holes Bay increased to 17. Holton Pools is now seeing regular Kingfisher using the perching posts.

Greenshank – Nocturnal call of individual passing over Brownsea Lagoon – 01/09/18 @ 01:15am

Nocturnal Avocet flock arriving on to Brownsea Lagoon – 01/09/18 @ 01:37am

With birds dropping in and out of the Brownsea Lagoon continuously during the autumn, conducting daily counts provides a good indication on the level of passage taking place at certain times. Today on the lagoon counts consisted of 19 Spoonbill, 1 Spotted Redshank, 15 Greenshank, 95 Redshank, 210 Dunlin, 1 Curlew Sandpiper, 41 Avocet, 4 Knot and just 1 Sanderling. Around Greenland’s Farm, Studland there were 25 Yellow Wagtail, 4 Whitethroat, 8 Blackcap, 5 Redstart, 2 Whinchat, 5 Wheatear and 1 Spotted Flycatcher. At Brands Bay a further 3 Wigeon had arrived back, also 3 Greenshank, 2 Whimbrel, 7 Bar-tailed Godwit, 63 Redshank, 2 Lapwing and an Osprey caught a fish. On Coombe Heath, Arne 2 Whinchat were logged and Osprey were active in the area for most of the day with 6 Grey Plover, 2 Spoonbill and a Peregrine in Middlebere. At Lytchett Bay an Osprey caught a fish in the bay and settled in a tree at Holton Lee, plus Redstart, Whitethroat, Garden Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff were logged around Lytchett Fields.

Common Redshank – Brownsea Lagoon – Nick Gadenne

Green Woodpecker – Brownsea Island – Nick Gadenne

An intensive watch of the Brownsea Lagoon over the course of the day produced 18 Spoonbill, 4 Knot, 1 juvenile Curlew Sandpiper, 27 Ringed Plover, 6 Sanderling and 34 Avocet. Numbers of many birds on the lagoon are building very slowly currently, we just hope that through Septembers numbers begin to swell. For example there are currently no juvenile Black-tailed Godwit back using the lagoon yet which for late August is a bit odd. An un-ringed Osprey was seen leaving on migration from Brands Bay mid-morning, heading SE out of the harbour and across Poole Bay with 66 Teal, 3 Greenshank, 4 Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Whimbrel and 133 Curlew also in Brands Bay. The Purple Heron still remains at Littlesea and was seen during the day today. Ospreys were again conspicuous with several sightings from around the harbour including a newly arrived fresh juvenile seen over Swineham and 3 seen over Lytchett Bay late afternoon. At Sunnyside Farm there were 3 Redstart, 2 Whinchat, 2 Spotted Flycatcher and a Greenshank on the new scrape. In Middlebere there were 150 Black-tailed Godwit, 11 Avocet, 1 Grey Plover and an 4+ Osprey seen. You know autumn has really landed when the first Wigeon begin returning back and today saw the first of this autumn in Holes Bay.

Migrant juvenile Osprey – Swineham – Peter Moore

Translocated juvenile Osprey 007 – Middlbere – Russell Brown

Goodness knows how many Osprey there are in the harbour currently. Putting our translocated chicks to one side there seems to be a good number using and passing through currently with new freshly fledged juveniles from breeding sites further north now arriving into the harbour. Lytchett Bay had 4 seen within the space of 45 minutes today with other birds seen in the Wareham Channel, Brands Bay and Middlebere. There was also a large Little Egret flock the left Lytchett Bay at dawn consisting of 67 birds in total which is a site record for the bay. Migrants continue to drip through with Redstarts seen along Soldiers Road, Lytchett Fields and at Sunnyside Farm. On Slepe Heath in the sheltered NE corner there were 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Redstart, 3 Common Whitethroat, 1 Tree Pipit and 20 Willow/Chiff and on top of Hartland 2 Whinchat, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Wheatear, 6 Yellow Wagtail and a flock of c300 Goldfinch. Up on Ballard Down 20 Whitethroat, 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Redstart, 3 Wheatear, 1 Garden Warbler, and 5 Yellow Wagtail were logged. In Brands Bay the ‘winter roost’ of Great Crested Grebe is building already with 31 tonight.

Today was due to be our last Osprey cruise of the autumn but with another 5 Osprey and a surge on public interest we’ve decided to put on one last trip on Sept 6^th at 9am. If you’d like to join us for this very last trip then you can do by clicking HERE. To add to our Osprey bonanza a gang of 4 Common Seal on the resting platform off Shipstal Beach, Arne was an unexpected surprise. Yet again, wader interest on the lagoon was similar to recent days with 3 Turnstone, 5 Sanderling, 2 Knot, 3 Greenshank, c100 Dunlin, 22 Avocet, c40 Ringed Plover, c150 Black-tailed Godwit and the 16 Spoonbill. In Middlebere a Lesser Yellowlegs was reported with a small flock of Greenshank but sadly couldn’t be confirmed or re-found later. Also a Woodchat Shrike was reported on the western edge of Hartland Moor but again, sadly disappeared too quickly before being confirmed. At Middlebre there were 2 adult Osprey, 16 Greenshank, 1 Spotted Redshank and 1 Grasshopper Warbler. At Holton Lee another adult Osprey flew low over Holton Pools and headed toward Wareham Forest. The autumns first Pintail was on Lytchett Fields with 1 Spotted Redshank, 28 Dunlin and 2 Ringed Plover. The young Hen Harrier was seen out again along the mouth of the Frome.

We don’t want these Osprey cruises to end! On todays tour we had 5 Osprey out in the Wareham Channel again with birds either circling or fishing for a good period of time. In the SW of the harbour one of our translocated juveniles gave a close fly by and then near the harbour mouth a juvenile Hobby flew in from South Haven and straight over of boat full of people. On the Brownsea Lagoon the 16 Spoonbill remained faithful to their normal saluting spots at the north end and a good selection of passage waders including Turnstone, Knot, Sanderling, Dunlin, Ringed Plover and Greenshank all accounted for. Over Lytchett Minster another Hobby was seen hunting hirundines. Migrant passerines are still coming through in good numbers, so getting out early and tracking them down should reward you with a nice selection. Up on Ballard a good day was had with 14 Willow Warbler, 45 Sedge Warbler, 11 Reed Warbler, 35 Grasshopper Warbler, 41 Blackcap, 9 Garden Warbler, 1 Lesser Whitethroat and 20 Common Whitethroat all logged moving through the area. An Ospreywas seen hunting over Littlesea, Studland which is a very rare occurrence and possibly one of the translocated juveniles? Best of the rest from other sites included 4 Yellow Wagtail on Hartland Moor and 6 at Middlebere Fields, 9 Greenshank and 4 Spotted Redshank in the Wytch Channel and at Swineham/Bestwall 2 Cetti’s Warbler, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Kingfisher, 2 Hobby, 3 Osprey (over Arne Moors) and 50+ Black-tailed Godwit.

Things were back to normal today and we were able to host our Osprey cruise without the rude interruption of rain. It was another great trip with 4-5 migrant Osprey seen in the Wareham Channel and a flying display of one of the translocated juveniles near Middlebere. We also had a large adult female pass the boat low across the water and 2 Marsh Harrier. Passerine migrants are still passing through in good numbers with 4 Whinchat at Sunnyside Farm plus 1 Wheatear, 1 Whitethroat, 1 Yellow Wagtail and 1 Spotted Flycatcher. At Greenland’s Farm there was 1 Whinchat, 8 Wheatear, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Redstart and an Osprey was in Brands Bay. On Brownsea there were 14 Spoonbill, 5 Sanderling, 2 Knot, c15 Ringed Plover and an Arctic Tern was out off Poole Quay in a tern flock. On Lytchett Fields there was a juvenile Curlew Sandpiper and the Purple heron came into the Littlesea roost at 20:20. A nocturnal sound recording session at Lytchett Heath produced the sites first Ortolan Bunting flying over at 22:58 (sound recording below).

Ringed Plover – Baiter Park – Clare Slade

Dunlin – Baiter Park – Clare Slade

Turnstone – Baiter Park – Clare Slade

Ergh! What a day. It was so dire we had to cancel todays Osprey cruise which was just as well really as the forecast was spot on. A wader count at Lytchett Fields pre the wind and rain saw 10+ Green Sandpiper, 2 Common Sandpiper, c10 Greenshank and 1 Spotted Redshank with 2 Osprey low over the approach field and 6 Yellow Wagtail on the fields. The Purple Heron was again at the Littlesea roost. The young male Hen Harrier was in the west of the harbour again between Swineham and Arne Moors and a Whinchat was along the cycle path at Holes Bay. Young Kingfisher are now dispersing around the harbour so look out on the Brownsea Lagoon, Holton Pools, Poole Park and Holes Bay NE for a dash of blue over the coming weeks.

Whinchat – Holes Bay – Rene Goad

Kingfisher – Lytchett Bay – Ian Ballam

Today was our fourth Osprey cruise of the week and the target species didn’t disappoint. We had two hunting/fishing in the Wareham Channel both of which headed off north with a fish, with another already well placed with breakfast in talons perched up on a favourite perching branch on the Arne shoreline. Then, out of the blue one of our translocated chicks (008) came into the Wareahm Channel and spent 20 minutes practice fishing which was a sight to behold and and a very proud moment. We then also had anoth two of our translocated juveniles soaring over the mouth of Wytch Lake giving a great flight display…pure bliss. Then a real early autumn bonus popped up as a juvenile Hen Harrier hunted actively along the Keysworth shoreline wowing the crowd with a Marsh Harrier showing briefly a bit later too. Too add to the species list we had 11 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon along with 2 Sanderling, c20 Ringed Plover, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, c300 Black-tailed Godwit, c500 Oystercatcher, 25 Avocet and c60 Dunlin. Later in the day a more accurate set of counts were made which added 2 Curlew Sandpiper to the list along with 12 Greenshank, 78 Redshank, 2 Med Gulls and 204 Cormorants. There were also 2 Pied Flycatcher and 3 Spotted Flycatcher in a tit flock containing 15+ Coal Tit. It certainly seems a few more migrants are coming through now and up on Ballard 15 Willow Warbler, 27 Sedge Warbler, 9 Grasshopper Warbler, 36 Blackcap, 4 Garden Warbler, 20 Common Whitethroat, 1 Redstart and 1 Whinchat moved through. The high water levels on the Brownsea Lagoon seem to be pushing birds towards Lytchett Fields which saw 128 Redshank, 18 Dunlin, 14 Green Sandpiper, 10 Greenshank, 7 Ringed Plover, 1 Spotted Redshank and 3 Common Sandpiper along with 10+ Yellow Wagtail, 6 Sedge Warbler, 2 Garden Warbler and 1 Tree Pipit also logged. In Holes Bay north things are shaping up nicely for the winter with 300+ Black-tailed Godwit, 129 Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 1 Whimbrel, 14 Curlew and 2 Common Sandpiper on the low tide. At Greenlands Farm there were 25 Yellow Wagtail, 4 Common Redstart, 4 Wheatear, 5 Common Whitethroat, 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 10 Willow Warbler and Whimbrel calling in Brands Bay. At Arne it seemed busy with migrants too with 1 Whinchat on Coombe Heath, 1 Whinchat and 1 Redstart on Arne Farm and a good general number of Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler around the area.

Shelduck – Brownsea Lagoon – Nick Gadeene

Swallow – Brownsea Lagoon – Nick Gadeene

Translocated Osprey chick 008 – Alison Copland