There have been 2 Spoonbill in the harbour for a few weeks now but they’ve been quite hard to try and pin down. Today they spent most the day on the Brownsea Lagoon which is typical behaviour for this time of year with migrant birds normally beginning to arrive from breeding grounds in Holland, Belgium, France, Germany and Denmark by the end of July, with numbers building all the way through August, September and into October. An un-ringed Osprey was out hunting over the Wareham Channel at midday but wasn’t seen to feed anywhere. At Lytchett Fields the wader numbers just keep on growing with now 17 Green Sandpiper, 12 Little Ringed Plover still, 2 Greenshank, 2 Common Sandpiper, 1 Grey Plover and the first Whimbrel of the autumn.

Fairly slow today with Spoonbill reported on the Brownsea Lagoon, 12 Ringed Plover, 14 Green Sandpiper, 3 Greenshank 2 Common Sandpiper and a Grey Plover on Lytchett Fields. An Osprey was seen over the Wareham Channel and a Hobby was on Slepe Heath.

Today we hosted our first ever summer ‘Harbour Cruise’ where we ventured up the Wareham Channel at dawn where another fine morning welcomed us, however a touch of cloud clover took a welcome edge off the recent searing heat. It was a great trip and as we travelled up the Frome Valley with the rising tide we were lucky enough to see several early autumn migrants including 3 Common Sandpiper, 4 Greenshank, several Redshank and plenty of Curlew. Around c200 over-over summering Black-tailed Godwit were seen as well as 4 Bar-tailed Godwit off Shipstal. Over Arne Moors a Marsh Harrier was hunting and unbeknown to our guests (and us) a Cattle Egret was also feeding out on the Moors, but the long grass would have prevented us from being able to see it. Reed Bunting, Reed Warbler and Cetti’s Warbler were all still vocal and Swift, Swallow and House Martin darted over the boat. We also saw 3 Common Seals with one in the mouth of the River Piddle and 2 off Shipstal. Common and Sandwich Tern were very active and there were still a lot of gulls on the breeding islands suggesting we’ve still got a lot of young to fledge yet. On Lytchett Fields 12 Little Ringed Plover were feeding (including 4 juv’s), and there were also 3 Common Sandpiper, 8 Green Sandpiper, c30 Lapwing, c20 Redshank, c30 Black-tailed Godwit, c30 Teal, 1 Shoveler and the Barn Owl was hunting over the approach fields at dusk. Interestingly, at dusk when we were setting up our night recording gear at Lytchett Heath, a couple of hundred Swallow (mostly juveniles) come in from high and dropped down as if they were going into roost giving it a very autumn feel to the evening.

Little Ringed Plover (juv) – Lytchett Fields – Paul Morton

Little Ringed Plover (Adult) – Lytchett Fields – Paul Morton

Shoveler – Lytchett Fields – Paul Morton

With summer powering on, it seems the young birds that are currently being tending to by their parents are doing well. Nowhere highlights this better than the Brownsea Lagoon currently which is bursting with life There are young birds all over the place including the standard good numbers of Sandwich Tern and Common Tern chicks, lots of Black-headed Gulls still with young, Oystercatcher chicks, Shelduck and Gadwall ducklings…the list goes on. If you get a chance to visit over the coming weeks its well worth it and a jot to watch.

Sandwich Tern chick – Brownsea Lagoon – Rene Goad

Black-headed Gull & chicks – Brownsea Lagoon – Rene Goad

Oystercatcher & chick – Brownsea Lagoon – Rene Goad

Gadwall duckling – Brownsea Lagoon – Rene Goad

Today was another hot one with a few notable sightings. It looks as if the Spotted Flycatcher are back in the Arne over-flow car park which is goo news considering there are next to none around the harbour currently. In the Wareham Channel 2 Black Swan appeared out of nowhere and the female Marsh Harrier was busy in the Wareham Channel. At Holton Lee a Cuckoo was testing its taste buds by eating Cinnabar Moth caterpillars.

Cuckoo – Holton Lee – Ricahrd Stephenson

It was another (mini) wader fest today most notably at Lytchett Fields where 12 Green Sandpiper had dropped in, along with 6 Little Ringed Plover still present the 1^stCommon Sandpiper of the autumn, c30 Lapwing, c50 Redshank and c20 Black-tailed Godwit. There was also a Barn Owl hunting over the fields early evening. A Cattle Egret was out on Arne Moors (viewable from Slepe Heath) with the cattle herd and a Hobby was over there too. There was also an Osprey out over the Wareham Channel with a different bird out over at Morden Bog. We hadn’t received any news of Spotted Flycatcher from around the harbour this summer, which is very worrying so it was great to hear of one singing along Holme Lane yesterday. Although just one Spotted Flycatcher across the whole harbour isn’t quite good enough. We also received a better photo of the presumed American Golden Plover at Brands Bay last week, which does indeed show it was this rare American vagrant and a first for Poole Harbour.

American Golden Plover – Brands Bay – Claire Robinon (19/06/18)

Barn Owl – Lytchett Fields  

There were 2 Osprey out over the Wareham Channel mid-afternoon and the Great White Egret was seen heading east along the Wareham Channel, along the northern Arne shoreline. Lytchett Fields saw 5 Little Ringed Plover and 156 Black-tailed Godwit. Out in Brands Bay there was a single Whimbrel along with c40 Curlew. It’s also a great time of year to test your aging skills of birds with plenty of young around now. Freshly fledged Juveniles this time of year will have completely fresh and new feathers, often making them look neat and sometimes a bit ‘off-colour’. Adults on the other hand will be looking rather ‘worn’ either because they haven’t begun moulting yet or because they are moulting. A good example is of the two Linnets below that were photographed at Brands Bay. The left hand bird is a juvenile and you can see the buff-brown edges to the coverts, where as the adult on the right has stronger tones to the feathers without any buff fringes to the coverts.

Juvenile Linnet (left) and adult (right) – Brands Bay

oday we began our three-day Dorset Discovery tour in partnership with the Dorset RSPB team which today began at Arne. We’ll do a full trip report in due course but highlights from our first day included 1 Osprey over the Wareham Channel, 2 Hobby over Arne Hill, 5+ Dartford Warbler, several Stonechat family parties, a small passage of Swift south and a carpet Silver-studded Blue Butterfly on parts of the wet heath. In Middlebere the Great White Egret was seen again and there were 3 Greenshank and 28 Redshank also back in the channel. On Lytchett Fields there were 108 Black-tailed Godwit, 47 Redshank, 5 Little Ringed Plover and 1 Ringed Plover.  

Little Egret – Holton Pools – John Pick

It’s always nice when a surprise bird ‘pops up’ out of nowhere and today a photo was sent to us by Debbie Derrick that was titled: Golden Plover, Redhorn. However, Golden Plover in Poole harbour are scarce enough, let alone in the middle of summer, so it was an even bigger shock when we open the email and the bird in the photo looked to be an likely American Golden Plover, a first for Poole Harbour. Apparently it had been present since June 18^th-22^nd, but the bird was looked for today but sadly couldn’t be relocated. There’s a chance it could still be around somewhere so well worth keeping an eye out around Brands Bay, the Brownsea Lagoon, Middlebere and Lytchett Fields. There was also a good total of birds out on Lytchett Fields indicating that some birds really have given up for the summer already as 5 Ringed Plover dropped onto the fields whereas the first juv Little Ringed Plover joined 4 adults also on the move south. There were also 51 Black-tailed Godwit, 6 Green Sandpiper, 1 Grey Plover, 1 Greenshank, 57 Redshank, 23 Lapwing (all adults) and 1 Curlew. Late afternoon saw a Great White Egret pass over Middlebere in heavy wing moult which is the first since the early spring and in Middlebere there were 109 Curlew which for mid-June doesn’t bode well for a successful breeding season. Barn Owls are active at Arne, Lytchett Fields, Greenland’s Farm, Swineham and Middlebere. Along Soldiers Road there was a Cuckoo still, 2 Willow Warbler and 1 Hobby. In Studland Bay a Gannet was feeding close into Shell Bay.

Presumed American Golden Plover – Redhorn/Brands Bay – Debbie Derrick

Gannet – Richard Stephenson – Studland Bay

Tonight we hosted the commentary on the Brownsea Island Ferries Puffin cruise out to Dancing Ledge, which is always a pleasure. Leaving Poole Quay and heading out past Old Harry and Durlston Head it gives us a chance to see species we don’t often get to see during the summer here in Poole Harbour, in fact we’ve never seen a Puffin within our Poole Harbour recording area and chances are we won’t in the foreseeable future either! Highlights from the trip included 6+ Puffin off Dancing Ledge, a family of 5 Peregrine including an adult feeding 4 youngsters, 3 Gannet, c1000 Guillemot, c80 Razorbill, 10 Fulmar, c10 Kittiwake, Common and Sandwich Tern and several Med Gulls. Around Lytchett Bay Nightjar and Barn Owl were active and on Lytchett Fields there were 4 Little Ringed Plover, 7 Green Sandpiper, 30+ Black-tailed Godwit and 30+ Redshank. On the Brownsea Lagoon the Avocet chicks seem to be holding strong and with 2 more seeming to be sitting on eggs is this the beginning of a Poole Harbour colony?

Puffin – Dancing Ledge – Paul Morton

Guillemot Colony – Durlston Ledge – Paul Morton

Old Harry Rocks at sunset – Paul Morton