Yep, It’s over! Summer has officially finished. Ok, a bit drastic but this morning we saw the first returning Green Sandpipers of the autumn with 3 on Lytchett Fields first thing this AM. ‘Green Sands’ are always one of the first to begin passing through south, often followed by juvenile Little Ringed Plovers by the end of June. With the still, mild weather over the last week Nightjar watching has been at its prime with reports coming in from many different heathland sites across the harbour. A watch on Slepe Heath saw no less than 6 birds active at dusk along wit 2 Hobby, 1 Cuckoo and 2 Tawny Owl. At Holton Lee 2 Woodlark were along one of the heathland tracks and there are now several fresh juv Great Spotted Woodpeckers using the feeders at the feeder hide. At Fleets Corner (PC World drain) there are plenty of newly fledged Blackcap and Chiffchaff, continuing the evidence that this site is an important oasis for some breeding birds in the middle of town. At Arne an Osprey was seen near Shipstal and after an absence of a few months it seems a Peregrine Falcon is now back using the tall part of the Asda building near Holes Bay as a roosting spot. If it hangs around for a few more weeks we’ll try and arrange and set up an event inviting the public to come and see these amazing birds. 

Peregrine Falcon – Asda Building, Poole

Having been away in Somerset for the last four days it was great to get out onto a Poole Harbour heathland this afternoon. A vigil from Slepe Heath produced an Osprey over the Wareham Channel (the first to be seen over the last few days), a Hobby over the Arne Road. There were also 3 Willow Warbler singing around the fringes of Slepe Heath along with a Cuckoo. A good number of freshly fledged, yellow gaped Dartford Warbler were dotted around the heath. At Sunnyside Farm Lapwing were still active over the site, hopefully suggesting that they’re now with young. Plenty of Silver-studded Blue Butterfly were on the wing. At Lytchett Fields there were 80 Black-tailed Godwit, 27 Teal, 12 Lapwing, 7 Redshank, 2 Ringed Plover and 1 Grey Plover. A nice record of 2 Barn Owl hunting near Greenlands Farm, Studland was a welcome surprise. We did put up a Barn Owl box there some years ago so we’re hoping this could be a pair that’s taken up residence at this site? A good total of 11 Nightjar were logged calling across Godlingston Heath and 2 Cuckoo were very vocal there too until after dark. 

We think most people were out enjoying the weather rather than birds by the end of today, as the harbour was drenched in golden glory for most of the afternoon. Still, Holton Pools had a Little Ringed Plover on the new scrapes for most of the day which is almost certainly an early returner and at Lytchett Fields the first juv Black-headed Gull of the summer was present along with 88 Black-tailed Godwit, 15 Lapwing, 2 Ringed Plover and 2 Greenshank.  At Holton Lee the first Great Spotted Woodpecker fledglings in the harbour were seen at the feeder hide and young Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tit can be found and heard forming mixed-tit flocks already which will build in number between now and September. 

There’s a great new Nightjar study taking place on the boarders of the harbour which is a joint partnership project between the Stour Ringing Group, Bournemouth Uni and Biotrack. For regular updates follow their new twitter profile @DNightjars. Last night their team were out on a heath in the north of the harbour where they caught their first 5 birds  (2 females and 3 males) and between the five, three were fitted with radio tags to enable the team to track and find nesting sites and gage where birds are heading off to feed at night. At Lytchett Fields there were 88 Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Lapwing, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Grey Plover 1 Greenshank and already a build up of Teal with 24 counted. A Puffin cruise also left Poole Harbour this evening, which ventured out towards Dancing Ledge. Although this is a tiny colony in comparison to other sites around the UK, just 3 birds were seen which mirrors the sad decline of this birds national population with bigger breeding colonies seeing big drops in their population. Also logged from the boat were 25 Bar-tailed Godwit and 30 Black-tailed Godwit on the Brownsea Lagoon, plenty of Common and Sandwich Tern fishing in Studland Bay, several Gannet close to the boat near Old Harry, a Peregrine over the boat and a few Kittiwake and Fulmar. 

It seems a few waders are on the move but which way are they going…north or south? Its been such a strange spring that you feel that some birds may have given up on the breeding season already this year and are instead just going on a bit of a summer jaunt. At Lytchett Fields there were 78 Black-tailed Godwit, 5 Dunlin, 4 Oystercatcher, 1 Greenshank and 1 Redshank. In Middlebere there were 2 Grey Plover again with 5 Dunlin. At Arne 2 Hobby were over the Salterns Marsh. We also received news from Jason Fathers who monitors and rings the Bournemouth Peregrines that blue PK, a juvenile from last years brood has been hanging out at Ballard Down this summer and was recently photographed. 

Peregrine blue PK – Ballard Down

The mid-summer doldrums have set in and with most birds hidden away rearing (and now fledgling) young, it’s all a bit quiet on the (south) western front. Still, its great to see so many young birds now fledging, many taking advantage of garden feeding stations. Getting your head around the ID of freshly fledged young can be a good challenge so why not try and test your selves on trying to age the birds you see coming into your garden to see how productive the breeding birds in your area have done. Bird news was slow with 3 Grey Plover in Middlebere reported to us and no sign recently of any Osprey. 

Just outside the harbour area, what was assumed to be the Red-footed Falcon that was seen heading towards the harbour on Tuesday afternoon over Swanage was re-found at Morden Bog briefly early evening. The two Osprey were at Arne again and there were 2 Little Tern off the Brownsea Quay. Other highlights on Brownsea included 32 Bar-tailed Godwit, 74 Black-tailed Godwit, 18 Dunlin, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Grey Plover, 1 Knot, 220 Sandwich Tern and 210 Common Tern. There were also freshly fledged Shoveler and Gadwall which are both scarce Poole Harbour breeders.

Lytchett Fields had the Garganey still with a Hobby and a Grey Plover there too plus a sustained passage of Swift through of around 80 birds. The two Osprey were still hanging around Arne and a Hobby was along the Arne Road. A Red Kite also passed over Wareham and on the Brownsea Lagoon the first 4 Sandwich Tern chicks hatched. 

A short update today with planning of a busy schedule ahead for BoPH over the coming months including our Osprey Translocation kick starting again in just over a month. We also had an amazing 1097 people through the doors of our BoPH HQ during the May half term which is just fantastic. Sightings wise today a Garganey was on Lytchett Fields with 5 passage Knot and 1 Grey Plover. At Arne, the un-ringed Osprey was present on the Middlebere pole for most of the day and a photo taken by Arne visitor Amanda Duff yesterday revealed that the un-ringed bird is a female.  Although not Poole harbour a Red-footed Falcon was seen heading towards the harbour over Anvil Point, Durlston at midday so is well worth looking out for around the harbour over the coming days. 

Knot – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

Osprey – Amanda Duff – Arne

At Arne, the 2 Ospreywere still putting on a good show with each bird taking it turns over the course of the day to sit on the platform at Middlebere. They both seem to be catching plenty of Mullet, which bodes well for any future nesting/breeding efforts in and around the harbour. There was also a lovely write up in the Telegraph today focusing on an environmental journalists jaunt through and along the northern edges of Poole Harbour which gave a kind name check to our new Birds of Poole Harbour HQ on Poole Quay.