Today a thick fog had settled across the harbour and despite clearing inland, the main body of the harbour remained covered in thick fog for pretty much the entire day, even forcing many Brownsea cruises to cancel trips due to navigation issues. Luckily just a few hundred meters inland the sun was shining and it really began to feel like we’d turned a corner. At Arne the springs first Whimbrel flew over Coombe Heath and Middlebere. In the Wareham Channel a new female type Marsh Harrier arrived in over Giggers Island. An Osprey was seen flying over Wareham train station and one (the same?) was seen heading east over Morden Bog. At Swineham Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and Cetti’s Warbler were all in full song and a female Garganey was on a flooded pool on the Swineham river walk. Swallows and Sand Martin pulsed through in small numbers for most of the day. With the warm sunshine and clear sky providing good migrating and display conditions Common Buzzard were really visible across much of the harbour skyline and a single Red Kite drifted north over Upton. Lapwing were also displaying at Sunnyside with one, possibly two pairs present. 

A fairly quiet Friday with a continuing grey tone to the harbours setting. Highlights being 3 Little Ringed Plover and 3 House Martin over Lytchett Fields, up on Ballard just 2 Willow Warbler, 3 Chiffchaff and Blackcap were ringed. A nocturnal sound recording session over the Frome Valley produced a Little Ringed Plover, Common Scoter, Golden Plover and Curlew all migrating up the Frome Valley in between 9pm and 2am with Med Gulls also recorded entering the harbour during the dead of night a Tawny Owl called from the woodland on the edge of the Arne Road. 

There was a definite feel of an arrival this morning with low cloud clearing by mid morning and a warm sunshine beamed down across the harbour. The springs first Grasshopper Warbler was ringed up on Ballard Down along with 5 Chiffchaff and at the PC World drain 5 Blackcap, 5 Willow Warbler and 8 Chiffchaff were feeding opposite the KFC. At Arne two Osprey were still kicking about with AX8 definitely confirmed and it’s assumed the other bird is S1 still. Late afternoon saw 4 Garganey found in Holes Bay NW, best viewed from the Stone Bench just outside Upton Country Park. Swallows were coming through in small numbers along Studland and at Swineham c10 Sand Martin, c10 Swallow and a House Martin were over the gravel pit.  On Greenland’s Farm 4 Wheatear were at the southern end and a small handful of Red-breasted Merganser remain with several off Brownsea. At Lytchett Fields there was still a Little Ringed Plover on Sherford Pools and 4 Avocet flew low over the site. 

Things look to warm up over the coming week and the arrival of a Common Crane high in over the harbour heading towards Upton Heath was a welcome sight. After an absence of a couple of days, Osprey AX8 reappeared again at Arne suggesting it had just been hunkering down over the last couple of days in the grotty weather. The ringtail juv Hen Harrier was again seen around the Middlebere and Swineham area during the day. At Lytchett Fields a nice mix of birds included 1 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Spoonbill, 1 Whimbrel, 2 Green Sandpiper and 3 colour-ringed Black-tailed Godwit out of a group of 21. Up on Ballard Down a Golden Plover flew north and ringing totals included just 1 Lesser Redpoll, 10 Goldfinch and 3 Chiffchaff. 

Common Chiffchaff – Ballard Down – Stephen Menzie

Lesser Redpoll – Ballard Down – Stephen Menzie

Goldfinch – Ballard Down – Stephen Menzie

Just when you think spring may have arrived today happens! Grey, drizzly, foggy, damp and miserable. Come on April…pull yourself together! An attempt to run the Ballard Down ringing station was made with 7 Goldfinch and 2 Chiffchaff the only rewards but a singing Blackcap provided some sort of solace that things are going to get better. Brownsea was relatively quiet too with c30 Avocet still present, c50 Black-tailed Godwit and 2 Greenshank the highlights but Redshank, a few Grey Plover and Dunlin remain. There’s been no sign of any Osprey the last couple of days but to be honest, with this weather they’d much prefer to just sit it out, giving the impression they’ve gone. Will we see any in the next couple of days when things improve? There were 2 Little Ringed Plover on Lytchett Fields with 2 Green Sandpiper. Just north of the harbour Stour Ringing Group managed to catch and ring a Common (Mealy) Redpoll on Canford Heath, along with 16 Lesser Redpoll.

Lesser Redpoll (left) and Mealy Redpoll (right) – Canford Heath – Ian Lewis

Things are still plodding along slowly in terms of spring migration but a Wood Duck flying past Holton Pools mid morning was a bit of a surprise. Interestingly one was also seen flying past the same site on April 4^th 2017. Considering there’s been no other reports of this species from elsewhere around the harbour in recent years, its an odd coincidence that one should be seen flying past the same site at the same time of year two years in a row! There were also 20 Swallow around Lytchett Fields and a Wheatear on Holton Pools. The juv male Hen Harrier was blitzing around the west of the harbour today and was also seen at Middlebere. He certainly likes it here. At our Ballard Down ringing station 3 Chiffchaff and a single Blackcap (first of the year) were ringed. 

There was more excitement today when a second Osprey was seen at RSPB Arne, at one point with both hunting off Shipstal. One was assumed to be S1 again as blue ring could be seen on the right leg, but the other bird seemed to be ringed too. We spent the late afternoon trying to see if we could track down this new bird by checking suitable perching areas and by complete fluke we managed to track it down. Thankfully the bird was so focused on feeding that we were able to get close enough to read the ring number which was in fact blue on the left leg, stating it was in fact it was a Scottish ringed individual. The ring read AX8 and we’ve had info back stating it’s a two-year old bird that was originally ringed on June 19^th 2016 near Inverness. Chances are this bird will just head on straight through, but with S1 still lingering about it may be tempted to stay a few days…who knows! There was a definite arrival of hirundines today with Swallows, Sand Martin and the odd House Martin being seen passing through and at Swineham a count of 20 Swallow was made.  In Middlebere the 4 Spoonbill were still present and the 2^nd year male Hen Harrier was still bombing around the mouth of the Wareham Channel during the morning. Chiffchaff are now back in force with many birds singing on territory and Willow Warbler were singing at Sunnyside Farm, Soldiers Road, Arne and Challow Hill (near Corfe). Blackcap are also now arriving in moderate numbers and were singing at the PC World drain, Arne, Hartland Moor and Holton Lee.

Scottish ringed Osprey AX8 Near Arne – Paul Morton

There was a new arrival in the harbour today in the shape of a freshly arrived Osprey. Now, there’s already been several through this spring, all of them so far un-ringed. However this new bird that settled briefly on the Middlebere nest mid morning seemed to be bearing a ring and several people managed to get photos of it as it flew off. Luckily, in a photo taken by Nigel Gidney you can just make out the lettering S1. Now this was a young male that was hatched at Rutland in 2015 but spent the majority of the summer of 2017 here in Poole Harbour. Now he’s arrived back what are his plans? Will he stay for a few days then make his way back to Rutland again or will he take a fancy to Poole Harbour and linger here for a short while longer? We’d be really interested in seeing any photos taken of Osprey in Poole Harbour over the coming weeks. None of our 2017 translocated chicks will be back this spring sadly as they’ll all still be down in west Africa for another year (all those that have survived that is)! What is assumed to be the same Osprey was seen over Holmebridge early morning then Stoborough before then being seen in the harbour. A Black Redstart, a scarce spring migrant in Poole Harbour was at Middlebere and the Spoonbill totals went down to 4. At Lytchett Fields there was another Little Ringed Plover, also 2 Green Sandpiper and 1 Greenshank. On the Brownsea Lagoon Black-tailed Godwit numbers increased again as passage birds pass through the harbour with c500 across the lagoon.

Osprey S1, originally hatched at Rutland 2015 – Middlebere – Nigel Gidney

We knew it would come eventually! The sun actually stayed out long enough for it to become warm today and with the total lack of wind from dawn it finally felt like spring was here. This was backed up by the fact that right across Dorset plenty of migrants turned up including Reed and Sedge Warblers, the first Common Whitethroat and Common Redstart. The harbour saw its fair share with a small arrival of Blackcap up on Ballard plus several Chiffchaff. Over Slepe Heath 6 Swallow went through and a Red Kite was seen over the north of Upton. Along Soldiers Road 2-3 Willow Warbler were singing in amongst the newly arrived Chiffchaff which now seem to be on territory. Out off South Beach, Studland 3 Common Scoter were still present. By midday the sky looking out from across Slepe Heath seemed to be filled with displaying Common Buzzard and on Ballard the pair of Peregrine were really vocal near Old Harry. At Arne 5 Brambling were still feeding outside the visitors center in the car park. On many of the heathlands around the south of the harbour including Hartland, Slepe Heath, Arne and Stoborough Heath Dartford Warbler are now very vocal and Meadow Pipit were display flying too. In Middlebere there were now 8 Spoonbill suggesting there were some new arrivals in amongst the ranks. At Lytchett Fields there were 2 Blackcap along with 3 Greenshank and 3 Green Sandpiper and in the bay were 600+ Black-tailed Godwit.

Adder – Old Harry coast path – Paul Morton

Common Chiffchaff – Ballard Down – Paul Morton

Wow, what a day. This morning’s gale force monsoon wasn’t quite the spring weather we’d hoped for but it was soon over and cleared from the south leaving a bright but breezy afternoon. The Osprey was again seen over Middlebere and there were 8 Spoonbill in the Middlebere Channel. A sea watch from Branksome in the building wind didn’t see much in totals but variety was ok with Common Scoter, Curlew, Brent Goose, Gannet, Shelduck, Sandwich Tern, Great Crested Grebe and Med Gull all heading east.