Another hot one today which got more Red Kite moving with 2 over Lytchett Bay View mid afternoon. Another Hobby was over Harland mid-afternoon and 2 Spoonbill were on the Brownsea Lagoon. At Lytchett Bay there were 657 Black-tailed Godwit, 8 Whimbrel, 1 Grey Plover, 1 Greenshank, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 7 Reed Warbler, 1 Whitethroat, 15+ Blackcap and a Red Kite. A Cuckoo was calling on Slepe Heath along the Arne Road and there were 6 Wheatear at Sunnyside Farm. On Brownsea, Sandwich Terns were finally beginning to prospect on the islands in front of the hides and Common Tern numbers are building nicely with 17 present today. 

Well, things seem to be getting better and better. The warm morning sun wrapped up in a blanket of thick fog certainly ‘downed’ a lot of birds and when it cleared prompted birds to move. Up on Ballard Down a good sweep of migrants could be found including c15 Common Whitethroat, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Grasshopper Warbler, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 5 Blackcap, c10 Willow Warbler, c5 Chiffchaff, 2 Wheatear, c10 Swallow, c10 House Martin and several flocks of migrating finches. Then, as the fog cleared 5 Red Kite migrated their way along the Ballard ridge heading NE quickly followed by a Marsh Harrier. Red Kites were also passing over other areas of the harbour with 3 over Oakdale, 2 more over Studland later in the day, 1 over Grip Heath, Arne and 1 over Sandford. 3 Hobby were counted over the Middlebere/Hartland area and Cuckoo were calling at Arne, Swineham and Hartland. At Middlebere there were 3 Spoonbill in the channel, c400 summer plumaged Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Wheatear along the track, 1 Lesser Whitethroat near the ‘Dartford Hide’ plus good numbers of Willow Warbler, Blackcap and Chiffchaff singing. At Sunnyside Farm there was a male Whinchat and 10 Wheatear. At Lytchett Bay there was a single Little Ringed Plover. Yet again, Dartford Warbler were really active out on the heathlands, Stonechat, Meadow Pipit and Skylark were all singing on Slepe Heath. 

Common Whitethroat – Ballard Down 

Lesser  Whitethroat – Ballard Down 

Marsh Harrier migrating over Ballard Down 

Red Kite migrating over Ballard Down 

Grey Heron soaring up high over the Hartland/Corfe ridge

Well, the plug well and truly became unplugged today with migrants flowing right the way through the harbour. At dawn, with the sun already blazing down, 2 Spoonbill came in from high west, traveling along the Wareham Channel before dropping into Middlebere. Recent monitoring and research efforts for this species would suggest that these were two fresh in, newly arrived migrants. A Pied Flycatcher along the Coombe Heath trail at Arne was another welcome addition to the year list and a pretty scarce bird for the harbour. Red Kites were on the move in small numbers with birds over Hatch Pond and Oakdale. It seems the Wheatear blockage is now unblocked with 5 at Sunnyside Farm, 3 on Hartland and a thin spread across Greenland’s Farm again. At Lytchett Fields there were 3 Whimbrel, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Greenshank, 1 Green Sandpiper, 2 Common Whitethroat, lots of Blackcap and 2 Reed Warbler. This high pressure is certainly getting birds of prey moving and late afternoon saw a migrant ringtail Hen Harrier arrive in from the south over Hartland before drifting off high north towards Wareham Forest. At Swineham warblers were plentiful with 6 Cetti’s Warbler, 2 Reed Warbler, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 possible Grasshopper Warbler, 6 Blackcap and 2 Chiffchaff with Cuckoo there too. At Middlebere 2 stunning male Whinchat were along the track with 6+ Dartford Warbler. Interestingly a Barn Owl was seen hunting along the edge of Pergins Island, Holes Bay at dawn, which is a good semi-urban sighting. At Holmebridge a Marsh Harrier was hunting. Both Tree Pipit and Woodlark are now back singing on traditional breeding sites in the south of the harbour. If there’s ever a time to try and see Dartford Warbler now’s the time. The heathlands around Arne, Hartland, Middlebere, Slepe Heath and Stoborough Heath are great areas to watch Dartford’s display flying, a sight quite wonderful to see from the usually skulking bird. 

Swallows are now back at breeding sites across the harbour like these in Stoborough 

Migrant Hen Harrier drifting through the harbour – Slepe Heath

Blackcap – Swineham – Keith Rawling

Hooray! Spring finally arrived today and did so in style. High-pressure systems always allow birds to get moving and with 3 Common Crane over Wareham mid-morning it was obvious birds were arriving. There had also been Poole Harbours biggest arrival of Wheatear today (for this spring) with 8 at Sunnyside Farm, 2 at Lytchett Bay, on Hartland, 6 at Greenlands Fram and 3 at Arne. Whitethroat were heard singing at Chads Copse, Lytchett Bay, up on Ballard Down and at Greenland’s Farm. A Red Kite drifted over Holton Lee late afternoon. The springs first Cuckoo was singing away at Arne at first light and stayed for most of the day. There were 3 Spoonbill in Middlebere and Whimbrel could be heard calling overhead at Swineham, Arne and Brownsea. Its also great to see Swallow now settling on telegraph wires, resting up having just arrived and with the hot weather due to continue it will allow hopefully many more to arrive safely.  A nocturnal sound recording session on Lytchett Heath was fairly busy and produced 3 Common Sandpiper, 1 Whimbrel, 1 Grey Plover, 1 Coot, 2 Moorhen, 2 Water Rail and several Curlew flocks moving over in the dark. 

With the mid week forecast looking to reach scorchio levels, it looks like we have to put up with just a couple more days of nippy April weather. The wind built throughout the day and still made mid April feel like mid February. Still, a Little Ringed Plover made it through on to Lytchett Fields with 2 Green Sandpiper still there and a Greenshank. Despite the cold a few Swallow were making their way through and at Arne Wheatear were on Shipstal and Coombe Heath. The ringtail Hen Harrier was still taking up residence in the west of the harbour commuting between Swineham and Hartland mid morning but with high pressure arriving mid week will we see him disappear soon? Willow Warbler are still trickling through but Chiffchaff are well and truly back in force now with birds singing on territory right around the harbour. At the PCW drain, Fleets Bridge 3 Willow Warbler were singing as were 2 Blackcap and 6 Chiffchaff.

Today we hosted our first spring bird boat tour of the season which was aptly named ‘Up with the Lark’. We did indeed hear Skylark singing high above the Frome Valley but were also treated to great selection of other birds too, most of which could make you think it was a winter bird boat rather than a spring tour. In the Wareham Channel there were 2 Great Northern Diver with another off Pottery Pier, Brownsea. On Arne Moors a ringtail Hen Harrier and over Giggers Island a female type Marsh Harrier. A small passage of Swallow, Sand and House Martin were over Swineham GP and 2 newly arrived Common Sandpiper were present, one at Swineham and another on Round Island. We also had a fly by Kingfisher up near Wareham Quay. Other spring migrants included the first Reed and Sedge Warblers with 4 Whimbrel out on the Swineham flood plain (seen from the footpath and not our boat). There were also a number of Sandwich Tern around the harbour with c30 present seen fishing in various areas and single lonely Brent Goose was left in the mouth of Middlebere. Elsewhere a Common Tern was on the Brownsea Lagoon, the springs first Common Redstart was seen on the outskirts of Wareham and also the first Yellow Wagtail flew low over Lytchett Fields early morning. This coming week looks set to see more migrants arrive with high pressure coming in from the east and some sun finally; great migrating conditions for species such as Cuckoo, Hobby, Swift and the odd rarity or two. 

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