Highlights from our Osprey Cruises today included 2 Glossy Ibis in the Wareham Channel at the mouth of the River Piddle, as well as 1 Great White Egret amongst a large group of Little Egret. Throughout the day, we estimated there to be 5 Osprey moving between the Wareham Channel and Lytchett Bay. 1 Wheatear and 1 juvenile Greenshank were present on RSPB Arne Moors. On the high tide on Brownsea Lagoon there were 6 Knot, 36 Spoonbill, 80 Avocet, 120 Dunlin, 30 Ringed Plover, 1 Sanderling and 1 Bar-tailed Godwit.

1 Little Stint was reported amongst a Ringed Plover flock this evening at Studland between the houseboats and Jerry’s Point. 1 juvenile Kittiwake was also present in Brands Bay.

Glossy Ibis – Wareham Channel – Alison Copland

Quite often with the arrival of unsettled weather comes the arrival of some new birds and that was certainly the case today with an adult Roseate Tern out in Brands Bay this afternoon along with a fly by Wood Sandpiper there too. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 5 juv Curlew Sandpiper, 23  Knot, 108 Sandwich Tern and 77 Ringed Plover. There wasn’t much going on out at sea with just a few Kittiwake, Sandwich Tern and Gannet moving. At Lytchett Fields there were 2 Spotted Redshank, 1 Osprey hunkered down and 2 Ringed Plover.

Knot flock – Brands Bay – Ed Betteridge

A really strong SW wind hit this afternoon and limited the birding somewhat, but it was still a busy day none the less. There was a Ruff on Lytchett Fields this morning with 2 Spotted Redshank again and 20+ Greenshank, also 1 Whinchat, 1 Grasshopper Warbler and 2 Tree Pipit were in the approach fields. Brownsea Lagoon held c20 Spoonbill, the 2 White-tailed Eagle were in the Wareham Channel all day and there was a minimum of 6 Osprey across Lytchett Bay, Middlebere and the Wareham Channel. A Great White Egret was on Swineham Point with a juvenile Marsh Harrier. A Pied Flycatcher was at Middlebere, 10 Yellow Wagtail flew over Greenlands Farm.

Great White Egret – Swineham Point – Alison Copland

A brisker SW built during the course of the day, making the birding a little bit trickier, but the Osprey numbers remained strong with 5-10 still spread across the northern and western areas of the harbour including Holes Bay, Lytchett Bay, Middlebere and the Wareham Channel. More waders are coming through with 4 Knot in Lytchett Bay this morning along with 2 Spotted Redshank, 11 Greenshank, 2 Common Sandpiper, 5 Common Snipe and 6 Dunlin. The White-tailed Eagle pair were in the Wareham Channel for much of the day, there were 2 Marsh Harrier there too. A few more Pintail arrived with birds logged in Holes Bay and Brands Bay, and the PCW Drain has seen a good mix of common migrants recently with Common Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Lesser Whitethroat, Common Redstart and Garden Warbler.

Red Knot – Lytchett Bay – Mark Wright

Spotted Redshank – Lytchett Bay/Fields

Honey Buzzard – Carey Secret Garden – Ed Betteridge

Another incredible day of Osprey and eagle action in the harbour today. Up to 3 White-tailed Eagle were seen from our morning Osprey Cruise, including Dorset pair G466 and G463 with both flying and circling directly over us, and 2021 female G542, as well as at least 10 Osprey including adults such as our local male 022, 5H1, 6T6 and several other juveniles. Female White-tailed Eagle G466 was seen interacting with several Osprey, although no eagle – Osprey chases were had today. Other raptors seen from the trip included 1 immature female Goshawk, which had a go at a Little Egret, before being mobbed by a Jackdaw. 1 Peregrine Falcon, 1 Hobby, and 2 Red Kite were also present. The first mixed flock of winter duck dropped into the Wareham Channel this morning, including 16 Wigeon, 5 Shoveler, and 3 Pintail. Another lone Pintail was on Swineham GP as well as 1 Yellow-legged Gull. This afternoon 2  Glossy Ibis also dropped into the Wareham Channel. There was a nice selection of birds on Wareham Common, including 1 Pied Flycatcher by the pumping station, at least 7 Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Whinchat, 1 Hobby, and 4 Willow Warbler. This evening a Little Stint was found on Lytchett Fields.

The Osprey and White-tailed Eagle action this last few weeks has been just amazing with todays activity constant all day. The hot spots are undoubtedly Lytchett Bay, the Wareham Channel and Middlebere, with several now also visiting Holes Bay. Our best guess is that there are currently c15 or so across the harbour and the White-tailed Eagles have also been very active in the last few days. Our cruises offer a great opportunity to witness a whole range of behaviours and interactions which haven’t been observed in this area for centuries. It truly is an inspiring and breathtaking time of year.

We still have tickets available for this weekends and next weeks trips so if you’d like the chance of witnessing one of the best nature experiences in the UK currently then why not come and join us. You can book your tickets HERE

White-tailed Eagle G466 from today’s Osprey Cruise – Mark Wright

White-tailed Eagle G466 interacting with an Osprey from this AM’s Osprey Cruise  – Alison Copland

Male Osprey 5R1 from this AM’s Osprey Cruise – Mark Wright

Nice to see the 1 Glossy Ibis is still around, being seen this morning from our Osprey Cruise flying from Swineham and landing on the Keysworth shoreline in the Wareham Channel. Will we see a similar arrival in the next few weeks like we did last September of hundreds of Glossy Ibis into the UK? In Lytchett Bay today there were 1 Great White Egret, 2 Spotted Redshank, 6 Dunlin, 21 Greenshank, 75 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Common Sandpiper and several Osprey throughout the day with max count of 5. In Middlebere this evening on the rising tide there were 3 Spotted Redshank, 1 Osprey, 122 Black-tailed Godwit, 104 Redshank, 1 Dunlin, 2 Avocet, 1 Hobby, 1 Green Sandpiper, 14 Greenshank and 1 Spoonbill. In the Wareham Channel from our Osprey Cruises today there were a minimum of 8(!) Osprey, but likely over 10 in reality. This included CJ7 & 022 catching fish, Scottish juvenile 9J7 and an unringed juvenile. Both adult White-tailed Eagles were also active along with 1 Marsh Harrier (mobbing the Eagle), 1 Red Kite and 3 Ruff over Keysworth. Another new ringed Osprey arrived in the harbour today, in fact visiting the Carey nest and viewed from our webcam, Tweed Valley ringed, but Kielder Forest breeding female ‘699’. 1 Whinchat was still at RSPB Arne farm.

With so much Osprey activity and the White-tailed Eagles trying to steal their fish daily, it really is the best time of year to see these birds well. Today we saw 3 fish catches, displaying, calling and the Eagles throughout looking for an easy meal. While they were unsuccessful today, yesterday they did manage to pirate a fish from an unlucky Osprey. We still have a few tickets left for our Osprey Cruises during this peak time, including for this Friday afternoon. Book here.

Osprey ‘536’ Aurora from Loch Arkaig – Lytchett Bay – Mark Wright

A more blustery day in the harbour, but still bringing plenty of good birding. In the Middlebere/Hartland scrub this morning there were 4 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Whinchat, 2 Wheatear, 1  Redstart and 2 Osprey (1 juvenile and an adult female with a fish). In the Middlebere Channel there were 24 Greenshank, 2 Spotted Redshank, 80 Redshank, 4 Ringed Plover, 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Osprey, 1 Hobby and 1 White-tailed Eagle. In Lytchett Bay there were 3 Osprey, 1 Marsh Harrier, 17 Greenshank, 3 Spotted Redshank and from Turlin Moor 1 Lesser Whitethroat and 1 Garden Warbler. On the Brownsea Lagoon the Spoonbill count was at 29 today. Numbers of Avocet continue to increase with c48 along with 1 Sanderling and 6 Greenshank.

Juvenile Osprey 2B9 from Kielder Forest was again in the Wareham Channel this morning. From our Osprey Cruises today several Ospreys were active across the harbour and included an act of kleptoparasitism by 1 White-tailed Eagle in the Wareham Channel this afternoon, in successfully forcing an Osprey to drop its fish.

On last Friday’s Osprey Cruise a Marsh Harrier with a wing tag was seen and photographed. Having received the photo we could identify this as ‘J7’ with a yellow tag and sent this info off to the project. This was a female Marsh Harrier that was tagged in Suffolk near Southwold on 5th June 2026 in a brood of 3 and this is the first time she’s been resighted. One of her siblings has also been seen at Belvide reservoir in Staffordshire. This is only the third ever wing-tagged Marsh Harrier to be seen in Dorset. Hopefully she carries on her travels safely elsewhere and we can keep up with her movements. Thanks to the North West Norfolk ringing group for info.

Marsh Harrier J7 from Suffolk – Wareham Channel Osprey Cruise 21st August – Dale Franklin

Once again, it was another jam-packed day for Ospreys, but we’ve been banging on about that for days now, so we’ll start today off with news that the first ‘winter’ bird of the season arrived in the shape of a lone Pintail that dropped down into Brands Bay this afternoon. There was also another increase in Spoonbill with 27 on the Brownsea Lagoon along with 53 Avocet. Ringing efforts today highlighted that Blackcap are now on the move with 21 ringed in the Lower Piddle Valley, along with 18 Grasshopper Warbler and 2 Tree Pipit, plus good numbers of Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Reed and Sedge Warbler. In Middlebere 2 Spotted Redshank were still feeding in the channel. The Osprey Cruises today were once again spectacular with no less than 10 Osprey this morning and 7 this afternoon, with a mixture of locals and new passage migrants. One particular bird was a new one, fresh Scottish juvenile female 9J7, a youngster from the Border Ospreys project, who was ringed on June 5th. From the cruise we also had 3 Great White Egret, 2 Goshawk, 3-4 White-tailed Eagle, 2 Marsh Harrier, and no-doubt a Partridge in a Pear Tree by Christmas!!

Newly arrived Scottish Borders juvenile female Osprey 9J7 – Osprey Crusie this AM – Alison Copland

What an incredible mid to late August day. The morning chill is definitely making things more autumnal but with the late morning warmth hitting, birds are certainly on the move and becoming more active. The most incredible scenes were played out this morning when from our Osprey Cruise, no less than 10 Osprey made an appearance, with at least 5 fish catches being seen. If that wasn’t enough then the appearance of 4 White-tailed Eagles made for spectacular viewing when at least three times, they chased various Osprey for their fish! Ospreys seemed to be everywhere today with sightings over Brownsea, Brands Bay, Lytchett Bay and a few even sat out in random locations, like out on Hartland Moor eating fish. New arrivals in were 4 Ruff over the Wareham Channel this morning and a Glossy Ibis was on Lytchett Fields. The Brownsea Lagoon held 22 Avocet, 88 Ringed Plover, 5 Greenshank and 25 Spoonbill. There were 3 Spotted Redshank at Middlebere, a Ruff was in Brands Bay, 3 Great White Egret were also in Middlebere. Finally, a good rummage around any scrub, headland, heathland area currently is producing good numbers of common migrants with Willow Warblers, Whinchat, Wheatears, Redstarts, Yellow Wagtails and Tree Pipit all being logged this AM across the south and west of the harbour, so keep a good eye (and ear) out.

Yellow Wagtail – Swineham – Peter Moore

It’s really turning out to be a phenomenal year for Ospreys in the harbour, and today was a ‘who’s who’ of visiting Ospreys. Right across the harbour birds that were either directly related to our translocation project or products of our translocation project were present, most amazingly with a surprise appearance from our male at our Nest 2 site ‘374’. He and his mate (1H1) wanted to breed in the harbour but weren’t allowed due to local male 022, so set up shop just north of the harbour last year. They’ve now had two successful breeding seasons, despite rarely visiting the harbour, and in fact, his visit today was the first time he’s actually been seen within Poole Harbour since 2024! Also today, 2-year old male 5H6 who returned this spring for the fist time, but hadn’t been seen since July suddenly turned up in the Wareham Channel this morning. Also present were 5RI, 5H3, 022, CJ7 and all four of this years offspring. It was the full dynasty today and it looked spectacular, especially for our guests on board both of todays trips. To top it off we also had stunning views of both male and female White-tailed Eagles G466 and G463 who were also active in the Wareham Channel. The Brownsea Lagoon Spoonbill crowd has now grown to 32, and there were 13 Avocet, 80 Ringed Plover, 30 Dunlin and 6 Ringed Plover. A Great White Egret at Hatch Pond was great to see, there were Spotted Redshank at Brands Bay (with a Ruff) and another at Lytchett Fields. Ringing-wise 12 Grasshopper Warbler, 11 Tree Pipit and 1 Whinchat were ringed in the Lower Piddle Valley.

Male Osprey 374 from our ‘Nest 2 site’ fishing in Holes Bay this AM – Alison Copland

Male Osprey 5H6 on our RSPB Arne ‘tree cam’ this AM having not been seen since July

Female White-tailed Eagle G466 over our Osprey Crusie this morning – Mike Gaston