Today was Hen Harrier south day, an event that sees conservations and concerned/angry members of the public rally together and campaign against the illegal persecution of Hen Harriers and all other birds of prey on the grouse moors of northern England. Each winter we’re lucky enough to see Hen Harrier here in Poole Harbour, with 2 or 3 maybe 4 if we’re really lucky touring the marshes of the harbour throughout the colder months. Spanning back to the 70s and 80s those numbers were much greater and several roosts containing up to 8-10 birds could be observed. Sadly that wonderful occurrence is no more, and with only 3 nests in England this year it doesn’t seem to be getting any better any time soon. Campaigner and TV presenter Chris Packham was at RSPB Arne yesterday along with RSPB director of England Chris Corrigan, children’s author Gill Lewis and the wonderful Dorset Police Rural Crime Team, who each spoke about the ILLEGAL killing of our wonderful birds of prey. In total around 500-600 people attended, hanging on every word that was being spoken, some who may have already been aware of the issue and some who were not. During his speech, Chris Packham promised we’d win the fight against illegal persecution stating that within the next 5-10 years the Grouse shooting Industry would be a reformed industry with new process in place to ensure a safe future for our birds of prey…we hope he’s right! What was really great through was that we were able to tie in a good news raptor story and at 1pm up on Coombe Heath we did a short talk about our Osprey translocation project. This was really well received and members of the public were able to ask questions whilst stood looking out across what is arguably one of the best views in Poole Harbour.

The Osprey chicks mid-morning were really active with LS5 disappearing almost over Poole Quay before returning and LS1 & LS5 flying off east together to cause mischief, circling over towards Brands Bay before returning 30 minutes later. LS0 and another (we couldn’t see the leg ring) did their first proper dives in the water too, talons out, taking aim and SPLASH! As great as it looked it was all rather half hearted though and were more likely to catch a cold rather than a fish, but hey…at least they’re trying. 2 adult Osprey were again seen near Middlebere and 6 Spoonbill were roosting at the far end of the Middlebere Channel. In the mouth of Middlebere there was 1 Spotted Redshank, 4 Greenshank, 10 Whimbrel, 1 Common Sandpiper with 1 Tree Pipit and 3 Yellow Wagtail overhead. At Lytchett Fields a Peregrine flushed a good number of birds off the fields but Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper and 1 Little Ringed Plover made a brave return. 

Crowd gathering to hear Chris Packham speak at Hen Harrier day south, Arne

Birds of Poole Harbour talking about Osprey translocation project at Arne

Chris Packham speaking at Hen Harrier day south, Arne

The Osprey chicks are still doing great and their confidence is growing day by day. Although much of the day’s are being spent around the pen site some are making longer flights now and are even flying to the feeding area, grabbing half a fish and then flying off to a favour feeding perch to feed, which goes to show they’re advancing all the time. LS7 and LS1 continue to do mini practice dives and are now happy to at least get their toes wet if nothing else! Will we see any catch a fish before they depart? We really really hope so!

Sightings from today included 2 adult Osprey over towards Middlebere. Lytchett Fields was busy with 74 Black-tailed Godwit, 55 Dunlin, 5 Greenshank, 9 Ringed Plover, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 106 Redshank, 1 Common Sandpiper, 15+ Green Sandpiper and 1 Wood Sandpiper later in the evening with a Common Sandpiper and Green Sandpiper on the new Holton Pools. A single Hobby was soaring above the Wareham Channel and 2 Marsh Harrier were near Arne Moors. There were 7 Spotted Redshank on the Brownsea Lagoon with 35 Dunlin, 2 Knot, 3 Ringed Plover, 2 Common Sandpiper and just 1 Greenshank. A ringing session at Lytchett Bay was really productive with 40 Willow Warbler, 79 Sedge Warbler, 16 Reed Warbler, 2 Grasshopper Warbler, 3 Garden Warbler, 1 Whitethroat and 1 Reed Bunting ringed. 

Osprey chicks eating fish on their favoured feeding posts

2nd winter Bonaparte’s Gull – Brownsea Lagoon (yesterday) – James Phillips

You may have noticed we’d gone a little quiet on the Osprey news, and we apologise for that. It’s not that we’ve lost interest or even that we now want to keep it a secret. The true reason is because at 4am on Monday morning (July 31^st) we released our first 6 Osprey chicks and our team were busy watching and monitoring their every move since then. Well, it’s been five days now since release and apart from getting a bit soggy on Wednesday all 6 are doing brilliantly, flying, feeding and even playing out in their new (temporary) home. We currently still have two in pens as they’re not quite ready to fledge yet, but they’ll be released early next week which would mean all 8 of this years arrivals will be out and about mapping and imprinting on the Poole Harbour area.

The release  was an anxious moment as you never quite know what to expect. Would each bird ‘play ball’ and stay within the release area where it’s nice and safe? Hmmmm, well, luckily most of them did but incredibly LS1 flew straight out of the pen and flew across the water to Arne where it promptly landed in a pine tree and sat for several hours. The lure of food and friendly faces soon drew it back though and by later that day he was with his mates again. On Tuesday LS5 made an incredible flight, soring high above the release site on a thermal until she was almost lost to view, however having travelled what looked a good few kilometres away, she calmly banked back around and softly circled lower and lower until she was back down again on one of the nest platforms put out by our team. On Wednesday they all looked miserable, as did we, but by Thursday the sun was back out again and each of the birds continued to grow in confidence flying from perching post to perching post and on Friday LS3 was even beginning to practice dive for fish…admittedly very half heartedly but good on him! We can’t believe we’re already at this stage in our first year, it’s all gone so quickly. Our team are continuing to monitor their every move for now so that we can ensure their long term safety and to make sure we know they’re eating plenty before the disappear for the autumn. For now they’re pretty faithful to the release site area because they know that’s where the food is but within the next week or so they’ll begin making bigger journeys around the harbour and places like Middlebere, Arne, the Wareham Channel and possibly even Lytchett and Holes Bay will be good places to keep an eye out for them. Our thanks go out again to everyone who has supported, helped, donated and advised throughout the project, we can’t express how much that means to us, and here’s looking forward to the next 4 years of the project.

Sightings from today included the Bonaparte’s Gull again on the Brownsea lagoon with video footage confirming it is indeed a 2^nd year bird and not an adult unlike first thought. The first Redstart of the autumn was along the Hartland Road and 2 Yellow Wagtail were over Middlebere. An adult Osprey was on the Middlebere nest platform with 6 Spoonbill in the channel too. On Brownsea the wader numbers were down slightly with 1 Spotted Redshank, 7 Greenshank, 27 Redshank, 2 Knot, 26 Dunlin, 4 Common Sandpiper (and a flock of 11 along the north shore), 13 Avocet and 21 Black-tailed Godwit. Near the villa on Brownsea there was a Firecrest with 2 fresh young. At Lytchett Fields there were 40 Dunlin, 3 Greenshank, 3 Common Sandpiper, 1 Yellow Wagtail and 2 Common Tern. 

First Osprey to leave the pens at 4am on monday morning

LS7 looking happy and healthy the day after release

LS3 looking out across Poole Harbour

Flying lessons for one of the chicks – Simon Kidner

Two’s company three’s…oh go one then! – Simon Kidner

Is it really summer? Lashings of rain yesterday and 35mph winds today, not exactly beach weather…unless you’re doing a sea watch of course? The harbour’s first Balearic Shearwater of the year passed Ballard Down in rough conditions along with several Fulmar and c80 Gannet. A Hobby was also hunting Hirundines along the top on Glebelands. At Lytchett Fields there were 23 Dunlin, 3 Common Sandpiper, 7 Green Sandpiper, 1 Whimbrel, 4 Greenshank, 5 Sedge Warbler and 1 Kingfisher. In Middlebere there was still an Osprey in the dead trees and 6 Spoonbill were in Middlebere. The Bonaparte’s Gull is still on Brownsea, seemingly enjoying its self. The channels and creeks around Middlebere, Wytch, Brands Bay and Arne still have lots of Whimbrel and building numbers of Grey Plover.

We also have some exciting news in that our scrape extension work at Holton Pools, Holton Lee is almost complete. We’ve opened the site right up now making more standing water and muddy areas which in turn will hopefully interlink with birds that are using Lytchett Fields. It may take a few weeks/months to bed in and become fully functional, but by opening it up it should make waders, duck and herons feel more comfortable with bigger wider open areas. Please, if you visit this site we’d love to know what you see so please report sightings to us or write in the log book left in the hide. 

New scrapes at Holton Pools, Livability Holton Lee

Hmmmmm. The less said about today the better. 30mph winds, heavy rain and sodden optics don’t make for good bird watching opportunities. The Bonaparte’s Gull was again on the Brownsea Lagoon for most of the afternoon and 2 Spoonbill were in Middlebere. An Osprey braved it on top of the Middlebere platform. Then everyone went home and had a hot cup of tea. 

The nice weather continued and it seems more birds are on the move. The first Tree Pipit of the autumn called overhead at dawn near the Wytch Channel and another 10-15 Yellow Wagtail also passed overhead over the course of the day. Yesterdays Sand Martin passage intensified today with an even bigger push of many hundreds going through throughout the day, mostly heading south along the southern shores. Today the Sand Martin were joined by a big pulse of Swift as c300 went through around 11am. There were 2 Osprey again at Arne with both feeding in the dead trees at the back of Middlebere, with 6 Spoonbill again in Middlebere. The Bonaparte’s Gull was present on the Brownsea Lagoon again but for the morning only.  A ringing session at Lytchett Bay produced 21 Sedge Warbler, 17 Reed Warbler, 1 Grasshopper Warbler, 2 Garden Warbler, 1 Common Whitethroat, 5 Willow Warbler and a selection of commoner species. 

Well, as luck would have it yesterdays Bonaparte’s Gull that was found on the Brownsea Lagoon mid-afternoon re-appeared mid-morning today and thankfully stayed around all day for plenty of birders to enjoy. Nestled in amongst the Black-headed Gulls it gave a good comparison and ID opportunity to get to grips with this Poole Harbour first. Then, in late afternoon we received a call that an orange ringtail harrier was spotted over Lytchett Fields. Thankfully it was seen again a couple of times by another birder later in the afternoon who managed to get a clear set of features indicating it was a juvenile Montagu’s Harrier, a real mid-summer treat! At Arne 5 Spoonbill were feeding in the Middlebere Channel mid-morning and 2 Osprey were in the dead tress at the back of the Middlebere marsh. All day there was a good passage of Sand Martin with many hundreds heading south with House Martin and Swallow mixed in, all pulsing along the southern shores of the harbour and heading along the channels of the Wytch and Middlebere channels. At Greenland’s Farm, Studland the first Yellow Wagtails of the autumn were passing over-head with c10 over the course of the day. Waders from around the harbour included good numbers of Whimbrel in all the bays around the harbour with their familiar calls echoing out across the salt marsh. At Lytchett Fields there were 36 Dunlin, 8 Greenshank, 9 Green Sandpiper, 1 Common Sandpiper and 1 Yellow-legged Gull. At Lytchett Heath a juvenile Nightjar was ringed which was good as it proved breeding at this site this year (unsuccessful last year) and a decent count of 610 Jackdaw went into roost near by.

We also have a week’s worth of work beginning at Holton Pools, which will see the scrapes and pools expanded to create a larger open area for waders. This project began back in March this year and this next phase will hopefully make it more attractive to waders, ducks, gulls, Kingfishers, herons, passerines etc. 

Its not everyday a Poole Harbour first occurs but two within a month of one another and from the same bird hide seemed quite unlikely, however from the Mac Hide today, where last months Elegant Tern was found Poole Harbour’s first Bonaparte’s Gull was photographed as it bobbed around in the shallows around 2:30pm before disappearing off. Sadly it was only seen by the finder, so there’s hope it stays around as long as the Longham bird did a few weeks ago…maybe making an impromptu stop off at Poole Park to feed on bread? Here’s hoping! An Osprey was in the dead trees at Middlebere and 5 Spoonbill fed on the falling tide mid morning. 

Bonaparte’s Gull – Brownsea Lagoon – Lorne Bissell

The day started off fairly fine but ended as grim as the night before. Some ringing and monitoring during the hours of sunshine were productive though with 18 Sedge Warbler and 12 Reed Warbler ringed during a session at Lytchett Bay, 13 Willow Warbler counted at Holton Lee with Greenshank, Tawny Owl and Nightjar noted during a short night sound survey and on the Brownsea Lagoon a full survey saw 7 Greenshank, 76 Redshank, 4 Common Sandpiper, 7 Curlew, 9 Avocet, 34 Black-tailed Godwit, 19 Dunlin, 1 Turnstone, 154 Oystercatcher, 7 Little Egret, 1 juv Yellow-legged Gull, triple figures of both Common and Sandwich Tern, 11 Gadwall, 26 Teal and 1 Peregrine. There was also a flock of 14 Common Sandpiper at Seymers Marsh on Brownsea. An Osprey was in Middlebere mid morning. 

Pot of gold in the Wareham Channel

Today saw the first returning Wheatear of the autumn drop down onto Lytchett Fields mid morning with 1 Little Ringed Plover, c10 Green Sandpiper, and the usual cohort of Redshank, Lapwing and Black-tailed Godwit out on the fields. On Brownsea 2 Spotted Redshank were still present and 4 Spoonbill were feeding in the Wareham Channel on the low tide. The Arne Hobby chicks seem to be doing well and there seem to be plenty of Whimbrel and to a lesser extent Grey Plover in the far reaches of various creeks and channels with Middlebere, Wytch, Brands and Redhorn all seeing returning birds.

Osprey Translocation Update

A quick check on the birds this evening before the afternoon shift finished saw 6 of the 8 all perched and almost ready to go. We’re just giving them a few days to get used to eating larger sections of fish before ‘the big off’ as we’ll continue to place large (and even whole) fish on the feeding platforms out in front of the pens after they’re released. We took a quick snap through one of our spy holes this evening too, just because we couldn’t resist. 

Barn Owl – Arne Farm – Ian Brown

Wheatear – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

Osprey LS1 – Look mean and keen

Kingfisher – Middlebere – Ian Brown