As we mentioned yesterday our partners in the Poole Harbour Osprey translocation project, The Roy Dennis Wildlife foundation have been busy up in Scotland this weekend collecting chicks ready to bring down next week. We’re so close now and we can’t wait to meet our new arrivals soon. We’ll get a final update tomorrow as to how they’ve done and whether the team have managed to get all eight chicks for the project but as things stand its looking promising. We’ll be keeping you up to date with all the developments this coming week so make sure not to miss anything! As a reminder, Roy has written a detailed overview of the project on the Foundations website which will provide you with much of the reason behind the project and our collective objectives for the species. Poole Harbour Osprey Project – Roy Dennis

Elsewhere around the harbour the beginnings of autumn migration continued to bubble along and Lytchett Fields saw a decent total of 14 Green Sandpiper, 1 Common Sandpiper, 3 Greenshank, 96 Redshank, 65 Black-tailed Godwit, 51 Lapwing and 1 Little Ringed Plover. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were definitely 2 Roseate Tern which were seen together. In Middlebere an Osprey was in the dead trees mid morning. A female type Marsh Harrier was floating around the mouth of Middlebere/Wytch Lake late afternoon and Hobby were over Arne, Hartland Middlebere. 

With the Sandwich Terns now beginning to fledge on Brownsea and the Common Terns to follow shortly, its safe to say it’s been a bumper year for both species. Rough counts of chicks for Sandwich Tern is said to be around c60 and Common Tern came in at around 101! This is great news seeing they’ve struggled in recent years. The Avocet is still sitting tight at her nest site, although things are getting a little late. Will the pair pull it out of the bag and hatch the first Avocet young in Dorset for many years or will this story have a sadder ending? There’s still time for a happy ending so we’re all still keeping fingers well and truly crossed. A Roseate Tern was on the lagoon again as were the 6 Spoonbill. At Arne there were 2 Osprey again around the Middlebere area and the Hobby camera was getting a lot of attention in the visitors centre. There was also a Turtle Dove reported from a private garden near Studland. 

Osprey Translocation Update

It’s been a couple of weeks now since we announced the exciting news we’re helping facilitate an Osprey translocation project here in Poole Harbour. Our partners in the project include Jason Fathers from Wildlife Technology Company Wildlife Windows, and Jason has been slogging away over the last month getting everything in place ready for the chick’s arrival. Our other partners are the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation and this week they’ve been busy assessing nest sites up in Scotland and even began collecting chicks today ready to bring down to Poole. Depending on how the next couple of days go we are hoping to see ‘the class of 17′ arrive early next week, which is beyond exciting. As we hope you’ll understand, the location of the holding pens has to remain confidential but we’ll be blogging and providing updates on the chicks progress, and as they’re only in the holding pens for a couple of weeks, it won’t hopefully be long until they’ll be flying free around the harbour. Today we received some photos from Tim Makrill and Roy Dennis, which provide the first images of the two of our eight Poole bound Osprey chicks. More to follow over the coming days and next week will certainly be worth waiting for.

Roy Dennis with two Poole bound Osprey chicks for the Poole Harbour translocation project

Things were pretty quiet today with just a couple of Little Ringed Plover on Lytchett Fields along with a Common Sandpiper and the colour ringed Greenshank. On Brownsea a Roseate Tern was reported again with a single Spotted Redshank, 6 Spoonbill and 40+ Redshank also present. In Middlebere an Osprey was on the pole again. Not that you need an excuse to visit Arne but there is even more of a reason as they now have a live stream running into their visitors centre of a Hobby nest out on the reserve. Technology and forward thinking conservation is a great combination, and when they do combine great things happen. Just like the decoy Osprey nests the RSPB/Wildlife Windows put up several years ago they also did exactly the same for Hobby, with Jason Fathers from Wildlife Widows building several Hobby nests out of hanging baskets and placing them in suitable areas around the reserve. After several frustrating years its now paid off and you can enjoy all the comings and goings of this spectacular species when you visit Arne. 

Hobby nest cam – RSPB Arne – Arne Team

There seems to be a couple of Roseate Terns on Brownsea currently with two likely to be present on the ‘Boomerang’ today along with the 6 Spoonbill again and a gradual but continued rise in wader numbers with 2 Spotted Redshank again.  On Lytchett Fields there were 8 Little Ringed Plover, 8 Green Sandpiper, 1 Common Sandpiper and the colour ringed Greenshank is back again for its third year. At Middlebere there were two Ospreymid-morning with one hunting in the Wareham Channel later in the afternoon. In Middlebere a single Grey Plover and 2 Bar-tailed Godwit were feeding on the falling tide with c60 Black-tailed Godwit.

Today was mostly about Brownsea, which saw the first 2 returning Spotted Redshank of the autumn along with 8 Avocet, 6 Spoonbill, 1 Roseate Tern, 25 Little Egret and a good number of Black-tailed Godwit and 18 Redshank. There were 3 Osprey in the Wareham Channel this evening, one of which was S1 another looked to be a female type but the third couldn’t be sexed, hopefully it will stick around for a few days. At Lytchett Fields there were 6 Little Ringed Plover today with 3 Common Tern fishing out over the fields and in the ditches which seemed unusual for the site. At Arne, a Hobby was out over Shipstal and 2 Bar-tailed Godwit were in Middlebere. As mentioned earlier in the week, there seem to be good numbers of juvenile birds around and there was a report of the first juv Willow Warbler of the autumn heard calling near Wallisdown Road, Poole…and give it a few weeks and there will plenty of gems moving through as  their soft ‘woowheet’ gives away their presence. 

The 6 Spoonbill spent early morning on Lytchett Fields before returning to Brownsea Island where wader numbers were creeping up slowly. Black-tailed Godwit and Redshank numbers were up with 5 Avocet on the lagoon too. The Common and Sandwich Tern chicks continue to flourish and it won’t be long before some of the Sandwich Terns begin to make their maiden flights. Back at Lytchett Fields there were 3 Green Sandpiper, a good scattering of Lapwing and Redshank and 6 Little Ringed Plover. In the Wareham Channel this evening there were 2 Osprey fishing which were later seen in Middlebere. 

Moulting male Teal – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

Spoonbill – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

Green Woodpeckers – Lytchett Heath – Ian Ballam

Sand Lizard – Lytchett Heath – Paul Morton

It’s always nice when a Roseate Tern drops in unexpected on to the Brownsea Lagoon, which is exactly what happened today around midday. An adult was out on the ‘Boomerang’ in front of the lower hide, which at this time of the year is possibly a failed breeder from further north. A new Spoonbill joined the group of 5, which have been splitting their time between the Brownsea Lagoon and Lytchett Fields with all 6 together on the lagoon mid-morning. In recent years, numbers of returning Spoonbill haven’t begun to arrive back on Brownsea until early to mid August so having 6 back already is a good start to trying to break another UK record total like we saw in 2015 and 2016 where the harbour reached a peak of 60 Spoonbill by mid October. Also on the Lagoon today were singles of Whimbrel, Greenshank, Bar-tailed Godwit and Ringed Plover. At Lytchett Fields the Little Ringed Plover total has now risen to 10 which for early July is quite exceptional, there were still also 7 Green Sandpiper on the fields too. Our second Nightjar walk of the weekend at Arne was another wonderful evening with the wind dropping off (along with the temperature), and a wonderful display of several calling males complete with wing clapping and fly-by sightings. The Barn Owl was again hunting over on the opposite side of Middlebere, more Curlew, Black-tailed Godwit and Shelduck were all moving about the channel as Swift, Grey Heron and Little Egret all followed regular flight paths back to their roost sites.

We mentioned yesterday that birds were beginning to move already with the first signs of autumn passage getting underway. What we weren’t expecting though was a drake Common Scoter to drop into Holes Bay NE at dawn, just off the outflow channel. This was obviously a bird in transit as it only stayed for 30 seconds before flying off SW back over the railway bridge…a very interesting mid-summer record. There was some more interaction between a couple of Osprey at Middlebere with one bird eating a fish on the pole and another coming to harass it. An early fledged juvenile from somewhere, maybe hassling for some food? Or a fish envy altercation between the two birds present since early June? At Lytchett Fields the Little ringed Plover total went up to 7, with 7 Green Sandpiper, the 1^stGreenshank of the autumn, 21 Lapwing, 53 Redshank and 5 Spoonbill. Nearby, on Lytchett Heath a short ringing session saw the first juv Reed Warblers of the autumn caught along with 3 Cetti’s Warbler and several Reed Bunting. A quick check at South Haven produced 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Guillemot and a single Gannet off Pilots Point. This evening we hosted one of our mid-summer Nightjar walks at Arne and despite a gentle breeze we were treated to Barn Owl flying around the Middlebere Marsh, Osprey sat in the dead trees, Curlew and Black-tailed Godwit calling and flying into the Middlebere Channel as the tide began to fall, and of course as darkness fell, a chorus of Nightjar, perhaps 5-6 heard along with some active territorial chasing between two males right past our group. 

Kingfisher – Holes Bay north – Olly Slessor

A better today with more signs of dispersal around the harbour, where a fresh juv Kingfisher was ringed in Holes Bay north. You can ID young Kingfisher quite easily this time of year, especially with a decent view. The tops of their feet are dirty brown and grubby and their overall plumage a duller blue with brown toned fringes to some of the feathers. Both adult and young Kingfisher disperse from their breeding grounds at the end of the summer and head down river to coastal spots which is why you can often encounter Kingfisher at places like Poole Quay, Poole Park and Baiter from now to Feb. The Osprey was again on the perching post in Middlebere for most of the afternoon. At Lytchett Bay a Red Kite drifted over Otter Island towards Turlin Moor and on Lytchett Fields there were 2 Little Ringed Plover and 5 Green Sandpiper. We’ve also had a decent amount of recoveries from a ringing site we’ve been running in the north of the harbour this spring called Fleets Corner. Earlier in the spring (mid-March) we experienced a rush of Chiffchaff, several of them already ringed. Below is the ringing history for those birds. Plus a recovery of one of the birds we ringed at Fleets Corner re-trapped elsewhere.

The first juvenile waders are already beginning to turn up in the harbour with good numbers of Lapwing appearing on Lytchett Fields along with the first juvenile Little Ringed Plover of the ‘autumn’. Little Ringed Plover don’t breed in the harbour as far as we know, although there are plenty of local quarry workings which could hold breeding LRP, so there’s a chance this juvenile hasn’t come very far. Juvenile Redshank are also beginning to appear on the Brownsea Lagoon with some adults still quite vocal and on territory at places like Middlebere and Arne Moors. We mentioned last week that the terns on Brownsea seem to be doing well and a check of our Brownsea Webcam highlights the remarks perfectly. The un-fenced islands now see ten’s of little feather balls bouncing around the shingle with the adult Common Terns busy trying to keep their chicks in check. The Sandwich Terns within the fenced islands are also holding on strong with only the occasional peck on the head from an angry neighbour presenting the biggest risks. It will be interesting to hear the official totals at the end of the season but it look’s like it could be the best Common Tern year for a very long time. The low cloud cover and mild temperatures got good numbers of Swift feeding over Poole Park boating lake, swooping low over the road and pavements. Back in 2012 a huge gathering of Swift (c800-1000) descended on the Poole Park area after a storm the night before had stirred up food sources in the area. It was an incredible urban scene as Swift dodged in and out of cars whilst others whizzed past your head at close quarters.