Luckily the weather forecast for the weekend ahead is improving and we can get rid of these strong winds and rain. That said, the weather brought down a new Little Ringed Plover at Lytchett Fields and a near summer plumaged Water Pipit too, along with the Green-winged Teal still on Sherford Pools. Ringing activities around the harbour are seeing Chiffchaff being caught with face’s full of pollen highlighting that these are birds having moved up through Europe rather than birds that have moved locally. Meadow Pipits were on the move too with flocks between 5-20 birds passing over areas such as Greenlands Farm and Slepe Heath through the course of the morning.  

Pollen-faced Chiffchaff 

It was a bit grotty today with not much reported other than the Green-winged Teal still on Lytchett Fields and good numbers of Med Gulls continuing to pair up on Brownsea. A night recording session from a listening station in the north of the harbour produced 3 Water Rail, 2 Moorhen, 1 Coot, 14 Redwing calls and a Mallard all over between 7pm and 5am. 

A day of two halves today, with a wet dank start, finishing with a picture perfect still sun set with both ends of the day producing some decent birds. The rain had obviously forced down a few migrants, most notably 3 Little Ringed Plover in one of the cattle fields along Holme Lane. Any muddy pools in fields are worth checking this time of year for ‘LRP’, although we have never seen or were ever really expecting to find any here! In the Lower Frome Valley, around the Bestwall area 3 Wheatear were doing their best to dodge the rain and a few Sand Martin were over Swineham GP. On the edge of Upton CP a Blackcap was sub-singing in the cold and at Lytchett Fields the Green-winged Teal was still on Sherford Pools and the Lesser Yellowlegs was out in Lytchett Bay again. From Coombe Heath, Arne 3 Spotted Redshank were in Middlebere with a Marsh Harrier, 7 Grey Plover and a male Wheatear also noted. On Brownsea it seems to be the invasion of the Med Gulls with really good numbers of birds on the gravel islands. As the day drew to an end the wind dropped off totally which made perfect end of the day bird watching conditions and at Swineham, off the corner of the gravel pit a ringtail Hen Harrier, Barn Owl, male Merlin, 18 Sand Martin, 1 Wheatear, several calling Bearded Tit, c5 Cetti’s Warbler and plenty of singing/squealing Water Rail were all logged. 

Plenty of Chiffchaff singing around the harbour now – Arne – Paul Morton

Grey Heron – Wareham Channel – Paul Morton

This morning was blissfully sun-filled but wow…the WSW wind was blimmin cold! That said, in sheltered areas birds made the most of the early rays and at Challow Hill many birds are already back on territory it seems with 2 pairs of Stonechat along the main track, several Yellowhammer paired up, Dartford Warbler singing and flirting in the gorse, Chiffchaff singing down in the lower copse and Meadow Pipits flitting around on the steep sided edges of the hill. At Swineham still a handful of Sand Martin were over the gravel pits and on Hartland Moor the Great Grey Shrike was still present. On Lytchett Fields the Green-winged Teal was on French’s Pools and the Lesser Yellowlegs was viewable from the Turlin Screen. Early evening saw a huge gathering of Black-headed and Med Gulls around ‘Gull Islands’ consisting of thousands of birds making an absolute racquet before bedding down for the night. Hopefully these are birds that are prospecting the islands ready for a busy breeding season ahead. At Arne, 8 Spoonbill were in Middlebere with a Marsh Harrier seen too and in the car park a Firecrest was singing. Ospreys are now turning up at traditional breeding sites across the UK now too, so when we will we see our first passage Poole Harbour bird?

Black-headed and Med Gull roost gathering, Wareham Channel, Poole Harbour 21/03/17 @ 17:45

Yellowhammer – Challow Hill – Paul Morton

Dartford Warbler – Challow Hill – Paul Morton

A really yucky day which did subside to a sunny end of the day, but the continued strong SW wind is still keeping many migrants at bay. The only passerine migrant news was of a new Wheatear at Lytchett Fields and 3 Sand Martin at Swineham. The Ruff was still at Upton CP out from the stone bench. On the Brownsea Lagoon Med Gull numbers remain high; will we see another record number of breeding pairs this year on the lagoon? Well, in a way, hopefully we don’t! Last year the 10 pairs of Med Gulls that did nest on Brownsea consumed 100% of the first brood of Common Tern chicks, so if we do see an increase of Meds breeding on the lagoon this summer, the knock on affect could be a big issue. Lets not forget though, it’s not the gulls’ fault. Meds have quite happily bred on ‘Gull Islands’ in the Wareham Channel for many years, until last year that is, when a vast illegal harvesting of eggs was discovered during a survey which meant Meds de-camped to Brownsea to seek refuge. This year we’ll be surveying ‘Gull Islands’ again to monitor how the population of both Black-headed Gull and Med Gull have fared a year on after the discovery. We have also had correspondence with Dorset Police, Marine Division who have offered support in the form of night patrols and monitoring, so hopefully we’ll be able to update with more info on this in the coming weeks. Also on Brownsea the Black-tailed Godwits are now coming into summer plumage and there are still currently c20 Avocet hanging around too. This could be interesting and an indication some may be thinking about attempting to breed again. Sadly, they did also try last year and the year before but are yet to be successful. Don’t forget you can watch all the comings and goings of the Brownsea Lagoon LIVE on our Brownsea Webcams.

Finally, with Brexit now just around the corner, our local and wider environment has never needed your support so much. A recent report, looking into the environment post Brexit has recently been published and we encourage anyone with a current and future interest in environmental protection to please READ and share the report with your local MPs, friends and family. 

Northern Wheatear – Lytchett Bay – Trevor Wilkinson

Ruff – Upton CP – Ian Ballam

A blustery day with limited reports today with just the Waxwing up in Corfe Mullen being seen again on the edge of Hanham Road, the Green-winged Teal and Lesser Yellowlegs both at Lytchett Fields, the Great Grey Shrike briefly out on Hartland Moor, 5 Spoonbill at Shipstal, Arne and 4 Black-necked Grebe off Middle Beach, Studland. 

Despite the strong SW wind which could be keeping the arrival of more migrants at bay over the coming days, a nice group of hirundines were feeding over Swineham GP at dawn with c30 Sand Martin, 3 Swallow and a single House Martin with 3 Pochard, 6 Cetti’s Warbler, 11 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Little Grebe and plenty of Chiffchaff on or around the main pit. Off Middle Beach, Studland 8 Black-necked Grebe were spread across the bay with 2 Common Scoter, 2 Gannet, 5 Med Gulls and 2 Ring-necked Parakeet also noted. A single Purple Sandpiper was at North Haven (Sandbanks) and a decent Sanderling flock is still feeding on Shell Beach. The Green Winged Teal was still on Lytchett Fields. 

This is what we love about the spring, any day has the potential to produce ‘a first’ for the year and today we saw another two arrive with the first Swallow dashing through Lytchett Fields and the first Willow Warbler was on the edge of Upton CP. A ringing session in the Lower Frome Valley produced 1 new Jack Snipe ringed and 6 seen at still 1 Woodcock seen with c20 Common Snipe. Wheatear were on Slepe Heath and Hartland, in Middlebere there were 4 Spotted Redshank, a ringtail Hen Harrier was out over the reeds in the mouth of the Frome and Chiffchaff were still heard in good numbers. At Lytchett Fields the Green-winged Teal was still on Sherford Pools and 6 Spoonbill were on Shipstal Point, Arne. And finally the female Scaup was again seen on the main Poole Park boating lake. 

Spring continues to creep up on us with an increase of Sand Martin now arriving with c50 at Swineham GP late evening and the Harbours first House Martin in amongst them and another 2 Sand Martin through Lytchett Bay. The (a) Cattle Egret was seen flying relatively high above Swineham at 9:45am, heading SW towards Holme Lane…is it hiding out in the cattle fields in the Frome Valley somewhere? Another Bittern was seen at Swineham too. In Studland Bay 11 Black-necked Grebe were still present, most in summer plumage and 4 Common Scoter (3 drake, 1 female) were also feeding in the bay with the 1^st w drake Eider sat out on the training bank. On Poole Park boating lake, 4 Red-breasted Merganser are still happily feeding away and Chiffchaff numbers were still steady around the harbour with many areas seeing and hearing singing birds.  Surprise surprise (as Cilla Black once sang), the Green-winged Teal and Lesser Yellowlegs were on Lytchett Fields and evidence grew that there may actually be 8 Waxwing around with 4 on Northbrook Road, Broadstone and another 4 still up on Hanham Road, Corfe Mullun, although we’re unsure of the timings of these sightings so they could still refer to the same birds. 

Cormorant – Hamworthy – Colin Moyes

As the spring progresses, focuses are often shifted from harbour species to terrestrial species, so it was great today to get reports of some lingering wetland birds which included a full list from the Brownsea Lagoon consisting of 21 Brent Goose, 52 Gadwall, 57 Shoveler, 10 Pintail, 133 Shelduck, 213 Oystercatcher, 78 Avocet, 69 Grey Plover, 1 Ringed Plover, 96 Bar-tailed Godwit, 175 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Spotted Redshank, 16 Greenshank, 34 Knot, 2 Snipe, 111 Med Gulls, 4 Sandwich Tern, 1 Kingfisher, 2 Rock Pipit, 1 Wheatear and 3 Firecrest. Scanning from the shores of southern Brownsea out into the harbour produced 1 Great Northern Diver, 3 Black-necked Grebe, 2 Slavonian Grebe, 40+ Great Crested Grebe, 50+ Red-breasted Merganser and 8 Goldeneye. At Swineham another Bittern was heard calling despite the fog and a 7 Sand Martin and a Peregrine went over the main pit. In the glorious sunshine, Dartford Warbler were really active on the heaths of Arne and a ringtail Hen Harrier was in the Middlebere Channel. At Shipstal 9 Spoonbill were still there, the Whimbrel continued to be seen and there was even a report of 2 Pochard in Middlebere which is a really extraordinary mid March record.