Efforts to try and catch Aquatic Warbler this autumn have so far been in vein but today saw an incredible form of compensation when 18 Grasshopper Warbler were ringed during a session at Lytchett Bay in just a few hours, beating the previous highest ever total for the site by ten in a single morning. Also in and around Lytchett Bay/Fields were 2 Redstart, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Whinchat, only a handful of Yellow Wagtail, 3 juv Little Stint, 1 Curlew Sandpiper, 3 Common Sandpiper, 15+ Green Sandpiper, 3 Knot, 200 Black-tailed Godwit, 30+ Dunlin, 100+ Redshank and 7 Greenshank. Night recording from our listening station was much quieter last night with just 11 Tree Pipit, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Redshank, 2 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Little Ringed Plover and 8 passerine calls. The Brownsea Lagoon today was special and featured 2 juv Little Stint, 10 Curlew Sandpiper, 4 Knot, 1 Sanderling, 1 Grey Plover, 70 Dunlin, 16 Ringed Plover, 86 Redshank, 1 Spotted Redshank, 9 Greenshank, 10 Spoonbill and a Firecrest near the Villa. Osprey sightings came from Lytchett Fields, the Wareham Channel and Middlebere. 

Stonechat – Lytchett Fields

Blackcap – Holes Bay north

Osprey – Middlebere

Common Sandpiper – Lytchett Fields

With more night migration research going on we were amazed to find we had another Ortolan Bunting over our listening station in Old town Poole along with 1 Redshank, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Common Sandpiper, 25-30 Tree Pipit and 22 passerine calls. We understand that the Portland Obs guys have also been encountering Ortolan Bunting over their site at night, which provides a fascinating insight into what’s going on above our heads at night along the south coast. Lytchett Fields seems to have quietened down a bit with only 1 Little Ringed Plover, 6 Curlew Sandpiper, 10+ Green Sandpiper, 2 Common Sandpiper, 1 Ruff, 2 Kingfisher, 4 fly-over Yellow Wagtail and 1 Tree Pipit the real birds of note, along with the standard Lapwing, Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank and Snipe. Along Soldiers Road there were 6 Spotted Flycatcher and a Redstart and an Osprey was in the dead trees at Middlebere for most of the day with 1 Grey Plover, 1 Whimbrel, 2 Avocet, 2 Spoonbill in the channel and another Redstart along the lane. At Holton Heath 10 Spotted Flycatcher were feeding on the woodland edge. 

 Ortolan Bunting – Calls of night time migrant – Old Town Poole Listening Station 25/08/16 @ 3:15am

A wet muggy night produced a reasonably big Tree Pipit movement with 931 individual calls logged between 21:00 and 04:30 from our night listening station in Old Town Poole. This may seem massive but based on the fact some birds were calling 15-20 times as they passed over then best estimates suggest around 50-75 individuals passed over during the night. Also recorded were 223 passerine calls, all likely to be mostly Robin with a few Pied and Spotted Flycatcher in amongst them, 4 Common Sandpiper, 1 Dunlin, 2 Green Sandpiper, 6 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Ringed Plover, 1 possible Curlew Sandpiper and amazingly what sounds like another Ortolan Bunting!  At Middlebere there was a single Osprey again with 6 Spoonbill and at Lytchett Fields there 1 Little Ringed Plover, 6 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Ruff and a Wood Sandpiper were logged. On the Brownsea Lagoon a single Curlew Sandpiper was present with 4 Spoonbill. At the Twin Sails site there were singles of Redstart and Whinchat with 2 Wheatear also present and a handful of Yellow Wagtail and Tree Pipit overhead.

So far this year we’ve analysed hundreds of hours worth of night recordings from our listening station in Old Town Poole with some fascinating results such as Woodcock, Mandarin Duck, Cuckoo and little Ringed Plover all passing over but the cream of the crop went over last night when an Ortolan Bunting passed over close to the microphone at 2am, this being only the second (possibly third) Poole Harbour record. Apparently they’re a common night migrant down in southern Europe so are we just discovering that actually they’re a regular night migrant here in the UK too with news that one passed over Portland late at night on the same night too! Also recorded this night were 22 Tree Pipit, 4 Robin, 1 Redshank, 2 Oystercatcher, 1 Curlew, 1 Whimbrel and 1 flycatcher sp. On Lytchett Fields there were 8 Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Wood Sandpiper, 1 Little Stint, 2 Ruff, 2 Knot, 3 Yellow Wagtail, 3 Willow Warbler and several Willow Warbler overhead. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 4 Curlew Sandpiper and 9 Spoonbill. An Osprey was in Middlebere. 

Ortolan Bunting – Calls of a night time migrant – Old Town Poole Listening Station 2am 24/08/16

Things seemed to have settled slightly but we’re hoping that the mixture of light SE winds and the forecast rain in the coming days it could all get going again. Ospreys today were seen over Lytchett Bay and 2 over Arne. At Lytchett Fields there were still 8 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Little Stint, 1 Wood Sandpiper, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Ruff, 10+ Green Sandpiper, 4 Common Sandpiper, 6 Greenshank, 20+ Snipe, 60+ Lapwing and 800+ Black-tailed Godwit. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 9 Spoonbill and 4 Curlew Sandpiper.

Curlew Sandpiper – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

At Middlebere there was 1 Spoonbill, 2 Spotted Redshank, and 3 Greenshank. At Lytchett Fields there were still 8 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Little Stint, 1 Wood Sandpiper, 2 Spotted Redshank and 1 Ruff.

Ruff – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

Record numbers of Black-tailed Godwit were on Lytchett Fields today with a count of 1031 at midday. It was also packed with other species such as 15 Green Sandpiper, 5 Greenshank, 20+ Snipe, 170+ Redshank, 1 Wood Sandpiper, 2 Ruff, 5 Ringed Plover, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 9 Curlew Sandpiper, 60+ Lapwing, 60+ Dunlin, 1 Little Stint, 1 Spotted Redshank, 4 Common Sandpiper, 1 Knot and 200 Teal! An Osprey passed over Arne. 

Despite yesterdays good run of birds, coverage was at a minimum today with just an Osprey off Swineham Point and one each of Lesser Whitethroat, Redstart and Spotted Flycatcher around the Swineahm pits reported. An Osprey passed over Lytchett Fields briefly and disturbed 6 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Little Stint, 2 Ruff and 1 Little Ringed Plover.

Osprey – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

Amazingly, despite the wader fest at Lytchett Fields it was actually a Wryneck that took centre stage today which darted out of a gorge bush, sat on the viewpoint sign for several seconds and then disappeared! Wader-wise an incredible 6 Curlew Sandpiper, 3 Little Stint, 1 Wood Sandpiper, 2 Ruff, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 10+ Ringed Plover, 90+ Dunlin, 800+ Black-tailed Godwit, 200+ Redshank, 15+ Green Sandpiper, 8 Greenshank and 150+ Teal were counted. On Brownsea there were 6 Spoonbill, 1 Little Stint, 2 Ruff, 2 Spotted Redshank, 6 Greenshank, 1 Knot and 4 Curlew Sandpiper. 

With the wader potential creeping up a notch in the harbour more and more people seem to be visiting Lytchett Fields, with 1 Spoonbill, 2 Ruff, 2 Little Stint, 1 Wood Sandpiper, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 500+ Black-tailed Godwit, 150+ Redshank, 11 Greenshank, 4 Common Sandpiper, 16 Green Sandpiper, 25 Snipe, 10 Ringed Plover and 40+ Dunlin present there today. Just outside the area were 2 Osprey at Morden Bog which will almost certainly be commuting to the harbour and back to feed.