The easterly winds picked up early doors and actually made birding a bit tricky, and the low cloud cover that looked so promising at dawn didn’t really drop too many migrants either. That said on Brownsea the Spoonbill totals keep on rising with 25 now on the lagoon. Local raptor watcher Peter Hadrill reported 2 Osprey out in the Middlebere Channel with other sighting coming from 2 at Middlebere and 1 over Lytchett Bay, all probably relating to 2-3 birds also there were 2 juvenile Hobby hawking over Arne Moors and 3 Marsh Harrier came out of the west Poole Harbour roost. At Lytchett Fields numbers of birds seemed to drop a bit with just 3 Ruff and 1 Wood Sandpiper the highlights but still plenty of Snipe, Redshank, Lapwing and c50 Dunlin. At Greenland’s Farm there was a good count of 15 Wheatear. A short sea-watch from Branksome Chine produced 2 Common Scoter, 2 Fulmar, 1 Kittiwake, c30 Sandwich Tern and 11 Gannet. Night recording from our listening station in Poole was pretty quiet last night but the highlight was another Ortolan Bunting also 3 Tree Pipit, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Redshank, 1 Common Sandpiper and 1 Robin.

Spoonbill – screen grab of 25 on Brownsea Webcam 

What a difference a day makes, not a breath of wind could be felt or heard as we headed out early doors for a bit of a pootle around the harbour and it seems many other people did the same judging by the number of reports. Starting off at Lytchett Fields where there were 5 Ruff, 5 Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Wood Sandpiper, 100+ Dunlin, 2 Greenshank, 8 Green Sandpiper, 100+ Dunlin, 6 Yellow Wagtail and an Osprey caught a fish out in Lytchett Bay. Off Swineham Point a count of 233 Black-tailed godwit, 24 Curlew, 22 Oystercatcher, 2 Greenshank, 41 Shelduck and 8 Sandwich Tern was made whilst a small mixed feeding party of 12 Reed Bunting and several Skylark were flushed, whilst in and around Swineham GP there were 2 Wheatear, 3 Kingfisher, 1 Sedge Warbler, 3 Reed Warbler and a Grey Wagtail over. The Brownsea Lagoon was given a good grilling too as Spoonbill numbers rose to 22, also 2 Curlew Sandpiper, 27 Ringed Plover, 40 Dunlin, 2 Turnstone, 9 Spotted Redshank, 15 Greenshank, 140 Redshank, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, 170 Black-tailed Godwit, 60 Avocet, 26 Curlew, 250 Oystercatcher, 2 Wigeon, 107 Teal, 3 Shoveler, 4 Gadwall, 6 Common Tern and 3 Sandwich Tern. From Coombe Heath, Arne there were 2 Osprey still in the dead trees with 7 Knot in the Middlebere Channel. Up on Stoborough Heath early evening a small passerine flurry consisted of 5 Redstart, 3 Whinchat, 2 Wheatear, 5 Whitethroat, 20 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Hobby and 5 Woodlark. At the PC World drain there were singles of Redstart, Spotted Flycatcher and Reed Warbler, 20+ Chiffchaff, 5 Blackcap, 1 Kingfisher and a Grey Wagtail. On the twin Sails site just a single Wheatear and a Tree Pipit over. Whilst over on the Studland side at Greenland’s Farm there was 1 Sedge Warbler, 2 Whitethroat, 15 Wheatear, 1 Whinchat and 1 Redstart and in Brands Bay 1 Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit and 126 Black-tailed Godwit. 

Although the conditions were abysmal for most of the day, when things did clear a nice selection of sighting were reported starting at Lytchett Fields where there were 4 Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Little Stint, 2 Ruff and 100+ Dunlin along with the usual Redshank, Snipe, Greenshank and Green Sandpiper. On Brownsea a flock of 5 juvenile Little Gull passed over the lagoon in the murk before carrying on further into the harbour whilst Spoonbill totals reached 16 and there were 3 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Little Stint, 5 Knot 50+ Avocet and c200 Black-tailed Godwit. In the woods behind the Mac Hide on Brownsea 3 Firecrest were counted. In Middlebere a drenched Osprey managed to catch a fish and found some pitiful amount of joy from picking small pieces off its scaly prize whilst rain hit the poor bird sideways on for most of the morning. On the low-tide at Middlebere there were 10 Knot, 4 Spotted Redshank, 1 Curlew Sandpiper and 2 Greenshank. Up on Hartland a flock of 3 Woodlark were flushed and at Norden Sewage works 3 Chiffchaff are back/passing through feeding on the filter beds. Night recording from our listening station produced a surprise at 3:45am when a Peregrine went through calling as it passed. We have to admit we were stumped with this set of calls for a while as they were totally out of context but then it suddenly dawned on us what it was. Was it just passing through or perhaps out hunting and using the illumination of Poole Town Centre to its advantage as proven in Nottinghamshire recently. Also logged that night were 7 Robin, 8 Tree Pipit, 1 small Bar-tailed Godwit flock, 1 Blackbird, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Pied Wagtail (unusual at night), 1 Moorhen and 1 Redshank.

Peregrine Falcon 11/09/16 3:45am Old Town Poole Listening Station

Bar-tailed Godwit 11/09/16/ 00:41am Calls of night time migrants – Old Town Poole Listening Station

Moorhen 11/09/16 4:51am calls of night time migrant – Old Town Poole Listening Station

With the wind and rain setting in by early evening and a fresh SW breeze the night before, the prospect of sound recording or finding any decent within the 24 hours of Friday didn’t seem promising. Analysing our night recordings from Thursday night going into Friday morning was so underwhelming that it looked as if we were going to draw a complete blank, and it wasn’t until 3 spritely Robins and 2 hardy Tree Pipit piped up in the latter part of the night that ‘nil pois’ had been prevented. Elsewhere it was pretty routine with 151 Dunlin, 3 Curlew Sandpiper, 3 Ruff, 1 Wood Sandpiper and 2 Ringed Plover out on Lytchett Fields whilst out in Lytchett Bay there were 35+ Curlew, 10+ Greenshank, 4 Wigeon, 3 Little Grebe, 2 Great Crested Grebe and a fly over Osprey. At the Twin Sails site near Hamworthy saw 3 Whinchat and 2 Wheatear. On Brownsea 14 Spoonbill, 5 Knot and 4 Spotted Redshank were on the lagoon. Chiffchaff numbers are building with plenty around the harbour now being reported but at the PC World drain along there were 20+.

Whinchat – Twin Sails, Hamworthy

Wheatear – Twin Sails, Hamworthy

We’ve uploaded a few recent clips from night recording sessions from our listening station in Old Town Poole. Unfortunately the hum-drum of ferry engines and port generators prohibit the tranquil, serene listening experience you may expect, and although our analysing software allows us to cut this out, we prefer to keep it in as we feel it provides an element of realness to the recordings that birds aren’t just migrating over open countryside at night but also busy, well-lit, noisy town centres. Totals from last night included our first night migrating Goldcrest of the autumn, explained to us by Magnus Robb of the Sound Approach as likely to be a juvenile dispersal call, also 2 Song Thrush, 1 Common Snipe, 2 Robin, c10 Tree Pipit and yet another Ortolan Bunting. In terms of birds on the ground at Lytchett Fields there were 2 Ruff, 3 Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Little Stint, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Wood Sandpiper, 128 Dunlin, 1 Peregrine, 1 Sparrowhawk and 3 Sedge Warbler. On Brownsea the 11 Spoonbill were still there with 5 Knot, 8 Spotted Redshank and a good sweep of Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Greenshank and a few Bar-tailed Godwit. At Middlebere there were 2 Osprey still, 2 Hobby, 2 Yellow-legged Gull, 1 Green Sandpiper, 7 Greenshank, 2 Knot and 1 Grey Plover. At Holes Bay/Upton CP a Ruff was in amongst the Black-tailed Godwit and a Marsh Harrier passed over and a Whinchat and Spotted Flycatcher were in the field behind the stone bench. At Arne there was also a report of a Turtle Dove in Coombe fields. 

Yellow Wagtail Flock – Calls of night time migrants – Old Town Poole 06/09/16 @ 1:53am

 Ortolan Bunting – Calls of night time migrant – Old Town Poole – 07/09/16 02:46 

Goldcrest – Calls of night time migrant – Old Town Poole 07/09/16 00:10am

Common Snipe – Calls of night time migrant – Old Town Poole 07/09/16 01:03am

The morning looked promising and the night before looked great for night migration, so when we were full of anticipation and excitement collecting in our gear from our listening station early doors, we were distraught to find our gear had failed 45 seconds into the recording session, so we’ll never know whether it was a good night or not? Although with the number of passerines around and some newly arrived waders signs suggest it was! Oh well, we won’t dwell on the unknown and just talk about what we do know which is at Lytchett Fields there were 3 new Curlew Sandpiper in with 109 Dunlin, 2 Ringed Plover, 2 Ruff lots of Redshank, Snipe, Lapwing and Teal with fly over Osprey and Peregrine. There were another 2 Osprey in Middlebere too. In Holes Bay north there were 5 Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Common Sandpiper, 2 Knot, 85 Black-tailed Godwit and an eclipse drake Wigeon and in the scrub of Holes Bay north Sedge Warbler, Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Whitethroat and Chiffchaff were all logged. On the Twin Sails site 6 Wheatear were feeding and at Hamworthy Beach 11 Turnstone were resting on the old pier with 3 Sandwich Tern. On the Brownsea Lagoon 11 Spoonbill were rooting on the Tamarisk Island and 6 Spotted Redshank, 11 Greenshank, 6 Knot and c50 Avocet were on the lagoon. 

Wheatear – Twin Sails site

Wheatear – Twin Sails site

A bit of a quieter day today with 1 Wood Sandpiper, 2 Ruff, 1 Curlew Sandpiper, 70+ Dunlin, 2 Peregrine and a Sparrowhawk at Lytchett Fields. On the southern shoreline of Upton CP a decent count of 1246 Black-tailed Godwit, 10 Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Knot, 10+ Dunlin, 20+ Redshank, 1 Wigeon and 1 Shoveler. In Middlebere there were still 2-3 Osprey fishing and feeding on and off throughout the day, often using the nesting platform. Our night recording session on the night of the 5^th was productive with 18 Tree Pipit, a nice flock of Yellow Wagtail, 4 Robin, the first 2 Song Thrush of the autumn and yet again another Ortolan Bunting.

We’re continuing with our night migration study rom our listening station in Old Town Poole and although recent nights have been quiet due to the SW wind and rain, things perked up a bit in the still wet night last night as a few waders were on the move. Totals between 20:45 and 04:45 included 7 Ringed Plover, 2 Green Sandpiper, 1 Greenshank, 3 Common Sandpiper and 8 Tree Pipit. At Middlebere the 3 Osprey were still on show, constantly moving between the nesting platform and dead trees for most of the day and the 2 Green Sandpiper were on the pool in front of the hide again. At Lytchett Fields there was 1 Wood Sandpiper, 1 Little Stint, 2 Ruff, 1 Knot, 155 Dunlin, 13 Bar-tailed Godwit and 10+ Yellow Wagtail. On the Brownsea Lagoon Curlew Sandpiper, Knot and Spotted Redshank all showed superbly on the webcam whilst 9 Spoonbill stayed at the back of the lagoon.

Knot – Brownsea webcam

Curlew Sandpiper – Brownsea webcam

Spotted Redshank – Brownsea webcam

The SW wind eased throughout the day and what started off as quite a blustery morning finished as still but wet dank night! However, there were some good birds on offer with a Pied Flycatcher in front of the Middlebere Hide briefly in the morning with 2 Green Sandpiper, 4 Stonechat and several Chiffchaff there too along with 2 Wheatear on the barn roof, 5 Greenshank, 20 Black-tailed Godwit, 11 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Grey Plover, 2 Curlew, 1 Dunlin, 1 Spoonbill and the ‘normal’ 2-3 Osprey that came and went throughout the day, often sitting on the nesting platform. Up on Slepe Heath there were 3 Redstart, 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Whitethroat, 30+ Yellow Wagtail, 5 Dartford Warbler, 15+ Stonechat, 1 Peregrine, 4 Raven and a Hobby over Arne Moors. At Lytchett Fields the Wood Sandpiper remained with 1 Little Stint, 48 Dunlin, 1 Ruff, several Yellow Wagtail and good numbers of Redshank, Lapwing and Snipe. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 5 Curlew Sandpiper, 8 Spotted Redshank, 21 Greenshank, 2 Sanderling and 8 Spoonbill.

 Curlew Sandpiper – Brownsea Lagoon – James Phillips

Yellow Wagtail – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

Wheatear – Middlebere – Peter Moore

Green Sandpiper – Middlebere – Peter Moore

Migrants have been hard to come by the last couple of days and an Ortolan Bunting that was seen and heard flying along Soldiers Road at about 08:10 heading north was a surprise find, especially with the recent SW winds, although perhaps maybe not that surprising when how many have been sound recorded at night recently. Around the Slepe Heath area just a few Spotted Flycatcher and Whitethroat were noted with around 20 Yellow Wagtail near Slepe Farm and plenty of Dartford Warbler and Stonechat. It was also the Arne Raptor Weekend where you get the opportunity to visit various viewpoints around the Arne reserve in the hope of catching up with the likes of Osprey, Marsh Harrier, Hobby etc. Luckily the Osprey’s put on a great show with at least 3 visiting, fishing and feeding in the Middlebere Channel by mid-afternoon. On the Brownsea Lagoon counts consisted of 820 Oystercatcher, 17 Curlew, 105 Redshank, 8 Spotted Redshank, 21 Greenshank, 10 Common Sandpiper, 3 Knot, 5 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Little Stint, 60 Dunlin, 1 Turnstone, 2 Sanderling, 8 Ringed Plover, 45 Avocet, c200 Black-tailed Godwit, 12 Spoonbill and a Wheatear on the sea wall. At Lytchett Fields there were singles of Wood Sandpiper and Little Stint with a flyover Osprey and Marsh Harrier there too. 

Osprey – Middlebere nesting platform 

To watch in HD click on cog shaped symbol and select 1080

Green Sandpiper – Middlebere pools in front of hide

To watch in HD click on cog shaped symbol and select 1080