From the Arne/Middlebere area there was late news of a Great White Egret yesterday in Middlebere with 35 Curlew also in the Channel and 1 Redstart on the heath. On Lytchett Fields The Ruff was still present with up to 16 Common Snipe, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Green Sandpiper, 30+ Lapwing, 2 Yellow Wagtail and plenty of Black-tailed Godwit. This morning was also our monthly field trip, this time hosted up on Ballard Down, an area we’ve never visited on one of our trips before and it was absolutely stunning. Migrants were in evidence but slightly thin on the ground as 1-2 Lesser Whitethroat, 5+ Common Whitethroat, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 5+ Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, a few House Martin and Swallow over plus a big flock of 70+ Linnet moving through along the cliff top. Out in Studland Bay Sandwich Terns and Med Gulls were feeding in a mixed flock and a Gannet was out off Old Harry. Along Soldiers Road, Hartland a Whinchat was on a barbwire fence feeding with 2 Stonechat.  An Osprey passed over/near the northern shores of the harbour. Night recording from our listening station Friday night into Saturday was again very quiet with no sign of night passage. 

Old Harry and Ballard Field Trip – Barbara Bisset

Ruff – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

Migration is still a bit sluggish at present with little or no sign of any big passage of birds yet. Don’t get us wrong, waders are moving through in small numbers and passerines are now begging to appear but we’re just being impatient! Today 2 Little Tern were out in Shell Bay and a Redstart was at South Haven with a Whitethroat. At Middlebere 2 Black-tailed Godwit, 14 Shelduck, 1 Curlew, 1 Greenshank, 2 Grey Plover, 1 Hobby and 6 Little Egret were recorded with Whitethroat still feeding young along the track. At Lytchett Fields there were 22 Lapwing, 1 Knot, 10 Dunlin, 3 Ringed Plover, 4 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Green Sandpiper, 2 Common Sandpiper, 3 Snipe, 1 Sparrowhawk and 2 Yellow Wagtail. On Brownsea counts consisted of 6 Curlew, 2 Whimbrel, 4 Spotted Redshank, 9 Greenshank, 216 Redshank, 268 Black-tailed Godwit, 31 Avocet, 71 Oystercatcher, 59 Ringed Plover, 2 Red Knot, 324 Dunlin, 2 Sanderling, 2 Turnstone, 1 Spoonbill, 1 Kingfisher, 48 Teal, 6 Common Sandpiper and a family party of Firecrest near the Mac Hide entrance. In Holes Bay north a Lesser Whitethroat was sin scrub with 10+ Willow Warbler, 5+ Chiffchaff and several Blackcap.

Night recording last night from our listening station in Old Town Poole produced a bit of quality rather than quantity as two (night recording) year ticks were encountered. The first was a Little Ringed Plover that passed over at 23:54 and even more surprisingly an Arctic Tern at 23:07. 

Little Ringed Plover – Calls of a night time migrant 23:54 – Old Town Poole 11/08/16

 Arctic Tern – calls of a night time migrant 23:07 – Old Town Poole 11/08/16

It seems amazing to think that by this time last year we had already had 2 Osprey in the harbour for almost two weeks, however our first ‘hunting’ Osprey of the autumn didn’t arrive until today with one catching a fish in the Wareham Channel area before making its way over towards Arne. In Middlebere early evening there were 2 Dunlin, 1 Grey Plover, 1 Ringed Plover, 4 Greenshank and 1 Yellow-legged Gull. At Lytchett Fields the Ruff was still present with 25 Dunlin, 1+ Common Sandpiper, 8 Ringed Plover and a large juvenile Peregrine was upsetting all the Black-tailed Godwit. In Holes Bay north a fresh juvenile Sparrowhawk was getting harassed by 10+ Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff. There was also a nice sign of ‘heron’ migration as 2 Little Egret passed Old Harry rocks, presumably to enter the harbour and add to the many hundred that are currently present. Night recording was again pretty fruitless with just one 1 Redshank and a possible Golden Plover sound recorded all night!

Common Sandpiper – Lytchett Fields – Shaun Robson

Juvenile Sparrowhawk – Holes Bay north – Paul Morton

A fresh juv Ruff at Lytchett Fields was new in which was feeding along side 5 Ringed Plover, 11 Dunlin, 7 Green Sandpiper and 2 Common Sandpiper whilst passerine migrants included 1 Whitethroat and 5 Willow Warbler. In Holes Bay north a big flock of mixed Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff moved through the scrub and out on the mud 2 Common Sandpiper were near the bridge, 200+ Black-tailed Godwit were again feeding in the center of the bay and 3 Yellow-legged Gull were on the mud. There were 2 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon with 4 also reported at Shipstal Point, Arne.  Night recording was a dead loss with absolutely nothing passing over all night other than just a few distant Oystercatcher.

Ringed Plover – Lytchett Bay – Ian Ballam

Greenshank – Lytchett Bay – Ian Ballam

Ruff – Lytchett Fields – Paul Morton

Well, you wait so long for a Little Stint then like buses two come along at once. With yesterdays bird at Lytchett Fields another was quickly found today on the Brownsea Lagoon which although seen twice, unfortunately didn’t show for the crowds. There were also 2 Spoonbill on the lagoon and 6 Spotted Redshank. At Lytchett Fields there were 300 Black-tailed Godwit, 22 Dunlin, 4 Common Sandpiper, 4 Green Sandpiper and 2 Bearded Tit. In Holes Bay there were 215 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Common Sandpiper, 4 Redshank and 4 Yellow-legged Gull.

Dunlin – Lytchett Bay – Ian Ballam

 Whilst it seemed everywhere was getting decent waders apart from Dorset we finally managed to produce some a bit of class when a Little Stint arrived out in Lytchett Bay. This is quite an early record for this species at this site so hopefully more will arrive and stay on the fields over the coming weeks and the Brownsea Lagoon should see some arrive in due course. Also on Lytchett Fields there were a whopping 860 Black-tailed Godwit on the fields including some nice new freshly arrived juveniles plus 11 Greenshank, 2 Common Sandpiper, 10 Common Snipe, 17 Dunlin, 2 Green Sandpiper and the usual Lapwing and Redshank which were then all put up by a Marsh Harrier and Peregrine late afternoon. In the Wareham Channel 2 new adult male Marsh Harrier arrived and played around for a short while. A night recording session from our listening station in Old Town Poole was really productive and produced 2 Green Sandpiper, 6 passing of Dunlin, 1 Whimbrel, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Redshank and several Oystercatcher.

In Christchurch a White Stork and Great White Egret arrived early evening on Cowards Marsh so its well worth keeping your eye’s to the sky looking out for species like Storks, Osprey and other birds of prey as august progresses and eventually gives way to September. 

 Dunlin – Calls of a night time migrant – Old town Poole 08/08/16

Ringed Plover – Calls of a night time migrant – Old town Poole 08/08/16

Black-tailed Godwits – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

Today saw Arne host its second ever Hen Harrier Day, a demonstration that saw around 300 people rally together and voice their anger at the illegal persecution of Hen Harriers and other raptors on the hills of northern England and in Scotland. Birds of prey are killed in these areas to protect the grouse that rich folk then come and shoot. This year in England only THREE pairs of Hen Harrier bred…there is enough suitable habitat to maintain 320+ pairs. Speakers included us (Birds of Poole Harbour), Mark Thomas from the RSPB investigations team, Nick Bruce-Write the RSPB SW regional director and TV presenter and naturalist Lolo Williams. Each speaker spoke with passion and heart about different aspects of their work that sees them combat this issue. There is currently a petition to Ban Driven Grouse Shooting, the supposed main cause of raptor decline across the UK. If you want to see this illegal activity stopped you may like to sign the petition HERE.

Bird news, at Swineham the first 3 Lesser Whitethroat of the autumn were seen is scrub around the pits with a Spotted Flycatcher, 7 Willow Warbler, plenty of Chiffchaff, 1 Hobby, 1 Marsh Harrier, 2 Cetti’s Warbler and a Stonechat. At Lytchett Fields there were 28 Dunlin, the first 3 Ringed Plover of the autumn, a Marsh Harrier passed over and 500+ Black-tailed Godwit. At Middlebere a winter plumage Grey Plover was in front of the hide with 2 Yellow-legged Gull and the Barn Owl passed early evening and a Redstart was along the track. On Upton Heath a Spotted Flycatcher was near the Old Railway. At Slepe Heath a Hobby was hunting over the ridge. 

Hen Harrier Day at Arne

Another Osprey made its way towards the harbour mid afternoon as it approached from Stoborough direction. At Holton Heath 2 Spotted Flycatcher were feeding on the edge of the wood. On Brownsea 3 Spotted Redshank remained with 1 Knot, 8 Ringed Plover and good numbers of Dunlin and Redshank. At Middlebere a Barn Owl has been active again near the hide and a juvenile Cuckoo was along the approach track to Middlebere Farm. 

Another busy day with a good range of species encountered. On the Brownsea Lagoon totals included 297 Oystercatcher, 16 Ringed Plover, 1 Turnstone, 1 Sanderling, 152 Dunlin, 2 Knot, 2 Common Sandpiper, 5 Spotted Redshank, 14 Greenshank, 188 Redshank, 14 Curlew 16 Avocet, 1 Yellow-legged Gull, 8 Med Gull and 3-4 Firecrest near the Mac Hide entrance. At Lytchett Heath 10+ Bearded Tit were in the reedbed along with 2 Grasshopper Warbler, 1 Garden Warbler, 20+ Willow Warbler and 5+ Chiffchaff were in the scrub around the fringes of the heath. Out on Lytchett Fields 22 Green Sandpiper were recorded with 4 Common Sandpiper, 14 Dunlin, 1 Whimbrel and 8 Greenshank. A night sound recording session from our listening station in Old Town Poole produced 5 Dunlin, 4 Ringed Plover and 1 Water Rail.

Bearded Tit – Lytchett Heath

Knot – Brownsea Lagoon via webcam

Again Brownsea held some nice birds as the Black Tern remained moving from one resting spot to another for most of the day. 2 Knot, 2 Spotted Redshank and the Ruff were all viewable from the lower hide on the lagoon too. At Lytchett Fields a Yellow Wagtail passed over and an early male Merlin dashed through with other falcons including a Hobby and a Peregrine passing over too also 17 Green Sandpiper, 53 Lapwing, 8 Greenshank, 17 Dunlin, 668 Black-tailed Godwit and the usual Redshank, Black-headed Gulls. At Arne a Marsh Tit has been visiting the feeders for the last few days, which is nowadays quite a rare occurrence!