An early cold spell gave way to a glorious and sweltering afternoon which saw the Black-winged Stilt and Glossy Ibis put in appearances at Lytchett Fields again, although the Glossy Ibis was seen to head off high at around 9am and wasn’t seen again whilst the Black-winged Stilt was flushed by a Buzzard around midday. Also at Lytchett Fields a single Hobby, plenty of House Martin and Swallow in during the mid-morning deluge, 5 Greenshank and 3 Whimbrel. At Arne a Hobby, Cuckoo, strong passage of Swallows, 4 Whimbrel, 2 Grey Plover, 8 Swift and a Marsh Harrier were logged. 

Whimbrel – Lytchett Fileds – Ian Ballam

After the late night discovery of the Black-winged Stilt last night at Lytchett Fields it was with welcome news that it was re-found this morning, along with the reappearance of the Glossy Ibis which spent the day mooching around all the wet fields on site. With both these southern European birds present on site at the same time it felt rather like the Costa Del Lytchett at times! Lets hope they stick around for a while. There was also a Ruff and Common Sandpiper at Lytchett Fields. From Slepe Heath, looking out across Arne Moors and the Wareham Channel there was a minimum of 9 Hobby hunting at 13:15. Middlebere saw 1 Whimbrel, 1 Greenshank, c80 Dunlin and 1 Hobby.

A night recording session from our Listening Station in Old Town Poole from Tuesday night saw another big pulse of Ringed Plover and Dunlin moving right the way through the night. It was surprisingly also our busiest night for Whimbrel so far this spring with no less than 7 birds encountered along with Redshank, 2-3 Tree Pipit, 9 individual Common Sandpiper and what sounded like a decent sized flock too just before dawn, although its most likely there were actually only a 2-3 passing over. Have a listen below and see what you think.

Common Sandpiper Flock – Calls of night time migrants – Old Town Poole Listening Station

Glossy Ibis – Lytchett Fields – Martin Wood

Black-winged Stilt – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

What a day! Just as we were getting site envy that everywhere else in the country was getting good birds, two come along at once. Diehard patch birder Ian Ballam was doing his usual rounds at Lytchett Fields/Bay when he managed to find the sites first and Poole Harbours 4^thGlossy Ibis in the last 6 years. To add to this excellent record, a late dark and foggy evening visit to Lytchett Fields by other patch watcher Dave Jones came up trumps when he found Lytchett Fields 4^th and Poole Harbours 9^thBlack-winged Stilt. To have these two southern European species at this site at once is quite a unique event, and perhaps a sign of things to come over the next 10-20 years? Also present at Lytchett Fields were 11 Dunlin, 3 Whimbrel, 1 Curlew, 31 Ringed Plover, 2 Greenshank, 1 drake Shoveler, 1 Peregrine and the coot for its third day. At Arne, wader passage was also obvious in the mouth of the Middlebere Channel as 4 Grey Plover, 4 Turnstone, 1 Common Sandpiper, 36 Dunlin, 7 Ringed Plover and 5 Whimbrel formed a loose flock as 2 Yellow Wagtail passed over and a Cuckoo was feeding along a Coombe Heath fence line. 

Glossy Ibis – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

Black-winged Stilt (honestly) – Lytchett Fields – Paul Morton

wind continues and the murky conditions force birds down. At Lytchett Bay/Fields 2 more Sanderling dropped in with a breeding plumaged Knot, 35 Ringed Plover, 46 Dunlin, c13 Whimbrel, 2 Greenshank, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Lapwing and the Coot. On the Brownsea Lagoon, it seems that the prospecting Avocets may have decided to move on which is not surprising seeing as one of the adult Yellow-legged Gulls ate one the other day! Also present were 2 Greenshank, 4 Grey Plover, 4 Brent Geese, 18 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Ringed Plover, 5 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Redshank and there is late news of a Roseate Tern that was on one of the Tern Islands earlier this week.

Just to let you know we have now swapped the camera on the Brownsea Lagoon to the breeding Sandwich Tern colony. This comes with sound but thankfully not smell!

BROWNSEA SANDWICH TERN WEBCAM

A rather quite day, but the night was busy with birds. A night recording session from our listening station saw (heard) pulses of Dunlin and Ringed Plover moving right the way through the night, some as individuals and others moving over in the flocks. Also recorded were 2 Redshank, 1 Turnstone, 2 Whimbrel, 2 Common Sandpiper, 1 Oystercatcher flock, and 1 likely Spotted Flycatcher. During the day, the best at Lytchett Fields consisted of 8 Greenshank and a Coot (very rare there). At Arne RSPB Reserve 2 Hobby were seen hunting over the Arne Road and a Marsh Harrier was out over the Wareham Channel.

 Ringed Plover Flock – Calls of night migrants – Old Town Poole Listening Station

A warm muggy morning saw lots of midges around, let alone birds, but an early morning effort was rewarded with the harbour’s first Wood Sandpiper of the year at Lytchett Fields. This is the third spring in a row that Wood Sandpiper has been recorded at this site in the spring, where as once upon a year it was barely annual anywhere in the harbour. Also at Lytchett Fields were 3 Hobby, 2 Ruff, 10 Ringed Plover, 3 Lapwing, 9 Redshank, 5 Greenshank, 8 Bar-tailed Godwit, 19 Whimbrel, 1 Grey Plover, 194 Shelduck, 2 Shoveler and a nearby Nightjar on Lytchett Heath, Sandy Lane. At Swineham there were 3 Common Sandpiper on the newly cleared area at the far end of the main pit, also 2 Whitethroat, 2 Cuckoo and 3 singing blackcap were recorded. 

Record shot of Wood Sandpiper – Lytchett Fields – Paul Morton

Firstly, a round up of our night recording session from our listening station in Old Town Poole on Friday where quite a bit of stuff was on the move. Most interesting was a series of 56 passerine calls between 1am and 3am which we think could have been Spotted Flycatcher, which fits with the fact there was quite a fall yesterday along the west coat of Britain. Out of the 56 calls, most were very similar, but there were others that were starkly different, so what they were is currently any ones guess. Also recorded were 4 Dunlin, 1 Turnstone, 6 Common Sandpiper, 3 Whimbrel, 3 Ringed Plover, 4 Oystercatcher, 1 Coot and 3 Tree Pipit. At Lytchett Fields the Ruff remained on Sherford Pools and an Osprey flew over whilst around 10am 3 Red Kite drifted over to the west above the Bakers Arms. From Slepe Heath, 2 Hobby were hunting over Arne Moors and a Cuckoo was on top of the Slepe Heath Ridge with 2 Tree Pipit singing on a nearby heath. There was a late Dark-bellied Brent Goose (presumed injured or ill) off Fitzworth with 7 Bar-tailed Godwit, 6 Whimbrel and a Yellow Wagtail over. According to a surveyor there are a number of Nightjar back on the private Rempstone Site, meaning places like Arne and Slepe should be getting busy with the species soon too. At South Haven a Guillemot and 2 Razorbill were out in the Bay, but best was a Little Tern out fishing with Common and Sandwich Terns. Frustratingly a Black-winged Stilt was reported flying over Morden Bog from the harbour direction meaning it could have been in the harbour somewhere, or at the very least flown over it! 

Ruff – Lytchett Fields – Paul Morton

Black Redstart – Lytchett Bay (yesterday) – Clive Hargrave

Dunlin – Calls of a passing night migrant – Old Town Poole Listening Station

There was again a nice spread of birds across the harbour today with the highlight being a Honey Buzzard that drifted over Lytchett Fields late afternoon. The quality was already in force at Lytchett Bay when a cracking male Black Redstart was on the Turlin side and 2 Little Tern were out feeding in the Bay. There were also 4 Spotted Flycatcher around the site along with 1 Ruff, 4 Bar-tailed Godwit, 201 Black-tailed Godwit, 53 Dunlin, 5 Greenshank, 7 Whimbrel, 8 Ringed Plover, 4 Redshank, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Grey Plover, 1 Whinchat, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Sedge Warbler and 1 Yellow Wagtail. At Arne a flock of 13 Grey Plover, 10 of which were in full summer plumage was quite a sight with a cracking male Whinchat. In the Wareham Channel 2 Little Tern were feeding (assumed to be the 2 at Lytchett Bay later), also 3 Marsh Harrier and the long staying Hen Harrier. Up on Ballard a Red Kite headed over towards Swanage and a Grasshopper Warbler was reeling. A Hobby and a Peregrine were over the Arne Road. There was also an Osprey seen at Morden Bog by birders watching the Red-footed Falcon. The Osprey was carrying a flatfish, so it was almost certainly fishing in the harbour so well worth keeping an eye out.

Little Tern – Lytchett Bay – Ian Ballam

Yellow Wagtail – Lytchett Bay – Ian Ballm

Grey Plover – Arne RSP Reserve – Paul Morton

The good run of waders continued today with a nice flurry at Lytchett Fields where a flock of 22 Greenshank were present out in the Bay on the low tide, the largest spring gathering of this species. Also out on the fields was the harbours first Ruff with 12 Bar-tailed Godwit, 7 Ringed Plover, 17 Whimbrel, 3 Avocet, 7 Dunlin, 200+ Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Redshank and a Curlew. Non-wader species from around Lytchett Fields consisted of 1 Cuckoo, 1 Garden Warbler, 3 Sedge Warbler, 2 Yellow Wagtail and a Swift.

With the arrival of a Red-footed Falcon in Wareham Forest today, and the next week seeing constant ESE winds its worth keeping an eye out for scarcer species such as Shrikes, Storks, scarcer wader species, Terns etc. It was around this time last year that Poole Harbours 9^th Red-footed Falcon arrived on Wareham Water Meadows and the harbours 4^th White-winged Black Tern arrived at Swineham GP. Today at Lytchett Bay there was a Cuckoo over near Otter Island, on the Holton Lee side, also 3 Garden Warbler around the Lytchett Fields with 1 Whitethroat, 1 Sedge Warbler, 18 Whimbrel, 1 Lapwing, 2 Greenshank and 2 displaying Redshank. At the PCW Drain there was 2 Sedge Warbler, 2 Garden Warbler and 1 Lesser Whitethroat. At Arne a Nightjar was heard singing briefly and a Cuckoo was on the Coombe Heath side. At Challow Hill a Lesser Whitethroat was singing with a rather subdued Nightingale, 10+ Common Whitethroat, 5 Yellowhammer and 4 Swift over. In the Middlebere Channel there were a minimum of 10 Whimbrel and a single Ringed Plover and 11 Dunlin. And finally, quite amazingly the ringtail Hen Harrier is STILL here. According to records over a 40 year period there has never been such a long staying ‘over-wintering’ Hen Harrier here in Dorset or anywhere else for that matter.