More waders are beginning to appear with 3 Ruff (1 adult and 2 juveniles) turning up on RSPB Lytchett Fields along with the standard Redshank, Lapwing, Black-tailed Godwit and a handful of Snipe. A ringing session in Poole Harbour north saw another Garden Warbler ringed along with the first Sedge Warbler and Whitethroat for the site this year. On the Brownsea Lagoon 8 Avocet were present, 2 Spoonbill, 11 Greenshank, 1 Spotted Redshank and a Common Sandpiper were counted.

RSPB Lytchett Fields has been looking superb over the last couple of days as the recent high tides has totally wetted the site again, creating a whole myriad of pools and scrapes of water. Yesterday saw more birds on site than I think I’ve ever seen before with Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank, Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, Dunlin, Lapwing, Little Ringed Plover, Whimbrel, Curlew, Green Sandpiper, Little Egret, Spoonbill, Shelduck, 500 Black-headed Gull, Yellow and Pied Wagtail all noted on the high tide…just incredible. On the Brownsea Lagoon, there were 8 Avocet, 3 Spoonbill, 40 Dunlin, 2 Spotted Redshank and 8 Greenshank.

Please don’t forget to attend this weekends Hen Harrier Day event at Arne RSPB reserve if you can make it. The weather forecast is looking good, so come and add your voice and show your support for one of our countries rarest breeding bird species. After all, we know for a fact that the birds that spend the winter in Poole Harbour come from Scotland and northern England.

There are also still a couple of places left on our Early Migrants at Middlebere walk on saturday, so if you fancy an enjoyable morning out (hopefully) seeing a nice selection of migrants that BOOK ON HERE.

Don’t forget that it is the Hen Harrier South Day this coming Sunday (August 9^th), so come and show your support and for British Hen Harriers and be apart of a real force for nature conservation. See below poster.

Sightings for RSPB Lytchett Fields included 82 Redshank, 54 Black-tailed Godwit, 15 Lapwing, 7 Dunlin, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Greenshank and the first Yellow Wagtail of the season. Just round the corner on Lytchett Heath another juvenile Redstart was seen, which is a strange coincidence seeming as we ringed another there a few days ago. Are we seeing early migrants or have they bred locally? Who knows? On Brownsea 2 Spoonbill were still present and 7 Avocet arrived back. 

The 1^st of the month was a busy day for birds. The Brownsea Lagoon had an Osprey pass over, spooking everything a number of times. Wader-wise the lagoon held 16 Greenshank, 3 Spotted Redshank, 16 Common Sandpiper, 4 Avocet and 3 Spoonbill. At South Haven there was a Lesser Whitethroat and at Brands Bay a group of 24 Crossbill went over towards Goathorn, also at Brands 2 Whimbrel and an arrival of some Common Gulls. RSPB Lytchett Fields were busy too with 70+ Redshank, 50+ Black-tailed Godwit, 5 Dunlin, 4 Snipe, 4 Green Sandpiper, 2 Greenshank, 2 Little Ringed Plover and 1 Yellow-legged Gull.

Migrants were certainly on the move this morning and a ringing session at Lytchett Heath proved very fruitful. In a 3-hour ringing session 137 birds were ringed including 80 Sedge Warbler, 24 Reed Warbler, 13 Willow Warbler, 1 Grasshopper Warbler, 2 Garden Warbler, 1 Whitethroat, 1 Bearded Tit, several Chiffchaff and most bizarrely of all a fresh juvenile Common Redstart. Where this bird has come from is totally un-known as Redstart isn’t known to breed in the harbour. It’s likely to have moved from Wareham Forest, which has the nearest breeding population, but there is plenty of suitable habitat in-between so it could be from an un-known site? There was also 2 juvenile Little Ringed Plover on RSPB Lytchett Fields and a good number of common waders across the site. On Brownsea 3 Spotted Redshank, 4 Greenshank and 4 Dunlin were present. 

Fairly quiet today with just 1 Green Sandpiper, 1 Common Sandpiper, 2 Snipe, 2 Greenshank and 36 Black-tailed Godwit at RSPB Lytchett Fields. No sign of the Osprey around Arne but 2 Spoonbill were in Middlebere and the Barn Owls have been really active out in front of the hide.

I’ve finally managed to get round to doing some more night recording, this time from my garden again. Last night produced 2 Common Sandpiper, 2 Redshank, 1 possible Ringed Plover and a passerine species I can’t identify. The recording below is one of the Common Sandpipers that passed over my garden, this one at around 3:30am.

 Common Sandpiper – Calls of a night time migrant – Lytchett Matravers 29/07/15

Today we launched our trial student grant scheme, which you can learn more about HERE. But in a nutshell, we’re after reports of all sightings of Osprey from in Poole Harbour (including Wareham Forest) between now and October. Brittany Maxted, a student from Parkstone Grammar School will be compiling all data for this project and details of the information she requires and how to report your sightings can be found HERE. We would like to thank-you in advance for any support and information you can provide for this project.

I have today also published a study we commissioned back in the spring, which looks at the populations of Mediterranean and Black-headed Gulls in Poole Harbour. This census was due to be part of a larger breeding gull survey of the entire harbour but due to unforeseen natural circumstances the study didn’t quite provide us with the information we were hoping for. You can read Dave Chowns excellent write up of the census HERE.

Sightings today included another Osprey that was seen over the Arne peninsular and then watched fishing out in the Wareham Channel. A ringing session in the north of the harbour near Holes Bay produced the autumns first ringed Garden Warbler and Willow Warbler, as well as 9 juvenile Blackcap, bringing the total of juvenile Blackcap from that one site to 29 in just 4 ringing sessions. At RSPB Lytchett Fields a Common Sandpiper, 1 juv Little Ringed Plover, 1 Greenshank, 7 Green Sandpiper and 18 Black-tailed Godwit were present.

Finally a few passerine arrived in the harbour today with the first Garden Warbler and juvenile Willow Warbler in scrub at Holes Bay north accompanied by several juvenile Blackcap and Chiffchaff from surrounding woodlands. At Middlebere this evening there were 4 returning Avocet, 1 immature Spoonbill, 10 Oystercatcher, 1 Yellow-legged Gull, 3 Greenshank, 1 Kestrel, 8 Stonechat and 1 Dartford Warbler. At RSPB Lytchett Fields another Common Sandpiper was on Sherford Pools, several Green Sandpiper were in amongst the pools along with the usual Redshank and Lapwing.

Still not many passerines coming through yet, but waders are holding up the fort at present. At South Haven a Ringed Plover, 3 Dunlin and 1 Curlew were counted and in Brands Bay there was 1 Ringed Plover, 2+ Whimbrel, 62 Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Bar-tailed Godwit and 1 Dunlin. There were 3 Spotted Redshank on the Brownsea webcam showing off beautifully for a good couple of hours, along with Common Redshank giving a nice comparison. On RSPB Lytchett Fields there were 40 Lapwing, 1 Green Sandpiper, 5 Greenshank, 73 Redshank, 68 Black-tailed Godwit, 7 adult Dunlin, 1 Whimbrel, 1 Common Sandpiper, 5 Snipe, 1 juv Marsh Harrier and a female Peregrine.  

                                                    Spotted Redshank on Brownsea Lagoon webcam