Having been away for a couple of days, it’s always nice to hear about the good selection of birds you’ve missed! 

More migrant activity with an Osprey seen in the Middlebere area this afternoon, which could be the bird seen over Corfe Castle a couple of days ago. Also in Middlebere today was an adult Spoonbill, 1 Whimbrel a Cuckoo, 3 Curlew, 2 Redshank and three broods of Shelduck totalling 30 young. A good total of 10 Crossbill passed over Stoborough early this morning. On the Brownsea Lagoon more waders arrived including 57 Redshank, 2 Spotted Redshank, 5 Greenshank, 115 Black-tailed Godwit and singles of Avocet, Knot, Dunlin and Whimbrel. So far there has been a whopping 105 fledged Sandwich Terns with the total expected to rise plus the pure bred pair of Yellow-legged Gulls raised two chicks and there has also been two successful Med Gull pairs. At RSPB Lytchett Fields a drake Garganey in the bay was a surprise, there were 2 Spotted Redshank on Sherford Pools, also the juvenile Little Ringed Plover, 4 Green Sandpiper, 54 Redshank, 43 Lapwing and 1 Greenshank.

An Osprey was seen flying over Corfe Castle around midday heading towards the harbour. At RSPB Lytchett Fields the juvenile Little Ringed Plover remained and there was a continued good count of Lapwing, Redshank and Black-tailed Godwit, all in varying degrees of plumage and moult. In Middlebere 3 Spoonbill were feeding and 2 Green Sandpiper were in front of the hide. 

As July pushes on, the waders continue to arrive. At RSPB Lytchett fields 5 Little Ringed Plover were present, as was a summer plumaged Spotted Redshank. Up to 5 (likely more) Green Sandpipers have taken up residence in some of the quieter pools and there are good numbers of Redshank, Lapwing and Black-tailed Godwit spread across the site. There were more signs of autumn at Lytchett Fields as a decent sized flock of 100+ Swallow gathered in the evening to roost in the reedbed, closely followed by a Hobby one evening and a Sparrowhawk the next. At Holton Lee Woodlark, good numbers of Stonechat and 2 Green Sandpiper were noted. The juvenile Marsh Harriers were seen again from a Wareham Channel boat tour as they alighted above the reedbeds on Giggers Island. There are now lots of juvenile birds around and in my garden the other day I experienced my first mixed-tit flock of the autumn, but over the next few weeks we should start seeing the first lemon yellow Willow Warblers joing these flocks along with quite often species like Treecreeper, Chiffchaff, Goldcrest and even Firecrest.

There was more evidence waders moving with a nice selection in Brands Bay, consisting of 2 Whimbrel, 32 Curlew, 3 Bar-tailed Godwit, 47 Black-tailed Godwit, 61 Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 1 Dunlin and 30 Med Gulls. At South Haven, 3 Ringed Plover settled and 50+ Swift were counted. On RSPB Lytchett Fields there were 4 adult Little Ringed Plover, 3 Green Sandpiper, 1 Whimbrel in the bay and a scattering of Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit and Lapwing across the site.

There has certainly been more signs of migration over the last couple of days, but by far the most incredible news from the last few days is that there is now not only one Marsh Harrier chick in what was thought to be abandoned nest site, but three! After weeks of watching with almost zero activity, it appears the female has been stretched to the absolute max by trying to provide for her self and three hungry young. With so few visits to the nest site its almost unbelievable to think that three young could have survived, but she has obviously been able to do just enough undetected to pull through. What a very happy ending, to what was looking like a total disaster.

This evening Nightjar walk was another stonker with Barn Owl, Spoonbill, Hobby, Yellow-legged Gull, Black-tailed Godwits, Curlew and a Green Sandpiper all noted from Middlebere and then a good number of Nightjar out on the heathland, followed by Glow Worms and juv Tawny’s back at the car park. At Lytchett Fields there were 5 little Ringed Plover, 4 Green Sandpiper and a Yellow-legged Gull. On Brownsea today a summer plumaged Spotted Redshank was present, with 2 Spoonbill. Sound recording from the last two nights in the Lower Frome Valley produced a couple of Little Grebe, Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper and likely Little Ringed Plover.

NIGHTJAR WALK – THIS SATURDAY AT ARNE RSPB RESERVE – TO BOOK CLICK HERE – Last satursdays was an absolute belter with plenty of Nightjar activity, also Barn Owl, Tawny Owl, Spoonbill, Dartford WArbler, Glow Worms, Foxes and several bat species were encountered so come and get involved.

Again it was Lytchett Fields that saw the only coverage today. There were 3 adult Little Ringed Plover, 53+ Redshank, 10+ Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Green Sandpiper, 5 Teal and good numbers of Shelduck out on the wet fields. A Hobby passed overhead and a Common Sandpiper was at Lytchett Way.

NIGHTJAR WALK – THIS SATURDAY AT ARNE RSPB RESERVE – TO BOOK CLICK HERE – Last satursdays was an absolute belter with plenty of Nightjar activity, also Barn Owl, Tawny Owl, Spoonbill, Dartford WArbler, Glow Worms, Foxes and several bat species were encountered so come and get involved.

The only highlight from the first of the month was 8 Green Sandpiper at the western end of Lytchett Fields.
 

NIGHTJAR WALK – THIS SATURDAY AT ARNE RSPB RESERVE – TO BOOK CLICK HERE – Last satursdays was an absolute belter with plenty of Nightjar activity, also Barn Owl, Tawny Owl, Spoonbill, Dartford WArbler, Glow Worms, Foxes and several bat species were encountered so come and get involved.

At Lytchett Fields the Wood Sandpiper remained and 2 Little Ringed Plover were present, including the first juvenile of the autumn. The Wigeon remained on the wet fields as did a Green Sandpiper and a Marsh Harrier went over. Talking of Marsh Harriers, there was some exceptional news this morning when it was discovered that at least one juvenile Marsh Harrier has survived the doomed nests and looks to fledge any day now. Local harrier watcher Peter Hadrill was rewarded with his hours of observations when an orangey head bobbed above the reed beds for a short while indicating the presence of a young bird at the alpha nest. This is a huge shock as it was thought that all three nests had failed this summer, with little or no activity at any of the sites for over two weeks. The big question is….are there more? There were also 5 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon, indicating that there is some potential movement/migration underway of this species.

Night recording in the Lower Frome Valley from the last two nights has been quite productive too. Setting my gear up on Monday night was a treat all by its self as Venus and Jupiter were almost sat on top of each other, low in the western sky, and Saturn hung to the right of the exceptionally bright moon. Highlights included my first Common Sandpiper of the autumn moving just before dawn, a Sandwich Tern flying around at 2am, I’m not sure what it was doing flying over a wet grassland site at that time of the morning, but interesting none the less. There has been a constant arrival/movement of Curlew with a whole range of bubbling drawn out calls. Both Coot and Moorhen have been moving it seems as have a handful of Water Rail. A Barn Owl and nearby juv Tawny Owl have called a couple of times and the local Marsh Frogs, Redshanks, Oystercatchers, Reed Warblers and Black-headed Gulls are doing their best to make studying the sonagrams as hard as possible.

Other birds noted from the last few nights have include Med Gull, Shelduck, Gadwall, Mallard, Nightjar, Herring Gull, Little Egret, Grey Heron and Reed Bunting.

Insomniac Sandwich Tern – Lower Frome Valley at 2am

NIGHTJAR WALK – THIS SATURDAY AT ARNE RSPB RESERVE – TO BOOK CLICK HERE – Last satursdays was an absolute belter with plenty of Nightjar activity, also Barn Owl, Tawny Owl, Spoonbill, Dartford WArbler, Glow Worms, Foxes and several bat species were encountered so come and get involved.

The Wood Sandpiper remained at Lytchett Fields and it was joined by 3 Little Ringed Plover. Out in Lytchett Bay there were 23 Curlew, 1 Great Crested Grebe and a Kingfisher, possibly one of this years juveniles having already moved down river from its natal grounds. A night recording session from the Lower Frome Valley last night produced a number of Curlew moving overhead, plenty of calling Redshank, Oystercatcher and Black-headed Gulls. A likely Little Egret flew over the mic at around 12:45am, also a Med Gull, juvenile Tawny Owls calling from nearby woodland and several Water Rail were noted. 

Possible Little Egret – Lower Frome Valley 

Last night was our first Nightjar walk of two this summer (the second being July 4^th so get booking now) which was incredible and packed with all kinds of wildlife goodies. The tame Arne car park Fox at the start was a treat if not a little disconcerting that it quite happily feeds out of people’s hands. Up on Middlebere a Barn Owl was hunting back and fourth across the channel, at one point hunting just below us from the viewpoint. In the Middlebere Channel 2 Spoonbill were roosting and Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank, Curlew and a Green Sandpiper were all present. Then the Nightjar spectacle began with birds calling all around and we even got some nice scope views in between birds flying past us. Two Glow Worms were found in the heather on the way back and the icing on the cake was seeing Saturn’s rings really clearly through the scope, something I’ve never seen or done before and made me feel like a real kid. Juvenile Tawny Owl were calling in the car park upon our return too. There was some early signs of wader movement over the last 24 hours too with a Wood Sandpiper and 2 Little Ringed Plover on RSPB Lytchett Fields, along with 20 Black-tailed Godwit, 15+ Redshank and 15+ Lapwing. Out in the bay 23 Curlew was a big increase from the last few days and an adult Yellow-legged Gull was present. On the Brownsea lagoon 4 Knot, including a summer plumaged bird dropped in for a short time along with a Common Sandpiper. A Marsh Harrier was seen out hunting across Hartland/Middlebere.

Nightjar Walk – Arne RSPB Reserve – Nick Mudge