Despite the good weather there was a distinct lack of bird news from over the weekend. Highlights included a reeling Grasshopper Warbler at Lytchett Bay along with the 5 Little Ringed Plover, numerous Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Marsh Harrier a few Whimbrel and the bays first Cuckoo. On Slepe Heath 2 Woodlark were in full song and Dartford Warbler were displaying across the heath. A Whitethroat was at Holes Bay too.

There was a nice surprise this afternoon when Lytchett Bay’s first Wryneck appeared on the small Lytchett Heath site off Sandy Lane. The bird was found late afternoon and stayed for a few hours for an on looking crowed. Hopefully it will stay until tomorrow. You can find directions to the site on our new Lytchett Bay guide, its labelled site number 3 – 

http://www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk/sites/default/files//

A%20Guide%20to%20Birding%20Lytchett%20Bay-12.pdf

The RSPB Lytchett Fields were also in good form with 4 Little Ringed Plover, 1 summer plumaged Dunlin, 6 Lapwing, 231 Black-tailed Godwit and the year’s first Mallard ducklings. There was also a Red Kite over Wareham.

Some more Cuckoos arrived this morning with 2 present in the west of the harbour at Soldiers Road and Stoborough Heath. On Hartland Dartford Warbler showed nicely and several Stonechat were back on territory with good numbers of Meadow Pipit around and several Willow Warbler singing. At Middlebere there were 4 Spoonbill again, all immature birds including the colour-ringed bird. Hatch Pond saw its first Reed Warbler and a Sedge Warbler was at Holes Bay. At Lytchett Fields there were 2 Spoonbill, 2 Greenshank, 1 Spotted Redshank, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Lapwing, 1 Green Sandpiper and 2 Wheatear.

I continued my night recording project from my Lytchett Matravers garden last night, and was pleased to find that I had my most productive night so far with 1 Curlew, 2 Whimbrel, an Oystercatcher flock, 2 Moorhen and 2 Tawny Owl throughout the night. Needless to say, the Whimbrel and Oystercatchers were nice additions to my garden list. 

Whimbrel – Flight calls of a night migrant at 5am – 15/04/15 

Oystercatchers – Flight calls of a group of night migrants – 15/04/15 

The fog lifted pretty quickly this morning and gave way to a stunner of a day and there seemed to be a few migrants on the move too. At Arne a Yellow Wagtail passed overhead at Middlebere and many Willow Warbler and Blackcap were singing, there were 4 Spoonbill in the Middlebere channel along with 1 Whimbrel, several Redshank and a Marsh Harrier. A further 4 Marsh Harrier were ‘flirting’ their way along the Wareham channel and the sky was filled with Buzzards everywhere you looked! At Sherford Pools, Lytchett Bay there were 2 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Lapwing, 1 Greenshank and 1 Green Sandpiper. Just outside the harbour at Morden Bog 2 Tree Pipit were back, and at least 2 Woodlark were present. 

A few birders made it out today before what looks like a very foggy forecast for tomorrow.  Starting at Arne where an Osprey (possibly the same individual from last week) was seen circling over Middlebere and then the Wareham Channel. From Ridge Wharf a Tree Pipit flew over, and 6 Wheatear were out on the moors. Plenty of Swallow were passing overhead today and a Red Kite was photographed at East Holme, heading towards the harbour.  Along the Arne road several Willow Warbler were in full song and there was a small arrival of Blackcap in the north of Poole with a minimum of 6 singing males at Holes Bay. At Lytchett Bay there was 2 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Greenshank, 1 summer plumaged Green Sandpiper and a handful of Swallow and Sand Martin.

There were a couple of firsts today including a Hobby, which was seen whizzing over Stoborough Heath late afternoon. Other raptors included 5 Marsh Harrier now present in the west of the harbour again and the long staying Hen Harrier that’s now been present in the harbour for 7 months! The other first was a Tree Pipit that passed over Challow Hill, Corfe where a Redstart, 3 Dartford Warbler, 2 Blackcap, c10 Chiffchaff, 4 Stonechat, 5 Yellowhammer and a Swallow were present. At Lytchett Bay  there was 4 Spoonbill, 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Green Sandpiper, 1 Spotted Redshank, and 1 Redstart.

There was perhaps evidence of a small fall of migrants around the harbour with both Willow Warbler and Blackcap appearing in a number of places. At Lytchett Bay there was still 1 Ruff and a Wheatear. Bizarrely, one of the Middlebere Barn Owls was out hunting late morning in the bright sunshine and there were 2 Red-legged Partridge up on Hartland.

Last nights recording session was pretty quite with a single Song Thrush, 1 Moorhen, my local vocal Tawny Owl and this interesting Water Rail call, which Nick Hopper has kindly informed me is the beginning part of a female song. Why it would be choosing to do this over my house at 1am is another story.

Water Rail – beginning part of female song – Lytchett Matravers

Lytchett Bay was quite productive again today with 3 Little Ringed Plover and 1 Ruff out on Lytchett Fields and 7 Greenshank and 5 Spoonbill out in the bay. There was also 2 Wheatear, at least 8 Willow Warbler and 1 Sand Martin. At North Haven a Yellow Wagtail flew in off the sea as did 8 Swallow and 3 Sand Martin, also 1 Green Sandpiper, 4 Willow Warbler and a Pheasant (rare here) were present. A Ring-necked Parakeet was in Wareham and late news from yesterday of an Osprey at Arne and 2 Yellow Wagtail at Slough Lane, Lytchett Bay. A Cuckoo was near Studland village

A continuation of my night recordings in Lytchett Matravers produced a nice surprise when a Ring Ouzel passed over around 11:30pm last night, which is both surprising and unsurprising in as much that I’ve never had one in Lytchett before, but considering the amount that are entering the UK at the moment it fits quite well. I also managed to record a prolonged flight call of another Shelduck, which passed over around 1:00am.

Ring Ouzel – Single ‘tock’ flight call of a night migrant – Lytchett Matravers

Shelduck – Prolonged flight call of a night migrant

Another stunning spring day started off a bit grey and murky, but produced one of my favourite spring migrants, a Ring Ouzel. It was up on top of the ridge at Challow Hill, Corfe and quite happily sat in a bush whilst I photographed and filmed it. There were a number of other migrants present including 2 Willow Warbler, 2 Blackcap, c10 Chiffchaff, c10 Swallow and 2 Stonechat as well as a bit of vis-mig too as Chaffinch, Linnet, Siskin and Meadow Pipit were all passing in small numbers overhead.

Ring Ouzel – Challow Hill – Corfe Castle

To watch in HD press the play icon and hover the curser over the cog shaped symbol and click on 1080.

I have also been sent some interesting photos that shows a pair of Avocet mating on Brownsea Island at the weekend, which I also witnessed on the Brownsea webcam today too. Now, this doesn’t mean they’re necessarily going to stay to raise young, as there is still time for them to depart back to a breeding ground elsewhere, however the courting behaviour seems faithful to one particular area, looking as if they could be setting up a territory. We’ll be keeping a close eye on things as this would be the first Avocet nesting attempt in Poole Harbour since 2006.

p.s Yesterdays mystery sound was a Shelduck.

Another fine spring day Willow Warblers heard at Lytchett Bay and Soldiers Road. Also at Lytchett Bay today an Osprey passed overhead, a Red-legged Partridge was present (very rare here, last record 2008), 1-2 Ruff, 2 Spotted Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 2 Green Sandpiper, c200 Teal, 2 Marsh Harrier and 1 Swallow. A Red Kite drifted over Wareham late afternoon and another was over Canford Heath.

More night recording sessions from my Lytchett Matravers garden over the last few nights has added some nice additions to my garden list including Gadwall, Teal and Snipe, as well as a third Moorhen, a rather disruptive Pheasant and a sleep talking Dunnock.  These recording sessions provide a fascinating insight into what’s going on over our houses when we’re all tucked up in bed. Last night I got another garden tick too…try and see if you can figure out what this is…recorded at 1:30am!

Shelduck – Migrating over Lytchett Matravers 06/04/15