Autumnal conditions during our Osprey Pop-up at Rock Lea View this morning enjoyed 5 Osprey hunting over the Bay (including 2 fish catches), plus highlights of Whimbrel, Dunlin, 2 Common Sandpiper, fly over Yellow Wagtail, Marsh Harrier, first-winter Common Tern, c40 Black-tailed Godwit, c75 Redshank, Green Sandpiper, 12 Greenshank, 5 Lapwing and 6 Curlew. We also hosted our two Osprey Cruises today which were both packed with birds and consisted of no less than 7 Ospreys spread across the two trips, plus this morning we had male White-tailed Eagle G463 in the Wareham Channel moving around various shorelines, plus a flock of 12 Greenshank, 1 Spotted Redshank, 2 Marsh Harrier, c300 Black-tailed Godwit, c10 Sandwich Tern, 1 Common Tern and 3 Great White Egret. This afternoon there were 10 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon along with c15 Avocet, c50 Ringed Plover, c150 Dunlin, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 3 Common Sandpiper and 8 Turnstone. There was another late Swift over Holes Bay, at Middlebere 2-3 Whinchat, 1 Pied Flycatcher with 2 Whinchat also out on Wareham Common. Finally, a passage (or early returning) Bittern was seen at Swineham GP this afternoon which is a great August record.

We’ve partnered with our friends at Careys Secret Garden once again to deliver two more Migrant Bird Ringing Demos. The next session is taking place this Sunday, running from 8-10am. Target species include migrant Grasshopper Warbler, Tree Pipit, Willow, Sedge and Reed Warblers, plus Kingfisher or a flyover Osprey. Book your place here!

Rain….more rain! Not much still, but enough! Well, enough to water everyone’s plants at the beginnings of the most recent hosepipe ban…good news! The other good news was that the rain also downed some new waders into the harbour with a Spotted Redshank, 7 Greenshank, 4 Ringed Plover and c200 Black-tailed Godwit were in the Wareham Channel and a Wood Sandpiper was on the Brownsea Lagoon (very rare here) plus 95 Ringed Plover, 125 Redshank, 12 Greenshank, 3 Common Sandpiper and 82 Dunlin. Our Osprey Cruises today were Osprey-filled with no less than 6 seen this morning and roughly the same total this afternoon with birds moving between Lytchett Bay, the Wareham Channel and Middlebere. A White-tailed Eagle was on Patchins Point, RSPB Arne, a handful of Yellow Wagtail were at Swineham and 3 Honey Buzzard were seen flying over the Lower Piddle Valley. 1 Whinchat was at Middlebere.

Common Sandpiper and Wood Sandpiper – Brownsea Lagoon – Nicki Tutton

Juvenile Sandwich Tern – Wareham Channel – Alison Copland

It seems we’re now entering the next phase of autumn migration with many of the early autumn migrants having passed through, for example we’ve now passed the peak passage period for Willow Warbler (45 ringed this AM) and Sedge Warbler (51 ringed this AM), but are now seeing new arrivals such as todays handsome Wryneck ringed in the Lower Piddle Valley. Wryneck are always a mid-Autumn passage migrant with peak numbers usually logged between August and early September. It also seems the second wave of Grasshopper Warbler are passing through (perhaps second broods?) with 21 ringed this morning at the same site, totalling a whopping 502 Grasshopper Warbler ringed there so far since early July. The other new phase we’re experiencing is the passage of juvenile Ospreys from much further north, which included a juvenile female from Keilder Forest, Scotland this morning, ring number 2B9 seen from our Osprey Cruise. Also logged from the cruise today were 5+ Osprey, 1 White-tailed Eagle, 3 Great White Egret, 23 Spoonbill, 2 Marsh Harrier, 14 Avocet and 1 Peregrine. At Middlebere there was a late Swift, 1 Spotted Redshank, 23 Greenshank, 1 Whimbrel and an un-ringed female Osprey. At RSPB Arne, the Saline Lagoon walk produced 1 Pied Flycatcher, 5 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Garden Warbler, 2 Common Sandpiper and 2 Osprey over. A flock of 31 Cattle Egret were near the Stoborough causeway.

Eurasian Wryneck – Lower Piddle Valley 

Juvenile female Osprey ‘2B9’ from Keilder Forest, sat a dead tree at RSPB Arne

Another really interesting day today, with some excellent observations noted, as is often typical as August progresses with birds behaviours and movements begin to change. It started off at lunchtime when an adult male Honey Buzzard landed on the Carey Osprey nest briefly, scratching at the nest as if it was searching and seeking out a potential bee or wasp nest. We often see Honey Buzzards around the Osprey nest late in the season, and in fact, what is likely to be this exact bird has been visiting the Osprey nest site since 2019, with observations logged every year since then either on the nest, or fighting with CJ7 and the Osprey chicks. In 2019 when we carried out the 3rd year of the Osprey translocation on the south side of the Carey Estate, an adult male Honey Buzzard would regularly visit and interact with the newly released Osprey chicks during late July and August and has done so ever since. Incredible to get such stunning views of it whilst it sat on teh nest today.

From our Osprey Cruise this AM around 5 Osprey were logged, including a juvenile that flew straight over the boat. Logic would suggest it would have been one of the Carey juveniles, however upon close inspection of one of her photographs, guest on board Annabelle Sharpe noticed the ring read ‘7T0’, which is actually a youngster from our ‘Nest 2’ site just north of the harbour. We believe 7T0 was male during ringing, so it’s great that he’s now also exploring the harbour now. Elsewhere a juvenile Goshawk was photographed close to RSPB Arne, with mid-August to late September being an excellent time to see these amazing birds as they start dispersing from nest sites and teaching themselves how to hunt in the local landscape. Juvenile Goshawk identification is fairly straight forward (if seen well) with youngsters hosting large dark ‘tear drop’ markings all the way down the belly and flanks (as shown in mark Wrights excellent photo below), unlike Sparrowhawk which are always barred on the belly (both adults and juveniles). Goshawk are of course much larger too.

Elsewhere there were 23 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon with 2 Knot, 15 Greenshank and 4 each of Ringed Plover and Dunlin. At Greenlands Farm, Studland there were 2 Common Redstart, 2 Wheatear, 2 Common Whitethroat, 1 Yellow Wagtail and 1 Whinchat. In Godlingston Heath there were also 2 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Wheatear, 1 Whinchat, 1 Redstart and 1 Spotted Flycatcher. 

Honey Buzzard landing on Carey Osprey nest briefly this afternoon 

Screen grab of Honey Buzzard landing on Carey Osprey nest briefly this afternoon 

Juvenile Goshawk close to RSPB Arne today – Mark Wright

Juvenile Osprey 7T0 over our Osprey Cruise this AM – Annabelle Sharpe

Close up of  7T0’s ring over our Osprey Cruise this AM – Annabelle Sharpe

Another day, another Osprey-filled set of sky’s across the harbour. At one point there were 6 at once over Lytchett Bay, and there were no less than 5-6 moving around the Wareham Channel all morning plus individuals in Middlebere. Our best guess is there are currently 10-12 present in the harbour at the moment but as migration builds the comings and goings will be hard to keep track of, but we know there are plenty more yet to come, so the harbour total could easily increase over the next week. From our Osprey Cruise this morning we logged no-less than 7 Osprey in the Wareham Channel including 2 of the juveniles from the Carey nest, plus 3-year old male 5H3, Scottish female 6J8, local breeding male and female 022 and CJ7 and 2-year old male 5R1. There was also an Osprey in Holes Bay again and 3 in Middlebere. Also logged from todays trip were 23 Spoonbill and 6 Avocet on the Brownsea Lagoon, 2 Great White Egret and 5 Cattle Egret at Swineham, 10 Teal and 3 Green Sandpiper on RSPB Arne Moors, at the Ulwell/Godlingston Gap Heath there were 3 Common Redstart, 1 Pied Flycatcher and 1 Garden Warbler.

Osprey soaring over BoPH Osprey Cruise this AM – Alison Copland

Un-ringed adult female Osprey – Lytchett Bay – Aidan Brown

2-year old male Osprey ‘5R1’ – Lytchett Bay – Aidan Brown

Although today was forecast to be hot hot, hot, the easterly wind really helped take the edge off of things and it was actually quite pleasant. Our second Osprey cruise of the season was busy again with no less than 5 Osprey seen this morning, including both CJ7 and 022, along with 2-year old male 5R1. Also logged was 1 Peregrine Falcon, 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Great White Egret, 2 (solitary) White-tailed Eagle and the over-summering Barnacle Goose. Holes Bay had a good return with a Ruff from the Upton CP lookout, plus there were 6 Common Sandpiper and 2 Green Sandpiper which are also good Holes Bay record, plus an adult female Osprey was fishing in Holes Bay north this morning. A migrant Yellow Wagtail passed over the Ham Common viewpoint, a Pied Flycatcher was in trees bordering RSPB Arne car park and this evening there were 21 Greenshank, 2 Spotted Redshank and a random Golden Plover on Lytchett Fields.

Female Osprey CJ7 over our Osprey Cruise this AM – Mark Wright

Today heralds the start of our ‘full on’ series of Osprey cruises as we host 47 boat trips over the next four and a half weeks. The reason we host so many now is because there are multiple Osprey dynamics playing out all at the same time. The local breeding families are moving around the harbour currently, often providing stunning views of this years fledged juveniles, plus, there are new pairs establishing with what seems like two newly drawn in females this summer (Scottish female 6J8 and new a mystery un-ringed adult female), plus the four new males of ours that arrived earlier this spring. Plus, as August presses on, multiple migrant Osprey from further north will be passing through adding to the mix. Todays first cruise of the season didn’t disappoint with no less than 7 seen from this mornings trip including 5 circling together at one point, plus 3 successful fish catches. In addition to the Osprey-fest there were a decent haul of 27 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon with 19 Avocet, plus 2 Peregrine, 1 Marsh Harrier and 1 Red Kite were also logged. 3+ Osprey were also logged at Middlebere and Lytchett Bay, where there were 3 Ringed Plover.

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Elsewhere, on top of Hartland/Scotland Farm, there was a good mix of common autumn migrants with 2 Common Redstart, 10 Common Whitethroat, 2 Wheatear, 6 Willow Warbler and 1 Whinchat, with another Whinchat out on Wareham Common. A Swift over Holes Bay seemed to be a decent mid-August record considering there’s been a mass exodus of Swift since late July, plus there were 5 Common Sandpiper in the Holes Bay too. There were 20+ Cattle Egret next to the Stoborough causeway with the cows and 1 Great White Egret was in Middlebere. A Ruff was on the Brownsea Lagoon.

Adult female Osprey CJ7 – Wareham Channel from our Safari Cruise – Brandon Storey

Another hot day, with a Marsh Tit at Carey Secret Garden this afternoon. At Lytchett Fields there were 9 Greenshank, 1 Spotted Redshank and 7 Common Sandpiper plus 3 Osprey were over the bay. There were another 3-4 Osprey in Middlebere and 2 in the Wareham Channel. There was even a visit to the Carey Osprey nest from 2024 male 5H6 (aka the Mighty Titch). Whether he visited to remenice about the good old days, or to perhaps plot a future take over, we’ll never know, but his presence certainly annoyed the two juveniles which were on the nest at the time. The Wood Sandpiper was still on the Sunnyside Scrape and a Whinchat was on Wareham Common.

2-year old male 5H6 (right) visiting his old nest site this AM at Carey Secret Garden