Spring migration really got exciting over the last couple of days firstly with 3 Common Cranes seen flying up the Frome Valley from Stoborough yesterday, unfortunately disappearing before they could be enjoyed by anyone else. However, late this afternoon another great spring species was discovered when not one but TWO Black-winged Stilts were found on the flooded fields of Swineham/Bestwall on the Bestwall river walk. This species has only ever been recorded in the harbour twice before with the last observation being in 1978! This goes to show that it’s well worth getting out at the moment as you just don’t know what’s round the next corner. Also at Swineham big pules of Swallow were going through and a Wheatear and 1 Willow Warbler were present. A Red Kite flew past Corfe Castle.  Blackcap and Willow Warbler are very evident right across the harbour at the moment with birds singing from many a hedgerow. Be on the look out this week for Whitethroat returning as this is ‘the week’ they start to arrive en mass.  

Black-winged Stilts – Swineham – Paul Morton

April 10^th always seems to be a good arrival date for spring migrants and the theory held true today. From all across the harbour a number of species arrived including a few firsts for the spring. Firstly a male Ring Ouzel flew north over Boarder Road, Lytchett Bay around 07:30am with 2 Wheatear and several Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and Blackcap all fresh in at other areas of the bay. At Hartland Moor a male Redstart was along the Arne to Corfe Road with 2 Wheatear and again a decent number of Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Blackcap and at Swineham the years first Reed Warbler was seen along with the male Garganey, 4 Little Grebe and yet again more Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Blackcap. From Swineham yesterday evening the Black-necked Grebe was still present and a 1^st summer Little Gull dropped in, also 2 Marsh Harrier, 2 Sandwich Tern, 1 Common Sandpiper 100 Sand Martin and 5 Swallow. From Swineham Point 400 Black-tailed Godwit, 50 Curlew, and 1 Spotted Redshank were counted. In Middlebere an Osprey spent a lot of the day sat in the dead trees opposite the NT hide whilst 2 Spoonbill were in the channel. From Lytchett Bay yesterday 3 Bearded Tit were photographed including the embedded photo below taken by Ian Ballam and also a spring record count of 5 Green Sandpiper was noted.

Don’t forget, BoPH’s Paul Morton will be hosting a talk at the Upton Community Centre tonight at 19:30. The topic of the talk will be… ‘Birds of Poole Harbour’s first year’, what have we and the birds achieved? Why not come along for an interesting update on the work they’ve carried out in their first year as a charity.

Finally, we have now switched the Tern Camera on the Brownsea Lagoon which can now be viewed on our website simply by either clicking on the Webcams Tab at the top of the page or by clicking HERE. Over the next 4 weeks, more and more Common and Sandwich Terns will begin to arrive, settle and breed on the islands just in front of the camera. Last year was full of many highs and lows, but with the DWT fencing and re-fencing some of the Tern Islands then we should hopefully see a rise in the number of terns that fledge. Both the Brownsea Cam and Barn Owl Cam should hopefully be available to watch on iPad over the coming days. We’ll keep you posted.

The weather this weekend didn’t leave much room for birding however Swineham received a good deal of attention yesterday and with decent reward too. Firstly a drake Garganey was discovered in amongst the small Teal flock on the GP, and then later on in the afternoon a full summer plumaged Black-necked Grebe. Sand Martin numbers rose to around 60 and 16 Swallow moved through. Also 7 Cetti’s Warbler, 6 Chiffchaff, 1 Siberian Chiffchaff, 1 Willow Warbler, 24 Med Gulls, 1 Yellow-legged Gull, 1 Common Tern on GP and another 4 in the Wareham Channel, 5 Marsh Harrier, 4 Spotted Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 1030 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Bearded Tit, 1 Blackcap and 1 Pochard. A Hobby was seen flying over Stoborough Heath and At Lytchett Bay 43 Curlew, 2 Gadwall and 1 Green Sandpiper were the highlights.

On Thursday 10^th April, BoPH’s Paul Morton will be hosting a talk at the Upton Community Centre at 19:30. The topic of the talk will be… ‘Birds of Poole Harbour’s first year’, what have we and the birds achieved? Why not come along for an interesting update on the work they’ve carried out in their first year as a charity.

Finally there are still a couple of places left for the next field trip – Spring bird song at Soldiers Road and Sunnyside Farm on Saturday 19^th April. For full details click HERE

The harbour was full of good birds today, including some new arrivals as well as few long stayers. Starting at Holton Lee where Dartford Warbler and Stonechat were very active out on the heathland whilst in the woodland a flock of 8 Lesser Redpoll were feeding high in the trees. At Swineham a male Scaup was on the gravel pits along with a newly arrived Common Tern, also 1 Pochard, 2 Great Crested Grebe and 7 Sand Martin 8 Gadwall whilst at Swineham Point 2 Marsh Harrier, 2 Bearded Tit and 3 Willow Warbler were present, and a minimum of 10 Cetti’s Warbler were vocally active in the area. At Middlebere 150+ Black-tailed Godwit were in the channel and 6 Common Buzzard were viewable from the NT Hide. Incredibly the Yellow-browed Warbler is still at Knoll Beach, Studland also out in Studland Bay 1 Great Northern Diver, 11 Sandwich Tern and 5 Bottle Nosed Dolphins. In Brands Bay the Surf Scoter was with 11 Red-breasted Merganser. Finally, can we please ask that you follow THIS LINK to Chris Packhams webpage where he invites you watch live on his YouTube channel the atrocities that are taking place down in Malta this spring. Spring Hunting in Malta is an illegal act that kills hundreds of thousands of birds each year but yet continues to be ignored by the powers that be. Chris and his team of volunteers are looking to show you first hand what is really going on down there in the hope that the world (or at least Europe) stands up and takes note.

We’re pleased to announce that today the public funded Barn Owl Webcam went live on our website. Click HERE to view the birds who are now already on 3 eggs! Although feeling very spring like there are still plenty of wintering birds around with the Surf Scoter present close in off Jerry’s Point along with 4 summer plumaged Black-necked Grebe and 15 Red-breasted Merganser. Off Middle Beach still one Great Northern Diver and 2 Eider along with 6 Sandwich Tern. At Arne there is still 20+ Spoonbill, with some in breeding plumage and venturing around most parts of the harbour…is this the year they think about staying to breed? Who knows! A handful of Willow Warbler and Blackcap are beginning to trickle through with 2 of the latter ringed in Poole yesterday morning. A ringed Blackcap was also caught which was first ringed at the same site on the 19^th of April last year again showing that some birds are following the exact same migration routes each spring. On the Brownsea Lagoon there are still at least 2 Spotted Redshank, 100+ Avocet and 7 Greenshank. Finally click HERE for a short piece of footage of one of the Little Ringed Plover at Lytchett Bay on Sunday.

Earlier in the week a Red-breasted Goose was reported in Middlebere but unfortunately flew off before the news broke, however it was re-found on todays Poole Harbour WeBS count out on the mud off Fitzworth Point with a Brent flock. This is a private access area, however the fields visible from Shipstal Point, Arne and Middlebere would all be worth checking as the flock often moves around. (Many thanks Steve Smith for photos – http://birdingpooleharbourandbeyond.blogspot.co.uk/ ) At Lytchett Bay 2 Little Ringed Plover were present for most of the morning before the rising tide flushed them off. At Holton Lee a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was found on the NE edge of the site, also there a Willow Warbler, 20+ Med Gull, 2 Dartford Warbler and a soaring group of 9 Common Buzzard. The Surf Scoter was in Brands Bay again with a Spoonbill and there was a Great Northern Diver in wing moult off Middle Beach. Brownsea saw an incredible count of 1950 Black-tailed Godwit roosting which is one of the highest counts for some time. Also on Brownsea 63 Bar-tailed Godwit, 9 Knot, 1 Sanderling, 3 Spotted Redshank, 1 Greenshank and 1 Little Ringed Plover. At Swineham 4 Bearded Tit were present also 1 male Goldeneye on the GP and 2 Marsh Harrier present. 2 Eider were just outside the harbour mouth and Sandwich Terns are building in numbers.

Little Ringed Plover – Lytchett Bay – Ian Ballam

There were a few minor snippets of news from the last couple of days including a small fall of Wheatear around the harbour shorelines this morning with 8 at Baiter, 4 Hamworthy Park, 1 at Holes Bay and 1 in Poole Park. Out in Studland Bay a few more Sandwich Tern arrived and a Great Northern Diver was still present. The Surf Scoter was out in Brands Bay again and 12 Fieldfare were up on Hartland Moor. On Pilots Point, Studland 16 Sanderling were feeding before dark last night and a summer plumaged Black-necked Grebe was out on the water as 10 Red-breasted Merganser flew out of the harbour. Over Swineham 2 Marsh Harrier were still very active near the nest site again which is looking promising for a repeat performance this year. Finally, at the beginning of the week I promised that the Barn Owl cam would be up and running on the site by the end of today. However, unfortunately due to illness our web developer hasn’t been at work all week but has said he’ll look to get it up and running for Monday. We’re really sorry for the wait, please bare with us just a couple more days. Thank-you.

Wheatear – Baiter Beach – Paul Morton

Migrants are still taking their time at to arrive in any numbers with only very small totals of Wheatear, Chiffchaff and Sand Martin reported so far. However its still early days and I’m pretty sure over the coming weeks numbers will really pick up. There is still plenty to report with the springs first Osprey with one flying low over Baiter Park and another reported in Brands Bay yesterday afternoon also a Little Ringed Plover was at Lytchett Bay. At Swineham 3 Marsh Harrier were very active near last years nest site and 4 Spoonbill flew over the gravel pits. A Red Kite drifted over Middlebere yesterday afternoon and a Red-breasted Goose was reported with 150 Brent Geese. The Surf Scoter is still in Brand Bay with 5 Red-breasted Merganser. There was some interesting newsfrom a ringing session yesterdayinthe north of the harbour where a migrant Chiffchaff that was ringed on the 19^th of April last year was re-trapped again yesterday in almost exactly the same bush having migrated south for the winter and come back again highlighting the remarkable precision migrants use when heading back and fourth to their breeding grounds. And finally, some even more exciting news that our Swineham Barn Owls are already sat on one egg! This is such a phenomenal result having only put up the boxes just before Christmas. It’s likely that over the coming days more eggs will be laid until a clutch of between 4-6 eggs are present. Obviously with things going so well there had to be a problem somewhere along the line. Unfortunately due to hardware issues the infra-red bulb inside the box has blown. With the birds now breeding it is not possible to do any camera maintenance as this would create too much disturbance at this stage. The picture during daylight hours is still fantastic but at night the box is plunged into darkness. We will seek to replace the infra-red bulb whilst the chicks are being ringed at about 2.5 weeks old. We’re really sorry about this technical glitch, it just means for the time being you’ll have to watch the birds during the day… you’ll all be in bed when it’s dark anyway!

We would like to take this opportunity to say a HUGE thank you to every who has helped towards our Barn Owl webcam appeal by donating via text, online or by attending our monthly field trips. Without your support this venture would never have been able to take place. The project objective to boost Poole Harbour’s Barn Owl population was born at the beginning of this year when it was decided all money raised from our guided walks would go towards the construction of two Barn Owl boxes. All we needed then was a location and this is where Lakeside B&B at Swineham kindly stepped in. The boxes were erected just before Christmas with a temporary camera in place to monitor any comings and goings, however we were utterly gob smacked when a pair on Barn Owl moved in within two weeks! It was then decided that an appeal would be set up to raise funds for the streaming of the owls live on the ‘Birds of Poole Harbour’ website. Well, we’re thrilled to announce that after just a couple of months we have raised enough money to get the live stream set up which will be available to watch on the website sometime this week. Our only issue is that the owls moved in so quickly that we didn’t have time to put the good camera in! So, to reduce the risk of the birds deserting the box, we’re going to wait until (hopefully) any chicks that come along over the next few months, have fully fledged the nest before swapping the camera over. Don’t worry the image is still good as you’ll see when we go live this week. We’d also like to thank Wildlife Windows who have been efficient as ever at setting up and installing the live stream for you all to enjoy. Bird wise there been some nice snippets from around the harbour including the first migrant Blackcap singing away near Holes Bay this morning. Out on Arne Moors an adult female Marsh Harrier was present along with a ringtail Hen Harrier. At Arne a Crossbill was on Arne Hill along with 1 Woodlark, 2 Dartford Warbler and 2 Raven. Around the Soldiers Road area 1 Wheatear was present, 2 singing Woodlark, 2 Fieldfare, 5+ Chiffchaff and 2 Buzzard. In Brands Bay the Surf Scoter was there again and a Great Northern Diver was out in Studland Bay.

p.s Just as I finish writing this blog post I checked the Owl cam to make sure all was working ok and witnesed the below sequence of events….

There has been a good smattering of birds right across the harbour over the last few days including a small selection of migrants. Firstly some exciting news that a pair of Marsh Harrier have been seen to begin nest building again along the Frome Valley near to last years site, and potentially it looks like two different individuals from last year. There are actually at least 4 Marsh Harrier still in the harbour so it’s not inconceivable that two pairs may stay and breed. Also there are still 9 Spoonbill remaining, mainly commuting between Shipstal and the Frome Valley. At Swineham 40 Sand Martin were over the GP and 19 Little Egret were seen going in to roost.  A guided walk went out this morning around the Greenland’s Farm area and was rewarded by an incredibly early Hobby flying through the area and heading towards Rempstone. We’ll need to check the records but this must be one of the earliest Dorset records for this species. Also at Greenland’s there were 2 Wheatear, 4 Dartford Warbler, 100+ Meadow Pipit, 3 Chiffchaff, 3 Mistle Thrush and 4 Stonechat. Out in Brands Bay the Surf Scoter was re-found close into the hide with 4 Red-breasted Merganser, 1 Sandwich Tern and 1 Great Crested Grebe. Out off Middle Beach there was 1 Common Scoter, 6 Sandwich Tern and 3 Med Gulls whilst out on Arne Moors 3 Wheatear were noted. Finally there were 4 Greenshank and 104 Teal at Lytchett Bay.