The recording below is of the typical Yellowhammer ‘Little bit of bread and no cheese’ song. Towards the end you can hear the Nightingale start up and right the way through the recording is the Chiffchaff asending contact call

The harbour has been really active over the last few days both day and night. To begin with the first Nightjars were heard last night with 2 calling at Arne and another up on Hartland Moor. There was also a Snipe drumming up on Hartland too. At Corfe (Sugar Hill Lane) yesterday and this morning the Nightingale was again in full voice whilst 1 Cuckoo, 2 Spotted flycatcher, 4 Whitethroat, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Yellowhammer and the first fledgling Blackcap were present. On Hartland Stud there are still two Wheatear hanging out with the Rabbits. At Lytchett Bay 2 Knot were out feeding on the fields which is a slightly odd record, also a late Snipe flushed, displaying Redshank, 50+ Black-tailed Godwit, 6 Whimbrel, 4 Lapwing and a Greenshank. At Middlebere yesterday 3 Spoonbill and a Cuckoo. There were 10 Whimbrel in the fields north of Upton CP and 2 Great Crested Grebe out in Holes Bay. There was also a moderate arrival of Swallow this morning as birds pushed through north on quite a broad front across the harbour. A newly arrived Sedge Warbler was singing up on Hartland Moor and a Peregrine was hunting over Arne moors, the latter surely breeding in the harbour somewhere? At Holton Lee Tree Pipit are back on territory. Finally some good news that the male Marsh Harrier seems to be a good provider to BOTH his females at the two different nest sites. He has been busy providing food to both females as they incubate the eggs, which are roughly half way through their incubation period. Keeping fingers crossed everything goes smoothly. 

Below is a recording of the Common Snipe drumming up on Hartland Moor last night

These two young Blackcap look as if they had literally just fledged the nest this morning. Interestingly the male was the only adult feeding them, so the female had either gone off with another bloke, was on another clutch of eggs or had died!

Here is another recording taken this morning this time at Holton Lee of a singing Tree Pipit. As a breeding bird in Poole Harbour, Tree Pipit are quite scarce, so it was a privilege to be able to listen to this bird singing away at Holton lee, although the dual carriage way and wind ruin the recording a bit!

To bring Poole Harbour birding a bit more to life, we’re going to start posting numerous sound recordings from around the harbour which we hope will act as an aid to helping you with bird identification. After all, how often do you hear a bird rather than see it? Rather like the Nightingale that features in this recording at Corfe this morning. It was belting out its beautiful song not 20m away, but could I see it? Also in the recording is a Common Whitethroat.

Numerous reports came in from different areas of the harbour today starting with Swineham where the Barnacle Goose was again with Canada Geese, also at Swineham a late female Wigeon, 1 Cuckoo, 1 male Marsh Harrier, 3 Sedge Warbler, 4 Cetti’s Warbler, 2 Redshank, 1 Whitethroat and 100+ Swift. Up on Hartland Stud 2 female Wheatear were feeding. At Middlebere 1 Spoonbill, 40+ Dunlin, 1 Ringed Plover, 2 Dunlin and 60 Swift. At Lytchett Bay there was 1 male Whinchat, 1 Wheatear, 1 Common Sandpiper, 5 Whimbrel, 1 Cuckoo, 15 Gadwall, 1 Lapwing, 2 Redshank, 44 Black-tailed Godwit, 70+ Shelduck, 9 Reed Warbler, 1 Peregrine and 6 Med Gull. A Little Gull was still present at Swineham yesterday.

The rain eased off pretty quickly this morning but the strong west, south-westerly breeze held steady all day. A sea watch from Branksome produced 3 Common Scoter, 1 Kittiwake, 8 Fulmar, 10 Gannet, 50+ Swift in off the sea and 6 Common Tern. At Swineham at least 1 Garganey is still present out on the main pit, also 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Cuckoo, 1 Whimbrel, 200+ Swift, 1 Whitethroat, 11 Reed Warbler and 6 Cetti’s Warbler.  On Brownsea there are already 90 sitting Sandwich Tern, also 265 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Avocet, 1 Spoonbill, 3 Greenshank, 1 Ringed Plover and a Peregrine. At Lytchett Bay 1 Hobby, 4 Raven, 7 Whimbrel, 2 Lapwing and 7 Black-tailed Godwit.

With all this grotty weather we’ve been experiencing, its beginning to bring back bad memories of this winter when numerous events and trips had to be cancelled and rescheduled which is unfortunately what we’ve had to do with tomorrows trip to Morden Bog. News from around the harbour has been very sparse too with the only real highlight being a singing Firecrest at Arne, suggesting they are breeding there again this year. A sea watch from Branksome produced only 8 Gannet, 2 Fulmar, 3 Whimbrel, plenty of Sandwich and Common Tern, 1 Auk sp and a handful of Swift and Swallow coming in off the sea. At Lytchett Bay 1 Lesser Whitethroat on territory, 3 Greenshank, 85 Shelduck, 1 Cuckoo, 8 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Lapwing and 1 Redshank. 

Unfortunately, due to tomorrows forecast we will be canceling tomorrows walk at Morden Bog. We will try to re-schedule a bit later in the month weather permitting! Who would have thought it was May!

Sorry for any inconvenience.

Sorry for the lack of updates so far this month, we’ll do a round up in this post from over the bank holiday weekend. Starting off with the discovery of a Spotted Crake out on Bestwall meadow. The bird was heard calling last night and the night before and could possibly stay for a number of days. Below is a sound recording of the bird by Nick Hopper…

There was another sighting of the/a Great White Egret near the Stoborough causeway.  Swineham area has seen a maximum of 5 drake Garganey along with 3 Egyptian Geese, 7 Spoonbill, 1 Cuckoo, 1 Hobby, 1 Marsh Harrier, 3 Bearded Tit, 3 Little Gull and stunning warbler number with 47 Reed Warbler, 20 Cetti’s Warbler, 11 Sedge Warbler, 6 Blackcap, 1 Whitethroat and 1 Willow Warbler. At Upton CP 22+ Whimbrel were dotted around and a handful of Swift were noted. The Sandwich Terns on Brownsea have now started nest building on the breeding islands so make sure you watch the Brownsea webcam for all the drama (http://www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk/brownsea-webcam). At Lytchett Bay 1 Whinchat, 4 Wheatear, Whimbrel, Black-tailed Godwit and Lapwing are all still prominent as are a few Gadwall and good numbers of Shelduck. Also noted at Lytchett Bay was a real mega in the shape of a Coot, which was then seen feeding two young! At Holes Bay 1 Wheatear and 5 Whimbrel. A Nightingale was in song very briefly on Stoborough heath. Hobby were also noted over Soldiers Road and Hartland Moor. Off Branksome Chine 4 Great Northern Diver were still around, also several Gannet, 4 Fulmar, 3 Auk sp and 30+ Common Tern. There was a big arrival of Swift over the bank holiday weekend and other common migrants continued to arrive in small numbers such as Wheatear, Yellow Wagtail, Whinchat and hirundines.