There was a nice early record of a female/juv type Pied Flycatcher on Brownsea today. Early August tends to see the main passage begin for ‘Pied Flys’ but a few early ones often occur. Several years ago there was a record from the PCW Drain of one being ringed on July 27th. Elsewhere, this evening saw a White-tailed Eagle on the Shag Looe spit in the Wareham Channel, and another flew over Hydes Heath, an Osprey (presumed 022) caught a fish near Giggers Island, but it could also be CJ7 who is also now visiting the harbour again and there were 3 Spoonbill on Brownsea with 1 in Middlebere. On the Swineham scrapes there were 2 Yellow-legged Gull. At Lytchett Fields the first Ringed plover of the autumn appeared and there were 14 Dunlin, 5 Greenshank, 5 Green Sandpiper, 2 Common Sandpiper, 4 Whimbrel, 53 Lapwing, 21 Black-tailed Godwit and 69 Redshank. There was also an intruder Osprey at the nest site this evening around 19:15, although we’ve received no photos from other nest platforms so are unsure as to who it was.

Female Osprey CJ7 away from the nest site! – Alison Copland

Despite all having fledged successfully last week, the Osprey family were all back on the nest at intermittent times during the day, mostly when 022 arrived back with a fish, but each are doing brilliantly and settling into the local landscape. They’re not currently traveling far from the nest but over the next few weeks they’ll be exploring further and it won’t be long until we seem them appear down in the harbour all being well. The Forster’s Tern was seen once again off Shipstal Beach, RSPB Arne, over towards Round island roosting with Sandwich Terns. At Lytchett Fields there was a marked increase of waders with 11 Green Sandpiper and 3 Common Sandpiper, also 4 Greenshank, 50+ Redshank, c20 Black-tailed Godwit and c20 Lapwing. In Holes Bay SE there were 4 Common Sandpiper including 1 braving the cycle path. At Holme Lane GP the Barnacle Goose was still hanging out with the Egyptian Geese and there were 2 Common Sandpiper. Male Osprey 022 was seen flying over Ridge with a fish before returning to the nest site and White-tailed Eagle pair G466 and G463 were on the gull islands in the Wareham Channel briefly this morning. The Avocet family are also doing well, with all 3 chicks now looking very much like their parents. We’ll need to double check but we this this may be the first ever successful breeding of Avocet in Dorset, with several failed previous attempts.

Avocet chick (left) and parent on Brownsea Lagoon (from boat trip last week) – Ian Ballam

The Forster’s Tern was seen from Shipstal beach at Arne this morning, landing briefly with a mixed flock of Gulls, Waders and other Terns, before departing off up the Middlebere Channel. A ringed Osprey with a fish was seen flying in the same direction a few hours later carrying a fish. Though we missed both from our morning Summer Safari Cruise, we were still treated to great views of Marsh Harrier, White-tailed Eagle, 4 Spotted Redshank, 3 Greenshank, 2 Common Sandpiper, 150+ Black-tailed Godwit and plenty of Swift overhead in the Wareham Channel. Meanwhile on the Brownsea Lagoon highlights were 5 Spoonbill, 8 Dunlin, and the 3 Avocet chicks along with raucous of Sandwich and Common Tern activity. Elsewhere, in Lytchett Bay, a juvenile Sedge Warbler was present in the hedgerows, and on the rising tide there were 14 Dunlin, 4 Whimbrel, 4 Greenshank, 31 Curlew, 75 Black-tailed Godwit, 75 Redshank, 3 Oystercatcher and 1 Green Sandpiper, plus 1 Little Ringed Plover on Whimbrel Field.

Forster’s Tern – Shipstal, Arne – Sam Levy

Heading out for a morning survey of the harbour showed just how productive it is for birding at the moment. The highlight was the returning Forster’s Tern hunting along the Holton shoreline, with c.150 Common Tern and 200 Sandwhich Tern across the harbour and the Brownsea Lagoon. The lagoon was otherwise productive with 11 Avocet, including 2 juveniles which are still doing well, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, c.70 Oystercatcher, 1 Dark-bellied Brent Goose, 11 Dunlin, and 1 Turnstone on the beach. On the North Brownsea shoreline, there were also 4 Common Sandpiper. In the Wareham Channel 2 White-tailed Eagle was sat on Shag Looe spit, 1 Osprey and 2 Marsh Harrier adding to the raptor list, as well as 5 Whimbrel, 5 Lapwing and 500 Black-tailed Godwit. Further along at the mouth of the Frome, 4 Spotted Redshank and 5 Greenshank were amongst the 25 Common Redshank making the most of the exposed mudflat, along with 4 Common Sandpiper on the fringes of the reedbed and 4 Water Rail including 2 young. Additionally there was 1 Yellow Wagtail present on a reedhead also at the mouth of the Frome. Of note on the scrapes at Swineham was 1 Green Sandpiper, 9 Egyptian Geese and 2 Yellow-legged Gull, with c.100 Sand Martin roosting in the reeds. Another Osprey was seen over in Wytch Lake, and a further 5 Whimbrel were present in Ower Bay, and c.150 Curlew across the whole harbour on the low tide. There was 1 Great White Egret in the Middlebere Channel this morning. On the Osprey nest, there was more excitement as another chick (5H4) fledged this afternoon.

Great White Egret (right) next to Little Egret – Middlebere Channel – Kate Plater

July is really picking up now, and with first Grasshopper Warblers, Garden Warblers and Willow Warblers already being ringed at Durlston yesterday, the autumn floodgates will soon be well and truly open. We had a busy Summer Safari Cruise this evening with plenty of highlights including male Osprey 022 with a fish in the Wareham Channel, 1 juv Marsh Harrier in the Frome mouth, 1 distant White-tailed Eagle on the Holton shore, 4 Spotted Redshank, 4 Greenshank and c700 Black-tailed Godwit in the Wareham Channel, 7 Spoonbill, 5 Dunlin and the Avocet family all doing well on the Brownsea Lagoon. At Swineham there was an adult Yellow-legged Gull on the scrapes, a Starling flock of around c400 birds and c200 Sand Martin were gathering in the pre-roost. At the Osprey site today a Hobby flew over the valley, at the Stoborough causeway there were 5 Cattle Egret and there were 4 Whimbrel and 2 Common Sandpiper in Holes Bay.

Finally, we saw the first fledging of the season from one of our Osprey chicks, with the youngest ‘5H3’ being the surprise first youngster to take the leap. He did brilliantly flying around the nest before settling in nearby dead trees for 20 minutes before then expertly returning to the nest and crash landing on top of CJ7! The whole family were back on the nest this evening but no doubt the rest will give flying a go over the next few days. Perhaps we might see an empty nest by the end of the week?!

Not too much to report today other than in Holes Bay there were 2 Common Sandpiper, 1 Whimbrel, 125 Redshank, 122 Black-tailed Godwit and 20 Curlew. At Lytchett Fields this evening 2 Spotted Redshank were out on the fields along with 6 Greenshank, 1 Whimbrel and 1 Marsh Harrier. The Brownsea Lagoon hosted 8 Spoonbill and there were a couple of sightings of White-tailed Eagle in the Wareham Channel. A Hobby was over the Piddle Valley and 75 Little Egret were in the Pergins Island roost this evening in Holes Bay north.

There was also the great news today thats it’s been confirmed by the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation that as a direct result of their White-tailed Eagle reintroduction on the Isle of Wight, eagles are now breeding on the south coast at an undisclosed location, producing 1 chick which has now fledged. This is the first successful breeding of White-tailed Eagle in England for 240 years and marks the start of what we hope will be a full recovery of this species across the country. This is such a monumental achievement and shouldn’t be underestimated how much hard work and expertise goes into these kinds of projects. The other exciting element of this situation is that the new breeding pair are only a year older than the pair that are seemingly holding a territory here in the harbour, male G463 and female G466. With this in mind, there’s a possible chance that our local pair may follow suit and seek to potentially try and breed locally(?) next spring. A huge well done to everyone involved!

White-tailed Eagle chick – Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation

We thought today might be a fledge day for one/some of the Osprey chicks, with several high ‘helicoptering’ motions as they tried to lift off, but to no avail. With settled weather forecast for the rest of the week, there’s no doubt that fledging is imminent, but just when and which one will go first is anyones guess. Today at Lytchett Fields it was busy with waders and saw 96 Common Redshank, 7 Greenshank, 3 Whimbrel, 3 Common Snipe, 1 Common Sandpiper and c15 Lapwing. The site also saw the first post-breeding/fledging Kingfisher of the autumn arrive on site.