With the strong winds due to ease next week, it was another day of holding on to your hats for the most part of the day. So it was a case of making the most of the day which we did from our evening summer cruise with a few highlights including the Wareham Channel Marsh Harrier family active at the top end of the channel with both juveniles on view for a period of time. The Brownsea Lagoon hosted 8 Spoonbill still and the Avocet family are looking great with the 3 chicks well on their way to reaching adulthood all being well. There was also a huge gathering of 2000+ gulls and terns out in central harbour during the evening which were obviously responding to a (newly available?) food source near the surface of the water. Elsewhere there was a Common Sandpiper and juvenile Marsh Harrier at Lytchett Fields, a Whimbrel in Holes Bay and a Common Sandpiper on the Brownsea sea wall. Our trail cams on other Osprey nest platforms logged male Osprey 022 sneaking off during the morning for a quiet meal over at the Middlebere nest platform and this evening new male Osprey ‘374’ was once again seen on a nest platform for about 30 minutes.

Male Osprey 374 on harbour nest platform this evening

Male Osprey 022 on Middlebere nest platform this morning having a quiet breakfast away from the family!

It’s surprising any birds were left in Dorset with a howling wind beating across the county all day, but amazingly, having been absent for 2 months, the Forster’s Tern which first appeared in Lytchett Bay back in April suddenly reappeared at Lytchett Fields this morning. After being seen in Dorset earlier in the year it was then seen to head east with sightings in Hampshire and West Sussex later in the spring. Where it’s been in the mean time is anyones guess, but now it’s back in the harbour, will it stay for several more weeks like it did last time? Another surprise was a Honey Buzzard that was going full pelt with the strong tail wind in an easterly direction high over the Osprey nest in the Piddle Valley. There was also a decent push of Common Swift today over the Frome and Piddle Valley with a conservative count of c200 during the course of the day, along with 2 Hobby. At Middlebere a wader count included 1 Northern Lapwing, 1 Whimbrel, 6 Eurasian Curlew, 168 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Green Sandpiper and 6 Common Greenshank.

Honey Buzzard – High over Piddle Valley – Terry Mullen

The rain kept birding opportunities pretty limited today. Saying that, having been missing for several days, male Osprey ‘374’ made a surprise appearance on a harbour nest platform mid-morning, looking equally wet and annoyed as the Osprey family on the nest. At Holme lane GP there was 1 Barnacle Goose, 2 Common Sandpiper, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 7 Egyptian Geese and 11 Gadwall and at Lytchett Fields there was a nice spread of waders including 52 Redshank, 32 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Curlew, 2 Oystercatcher, 1 Greenshank and 1 Green Sandpiper along with the first returning Common Gull of the autumn. This evening the Cattle Egret flock at the Stoborough causeway had grown to 8 today.

A few interesting snippets today including 7 Cattle Egret on Wareham water meadows, all looking like fresh juveniles, including a couple with dark, black bills still. This suggests they’re really young and it could also indicate local breeding? There have been no reports of Cattle Egret all summer around the harbour, and during our Osprey viewing sessions we’ve only logged Little Egrets heading up and down the river valley’s, so they may have bred slightly further afield? There also seemed to be a mini arrival of Marsh Harrier with 2 in Wytch Lake, 1 in Middlebere and another in the Piddle Valley, as well as the local breeding birds in the Wareham Channel. The first returning Common Snipe of the autumn was at Lytchett Fields.

Cattle Egrets – Wareham/Stoborough causeway

Despite the windy weather there were some obvious arrivals today, most notably the first gathering of Spoonbill of the autumn with 8 feeding in the Wareham Channel before relocating to the Brownsea Lagoon this evening. There were also 6 Greenshank new in on the lagoon and the 3 Avocet chicks were still doing well with both parents standing guard. There were 2 Common Sandpiper on the Brownsea sea wall. There was also the first sightings of a fresh juvenile Marsh Harrier in the Wareham Channel as it called to it’s parent near by, with a possible second being seen too. An Osprey (likely male 022) was hunting in the Wareham Channel this evening during our Sunset Safari and earlier today, male 374 was seen briefly on a harbour nest platform. There was a large gathering of Sand Martin at Swineham this evening with c400 flying around and on the Swineham scrape this evening 3 adult Yellow-legged Gull were roosting. The 2 over-summering Eider were off the Brownsea south shore and the over-summering dark-bellied Brent Goose was on the Brownsea Lagoon. The White-tailed Eagle pair were in the Wareham Channel.

Osprey flying past Corfe Castle in Wareham Channel, from Sunset Safari Cruise – Alison Copland

For the first time in almost a week there was no sign of our new male Osprey ‘374’. Maybe he’s disappeared off again on another tour along the coast. No doubt he’ll be back soon. There were 2 White-tailed Eagle in the Wareham Channel though, once again feeding on the gull islands this morning. At Lytchett Fields there was a full summer plumaged Cattle Egret this afternoon and 2 Crossbill flew over this morning. In Middlebere there was a single Whimbrel and Spoonbill and there were 3 adult Yellow-legged Gull on the Swineham scrapes. At Holme lane GP there was 1 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Barnacles Goose and 6 Egyptian Geese.

Cattle Egret – lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

As we mentioned yesterday, it was great to see 3 Avocet chicks on the Brownsea Lagoon. A welcome and positive achievement considering the hardship the DWT Brownsea team had suffered this summer with the loss of many gull and tern chicks due to bird flu. We all hope these young ones make it. Not only because of the bird flu issue, but also because it will be the first successful fledging and rearing of Avocet chicks in Dorset for many, many years! Many thanks to one of our guests from last nights cruise, Ian Harrison for sending us through his atmospheric photo of the Avocet youngsters. Elsewhere an Osprey was in Middlebere, 2 Crossbill flew over the Piddle Valley, in Holes Bay 1 Whimbrel and 76 Curlew were feeding and the White-tailed Eagle pair were viewable off the Ham Common nature reserve this morning.

Avocet chicks – Brownsea Lagoon (from Safari Cruise) – Ian Harrison

There were more wader arrivals today with a minimum of 12 Green Sandpiper now on Lytchett Fields, plus the seasons first juvenile Little Ringed Plover with 2 adults present too. There was also 1 Spotted Redshank, 2 Whimbrel, 1 Greenshank, 1 Marsh Harrier and the seasons first juvenile Mediterranean Gull also at Lytchett Fields. From this evenings Sunset Safari, Common Sandpiper were on the increase with 4 in the mouth of the Frome, 1 on Long Island and 2 on the Brownsea sea wall. The highlight was 3 pretty decent sized Avocet chicks on the lagoon which looked as if they could well survive until adulthood, although there were plenty of Great Black-backed Gulls watching on! Also from the cruise male Osprey 022 caught 2 fish in quick succession and there was a distant White-tailed Eagle on the Holton shoreline with a Marsh Harrier hunting along the RSPB Arne shoreline. There was also an Osprey on the ‘new’ Middlebere perch/platform today which sadly didn’t land on the nest, meaning we couldn’t get a positive ID on it. Elsewhere a Golden Pheasant was seen on the Furzey slipway from Studland, there were 7 Grey Plover and a Whimbrel in Brands Bay. Also, it looks as if Teal successfully bred at Lytchett Bay again this year which is probably one of only a handful of pairs across the county.

Juvenile Eurasian Teal – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

Very exciting afternoon at the Osprey nest with CJ7 fiercely defending the nest from a blue-ringed male Osprey (most likely 374). An Osprey was also seen in the Middlebere Channel on one of the nest platforms shortly beforehand, but appeared to have followed 022 back to the nest site as he returned with a fish. An amazing high count of 10 Green Sandpiper at Lytchett Fields on the Sherford Pools this morning. The Black-headed Wagtail was also seen by the Middlebere cottage again this morning (photos here).

Ringed Osprey – Carey – Seb Haggett

There was a reversion back to some scorching weather today and blistering sunshine. This meant that our planned ringing of the Osprey chicks had to be done at first light before it got too hot to climb the tree. The nest tree is a decent size, being at least 33m, so it takes quite an effort to climb. To reduce any potential risk to the chicks we decided to ring in the nest this year which speeds up the process and means we don’t have to lower them to the ground. Big thanks to Adam Day for his support today in helping in the process. We started the climb just before 6am and managed to get the job done fairly quickly, with ring numbers 5H3, 5H4 and 5H5 allocated to the 3 chicks. We think 5H3 and 5H4 are male and 5H5 is definitely female. Now let’s hope for a successful fledging in a few weeks time!

Elsewhere an Osprey was seen over Shipstal, 5 Spoonbill were in Middlebere, 2 White-tailed Eagle were in the Wareham Channel, a Black-headed (or Grey-headed) Wagtail was at the Middlebere cottages and in Brands Bay 1 Whimbrel, 71 Curlew, 3 Black-tailed Godwit and 32 Med Gull.

Osprey chicks (left to right) 5H3, 5H4 and 5H5 lying low in the nest during ringing this morning.