After yesterdays battering, it was a day of excitement today rather than a day of extreme weather! As soon as the wind eased last night we saw the return of our breeding female Osprey CJ7. The question was, how long would she have to wait for her mate 022? The answer was not very long…..12 hours in fact. No sooner had the sun risen this morning when male Osprey 022 arrived at the nest with a huge Bass, having been seen catching the fish in the mouth of the River Piddle as he made his way back to the nest, touching down at 06:40. Not only did he return, we also had our first intruding Osprey visit this afternoon, which neither CJ7 or 022 seemed to bothered about, and it seems that bird was later seen at Morden Bog too. Around lunchtime 2 Common Crane were seen heading in high from the east, and were seen circling high above RSPB Arne Moors before disappearing off north, whilst at the same time a White-tailed Eagle was hunting on the Moors, and flushed 2 Spoonbill, whilst 2 Red Kite and a Goshawk had a fight high over head! There was obviously a mini fall this AM too with 4 Willow Warbler at the PCW Drain and 2 more at Hatch Pond. Some tardy ‘winter’ species of note were singles of both Fieldfare and Lesser Redpoll at Carey Secret Garden. At Swineham the Little Ringed Plover count was 5, plus there were singles of Swallows logged at Swineham, Sunnyside and Middlebere and on Brownsea an adult Yellow-legged Gull was on the Brownsea Lagoon.

Female Osprey CJ7 (left) and male 022 (right) re-bonding after 7 months apart

With all the glorious weather recently, we were quite surprised that none of our Ospreys had returned during that period. We were even more surprised today that during a whole day of force 6 gales, one of our breeding pair suddenly landed on the nest! This evening at 18:30 our female Osprey ‘CJ7’ landed back which is great news and always a welcome relief. We just need to see how long it takes male 022 to come back now!

The strong winds made birding really difficult today, but did produce a juvenile White-tailed Eagle in Brands Bay, 3 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon, and this morning, (possibly predicting the forecast), the Forster’s Tern was found hunkered down on a salt marsh in Holes Bay south. This evening with the wind having died down quite a bit there were c250 Sand Martin at Swineham and 2 Bearded Tit were at Swineham Point.

It looks like it’s potentially going to be a bit of a late spring this year. As we all wait for various migrants to arrive back, a good indication of how late things are already was the arrival of the well known Rutland Osprey pair which got back to their nest site this morning nearly 2-weeks later than their arrival date last year. The strong northerly winds that are set in now for the next week will restrict things further, and we’ve even heard the word ‘snow’ in a recent weather report!!!

That said there were a couple of new arrivals this morning with 2 Ruff, one at Lytchett Fields and another on the Stilt Pools at Swineham, where there were also 5 Little Ringed Plover. On Wareham Common the 3 Glossy Ibis were feeding just off the by pass, and were joined by a Great White Egret. The Brownsea Lagoon now has 4 Eurasian Spoonbill and a Northern Wheatear was on the lagoon wall. Other ‘Spring’ migrants included 8 Sand Martin at Swineham GP and a Swallow over Studland Beach.

Ruff – Lytchett Fields – Mick Brooks

It was a misty, hazy day across the harbour today, with a subtle building breeze. We’ve been basking in sunshine for the last 4 days, but things are about to turn and get rather windy during the rest of the week. Will these winds see some migrants get grounded? Perhaps a few more Northern Wheatear or Osprey?

Today logged the 3 Glossy Ibis, 3 White-tailed Eagle (Wareham Common, Middlebere and the Wareham Channel), 1 Spotted Redshank in Middlebere and there are still good numbers of Cattle Egret around with 71 seen heading towards the Swineham roost this evening. It’s also very, very noticeable how ‘regular’ (not quite common yet) Red Kite are these days with sightings logged pretty much every day so far this calendar year, with sightings increasing in recent days as birds start moving around, building towards the big migration later in April/May. It seems it won’t be long until these stunning, large birds of prey become a permanent fixture of our harbour skyline.

Red Kite – Lytchett Fields – Mick Brooks

Another stunning day, but a tad cooler compared to the previous few days. It’s easy to get excited about migration when the first new birds arrive and hope that every day should be delivering new migrants, however it is only March 21st, with spring passage not properly due to get underway for another few weeks yet, so it wasn’t surprising today that although the weather was great, there weren’t too many new arrivals. The only migrants logged today were 8 Little Ringed Plover around the Swineham area (4 Swineham floods and 4 Lower Piddle Valley floods). The Forsters’s Tern was again on Brownsea for most of the day, along with 3 Spoonbill. There were 2 Marsh Harrier in Middlebere and 3 over the Wareham Channel and these clear blue sky’s really see the White-tailed Eagles get active and move about alot, with adult female G466 being seen over several urban areas this afternoon including Nuffiield Industrial Estate and Upper Parkstone. Quite remarkable really!

Adult White-tailed Eagle G466 – Upper Parkstone – Mick Brooks

Dartford Warbler – Coombe Heath, RSPB Arne – Alison Copland

Dunnock – Coombe Heath, RSPB Arne – Alison Copland

What another perfect early spring day in all regards. We appreciate we may have been a bit hasty stating that our male Osprey 022 had returned on Wednesday. There was definitely an Osprey at the nest site as we saw it fly off, but can only conclude it must have been a passing migrant as theres been no sign since. All being well one of the pair will arrive back perhaps over the weekend seeing as the weather is perfect for Ospreys to arrive. Despite no Osprey sightings today, the harbour provided a perfect transitional spectacle with elements of winter still in view, but Spring certainly taking over. A handful of Great Northern Diver are hanging on with 2 off the Brownsea shorelines and c20 Red-breasted Merganser were out in South Deep. There seems to be more Sandwich Tern about with their calls ringing out off the lagoon sea wall this morning from our Spring Safari, along with multiple calling and displaying Mediterranean Gulls. The Brownsea Lagoon hosted the Forster’s Tern this morning also 2 Eurasian Spoonbill (including a breeding plumaged individual), c30 Avocet, 2 of which were seen copulating, 8 Greenshank, 5 Bar-tailed Godwit, c400 Black-tailed Godwit and 20 Turnstone. At Swineham up to 5 Marsh Harrier were active plus a White-tailed Eagle flew across central harbour. There were also 4 Little Ringed Plover on the Stilt Pools at Swineham and 4 Sand Martin and 1 Water Pipit flew over. A bit later in the afternoon 3 White-tailed Eagle were circling over Upton, a few more Red Kite were on the move with 3 over Keysworth, 1 over Rockley Park and another over Godlingston. Another Willow Warbler arrived with 1 at South Haven, Studland and the 3 Glossy Ibis were spread across Wareham Common. There was one each of Little Gull and Little Ringed Plover at Lytchett Fields, a lone Black-necked Grebe was off Middle Beach, Studland and 20 Sand Martin were at Swineham this evening.

Mediterranean Gull – Brownsea Lagoon – Joe Parker

Sandwich Tern – Brownsea Lagoon – Joe Parker

Spoonbill and Avocet – Brownsea Lagoon – Joe Parker

Great Northern Diver – North Channel, off Baiter – Alison Copland

Another stunning day in the harbour and more spring arrivals with the first Ring Ouzel of the spring, with a male seen at Corfe Common. More Little Ringed Plover arrivals too, with 1 was seen at Lytchett Fields, 2 at Swineham and 3 later on in the Lower Piddle Valley. 1 White Stork was seen flying over Long Island heading towards Brownsea. The long-staying Forster’s Tern was still showing nicely on the Brownsea Lagoon on the ‘boomerang island’ along with 5 Sandwich Tern. Good passage of Red Kite around the harbour today with at least 7 spread around Brownsea and Hamworthy this afternoon. A total of 4 Great Northern Diver were still in the harbour, mainly in the north channel. 1 female Merlin was at Challow Hill this morning.

No more Ospreys seen today, but there was a report of 2 yesterday off Shipstal point at RSPB Arne. There were an impressive 5 White-tailed Eagle seen from the urban side of the harbour with the adult pair flying towards Bournemouth and 3 juveniles soaring over Brownsea this morning. It seems to have been a good spring already for Crossbill with good numbers around the harbour with first broods likely to have already fledged. 6+ were seen at Hydes Heath, RSPB Arne, 2 at Brownsea and 2 in Newton Bay. The 1 Little Gull was still at Lytchett Fields and 3 Glossy Ibis on Wareham Common.

White Stork – flying over Long Island – Mark Wright

What a day. Not only the glorious sunshine but a great mix of birds logged right across the area. Most significantly we believe our male Osprey 022 may be back. At midday today, we launched our 2026 Carey Osprey Nest Cams (which you can WATCH LIVE HERE), and no less than 30 minutes later an Osprey came and landed on the camera perch above the main camera, calling. However it only stayed 8 minutes before it was then seen heading off over Wareham Common, meaning we weren’t able to confirm the ID of ‘who’ it was. If it was 022 just checking in, then he’s probably gone and caught a fish somewhere and is resting up and recovering before CJ7 returns. This morning up on Ballard Down a colour-ringed male Cirl Bunting was seen at Ballard Down, and having spoken with Luke Philipps the co-ordinator for the project, he was able to confirm this bird was ringed as a fresh juvenile at Durlston CP last summer. So, if this male decides to stay and breed in the area, this will be a known 4km dispersal from it’s natal site, giving us some great data on dispersal distances for this newly recolonising species. Elsewhere the Forster’s Tern was on Brownsea again this afternoon, the 3 Glossy Ibis were still on Wareham Common, a Swallow was hawking high above Wareham and 10 Sand Martin were over Keysworth. It seems Common Snipe are currently on the move as the floodplain at Carey was surveyed yesterday and resulted in 67 Common Snipe being counted in one small area, along with 41 today and a Jack Snipe. Also on the Brownsea Lagoon were 2 Spoonbill, plus a real harbour rarity of 3 Harbour Porpoise were off Jerry’s Point this morning. Out in Studland Bay 2 Common Scoter were loafing about, a Great Northern Diver was off the Brownsea south shore and once again, the adult Little Gull was in Lytchett Bay

Colour-ringed Cirl Bunting – Ballard Down