Absolutely fantastic Spring Safari Cruise this morning with the 2 White-tailed Eagles (G466 & G463) hunting in the Wareham Channel and successfully catching a Grey Mullet. While rising on the thermals, G466 was also mobbed by 2 Common Buzzard and 1 Red Kite, giving an awesome size comparison between the three species. The pair of Marsh Harrier were also active in the channel, and c.100 Black-tailed Godwit and 1 Whimbrel were making use of the exposed mudflats near Swineham on the low tide. Over on Brownsea Lagoon, along with the high numbers of Sandwich and Common Tern highlights included 15 Bar-tailed Godwit, 80 Oystercatcher and 2 Avocet. Also a nice sighting of a Yellow Wagtail on the Sherford Pools at Lytchett Fields this morning.

White-tailed Eagle G463 – Wareham Channel – Kate Plater

Momentous news today with 5H1, the first wild fledged Osprey chick from a nest on the south coast of England for 180 years, successfully returning for the first time! She was photographed this morning at 6:06am, meeting up with her father 022 on the Middlebere Nest Platform, which amazingly was the last place she was seen in 2022 before she left on migration. This is such fantastic news and now all we need is 374, another male from our translocation project to meet up with her. He was seen at Fishlake Meadows, Romsey on Saturday.

Plenty of Osprey action in the harbour with 1 bird possibly 5H1 being seen off Swineham Point later in the morning and an unringed Osprey in Brands Bay, Studland eating a fish on the muddy island with 5 Whimbrel also present. 3 Grey Plover were still in the lower Piddle Valley, north of Swineham gravel pit as well as c100 Black-tailed Godwit and a flock of c20 Dunlin and Ringed Plover. The Boneparte’s Gull was seen higher up the Frome Valley today at Holmebridge on the floods. There were 17 Bar-tailed Godwit at Whitley Lake.

5H1 and 022 (her father) on the Middlebere nest platform this morning!

Closeup of 5H1’s Leg Ring

Very limited sightings today with the rain pushing in late morning and setting in for the day. A small amount of spring wader passage still ongoing with 2 Grey Plover and 3 Whimbrel in Brands Bay. There was 1 Common Sandpiper on the Sherford Pools at Lytchett Fields and 1 adult plumage Grey Plover from the Rock Lea View.

Hobby – Morden Bog yesterday – Mark Wright

We’re sure you’ve all seen enough photos of the ‘Dorset Lights’ from last night, and if you managed to experience it, then good work….what a treat! The sun then rose this morning which led into another fine, bright, hot day with a few highlights but nothing as spectacular as lasts nights light show. Best from today was a new adult Little Gull on the Lower Piddle Floods which accompanied the 1st winter thats been present for several weeks, The floods also held 37 Little Egret, 1 Cattle Egret, 5 sum plum Grey Plover, 3 Knot, c100 Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Greenshank and 2 Bar-tailed Godwit. At dawn there were counts made of 87 Reed Warbler , 24 Cetti’s Warbler & 7 Sedge Warbler plus 14 Reed Bunting. At RSPB Arne, an Osprey was seen from Middlebere along with 2 Red Kite. 

Little Gull – Lower Piddle Floods – Garry Hayman

What another perfect day, which started off with a perfect new set of experiences for us from our Up with the Lark cruise this AM. With the cruise focusing more on bird song and bird sound today, the flat calm conditions and still weather allowed for sound travel perfectly across the water which peaked when the White-tailed Eagle pair flew across the Wareham Channel and landed in a tree close to the boat and started duet calling with one another. Despite many, many sightings over the years, we’ve never actually heard them calling to one another, so it was a blissful experience to be in the presence of this sound, with a boat full of equally thrilled guests. The cruise then continued and logged an Osprey, which looked to be the un-ringed male from recent days, whilst the reed beds were busy with Reed and Cetti’s Warbler. A few Grey Plover were on the RSPB Arne shorelines and there were 2 Ringed Plover in the mouth of the Frome. A Little Gull was on the Brownsea Lagoon, there were 3 Whimbrel, 1 Ringed Plover and a Red Kite over Lytchett Fields. On the Lower Piddle Floods this evening the Little Gull was around again and a good haul of waders were logged with 3 sum plum Grey Plover, 10+ Ringed Plover, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit and 3 Knot. 

We apologise for yesterday’s sightings not appearing, but for some reason they didn’t upload?! Anyway, to catch up, there were 6 Ruff (including 2 breeding plum males) on the Lower Piddle Floods with the Bonaparte’s Gull still. Hobby, Red Kite, Osprey and a reported fly over Common Crane were all noted at Carey Secret Garden and the White-tailed Eagle pair were in the Wareham Channel at dawn.

Finally, we received some great news this evening that our 3-year old male Osprey, ‘374’ who arrived back on April 19th, but hadn’t been seen since, was photographed today at Fishlake Meadows in Romsey, Hampshire. This is brilliant as we were beginning to get worried about his whereabouts. As the Osprey fly’s, this is only about 30 miles from Poole Harbour, so there’s a good chance we may see him back again soon, hopefully adopting the nest platform he settled on last year.

Female White-tailed Eagle G466 from Up with the Lark Cruise this AM

Facebook post of 374’s appearance at Fishlake Meadows – Robin Pascal

Another fine day with settled conditions saw breeding birds now getting into a rhythm and finding their voices. The House Martin colony at Frenches Farm, Lytchett Bay finally got round to nest building and were mud gathering in the SANG car park at Frenches Farm and a Spotted Flycatcher was along the lane leading down to Lytchett Fields. A Little Gull was on the Brownsea Lagoon and there are now 155 Sandwich Tern nests on the breeding islands. An un-ringed male Osprey was in Middlebere this afternoon and both White-tailed Eagles were in the Wareham Channel. Late news, the Forster’s Tern was seen at Shipstal Beach yesterday at RSPB Arne.

House Martin gathering mud – Frenches Farm – Lytchett Fields

House Martin gathering mud – Frenches Farm – Lytchett Fields

What a stunner of a day, with 20 degree’s registering on the car dashboard thermometers. This got the dragonflies and damselflies active, and therefore the Hobby’s too as they sought after a much needed meal after a couple of damp days. There were 3 active over Hartland Moor, 2 over Hyde’s Heath, RSPB Arne and 2 in the Piddle Valley. A Great White Egret was at Holmebridge with a Marsh Harrier over there too and 9 Red Kite. The White-tailed Eagle pair were on Shag Looe in the Wareham Channel, before then being seen over Swineham where there was also a Little Ringed Plover. This morning we surveyed the gull islands in the Wareham Channel for the Black-headed and Mediterranean Gulls. This mornings survey was an on foot survey, carried out under license and on Thursday morning we’ll be carrying out an official drone survey of the same colony to compare which set of data yields the best results whilst causing the least amount of disturbance. We’ll update on this when we get the full results. There were Cuckoo’s at Lytchett Fields, Hyde’s Heath, the Wareham Channel and the Brownsea Lagoon. There was also a Garden Warbler at Lytchett Fields and the 12 Whimbrel remained in the field at Sunnyside. This evening we hosted our first Puffin Cruise of the season which yielded 3-4 Puffin at Dancing Ledge, with the trip between Old Harry and Dancing Ledge producing c15 Kittiwake, c10 Gannet, 4 Fulmar c1000 Guillemot, c10 Razorbill and several small groups of Swallow arriving in off the sea.

Puffin – Dancing Ledge – Michael Caponi