30 Aug 24 - The Poole Harbour Osprey Pelagic

I was down to act as a spotter on the Birds of Poole Harbour Osprey cruise focusing on the Wareham Channel in the morning. We left on time at 09:00 for the three hour cruise & headed off for the Wareham Channel with Mark Constantine, Paul Morton & Sam Ryde on board running the commentary. We also had Imogen Lloyd from the Isle of Wight Forestry England Sea-eagle Project on board as a guest visitor. We were quickly heading for Gold Point where Sam had picked out a perched White-tailed Sea-eagle on the beach. It was remarkably unfazed as the bird boat approached. However, this is something I had seen ten days earlier when the resident female was seen sitting on a 'No Landing' sign on the Wareham Channel side of the Arne Peninsula: on a cruise when I hadn't taken my camera.

White-tailed Sea-eagle: Male. Sitting on Arne's Gold Point

White-tailed Sea-eagle: Male. It's tricky to figure out which of the pair it was, until it shuffled on the beach and revealed it only had one foot

After filling our boots with the White-tailed Sea-eagle, Paul remembered it was an Osprey cruise & we departed for the Wareham Channel. It's tricky to be sure how many Ospreys were seen during the day, but I wouldn't be surprised if the total reached around ten individuals. This included a mixture from the local family, as well as, arrivals heading South from other UK pairs. We started with two Ospreys distantly perched in a bare tree on Arne, but quickly saw the first fishing Osprey. This was followed by Ospreys being on view somewhere in the Wareham Channel throughout the morning.

Osprey: Adult. This adult Osprey made a fairly close pass to the boat before heading off to another part of the Wareham Channel to fish. We had plenty of Osprey encounters during the morning, but this was the only one I photographed

As a spotter, my job is to help the passengers see the Ospreys, Sandwich Terns and other Birds & Seals that were feeding in the Wareham Channel, as well as, to provide useful tips on how to identify them. Often this means that once I'm happy that all of the passengers around me are looking at the present species of interest, I switch to scanning in other directions to look for other interesting species. But occasionally, I stopped scanning and took a few photographs.

Sandwich Tern: There were several Sandwich Terns fishing in the Wareham Channel during the day

We spent the morning cruising up & down the Wareham Channel. As well as the many Osprey sightings, we enjoyed flight views of the White-tailed Sea-eagle pair fly along the Channel and land in a waterside tree. Eventually, it was getting close to mid-day & we headed for Poole quayside. Everybody seemed to have had a good morning. For once the weather had been kind with warm, still & sunny weather and jackets and fleeces were taken off in the sun. As we disembarked, Mark & Paul asked if I wanted to go back out on the afternoon boat, as Mark had some pressing work commitments that stopped him going back out. It only took a few seconds to say yes. I headed off to get some lunch before returning in time to join Liz Woodford as a spotter on the 14:00 boat.

Historic Lancaster Bomber: This was the second day of the Bournemouth airshow and we had nice views of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Lancaster, as well as, a couple of more distant Spitfires. This was the 'Bird of the Day' for me

Paul & Sam led on the commentary on the afternoon cruise as we motored towards the Wareham Channel. Fairly quickly, Sam decided to get Paul to run through the new Birds of Poole Harbour exercises that they had been practising. Fortunately, the passengers were sensible enough to not all stand up & join in.

Paul & Sam call this the White-tailed Sea-eagle Position

Paul & Sam call this the Buzzard Position. I was too slow to photograph the Osprey and Marsh Harrier Positions

With the exercises over, Paul & Sam's commentary switched to the importance of Poole Harbour and the successful reintroduction of Ospreys into Dorset. Later, Imogen provided more detailed about the Isle of Wight White-tailed Sea-eagle reintroduction project. This was followed during the afternoon with views of multiple Ospreys and more distant views of the White-tailed Sea-eagles chasing Ospreys with fish over the top of the Arne reserve. Unfortunately, these aerial dog-fights weren't close on this occasion.

Osprey: Well it was an Osprey cruise

It would be interesting to know how these numbers in the Wareham Channel compare to a decade ago before the first Osprey releases. Certainly, Ospreys were regular in this area in the Autumn, but there weren't the frequent bird boats to allow a direct comparison of non-local Ospreys over the years. However, it does feel that the presence of the local pair have helped to attract & hold migrating Ospreys these days.

Osprey: Like the morning, there were frequent Osprey sightings throughout the afternoon

On both cruises, we saw Common Seals & Grey Seals. This Common Seal was an absolute beauty as it enjoyed a relaxing rest on the mud bank close to the main channel leading into the River Frome. It was unfazed by our boat, albeit we weren't as close as this photo suggests.

Common Seal

Common Seal

Common Seal

Common Seal: Showing the short and concave snout of a Common Seal. Grey Seals have a longer and more Alsatian-like pointed snout, as well as, being significantly larger. There is a good comparison of the head shapes for the two Seal species in one of my recent Blog Posts

In the end, we were late back to the quayside as Paul decided to head back up the Wareham Channel towards the end of the cruise for another Osprey. It had been another superb Osprey cruise.

Osprey: We saw this individual dive into the water & it spent some time before it resurfaced. Clearly, it had caught a decent-sized fish and had managed to drag it back to the surface

If you haven't been on one of the Birds of Poole Harbour cruises, then I can thoroughly recommend them. But it is best to overdress as it is generally colder on the water than on the quayside. It was a pleasant chance to be able to get down to T-shirts in the glorious afternoon weather.

Osprey: But, it was clearly struggling to get the fish out of the water

The final thought was the Birds of Poole Harbour team would have made a profit from these two cruises. They reinvest this money into inviting schoolkids from across the towns around the local area on a cruise, where they focus on educating the schoolkids about the importance of Poole Harbour and protecting it and its wildlife. This is a free event for the schools, but hopefully it will help excite a passion for Poole Harbour and its wildlife in the next generation.

Osprey: After a long fight, the Osprey decided to drop the fish as it was clearly too large to lift out of the water. Maybe it spent the evening calling to the other Ospreys about 'the one that got away'

13 Sep 14 - Some Nice Repeats

A call from local Birding mates, Mark & Mo Constantine, had me spending the afternoon trying to relocate a Melodious Warbler they had found at lunchtime at Greenlands Farm, on my Studland patch. Unfortunately, without any success. But the sun was out & there were some migrants around to keep me occupied & I was in the best corner of Greenlands Farm for migrants.

Spotted Flycatcher: Always happy to see these great looking Flycatchers

Spotted Flycatcher: It stuck to this perch where I had a narrow photographic gap in the bushes

Spotted Flycatcher: But eventually I moved around to get a better angle

At one point, I had another local Birding mate, Jol Mitchell, on the phone checking up on the news on the Melodious Warbler. Once updated, Jol went on to point out that the Hurricane features on the previous blog post, was actually a 'clipped' wingtip Spitfire. I thought that all the Spitfires had rounded wings. But apparently some models, like the latest addition to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Spitfire TE311, had a 'clipped' wingtip: giving them a squarer ended wing shape. Jol went on to say that his son Joe & himself had been over to Bournemouth airport, as the Lancaster bombers were using that as a base, following their return from the Channel islands. Coincidentally, at that point, I heard a deep throbbing plane engine, that sounded similar to the Lancasters as they went over Littlesea a few days ago. But I couldn't see much of the sky where I was standing & I knew I would lose the phone signal if I was to try to get to a clearer view. So I stayed put & didn't think too much more about it. But about any hour later as I was leaving Greenlands, I picked up a Lancaster Bomber in the distance over Poole. Hadn't appreciated one was planned to be in the area this afternoon. It circled the area once, then did a second closer pass over Greenlands Farm & Littlesea, before heading off in the direction of Bournemouth. As I hadn't planned to try & get to any of the events it was appearing at then I hadn't expected to see it again, so it was a real bonus to have a second private air display of the Canadian Lancaster over Studland. I haven't been able to figure out which plane or planes that I heard whilst speaking to Jol.

Canadian Lancaster: VRA showing the Victoria Cross markings below the cockpit

Canadian Lancaster: A real bonus seeing it again & it made up for the 3 hours spent looking for the Melodious Warbler

Canadian Lancaster: It will be over the Goodwood Revival Festival in Sussex on the 14 Sept so keep your eyes open in the South on that day

I finished the day with a short watch from the High hide at Littlesea, Studland, where I saw the Great White Egret again (but more on that in a future post), as well as, my first 2 Brent Geese flying South as they return for the Winter.

10 Sep 14 - Unexpected North American Migrant Kickstarts the 2014 Studland Vis Mig Season

There are several Visible Migration (Vis Mig) sites on my Studland patch and it will soon be the season for the peak Finch & Thrush movements again. My favourite Vis Mig site is South Haven, which is the Southern side of the Poole Harbour mouth.

Fellow Vis Mig Watcher Graham Armstrong: Looking South East at the South Haven Vis Mig watch point

Generally, Vis Mig migrants fly at low level & in the morning. They also fly into the wind & ideal conditions are light winds (Force 2 - 3) & dry conditions. For South Haven, we need to have a Northerly element with N or NE being the best, but NW is still fairly good. If the winds switch to the SW, then the Vig Mig migrants tend to cruise SW, but they end up passing on a much broader front & South Haven is pretty much a waste of time as the numbers are very low. 

Looking South West at the South Haven Vis Mig watch point: It's a narrow peninsula at this point

Looking North: This is the Sandbanks peninsula which is where they are heading on a Northerly wind, before turning East to follow the coast to Kent

You need a clear view of birds as they are coming as it's not long before they are overhead and going away is often harder to identify them. Often we heard them before seeing them, but with some only a few metres about the ground & others 20 or 30 metres high & taking different routes (along the beach, over the trees or over the sea on either side of us), it's not easy to know which way to look. It's made harder as often there are waves of several flocks moving close together: guess it makes it harder for a Raptor to take one of them. To make even harder, hearing a Goldfinch call in a flock of Finches, doesn't make them all Goldfinches, it could be a silent flock of another species like Siskins with one calling Goldfinch. So we try to eyeball as many of the individuals as possible to look for other species tagging along. Certainly, not an easy day's Birding, but can be great fun when you get big movements occurring. With the chance of an occasional goodie, or patch goodie, it is even more additive. Although I do wonder what we have missed each day, by not getting to walk around Old Harry or some of the other parts of the Studland patch.

Anyway, I've often wondered about trying the alternative viewpoint of the Littlesea High hide. This is about the highest point of Studland and has good views over Littlesea & the peninsula. The drawback it is is an exposed site & likely to be windy which will make Birds harder to heard calling. Also, I am not sure if they would be funneled overhead or will follow the coast or fly over the lake. But it is a migrant hot spot with the most recent record of Wryneck (surprisingly scarce at Studland probably due too too much potential habitat to disappear into). But whilst looking for the Great White Egret in recent days, I've heard Yellow Wagtails & in the past I've bumped into a few other common migrants which suggests I should pay the site more attention. Whilst looking for the Great White Egret with local Birder, Neil Gartshore, Neil said what's that coming? What ever it was it was out of view & behind the hide for me, so I moved right to get a view. Was expecting a Raptor, Wildfowl or Wader species and was shocked with what I saw: the only 2 Lancaster Bombers still flying. I've seen the UK based Lancaster on a number of occasions, from when I was a kid on the Kent - London borders. But at the moment, it has been joined in the UK, by the only other flying Lancaster, from Canada: which has been over for a number of big celebrations since mid August this year. I had thought of trying to get over to the recent Bournemouth airshow to see them both, but then the Canadian Lancaster had mechanical problems & had to pull out at the last minute. In the end, I settled for distance views of the Red Arrows from the Godlingston viewpoint. So it was a real thrill to get a private display, as both flew over the Littlesea hide, before turning over Ballard Down. Turns out they were heading out to the Channel Islands.

The UK Lancaster Bomber: This is part of the UK Battle of Britain Memorial flight, although the Lancasters didn't enter active service until Oct 1941

The UK Lancaster Bomber: The aircraft is marked up in the colours of Thumper of the famous 617 Dambuster squadron for the 2014 flying season. A full history of Thumper can be found on the RAF website

The Canadian Lancaster Bomber: It's a real treat to see this plane, as it is only over in the UK from Mid Aug to Mid Sept. More information about this Lancaster can be found on the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum website

The Canadian Lancaster Bomber: The Canadian Lancaster is marked up in the colours of Pilot Officer Andrew Mynarski VC and is referred to as the “Mynarski Memorial Lancaster”, which flew with RCAF No. 419 (Moose) Squadron. Andrew Mynarski won the Victoria Cross, the Commonwealth’s highest award for gallantry, on June 13, 1944, when his Lancaster was shot down in flames, by a German night fighter. As the bomber fell, he attempted to free the tail gunner trapped in the rear turret of the blazing and out of control aircraft. The tail gunner miraculously survived the crash and lived to tell the story, but sadly Andrew Mynarski died from his severe burns. The markings on the side are of his Victoria Cross

Giving tantalising views in the mist further South was a shadowing Fighter. Unfortunately, the photo was really suffering from the hazy conditions.

Spitfire TE311: I initially thought this was a Hurricane, but it has been re-identified as the 'clipped' wingtip Spitfire TE311 of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. Thanks to local Birding mate Jol Mitchell for the update on my fighter identification

Will we get anything better this Autumn at South Haven: sadly, I suspect not. But you never know with Birding, so I guess I will be out every time I can when the wind goes Northerly this Autumn.