March with Two Rarities and Seven year ticks

March started well with Joe from Birds of Poole Harbour finding the Forster's Tern in Parkstone Bay on the 2nd this is the third year it has returned.  Jackie and I took a quick trip down to Baiter Park and met Ian Ballam and Paul Morton both looking for the bird. We were there for some time, I thought I caught sight of a tern over the far side of the bay but it was Paul that picked it up flying towards the harbour mouth but it was very distant. Over the next few days it commuted between Poole Park and the bay and sometimes Brownsea Lagoon.  I popped down to Poole Park and managed to grab a few shots of it there where it put on a pretty good show for everyone.

Forster's Tern - Poole Park © Nick Hull

Late on the 2nd a Red-rumped Swallow was found in Weymouth and Jackie and I decided to go the next day and hopefully see if it stayed.  By the time we arrived in Weymouth there had been no sign of the swallow, so we headed over to Wyke Regis Bridging Camp to see if we could find the Long-tailed Duck on the Fleet.  

We walk down the footpath to the west end of the camp fence and scoped over Littlesea.  After a few scans across the water I suddenly picked up a white head but it immediately dived as I waited for it to resurface I noticed a Common Scoter  and several Red-breasted Merganser.  The bird surfaced and it turned sideways on to us and you could see the dark brown cheek spot on a very white head of a male Long-tailed Duck but far too distant to get any photographs.  It dived again and it took ten minutes or more to find it again for Jackie to see it.  

Jackie checked her phone and said the swallow has been seen, so we headed back to Radipole parking in a nearby housing estate and walking to the bridge where a handful of birders were looking and was told it had just flown typically out of view.  Anyway it wasn't long before I picked it up hawking for insects over the wood and the houses. It did eventually fly nearer on several occasions giving much closer and pretty good views but with its speed it gave problems with getting any good quality shot.

My best shot of the Red-rumped Swallow - Radipole © nick Hull

Next day we were out with friends at Arne with the idea of trying to get everyone White-tailed Eagle and Crossbill.  It was a dull overcast start but became warm and sunny towards the end of our walk.  We didn't see any eagles but we had all the usual heathland species and a Red Kite put in an appearance.  We were successful with Crossbill seeing several, a male performed well right at the end of our walk but as Jackie had my camera in her scooter box I failed to get any shots but thankfully Phil managed a couple and sent me a copy.

Common Crossbill male & Female - Arne © Phil Allman

On the 11th Jackie and I and friends Fran and David we had a walk at Rempstone.   As I was getting Jackie's scooter off the van there was a harsh 'Kya-kya-kya' sound overhead, Jackie managed to get a view as a Goshawk passed over, which is always a nice species to get on your year list.  This area was our heathland survey area in 2025 and had three Woodlark territories but our walk produced none but we were probably a little late in the morning. A species that was a little surprise was a pair of Grey Wagtail and like Arne we had three singing Crossbill which is always nice to record. As we walked back to the vehicles we were treated to a flock of Redwing which flew over towards the south and when nearly back to the cars a flight of Fieldfare flew towards us going in the other direction making there cackling calls both species would be moving back to their northern breeding ground shortly.

On the 13th Jackie and I went to Studland in the hope that a Red-necked Grebe, which had been seen the day before, would still be around off Middle Beach but we couldn't find it so we had a look over Norden sewage works on the way home and a drive down to Wytch and back up Trashers Lane where we came across a Reeve's Pheasant not a tickle species but there is a small population in the Wytch and Rempstone area though I hadn't seen one for a while and this male was very close to the road, 

Stunning male Reeve's Pheasant © Nick Hull

On our way home we took a little detour around to Holmebridge there was very little there accept a Peregrine which swooped in and took a Black-headed Gull and stayed to have it's meal which added a little entertainment.  Shortly after we were passing Wareham Common on our way home we saw the now three Glossy Ibis feeding out on the still very wet meadow. 

Over the next few days we birded the home patch of Lytchett Bay, popped to Bestwall where the highlight was just a Green Sandpiper.  It wasn't until the end of the month (31st) that we added more species to the year list with Sand and House Martin and Willow Warbler at Longham Lakes. Then later in the afternoon, we saw our next good species when we popped over to Woodsford to see a pair of Garganey which had taken up residence on the gravel pits. 

The 2026 reptile season started early with Adder being seen out in February with the first observation on the patch being on 22nd Feb (Paul Swann) and Ian Ballam saw our first Sand Lizard on the 24th Feb and I recorded a Common Lizard on the 28th Feb.  I didn't see my first Smooth Snake until I did my first survey at Arne on the 18th March when I also had my first Slow Worm so it's just Grass Snake to see now.

male Adder © Lytchett Bay Nick Hull

Common Lizard Lytchett Bay © Nick Hull

male Smooth Snake Arne RSPB © Nick Hull (taken under license)

On the invertebrate side I took Jackie to Hillier Garden for her U3A visit as she needed her scooter and whilst walking the gardens we had a couple of Black Oil Beetle and our first Orange-tip butterfly and Bee-fly, which we have had in the home garden since. We have also seen our first mason bees from our bee hotel with a couple of males buzzing around waiting for the females to emerge which I sure will not be long now.

Black Oil Beetle Hilliers Garden © Nick Hull

Beefly Bombylius major Hilliers Garden © Nick Hull

Moth trapping has been fairly average for the time of year the garden doesn't really get going until end of April but I've caught a few nice regular moth and one new micro moth.

Frosted Green © Nick Hull

Lunar Marbled Brown © Nick Hull

Ash Sprinner (Zelleria hepariella) © Nick Hull 

We ended the month on 141 species of bird seen since 1st January and with more migrants due in April and survey season getting underway can't wait to see what we can see and find.