Dorset Birds: Saturday 15th Jul 2023.

Swift - c.200 over the Frome and Piddle Valley.
Whimbrel - 1 Hengistbury Head, 1 Middlebere, 5 The Fleet (Camp Road).
Common Sandpiper - 6 Hengistbury Head, 2 Lodmoor, 1 Middlebere, 2 Peveril Point,

5 The Fleet (Camp Road).
Green Sandpiper - 1 Middlebere.
Greenshank - 6 Middlebere.
Yellow-legged Gull - 1+ Mudeford Quay, 1 The Fleet (Camp Road).
Forster's Tern - 1 Lytchett Fields - presumably the spring bird returning.
Storm Petrel - 1 briefly off Hengistbury Head.
Great White Egret - 1 Lodmoor.
Spoonbill - 1 Lodmoor.
Honey Buzzard - 1 east at speed, high over the eastern Piddle Valley.
Marsh Harrier - 1 Middlebere.

RARE BREEDING BIRDS

Dorset Bird Club and the Rare Breeding Birds Panel advocate special caution when reporting rare breeding birds as they are vulnerable to persecution and disturbance.

Please consider the birds welfare and do not share details of any rare breeding species on X/Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp groups, personal websites, blogs, or local birdwatching message boards.

We urge all finders of rare birds to consider whether they may be breeding before sharing the news.

Sightings should always be submitted, in confidence, to the county recorder to contribute to long-term national monitoring.