It’s all about the open water at the moment. To have such a sustained long period of still weather is pretty rare in December so monitoring the open water bodies of the harbour has been a sheer joy this last week or so. This morning 11 Black-necked Grebe were off Hamworthy Park beach with 13 later counted off Shipstal Point, Arne. Great Northern Divers were off both sites too with another off Baiter. There have been 2 Kingfisher bombing around Poole Quay this last week, often favouring the stone entrance to the marina opposite the Lord Nelson pub. Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser and winter plumaged Great Crested Grebe are all fairly easy to locate now out on the open water, certainly any area west of Brownsea. Spoonbills were roosting on Shipstal, Arne and up to 3 Guillemot have been fishing in between Baiter and the Poole ferry terminal all week. There were even a few signs of spring (yes spring) when a Song Thrush was in full song at Upton CP mid morning, indicating how mild it is.  At least one Siberian Chiffchaff was seen again at the northern end of the PC World drain with 2 Common Chiffchaff and a Firecrest.

Little Egret – PC World drain 

Firecrest – PC World drain 

Yesterday there was some excellent news in that it was just announced that the British Government had agreed to extend the Poole Harbour SPA (Special Protection Area) by around 44%. This means that nearly 50% more of the Poole Harbour area has this statutory designation, meaning stronger and better protection for the areas within the SPA.  Several new species have been included within the designation too including Spoonbill, Sandwich Tern and Little Egret, meaning that Poole Harbour is nationally and internationally important for these species. This extra protection is a huge asset to the harbour and a real accolade to those who work tirelessly to monitor and protect our local area. Well done to all involved. This evening 2 Black-necked Grebe, 1 Great Northern Diver and c20 Red-breasted Merganser were off Hamworthy Park Beach. In Holes Bay NE there were 51 Avocet, c2500 Wigeon, 4 Pintail, c50 Redshank and 1 Peregrine overhead. In Poole Harbour west we’re now up to 3 Hen Harrier which is great news and 5 Marsh Harrier now with a Merlin still arriving in at dusk on Hartland Moor. In Brands Bay a Black Brant was found in amongst 185 Brent Geese and off Middle Beach there were 2 Great Northern Diver and 14 Black-necked Grebe. A Woodcock and 12 Lesser Redpoll were seen along the Littlesea nature trail at dusk. The Stilt Sandpiper was on Brownsea again. At Littlesea, Studland it seems last years Starling murmuration is beginning to form again with c5000 coming in at around 16:30 this evening. Last year this spectacle was a huge crowd pleaser and brought so many people together. We’re hoping the same can happen again this winter with even more people getting to enjoy this natural and breathtaking performance. 

New Poole Harbour SPA designation area

Today was another fine day, with a good spread of winter birds around the harbour. At Arne 18 Spoonbill were on Shipstal Point and along the Middlebere Channel a ringtail Hen Harrier was present with another present out in the Wareham Channel. A Common Scoter and Great Northern Diver were out in central harbour with 3 Black-necked Grebe and the usual good numbers of Red-breasted Merganser and Goldeneye. At the Holes Bay NE outflow a Siberian Chiffchaff was feeding in the scrub and out from the channel outflow c40 Avocet, c50 Dunlin, c150 Black-tailed Godwit and c3000 Wigeon were feeding. At Lytchett Fields a Spotted Redshank was present and 2 Spoonbill were out in Lytchett Bay. A Great Northern Diver was off the Brownsea Quay and 2 Guillemot were feeding off Poole Quay.

Black-tailed Godwit – Swineham – Paul Morton

Lapwing – Frome Valley – Paul Morton

The last Monday before Christmas and the weather is looking mighty fine this week. Perfect for harbour watching. If when out and about around the harbour fringes look out for some of the open water species that feed close to the shoreline such as Red-breasted Merganser, Great Crested Grebe and Great Northern Diver, the latter now seeming here in good numbers, certainly around the Studland Peninsular. Look a bit harder and Black-necked Grebe, Common Scoter and even possible Velvet Scoter and Slavonian Grebe can be found within the inner bays of Studland such as Bramble Bush Bay and off Redhorn. Holes Bay NE and Upton CP have been really busy these last few days with commoner wader and wildfowl species, but regardless of how common they are these areas offer excellent viewing opportunities along the cycle paths boarding each of the sites. Avocet, Redshank, Dunlin, Curlew, Black-tailed Godwit, Spotted Redshank, Teal, Wigeon, Pintail and Shoveler should be looked for with Spoonbill and Peregrine frequent this week too. At Pilots point this AM, 41 Sanderling and 17 Ringed Plover were on the beach and 7 Sandwich Tern flew by with just a single Black-necked Grebe feeding off shore in Shell Bay. At Arne and along Soldiers Road Dartford Warbler were active in the warm yet crisp afternoon soon and on Poole Park boating lake the Goldeneye are showing exceptionally well. 

Sunrise from Poole Quay and Baiter – Paul Morton

Today we headed out on our first Birds of Poole Harbour Wareham Channel cruise in what were near perfect conditions. Flat calm waters and no wind or rain (initially) made for perfect viewing opportunities. As we headed out a Guillemot, plenty of Red-breasted Merganser, Great Crested Grebe and Shag were seen in the mouth of the Wareham Channel and as we cruised silently up towards the River Frome a large feeding raft of c200 Cormorant made the water look as if it were bubbling hot. A ringtail Hen Harrier had the courtesy of hunting pipits over the Swineham reedbed as we passed and the main Swineham GP help good numbers of over-winter waterfowl such as Gadwall, Shoveler, Tufted Duck and a couple of Pochard. Lapwing moved up and down the two river valley’s as did Curlew and Black-tailed Godwit just as the tide began to shift and a Kingfisher posed handsomely on top of some metal fencing up near Ridge Wharf boat yard. As we exited the River Frome the tide had dropped  slightly meaning some Avocet, Redshank, Dunlin and Black-tailed Godwit had come into feed along with 6 Spoonbill which showed excellently along the Arne shoreline. Out in central harbour c40 Goldeneye were in several flocks, with 4 Black-necked Grebe close to the boat as we headed across Balls Lake along with 1 Common Scoter more ‘Mergs‘ and Great Crested Grebe. Up to 6 Sandwich Tern were feeding flying around the harbour and 2 Great Northern Diver were off the Brownsea shoreline. The Brownsea Lagoon was also busy as we cruised past with 3 Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, Grey Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit and more Spoonbill were singled out amongst the good numbers of commoner waders and wildfowl. In total we logged a very respectable 71 species and we’d like to thank everyone who made it on board for making it such an enjoyable and memorable trip.

Elsewhere around the harbour a Velvet Scoter was seen near the harbour mouth with 2 Common Scoter. In Studland bay there were 19 Black-necked Grebe, 4 Great Northern Diver and a Sandwich Tern with 5 Black-necked Grebe in Shell Bay. At the PC World drain 2 Siberian Chiffchaff were present including a returing ringed bird from last witer proving winter site fidelity, along with 2 Little Egret, 2 Kingfisher and 2 Cetti’s Warbler. On Brownsea the Stilt Sandpiper was present still, looking as if its now taken up winter residence here no matter what the tide state is. Will we see it stay until the early spring and moult into summer finery like we saw with the Lytchett Fields Lesser Yellowlegs earlier this year? 

Grey Heron hunting rodents in arable field at Lytchett Bay – Ian Ballam

Goldeneye (male) – Poole Park boating lake – Ian Ballam 

Goldeneye (female) – Poole Park boating lake – Ian Ballam

Shoveler, Pintail, Wigeon Upton CP – Rene Goad

Kingfisher – Holton Pools – Rene Goad

A ringtail Hen Harrier was hunting successfully in Lytchett Bay as was a Peregrine that was seen to take a Teal. Holes Bay north-east is a wonderful place to get up close and personal to a wide variety of species such as Wigeon, Teal, Black-tailed Godwit, Avocet, Redshank and Little Egret to name a few and a Spotted Redshank was seen amongst the throng. Today was the day that the Stilt Sandpiper was finally added to the ever expanding “seen via the webcam list”!

Stilt Sandpiper – Brownsea Lagoon via the webcam

4 Spoonbill were seen feeding on Long Island off Arne on the very low tide along with a large group of Avocet. In Lytchett Bay a pair of Bearded Tit showed very well in near perfect conditions. An adult male & ringtail Hen Harrier were again in the west of the harbour along with a female Merlin. 

 Bearded Tit (male) – Lytchett Bay © Ian Ballam

Bearded Tit (female) – Lytchett Bay © Ian Ballam

Studland Bay still held 1 Great Northern Diver although no Black-necked Grebe were seen but Red-breasted Merganser increased in number to 38. Mediterranean Gulls were prevalent in Studland Bay with at least 50 birds present some of which were attaining their black heads of breeding plumage.

The Stilt Sandpiper was seen from the school bird boat in its usual spot near the seawall on Brownsea Lagoon. Squally weather conditions for this morning’s school bird boat made any attempts at sensible counts challenging especially as birds were scattered far and wide around the harbour. That said, birds appeared to be everywhere and Brent Geese in particular seemed to have increased in number over the past week or so to several hundred birds. Thankfully, Spoonbill are nice and obvious to see and there were 7 on Brownsea Lagoon, 2 on Patchins Point and about 15 roosting on Shipstal Point with another 2 on Lytchett Fields. A single Guillemot sought relative sanctuary just outside of Poole Quay.

Having bemoaned the lack of rare grebes yesterday it was good to hear of 21 Black-necked Grebe off Middle Beach along with 2 Great Northern Diver and 22 Red-breasted Merganser. The latter of these are numbering over 100 within the harbour but the other two are still conspicuous by the absence. Spoonbill are dotted around the harbour with 2 on Lytchett Fields having dropped onto Holton Lee scrape earlier in the day and another 7 were on Brownsea Lagoon. The trio of Great White Egret were reunited in the Middlebere channel viewed from Coombe Heath but more of a surprise was a Bittern which flew along there towards Shipstal. One or two Sandwich Tern were seen from Poole Quay but there are undoubtedly more in the harbour than this. The Stilt Sandpiper remains on Brownsea Lagoon but continues to avoid our webcam for the time being. Grey Plover are still much in evidence on the lagoon with a healthy count of 230. There seems to be lots of Redwing arriving at the moment after the freezing weather elsewhere in the country and there was a nice mixed flock of Redwing and Fieldfare in the Pools Field at Lytchett. If you want to try and entice these beautiful thrushes into your garden try putting out some overripe apples. Lastly, there was at least 1 Water Pipit on Lytchett Fields.

Once again 2 Great White Egret were feeding in the Middlebere channel best viewed from Coombe Heath as was at least 1 Spoonbill. Another Spoonbill was off the black pipe in Lytchett Bay. The rarer grebes have been exactly that so far this winter so it was pleasing to hear of a Slavonian Grebe off Jerry’s Point in the company of a Black-necked Grebe with 3 more of the latter in Studland Bay.

36 Sanderling could be found sheltering in Shell Bay and the dunes there held at least 17 Linnet. Numbers of Ringed Plover in the harbour continue to fall year on year and the Houseboats in Bramble Bush Bay is probably the most reliable site to see them with 6 present today. 75 Bar-tailed Godwit were in their usual feeding spot along Shore Road. In the west of the harbour 3 Hen Harrier were still present including an adult male and at least 5 Marsh Harrier were in the same area.

Sparrowhawk – Poole Harbour © Mark Wright

Goldeneye (drake) – Poole Park © Ian Ballam

Goldeneye (female) – Poole Park © Ian Ballam