A Velvet Scoter was seen off Red Horn Quay before heavy rain this morning. Later in the day 6 Turnstone, 1 Red-breasted Merganser, 1 Common Seal and numerous Curlew and Brent Geese. While over at Lytchett Fields a colour-ringed Lapwing was recorded, probably ringed in Holland.

A decent haul from a watch from Middle Beach, Studland produced 2 Black-necked Grebe 2 Great Crested Grebe and 16 Brent Geese.

Meanwhile, 6 Woodcock were seen on a walk around Morden bog this afternoon.

A lovely still morning at Lytchett Fields produced 1 Spotted Redshank, 3 Green Sandpiper, 2 Greenshank, 6 Dunlin and c30 Redshank. Parkstone Bay held 42 Brent Geese and Baiter held a further 10, along with10 Turnstone and several Redshank.

A female Peregrine made a brief appearance at Middlebere, flushing 4 Spoonbill, 2 Brent Goose and a Bar-tailed Godwit was feeding amongst the Black-tailed Godwits.

A visit to Hartland Moor revealed 2 Woodlark, several Fieldfare and singles of Siskin and Dartford Warbler. Sightings from a rather cold School Bird Boat included 2 Black-necked Grebe in Ower Bay, a small handful of Red-breasted Merganser and a slight increase in Brent Goose numbers around the Studland peninsular.

The first of our Poole Town Winter Birding Walks kick-started today – and what a day to start. The weather was beautiful, and there was plenty about to train our spotting scope onto. The Quay offered intimate views of Turnstone before we caught up with a loose flock of c75 Brent Goose along the shoreline at Whitecliff. A Bar-tailed Godwit was among the feeding Oystercatcher flocks on Baiter Park. Tufted Duck were in abundance on Poole Park Boating Lake, but there was no sign of the recent Scaup.

A beautiful calm sunny morning at Middlebere with c150 Avocet, c300 Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Spotted Redshank, c80 Dunlin, 15 Grey Plover, 1 Pintail, 3 Great Crested Grebe, a female Marsh Harrier and numerous Kingfisher sightings. The walk along Middlebere track held a mixed flock of c250 Fieldfare and Redwing and as many as 24 Robin.

A scan from Jerry’s Point offered views of 2 Velvet Scoter, 14 Common Scoter, at least 8 Black-necked Grebe, Red-breasted Merganser and a single Light-bellied Brent Goose fly by. Spoonbill numbers have dipped recently, with 5 observed from Avocet Hide at Arne, along with a single Great White Egret and 6 Spotted Redshank.

From Middle Beach this evening there was a decent mix of birds with 12 Common Scoter (11 females and 1 male), 8 Black-necked Grebe, 1 Guillemot, 1 Razorbill, 1 Red-breasted Merganser, 4 Great Crested Grebe and 100+ Med Gulls.

Another exciting day today with plenty of interest. The undoubted highlight (well, for us anyway) was the mass Wood Pigeon migration that took place over the harbour this AM.  It’s one of our favourite days in the birding calendar when the Wood Pigeon migrate…yes, really sad I know. But its one hell of a spectacle and this morning around 50,000 moved west, south west high above the harbour, passing over Sandbanks and Brownsea. It happens every year, but only on a single morning when the conditions are perfect, normally between Nov 1st – 10th with crystal clear sky’s and a light NE breeze. Below are several videos of the many hundreds of flocks that flew over between 8am and 9am this morning. Annoyingly we missed the peak time which is normally between 7am and 8am. In 2010 a record count of 161,000 were counted on the morning of November 7th….it was quite a sight!

It’s assumed these are all UK Wood Pigeons that have moved south through the country during the late summer and early Autumn and are departing the south coast, heading down into Cork Oak forests of Portugal and Spain.

There was plenty else on offer today too with the Wood Sandpiper still on the Swineham Scrape along with 2 Green Sandpiper, 35 Curlew, 62 Lapwing, 1 Redshank and 2 Common Snipe. In Brands Bay the drake Velvet Scoter was still present along with 3 Common Scoter, also the first 2 drake Goldeneye of the winter and 3 Black-necked Grebe. Off Middle Beach, Studland the summer plumaged Great Northern Diver was still there along with 15 Black-necked Grebe. A flock of 2-3000 Starling left the reedbeds near Swineham at dawn as Marsh Harrier began to stir in the Wareham Channel. Finally, a Great Bustard was seen again in flight over Brownsea this time, heading towards Arne and just outside the harbour boundary an adult male Hen Harrier was seen at Morden Bog.

Wood Pigeon migration over Poole Harbour this morning

It was much of the same today but still all exciting none the less. The Velvet Scoter was out near Brownsea mid-morning but was seen flying towards the harbour mouth and the 3 Common Scoter were still present in Brands Bay along with c30 Red-breasted Merganser and 6 Black-necked Grebe. A summer plumaged Great Northern Diver was off Middle Beach. In Middlebere there were c200 Avocet, c600 Black-tailed Godwit, 12 Dunlin, 75 Lapwing, 1 Peregrine, 6 Spoonbill, 17 Grey Plover, 22 Brent Geese and 27 Curlew with a few Fieldfare about too. The best news of the day was that the west Poole Harbour harrier roost saw 10 Marsh Harrier leave this morning, which is the highest since 2016. The Little Owl was seen at Holton Lee first thing this AM and in Holes Bay North, Avocet, Redshank, Wigeon, Teal, Pintail, Black-tailed Godwit and Gadwall were all on easy show from the Stone Bench at Upton CP and along the cycle path.