Another glorious day. Looking at the forecast for next week though it seems we come back down to earth again with a bump, but hey…it was nice whilst it lasted! So, with frozen windscreens yet again the Scaup looked snug tucked up together in the SE corner of Holes Bay again. On the low-tide later in the day the Scaup were joined by c500 Wigeon, 45 Avocet, 12 Great Crested Grebe, c200 Teal and c50 Redshank. At Lytchett Bay 3 Bearded Tit were again actively feeding at the end of footpath 12 and 2 Spoonbill came into the bay on the low tide to feed. On the southern shores of Poole Harbour the Black Brant and a pale-bellied Brent Goose were in a flock of 410 Dark-bellied Brent Goose. At the PCW Drain, 6 Common Chiffchaff and the Siberian Chiffchaff were at the top end. Off Poole Quay, there were 2 Great Northern Diver halfway between the quayside and Brownsea.

Today’s update is a special one as we’ve just begun collating all of the data from our Big Poole Harbour Bird Count. Firstly, to anyone that was out today and have sent us their sightings a huge thank you is in order. We’re still early on in collecting data but it seems like we had some excellent coverage today with practically the entire harbour surveyed at some point over the course of the day. Plus, what a day to be out with the sun shining, a light frost on the ground and hardly a breath of wind. We hope that if you were out that you enjoyed your day and it inspires you to be a lot more come wind, rain or shine!

Now, with so many people out there counting and looking and surveying properly it was always likely a good few species would be logged along with decent totals recorded. We haven’t started analysing the data yet but below are a list of highlights from throughout the day. The official totals will be ready in the coming weeks once we’re happy we’ve received all counts and we can begin making sense of it all! So, if you were out today and you havn’t sent in your records yet please email them to hqmanager@birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk.

Here we go…from Jerry’s Point there were 2 Long-tailed Duck, 6 Great Northern Diver, 4 Slavonian Grebe, 9 Black-necked Grebe and 11 Goldeneye. In Holes Bay SE 5 Scaup were found and in the Piddle Valley 2 Goosander were on the river just north of Wareham water meadows. In total 4-5 Marsh Harrier were logged in the Wareham Channel and a single Hen Harrier was logged a few times during the day. 2-3 Merlin were counted including one that came into the harbour at dawn through the harbour mouth. Off South Beach 4 Common Scoter were logged and 13 Black-necked Grebe were off Middle Beach. A preliminary count of Great Crested Grebe came to 239 but counts from other areas haven’t been added yet and the same goes for Red-breasted Merganser which totalled 255. In total 2 Siberian Chiffchaff were logged (Wareham Common and PCW Drain). We also need to look at all the data for Great Northern Diver but currently the count is 17 different individuals and 2 Red-throated Diver were counted off Branksome chine. At Little Sea, Studland 2 Great White Egret were logged. Pochard just about made it onto the list with 2 on Swineham and between 15-20 Bearded Tit were at Lytchett Heath, Lytchett Bay. In total 3 Jack Snipe were logged (1 Baiter, 2 Lytchett Bay) and 4 Water Pipit were also at Lytchett Bay. Only 2 Woodcock were counted on Hartland with a further 4 at Studland. The Black Brant was found off Goathorn and in Rempstone 16 Crossbill were seen. Barn Owls were seen at Bakers Arms and on Slepe Moor and the Little Owl at Holton Lee was voval at sunset. At dawn c65 Shag entered the harbour mouth. Blackcaps were recorded in several gardens. Sandwich Terns were noted off South and Shell Beach and a massive roost of c5000 Black-headed Gulls were settled on the water off Hamworthy Beach. There were plenty of other highlights over the course of day including Spotted Redshanks, good counts of Pintail, Knot and Sanderling, numerous Peregrine sightings, drumming Great Spotted Woodpeckers and singing Song and Mistle Thrush suggesting that despite today being a winter survey……spring is only just around the corner.

The Poole Park Great Northern Diver remained on the Boating Lake near the model boats today, with another 2 individuals were seen from Shell Bay. Poole Park Boating Lake also featured 7 Goldeneye and a Red-breasted Merganser. Lytchett Fields featured 2 Water Pipit again. The Wareham Common Siberian Chiffchaff also still present (at base of Northwest Walls in ditch by River Piddle, 100m west of North Mill). A Tawny Owl was calling early morning at Upton Country Park. A seawatch from Branksome Chine offered several auks and a Kittiwake.

Our Holes Bay Guided Walk this morning enjoyed a Peregrine flush all the waders and wildfowl we were working through in the northern bay. The large Dunlin flock and several hundred Black-tailed Godwit and Avocet eventually settled back down, offering wonderful views of these winter visitors among Redshank, Curlew and several Lapwing. The stone bench offers some of the best views of Wigeon, Teal, Pintail, Shoveler and Gadwall in the harbour, accompanied by Water Rail regularly calling.

Our School Bird Boat today capitalised on the recent stormy weather, picking up 15 Great Northern Diver mostly around the harbour mouth, Brands Bay, South Deep area. The trip didn’t visit any of the northern shoreline or Wareham Channel which often holds several more, so it is possible that 20+ individuals could currently be in the harbour at the moment. Let’s see how many Divers we can pick up off Baiter on our urban guided walk (leaving BoPH HQ at 10am tomorrow).

Lytchett Fields continued to hold 2 Water Pipit and 1 Rock Pipit in front of French’s Pool Viewpoint, along with 2 Green Sandpiper, 2 Greenshank. 1 Spotted Redshank and 23 Dunlin. The Wareham Common Siberian Chiffchaff was still at base of Northwest Walls in ditch by River Piddle. A total of 5 Goldeneye and a Red-breasted Merganser on Poole Park Lake while a very wet Sunnyside Scrape produced Gadwall new in. The Morden Bog Great Grey Shrike was again observed west of Decoy Pond this morning.

The day (very briefly) started with a bit of sun, but by sunset a force 8 storm had rolled in battering our office on the quay. Still, there were a few decent sightings including some great views of both Marsh and Hen Harrier hunting out in front of Holton Pools with a Water Pipit on the scrape there too. At Lytchett Fields there were a further 4 Water Pipit along with 4 Green Sandpiper, 235 Lapwing and 2 Greenshank. Just outside the harbour the Great Grey Shrike was again at Morden Bog. Off Baiter the 2 Great Northern Diver were still present but a bit distant.