What a day! The winds were unforgiving today, gusting at least 65mph as several braved seawatches from Branksome Chine. Despite the strong south westerlies, Branksome did not produce any particularly unusual seabirds, with 8 Fulmar and a 1st winter Mediterranean Gull the highlights. Also of note were several small parties of Black-tailed Godwit, totalling 140 individuals, recorded over the Poole bay, heading towards the harbour from Christchurch. Sunnyside scrape featured 77 hunkered down Teal. Birding the harbour over the coming days could produce some notable species counts as many birds seek shelter within the harbour. Record-breaking numbers of Black-tailed Godwit were logged in the harbour only a few weeks back, will we see this new record broken again?

A beautiful ‘Focus On’ Shell Bay event this morning kickstarted with 7 Common Scoter flying around Poole Bay. Throughout the morning, Mediterranean Gulls regularly drifted by over feeding numerous Cormorant, Shag and 2 Black-necked Grebe. One of the Black-necked Grebe was already in it’s stonking summer-plumage! Small flocks of Dark-bellied Brent Geese could be seen exiting the harbour mouth throughout the watch. Elsewhere, Jerry’s Point featured the 4 Slavonian Grebe and 3 Great Northern Diver early morning and the long-staying Holes Bay Scaup were happily feeding north of the railway line. Another 2 Great Northern Divers were seen off Baiter mid-morning. Brownsea Lagoon boasted another 13 Mediterranean Gull.

Blackcap – Upton Garden – Tony Furnell

The Harbour’s overwintering Great White Egrets have been very faithful to Littlesea recently, however 1 was seen from Wytch this afternoon. The Scaup remained visible south of railway bridge at Holes Bay through out the day. An enjoyable Whitley Lake guided walk this afternoon offered a crash course on Mediterranean Gull and Black-headed Gull ID, as well as superb views of Bar-tailed Godwit, Greenshank feeding on the mudflat and several Red-breasted Merganser just offshore. The walk provided great opportunities to become more familiar with the various species of Gull in the harbour at the moment, with Common, Great Black-backed and Herring Gull also logged. We then concluded with wonderful sightings to compare both Rock Pipit and Meadow Pipit in the field.

Whitley Lake Guided Walk

There was good coverage today which saw 4 Great Northern Diver dotted around the harbour, also 3 Slavonian Grebe and 2 Black-necked Grebe were of Jerry’s Point. In the Wareham Channel there were 13 Spoonbill, 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Hen Harrier and 300 Lapwing. On the low tide around the harbour there are still great numbers of Black-tailed Godwit with a record count of 3061 counted only a couple of weeks ago during our Poole Harbour WeBS count. In Holes Bay the 4 Scaup were still present and there was also a fresh Pochard new in, along with 3 more in the Wareham Channel, suggesting a bit of movement of this species considering there have only been 2 over-wintering in the harbour this winter, both at Swineham. Last night we hosted our second to last Sunnyside ringing demo which was tricky with the bright moon, but we still managed to pull strong with 2 handsome Woodcock and a Jack Snipe to show our guests and to talk through their ecology.

Woodcock – Sunnyside Farm 

A stunningly calm day with the whole harbour like a millpond. The 4 Scaup were in Holes Bay SE really close to the cycle path, along with an odd female Wigeon x Pintail hybrid that was associating with the Wigeon flock. The 2 Long-tailed Duck were again in the Jerry’s Point/Brands Bay area along with 2 Great Northern Diver, 2 Slavonian Grebe and 5 Black-necked Grebe. At Holton Pools a Marsh Harrier was over the reed bed, a Water Pipit and 4 Greenshank were on the pools and the Little Owl was calling at dusk. The Great Grey Shrike was still at Morden Bog.

Scaup – Holes Bay SE – Paul Morton

Sanderling – Shell Bay – Rene Goad

A cold, windy day today with little coverage. A Water Pipit was on Holton Pools, at Poole Harbour mouth 5 Great Northern Diver and 2 Black-necked Grebe were logged and 2 Marsh Harrier were out over the Wareham Channel.

Water Pipit – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

Today the 4 Scaup showed well in Holes Bay SE again with a female Goldeneye there too. In Middlebere there were 5 Spotted Redshank, 75 Grey Plover, c125 Dunlin, 2 Spoonbill, 2 Firecrest and 1 Marsh Harrier. At dawn 13 Spoonbill lifted off Arne Moors and headed to the Wareham Channel. At Lytchett Fields there were 3 Water Pipit.

Pintail – Holes Bay – Rene Goad

Middle Beach, Studland offered 5 Black-necked Grebe and 4 Common Scoter. Middlebere featured a minimum of 350 Avocet, 300 Dunlin and a ringtail Hen Harrier flying towards Hartland Moor. The long-staying Scaup continued to frequent Holes Bay and the Hatch Pond Pochard continued to show today. PC World Drain still held the Siberian Chiffchaff. Poole Park boating lake produced 3 Goldeneye and 2 Red-breasted Merganser this afternoon.

Highlights from a visit to Lytchett Fields this morning included a quartering Marsh Harrier, 30+ Dunlin, Green Sandpiper and Common Snipe. A further 2 Green Sandpiper were recorded at Raptor hide at Arne. Middlebere channel held large numbers of the usual winter crowd, namely Curlew, Grey Plover, c500 Avocet, Dunlin, Redshank, Pintail, Red-breasted Merganser, Wigeon, Teal, Shelduck, 3 Spoonbill and Oystercatcher. A Marsh Harrier sent the Sunnyside Lapwing flock into the air this morning, leaving c60 Teal.

Red-breasted Merganser – Poole Park – Clare Slade