A super cold start this morning saw the first proper frost of the autumn/winter, adding in the low November sun, it made for a picture perfect Poole Harbour day. Equally as picture perfect was the photo that was kindly sent to us today by Wendy Sargeant of the ‘Upton’ Dark-eyed (Slate-coloured) Junco which was seen in a garden within the Lytchett Bay recording area last week. Sadly, there’s still not been any sightings since, but it was due to Wendy’s quick thinking and fast photo skills which allowed for an ID to be concluded and a first for Poole Harbour to be confirmed. The photo shows the Junco feeding on seed (hence the thick looking bill) which it did on a handful of occasions on Monday and Tuesday of last week. As we said last week, there’s still a good chance this bird could be around so anyone in south Upton should keep an eye out just in case it’s doing a tour of the local area.

Enjoying the cold this morning was juvenile White-tailed Eagle G644 who was active in the Wareham Channel all morning, with 2 Great White Egret also there. The Red-throated Diver was off Jerry’s Point and off Middle Beach, Studland 2 Slavonian Grebe and 2 Common Scoter were feeding. A Barnacle Goose was with the Canada Goose flock at Swinheham, 4 Spoonbill were on the Brownsea Lagoon, 1 Spotted Redshank was at Lytchett Fields and a Red Kite flew over Middlebere.

Dark-eyed (Slate-coloured) Junco – South Upton – Wendy Sargeant

Red Kite – Middlebere – Mark Wright

A very mixed day with strong winds first thing that soon calmed down into a chilly day with a few showers. The first Great Northern Diver of the winter was spotted this morning in South Deep. This is later than we would usually expect for a first sighting, but the long-term calm weather may have delayed this with the overnight rain and winds possibly bringing this individual into the harbour to shelter. Also in South Deep the 1 adult drake Eider was off the houseboats in Bramble Bush Bay along with 1 Red-throated Diver off Goathorn. 2 Black-necked Grebe were in Poole Bay off Middle Beach this afternoon.

Really good counts on the Brownsea Lagoon at high tide this morning with 9 Spoonbill, c600 Avocet, c50 Grey Plover, c60 Bar-tailed Godwit, c1500 Dunlin, 15 Greenshank, 8 Sanderling, c30 Turnstone, plus lots of Dark-bellied Brent Geese, Wigeon, Shoveler and Gadwall. 2 Marsh Harrier were active at Swineham along with 1 Ruff amongst the Lapwing. In Lytchett Bay from Rock Lea View numbers of wintering birds are growing nicely with 74 Avocet, 211 Lapwing, 29 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 1 Green Sandpiper, 150 Black-tailed Godwit, 25 Dunlin and 2 Marsh Harrier.

Greenshank – Brownsea Lagoon – Paul Morton

Avocet – Brownsea Lagoon – Paul Morton

No major American rarities today (sadly), but another Yellow-browed Warbler ringed at the Carey Secret Garden ringing station this AM was ‘YBW’ number 7 of the autumn for the site which is pretty impressive for a floodplain 3km inland. A Water Pipit was off Swineham Point (scarce there) this afternoon, there were Spotted Redshanks in Lytchett Bay and Holes Bay, c30 Cattle Egret were at Holmebridge and 3 Ruff were on the Stilt Pools at Swineham. In Middlebere 15 Spoonbill were at the top end of the channel and both White-tailed Eagles were in the Wareham Channel all day.

Yellow-browed Warbler – Carey Secret Garden – Matthew Scraggs

It’s always a good day when information of a new species for Poole Harbour suddenly appears out of nowhere. Frustratingly the news came a bit late though as there’s been no sign since it’s discovery last weekend. The bird in question is a Dark-eyed Junco, an incredibly rare North American passerine (songbird) of which there are only 3 previous Dorset records. The homeowners/finders happened to look out in to their Upton garden on Saturday, only to see a dark finch-like bird on their bird table with a white belly. It then visited the garden a few times over the weekend, moving between eating seed on the floor and on the bird table, before then disappearing on Sunday. Not knowing what the bird was, they took a few photos on their phone and thought nothing much of it. It wasn’t until today when a fortuitous conversation was had at Rock Lea View, Lytchett Bay with Ian Ballam that the finders asked Ian if he could identify a mystery bird they saw in their garden….he rest as they say…is history! Being mid-November there’s a good chance this bird is settled and could easily be in a garden elsewhere, so all we can advise is all garden owners in Upton (and perhaps beyond in Hamworthy) keep an eye out on your feeders or on your bird table over the coming weeks to see if this rare American vagrant pays a visit to your establishment. We haven’t seen the photos yet, but if we do, we’ll try and get permission to see if we can add them to our sightings page ASAP.

Away from all this excitement, sightings from elsewhere today included 2 Slavonian Grebe and 2 Black-necked Grebe off Middle Beach, Studland, Brownsea was busy and saw 14 Greenshank, 40 Grey Plover, 9 Turnstone, 540 Dunlin, 55 Redshank, 2 Sanderling, 2 Knot, 21 Curlew, 15 Ringed Plover, 25 Bar-tailed Godwit, 124 Black-tailed Godwit and 356 Avocet. Brands Bay saw an increase in wildfowl with 259 Pintail now present and 15 Red-breasted Merganser were out feeding in the bay. There were 2 Black-necked Grebe in the Wareham Channel and up to 18 Marsh Harrier have been roosting in the west harbour roost. A Spotted Redshank was out in Lytchett Bay and this morning a male Blackcap was ringed at the Carey Secret Garden ringing station, posing the question whether this was a late departing individual, or, a newly arrived over-wintering bird which will end up in an urban garden somewhere this winter feeding on fat balls and suet?!

Male Blackcap – Carey Secret Garden Ringing Station – Matt Scraggs

What a change in forecast, going from 13 degrees each day over the last few weeks, right down to 4 degrees this morning! Yesterdays clear weather saw male Osprey ‘511’ leave (finally) as there were no sightings of him logged anywhere today. The clear start did see some visible migration at the harbour mouth with 143  Fieldfare, 124  Redwing, 10 Song Thrush and 145 Jackdaws at sunrise followed by 359  Chaffinch, 346 Goldfinch, 54 Linnet, 11 Siskin, 6 Redpoll and only 1 Brambling. There were 2 Sandwich Tern off Shipstal Beach, RSPB Arne and 3 Red-breasted Merganser out in central harbour. Despite the cold NE breeze making viewing tricky in Studland Bay, a Slavonian Grebe was found and there were 8 Mandarin Duck on Holme Lane GP (3 female and 5 male), plus another 2 in Poole Park again. A Spotted Redshank was in Holes Bay N this afternoon with a single Cattle Egret in the field next to the car park and the White-tailed Eagle pair were observed hunting down a gull up on Ballard Down this afternoon. At Swineham 5 Marsh Harrier were off the point this morning.

Female Bearded Tit – Hatch Pond (Sunday 10th) – Ian Ballam

Finally some sun today, and a proper cold, crisp winter sunset this evening made for a picture postcard scene looking out across the harbour tonight. It seems it was this break in the weather that male Osprey ‘511’ was waiting for as he was around briefly in Middlebere this morning, but wasn’t then seen again for the rest of the day. Assuming he’s now gone, we wish him well and look forward to hopefully seeing him again next autumn. There was yet again another late Swallow, also utilising the break in the weather as one dashed south over Little Sea, Studland this afternoon and 21 Lesser Redpoll were in Birch/Alders down near the ferry toll booths. The Spoonbill flock were in Ower Bay this afternoon with 28 roosting on the mud banks and both resident White-tailed Eagles were in the Wareham Channel where there were 3 Marsh Harrier and a ringtail Hen Harrier was seen in Middlebere. A Water Pipit was at Lytchett Field and a Hawfinch flew over Lytchett Matravers. A lone Pochard was on Holme lane GP this afternoon and 3 Great White Egret flew over Wareham Common. This evening 100 Magpie went into the Hatch Pond roost

A rare sight of an Oystercatcher actually catching an Oyster – Middlebere – John Thorpe