With what looked like was going to be a rainy, damp Autumn Safari this AM actually turned out OK weather-wise, and the birding….even better. Winter is certainly creeping up on us fast, and with 5 newly arrived Eider in the Wareham Channel this morning (including 3 drakes), it may be coming sooner than we think. This is a really odd record for this area of the harbour, but it just goes to show how much of a ‘drop in’ zone the Wareham Channel is having had Eider, Common Scoter and Black-necked Grebe all present here in the last few weeks. The winter theme didn’t end there with 7 dark-bellied Brent Geese feeding along the Shipstal shoreline. Thankfully there were still some signs of summer with 2 Osprey hunting along the southern shores, in and around Newton Bay. This attracted the attention of the White-tailed Eagles, where once again we were treated to an epic chase with male eagle G463 relentlessly pursuing one of the Ospreys over Newton Bay, until it dropped it’s fish, only for the eagle to drop down, grab it, and head off towards Brands Bay. We also found female eagle G466 sitting in trees on the edge of Furzey Island, an area we’ve never seen her sit before. The Brownsea Lagoon was packed and we had 65 Spoonbill roosting, with another 3 flying straight past the boat. Also on the lagoon were c30 Avocet, 3 Greenshank, just 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, c30 Dunlin, c10 Ringed Plover, 5 Rock Pipit and 2 Stonechat. At Swineham there were at least 2 different Marsh Harrier flying around and a small number of Bearded Tit were calling the reed beds. A single Redwing flew over Swineham. Elsewhere a Black Tern was in Middlebere briefly and a Ruff was on the Lower Piddle Floods.

Black Tern – Middlebere – Mark Wright

Female White-tailed Eagle G466 resting on Furzey shore – Alison Copland – From our Autumn Safari this AM

Spoonbill flock on Brownsea Lagoon – Alison Copland – From our Autumn Safari this AM

Eider – Wareham Channel – John Thorp – From our Autumn Safari this AM