At last there has been some nocturnal migration with birds (mainly thrush) arriving from the north. Last night over Holton lee we logged 37 Song Thrush calls and 7 Redwing calls, meaning the thrush invasion will begin building up nicely over the coming weeks. Despite the wet and the wind, it actually cleared quite quickly by early afternoon when 2 Cattle Egret were found next to the road on the Wareham to Stoborough causeway. It goes to show how times are changing when 2 Cattle Egret are spotted out of the car window and you barely raise an eyebrow, which is exactly what happened. Over the last two winters, Cattle Egret have become increasingly regular with flocks containing up to 20 birds in other areas of the country, and its our predication that this winter and following winters (and perhaps summers) Cattle Egret will soon become an expected sighting on a days out birding around the harbour. At Lytchett Fields there wasn’t much change with 104 Redshank, 12 Greenshank and a Spotted Redshank on the high tide. Around the urban areas Baiter saw 22 Oystercatcher, 19 Turnstone, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 3 Sandwich Tern whilst at Poole Park a count of 32 Coot almost certainly suggests some new arrivals had settled there now for the winter. On Brownsea just a handful of Spoonbill were present and c250 Avocet. There was also a nice mix of waders on Holton Pools during the rain with both Black and Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Green Sandpiper and a Redshank.

Cattle Egret – Wareham Causeway – Jol Mitchell

Redwing – Call of passing night migrant – Holton Lee 06/10/18 @ 01:47