Today was fairly quite, but being a windy Monday morning its not much surprise! The filter bed at Norden Sewage works was literally hopping with Chiffchaff including a Siberian Chiffchaff, also 1 Goldcrest and 1 Grey Wagtail. Along Holme Lane 3 Little Egret were with the cattle, surely its calling out for a returning Cattle Egret soon? If going past that area its well worth checking. At Swineham the 11 Barnacle Geese were still on the main pit and at Arne 12 Spoonbill were on Shipstal with 1 Firecrest in the car park, c800 Avocet and c800 Brent Geese in Middlebere. At Whitley Lake, Sandbanks late afternoon the windy conditions and big low tide attracted masses of gulls into the bay with an adult Yellow-legged Gull and 24 Mediterranean Gull the highlights with 72 Bar-tailed Godwit and 4 Greenshank also feeding near the Sandbanks marina. 

Finally, it was sad to hear that the dolphin seen swimming out off Goathorn last week was found washed up on the southern shore of Brownsea. It was initially thought that it was Bottle-nosed Dolphin, but distant views made ID difficult. Upon closer inspection it was actually a Common Dolphin, which contradictory to its name is an extremely rare occurrence in Poole Harbour. 

Potential Siberian (tristis) Chiffchaff – Norden Sewage Works