Despite the cold there was excitement today for a number of reasons. Firstly, at dawn 2 Russian White-fronted Geese arrived in at Holes Bay and settled just off the Stone Bench at Upton CP. Hopefully this is just the start of a mini influx that could occur over the next week as snow persists in the east of the country and just across the North Sea. Redwing numbers definitely seemed to increase but no mass passage was observed (yet). The second sighting of interest (which wasn’t actually sighted by anyone) was that one of the White-tailed Sea Eagles from the Isle of Wight project arrived into the harbour just after 8am having roosted in the Avon Valley. It flew in over Sandbanks just after 9am drifting SW, flying over Brownsea and Rempstone and arriving near Kimmeridge at 9am. It then tracked north and flew of Hartland, Slepe Heath and Swineham before settling at Morden Bog for a while before then flying off SW again and settling at Abbotsbury to roost. This is the second Sea Eagle from the project that’s ventured over the harbour in the last year and we hope that many more will follow suit over the coming years. Although it would be nice if one stopped every once in a while. Other sightings today included the Glaucous Gull again on the Brownsea Lagoon, found using the webcam. Plus the first ‘migrant’ Red Kites of the year passed high over Lytchett Bay with 3 together, and another over Slepe Heath plus a male Merlin was also around Lytchett Bay. 5 Slavonian Grebe were off Jerry’s Point with 1 Great Northern Diver and 3 Black-necked Grebe. At Hatch Pond 171 Magpie went into the communal roost.

This evening we also launched the second podcast in our Reintroduction and Rewilding series which focus’s on the White stork Project.

Podcast 2 – The White Stork Project

Join Charlie as he chats with Lucy Groves, a project officer for The White Stork Project. Discover the motivations behind the project, the progress already made and what we can hope to see by 2030, as well as the impacts they have already had in engaging the public with the wildlife…

Rock Pipit – Whitley Lake, Sandbanks

Kingfisher – Holes Bay – Rene Goad