Another cold one, and it’s clear there’s been a departure of birds from the harbour due to the icy, cold conditions. The Brownsea Lagoon was frozen solid again, with no sign of the 2500+ Black-tailed Godwit that were here last week, not on the lagoon, or anywhere in the harbour on the low tide! Likewise, for our ringing demo last night, with all the freshwater bodies frozen, there were no Jack Snipe caught and only 3 seen, where there are usually 10-15. Lapwing were only present in very small numbers too as the flooded floodplains also froze over. It will be interesting to see what returns when things warm up a bit over the weekend.

That said, our Low-tide cruise today didn’t disappoint with another mouth watering range of species logged during the trip. Highlights included a Black-throated Diver off East Dorset sailing club, near Salterns marina, also 5 Great Northern Diver (off Baiter, Brownsea south shore, Poole Ferry Port and Hamworthy Beach), 1 Black-necked Grebe off the Brownsea SE corner, 5 Eider out in central harbour, 7 Goldeneye (5 Wareham Channel, 2 in South Deep), 120 Red-breasted Merganser, 1 White-tailed Eagle in the Wareham Channel, 4 Marsh Harrier, 1 Peregrine, c400 dark-bellied Brent Geese, c15 Grey Plover, c500 Dunlin, c100 Avocet, 15 Spoonbill and 1 Kingfisher. The full trip species list can be VIEWED HERE.

Elsewhere a Hen Harrier was seen in Middlebere, and a watch off Jerry’s Point around lunchtime saw 1 Slavonian Grebe, 9 Black-necked Grebe, 8 Goldeneye, 3 Great Northern Diver, 22 Red-breasted Merganser, 28 Great Crested Grebe; then as the tide dropped 28 Sanderling, 19 Turnstone, 3 Grey Plover and 2 Ringed Plover.

White-tailed Eagle – Wareham Channel, Low-tide Cruise – Robin Morrison

Black-necked Grebe – Low-tide Cruise – Robin Morrison

Great Northern Diver – Low-tide Cruise – Robin Morrison