On January 19^th 2020, Birds of Poole Harbour organised and conducted the Big Poole Harbour Bird Count which was to provide the public with an opportunity to get out and explore their local patch whilst collecting important data which would be used to provide a snapshot of bird species diversity, species totals and species distribution across the Poole Harbour area on a single day during the winter. Poole Harbour is nationally and internationally important for a whole range of species during the winter with many birds arriving from thousands of miles away to seek refuge here during the colder months.

SUBMISSIONS MAP : THIS LINK will take you to our survey results map which plots everyone’s records from the day and provides a range of statistics from the Big bird Count.

Slavonian Grebe – Jerry’s Point – Ian Ballam

On the day of the survey, the weather was certainly on side as winter sunshine beamed down across the harbour and a light northerly wind softly cooled the cheeks of each of the participating members of the public. The survey also coincided with the monthly Poole Harbour WeBS (Wetland Bird Survey), which is an important survey managed by Birds of Poole Harbour and carried out by 31 BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) volunteers which see’s every single water bird in the harbour counted each month during the winter to monitor over-wintering populations.

The ask was simple…..if you were out birding that day, we wanted to know what you saw, how many you saw, and when and where you saw it. Then, with that data we would be able to analyse and asses totals of each species based on when people saw different birds and where they saw them.

Now, after a few weeks of getting our head around the data we’re able to provide you with the final counts and totals from the records submitted to us from the survey.

The Purpose : Although this data only provides a snapshot of bird populations on a single day, it’s hoped that we’ll be able to host this event as an annual survey from now on, and like any long term data set, we should be able to note population and range changes over time. Plus, it also allows us to note which species are under recorded/represented and perhaps need a special survey focus in the future to gage true populations, for example Water Rail, Jack Snipe, Woodcock etc.