Pretty difficult birding weather in the harbour today but that didn’t stop us for our second Kickstarter Boat Trip of the year. And it was well worth going out, showing again, never be put off by the weather! 3 White-tailed Eagle were in the Wareham Channel this morning with one showing well early on in the trip. We then had the interesting sight of 9 Spoonbill feeding together on the north side of Arne Moors in a shallow pool as we went up the river Frome. Not a usual site for them to feed at which was likely because of the tide being 40cm higher than predicted, leaving little feeding time in the harbour for Spoonbills and waders. With the ongoing Arne Moors Project, in the years to come, it will hopefully become a more regular occurrence.

There were 3 Marsh Harrier in and around Swineham and 1 Knot dropped in with c50 Dunlin on the saltmarsh off Swineham. A further 11 Spoonbill were roosting in Shipstal Bay, Arne and 1 Black-throated Diver was in central harbour. Interestingly, the Black-throated Diver was in Parkstone Bay too, so there are at least 2 individuals in the harbour still. A total of 9 Great Northern Diver were spread evenly around the rest of the harbour with 4 in South Deep/Brands Bay area. Also off Jerry’s Point were 1 Slavonian Grebe and 1 Black-necked Grebe. The high tide made for a very full Brownsea Lagoon with c50 Grey Plover, c1000 Dunlin, c200 Avocet, c200 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Greenshank and 1 Kingfisher.

Not many other reports in the harbour with the poor weather today but the Snow Bunting was still showing on Hamworthy Beach and 17 Cattle Egret were present at Holmebridge. The Long-tailed Duck flew from Goathhorn to Brands Bay this morning.

The murk from our Year-List Kickstarter Trip – 56(!) species – David White