We’ve been fairly lucky this winter with weather and coinciding our school bird boats with cold, crisp still winter days. Unlike it winters gone by in recent years when storm after storm threatened every trip we had planned throughout the whole winter. Well today we needn’t worry about that as millpond like conditions allowed for easy birding and great birds. Highlights included 13 Barnacle Geese sat on the water off Ower Bay with c400 Brent Geese, 1 Great Northern Diver in South Deep, 4 Common Scoter, 3 in Brands Bay and 1 off Shipstal, c10 Black-necked Grebe in central harbour, c50 Goldeneye, c 150 Red-breasted Merganser and c50 Great Crested Grebe around all bodies of open water. There were 24 Spoonbill flying over and around Shipstal Point and the lagoon was partly frozen so only several hundred Avocet were present. The Smew was feeding in both Holes Bay NW and NE over the course of the morning. The Lesser Yellowlegs was at Lytchett Fields and at the PC World drain 3 Chiffchaff were feeding and a Firecrest was seen. At Arne a ringtail Hen Harrier passed the Raptor Hide and 2 Marsh Harrier were in Middlebere with a Merlin seen dashing through. 

Goldeneye – Poole Park boating lake – Paul Morton

Barnacle Geese – Ower Bay – Paul Morton