Well, what started off as a pretty productive day with a busy ringing session at Lytchett Bay (more of on that a bit later), things really were turned up a notch when local patch watcher Ian Ballam found Poole Harbours second only ever Lesser Yellowlegs on Lytchett Fields. The harbours first was a frustratingly anti-social bird that was found by a DWT member on Brownsea Island in December (when the island is closed) 2014. Luckily today’s bird played ball and showed for the lucky birders that ventured down. As the fields flooded with the large high-tide the Redshanks that the Lesser-legs was associating with disappeared around midday as did the lesser-legs and wasn’t seen for the rest of the day. Also on the fields were a single Ruff and a Barn Owl was out hunting early evening. The ringing session at Lytchett Bay was exciting for other reasons in that numbers of birds ringed were well up on previous visits with 126 birds ringed including 3 Grasshopper Warbler, 79 Chiffchaff, 18 Meadow Pipit as well as Cetti’s Warbler, Blackcap, Sedge Warbler, Stonechat, Kingfisher and commoner birds. In Middlebere the Great White Egret was again photographed and 2 Osprey commuted between the dead trees and the nesting platform. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 30 Spoonbill, 2 Ruff, 6 Curlew Sandpiper, 6 Spotted Redshank, 9 Greenshank, 3 Knot, 6 Sanderling and good numbers of Avocet, Black and Bar-tailed Godwit, Redshank and Dunlin.

Lesser Yellowlegs – Lytchett Fields – Shaun Robson

Ruff – Brownsea Lagoon – Peter Moore

Dunlin (left) Curlew Sandpiper (right) – Brownsea Lagoon – Peter Moore

Grasshopper Warbler – Lytchett Bay – Paul Morton

Kingfisher – Lytchett Bay – Paul Morton