Its been hard to pin down exactly how many Spoonbill there are in the harbour this week, but we were sent a message yesterday afternoon stating there were 7 at Middlebere and knowing there were some on the Brownsea webcam we did a count (several times to be sure) and arrived at 23, so it seems there are currently a minimum of 30, with still the rest of September and the whole of October for the flock size to grow. Also at Middlebere were 122 Avocet, 1100+ Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Pintail and 1 Peregrine Falcon.  On Brownsea there were 14 Spotted Redshank, still a few Common Tern and Sandwich Tern using the lagoon as a resting spot, 2 Turnstone, 5 Ringed Plover and the usual Black-tailed Godwit, Avocet, Redshank, Dunlin and Oystercatchers. At Baiter 1 Wheatear was on the beach, also 30 Ringed Plover and 1 Dunlin. AtRSPB Lytchett Fields it seems both the Curlew and Wood Sandpiper have moved on as the fields only held a few Redshank, Snipe and Lapwing. There was plenty of Chiffchaff around the site too.

Two species that are commonplace migrating over our coastal areas of Poole Harbour in the autumn are Greenfinch and Bullfinch. Both can form large flocks as they pass overhead with peak numbers passing by from mid October to early November. Greenfinches have a fast repetitive call that rarely changes in pitch.

Greenfinch – Calls of an autumn migrant over Ballard Down 19/09/15

Whereas Bullfinch do their lovely soft piping ‘piu’ call as they pass overhead, so when a flock of 20+ all pass over calling it’s quite a sound. In this recording it’s only a couple of individuals, we’ll hopefully get some examples of these bigger movements.

Bullfinch – Calls of a couple of autumn migrants passing over Ballard Down 19/09/15