Today’s Sunday morning Spring Safari Cruise barely made it into the Wareham Channel before encountering one of The Big Five! No sooner had we left the conurbation of Poole and Hamworthy behind us, passing by the first few Sandwich Tern on the way, a ‘dread’ of gulls suddenly came in to view. A white cloud of several thousand Black-headed Gulls fiercely mobbed one of the Isle of Wight White-tailed Eagles which perched on the edge of the salt marsh, seemingly unfazed by inconvenient mob. A nearby Great Black-backed Gull provided a suitable size comparison, appearing minuscule by comparison. After spending some time to appreciate an eagle in the landscape, we navigated the rest of the channel as the falling tide gradually revealed expansive mudflats around Gigger’s Island, providing an important stopover feeding site for c.100 Black-tailed Godwit in varying stages of acquiring summer plumage, setting course for Iceland. On the return journey, a summer plumage Cattle Egret put in a brief appearance from Wareham Water Meadows, a Hobby dashed across the channel (our first from a public cruise this year!) and a Red Kite drifted north towards Poole Quay as we re-joined the White-tailed Eagle off the Holton shoreline. Marsh Harrier also caused a stir over the Gull Island, sending the Brownsea Lagoon is always a treat to visit at the end of a cruise, and today was no different – 50 Bar-tailed Godwit accompanied c.15 Common Tern on the Boomerang Island, while small number of Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit and a single Spoonbill added further interest. Elsewhere, 4 Whimbrel featured in Holes Bay SW, with a fifth individual in the NW sector along with 5 Curlew & c40 Black-tailed Godwit. Excellent spring count of 12 Cattle Egret clocked with the cows on the Frome flood fields, seen from Bog Lane this morning.

White-tailed Eagle on Gull Islands – Alison Copland

Swallow – Middlebere – Mark Wright