A quite fine, but tad windy day in the end with highlights being 25 Cattle Egret on Wareham Common again this morning. White-tailed Eagle sightings were reported from Swineham, Lytchett Bay and Bakers Arms. There was a Spotted Redshank on Lytchett Fields, a Black-throated Diver and 3 Great Northern Diver were off Shipstal Point, RSPB Arne and off Jerry’s Point the Long-tailed Duck was still there along with 1 Slavonian Grebe and 2 Black-necked Grebe and in Studland Bay there were 4 Great Northern Diver and 1 Common Scoter.

Cattle Egrets – Wareham Common 

White-tailed Eagle and Raven – Swineham – Annabel Sharpe

Thats it, the post Xmas Waxwing hunt is now on. With news today that one was found in a Torquay garden, down in Devon means there just HAS to be a/some Dorset/Poole Harbour Waxwing somewhere?! With this in mind, everyone should make a mental note to check the top of every tree they pass on their way to work, during post-xmas shopping, whilst gazing out of the kitchen window or when booze shopping for New Years Eve. This broad sweep observation style will come good eventually, and someone will jam in on a jingling flock high upon a supermarket car park tree somewhere. But where will that be?

Whilst trying to ignore the cross-boarder jealousy, birds that were actually in Poole Harbour today included 24 Cattle Egret on Wareham common, we’ll need to double check, but we think this may be a Poole Harbour record. Also, today 3 Great Northern Diver and a likely Black-throated Diver flew in through the harbour mouth and a White-tailed Eagle was over Brownsea. There was a Spotted Redshank on Lytchett Fields and a Hen Harrier was at Middlebere.

Great White Egret – Middlebere (yesterday) – Kate Plater

It was lovely to see a still, calm day for once, having felt a bit grey and overcast for some weeks now. Boxing Day often offers an opportunity for folk to get out and walk off the Christmas calories and it was nice to see a good selection of birds logged today. the White-tailed Eagle pair were causing trouble between Middlebere and Shipstal this morning and a male Hen Harrier was in Middlebere. Off Jerry’s Point there were 7 Great Northern Diver, 2 Slavonian Grebe, 3 Black-necked Grebe and 1 Long-tailed Duck. At Lytchett fields there was a single Spotted Redshank and there were another 3 Great Northern Diver off Hamworthy Beach, 1 off Brownsea north shore and 1 off Shipstal Beach, RSPB Arne. A Great White Egret was in Middlebere.

Great Northern Diver – Brownsea north shore – Nicki Tutton

With a fine drizzle and grey sky’s, there wasn’t much to report today. So, with that in mind we’d like to wish all our friends and followers a very MERY CHRISTMAS and hope you all have an amazing day. It’s been great fun in 2023, and we can’t thank you all enough for believing in us and continuing to support us in various different ways. We can’t wait to get cracking in 2024, but until then, we have oodles of Christmas Pudding to devour. Have a great day ⁦all!! X

It’s felt so grey for so long now, we’re keeping everything crossed that the New Year brings a change in weather and in birds. Not that there hasn’t been good birds around this winter! In fact it’s been a great end to the year. However, with Christmas Eve now in full flow, and with many folk probably nicely lubricated already, it’s a good chance to settle down and look back at whats been a busy year for the Poole Harbour birding scene and conservation sector. Whether you’re a local, or have visited the area this year, the harbours offered a stunning variety of birding experiences and education opportunities which wouldn’t have been comprehensible 10 years ago. Therefore we hope you’ve you’ve enjoyed your time here and with that in mind, regardless of what your plans are for the next few days….relax, enjoy and we look forward to seeing you on the other side.

Highlights from today included 23 Spoonbill and 1 male Hen Harrier in Middlebere. On Wareham Common 12+ Cattle Egret were still with the cows and in Studland Bay there were 4+ Black-necked Grebe with 1 Great Northern Diver. At Lytchett Bay there were 3 Spoonbill, 2 Marsh Harrier and a White-tailed Eagle was in the Wareham Channel.

Spoonbill – Middlebere – Mark Wright

All quiet on the western (and southern, and eastern and northern) front today! It seems that last ditch Christmas shopping took president with sightings few and far between. The only main highlights that were logged were c600 Avocet and 12 Spoonbill in Middlebere, 1 Spotted Redshank in Holes Bay, the White-tailed Eagle pair were back in the Wareham Channel, a Hen Harrier was at Shipstal and a decent count of 115 dark-bellied Brent Geese on the Brownsea Lagoon.

Of course, each day there are thousands of regular wetland species that occur around the harbour that we don’t report on because they’re considered ‘common’. That doesn’t mean they’re not important and each month they’re all counted as part of the important monthly ‘Wetland Bird Surveys (WeBS), a census some of our team have managed since 2011. For interest below are the totals for our latest survey which was carried out on Dec 10th which logged an incredible 23,649 waterbirds.

Species of Poole Harbour importance: Dec10th total and our max count since 2011 in brackets.

• dark-bellied Brent Goose – 1001 (2442)
• Shelduck – 572 (1826)
• Wigeon – 4467 (5606)
• Pintail – 359 (443)
• Red-breasted Merganser – 147 (299)
• Avocet – 1485 (1829)
• Black-tailed Godwit – 2838 (5156)
• Spoonbill – 33 (66)
• Little Egret – 46 (242)

Harbour WeBS Records: On Dec 10th, no less than four post Nov 2011 records were broken (previous record in brackets)

• Dunlin – 3139 (2850)
• Great Black Backed Gull – 211 (207)
• Great Northern Diver – 16 (12)
• Eider – 6 (4)

Diving/Open water species Species: Other than Great Northern Diver, Eider and Red Breasted Merganser, diving species numbers were low during the Dec 10th WeBS due to the choppy water, but a good variety was reported, as follows:

• Great Crested Grebe x 139
• Goldeneye x 15
• Black-necked Grebe x 3
• Red Throated Diver x 2
• Slavonian Grebe x 2
• Black Throated Diver x 1
• Long Tailed Duck x 1
• Common Scoter x 1

Many thanks to Rod Brummit for consolidating and bringing this info together.

Avocet flock – Middlebere – John Thorpe

A pretty mild day in the harbour today with 2 Eider, 1 Great Northern Diver being seen at the harbour mouth this morning as well as 65 Shag flying into the harbour. The male White-tailed Eagle G463 was seen from the Middlebere Lookout at RSPB Arne as well as 1 ringtail Hen Harrier, 21 Spoonbill, amongst Grey Plover and hundreds of Avocet. A juvenile Peregrine was visible in Poole Town today.

Juvenile Peregrine – Poole Town – Rene Goad

Still much of a muchness today, with the predictable Long-tailed Duck still off Jerry’s/Brands Bay with 2 Black-necked Grebe also there and 4 Great Northern Diver, 1 Black-throated Diver, 2 Eider, 1 Slavonian Grebe and 4 Goldeneye. In Middlebere there were 2 Spotted Redshank, 1 Great White Egret, 1 White-tailed Eagle and 1 Marsh Harrier. In Holes Bay there was another Spotted Redshank plus a great count of 54 Knot. 

Great Northern Diver – South Deep – John Thorpe

Our Christmas cruise this morning featured 1 ringtail Hen Harrier amongst 5 Marsh Harrier surveying the reedbeds over Arne Moors and Swineham, with the low tide at the top end of the Wareham Channel giving views of 200+ Lapwing and Dunlin. 2 Spoonbill were present on the shoreline near Ower Bay and at least 13 Great Northern Diver were counted across the harbour, with 1 Red-throated Diver off Furzey Island and the Black-throated Diver off the south shore of Brownsea. In Studland Bay, there were 5 Black-necked Grebe and 8 Common Scoter. On the rising tide in Brands Bay was a high count of 554 Wigeon, 227 Pintail, 161 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 21 Lapwing, 25 Grey Plover, 91 Black-tailed Godwit, 7 Knot, 5 Bar-tailed Godwit, c.550 Dunlin and 240 Common Gull. Also from Jerry’s Point on the higher tide were 3 Great Northern Diver, 2 Black-necked Grebe, 2 Slavonian Grebe, 2 Eider, 17 Red-breasted Merganser and the Long-tailed Duck. 1 Spotted Redshank was reported in Lytchett Bay this morning. 1 White-tailed Eagle was seen flying high from Coombe Heath at RSPB Arne this morning.

Alison Copland – Black-throated Diver – South Brownsea Shore