Another busy day today with a concerted effort by some of our team to try and log as many species as possible in one day. Add that to the great list other folk managed to compile on this gorgeous bank holiday and the harbour really proved its self as a great winter birding destination. The many highlights included the Velvet Scoter off Jerry’s Point along with 1 Slavonian Grebe, 5 Black-necked Grebe and 2 Sandwich Tern. Out in central harbour the 5 Eider were still present along with c15 Goldeneye, 5 Black-necked Grebe, c100 Red-breasted Merganser and 1 Great Northern Diver. In the Wareham Channel a White-tailed Eagle was seen briefly near the mouth of the River Piddle and there were 7+ Marsh Harrier and 1 Hen Harrier around the channel fringes with another (or the same) Hen Harrier seen in Middlebere and later at Lytchett Bay. A Spotted Redshank was also feeding in the mouth of the Frome on the low tide and 11 Spoonbill were feeding off Shipstal Beach down towards the Wytch Channel. Off Ballard this morning 2 Red-throated Diver went east along with 1 Great Northern Diver and good numbers of Razorbill, Guillemot, Gannet and Kittiwake were heading west. An evening grebe roost count saw 13 Black-necked Grebe gather, which although isn’t a massive total, the fact that another 10 were logged within the harbour today highlights we still have a minimum 23 over-wintering in and around the harbour which is a good national total. There was also a Slavonian Grebe and 14 Common Scoter off Middle Beach. On Wareham Common a Cattle Egret was still with the cows and up at Scotland Farm, a pre-dawn scan with our thermal imager on the fields opposite the main entrance highlighted big numbers of Common Snipe (100+) and Lapwing settled in the darkness along with 5+ Woodcock and 2 Jack Snipe. An urban garden in central Poole saw 10+ Blackcap visiting feeders. Other joys from today included several Song Thrush in full song and semi-displaying Dartford Warblers on Slepe Heath. It really quite spring like today and with only 2-3 months left of winter, thoughts of Wheatears, Sand martins and Ospreys now aren’t far away!!

Cattle Egret – Wareham Common – Adam Day

Happy New Year everyone, it seems people were out in force today, kick starting their year lists. Most focus was around the harbour entrance, Studland peninsular area. The Velvet Scoter was in and out of the harbour mouth like a yo-yo but eventually settled off the SE Brownsea shore. From Jerry’s Point there were 2 Slavonian Grebe, 7 Black-necked Grebe, 2 Great Northern Diver and 4 Goldeneye. Off Middle Beach 4 Black-necked Grebe a single Common Scoter. In Middlebere a Merlin was seen briefly, but there were also 5 Spoonbill and 1 Spotted Redshank, along with the usual gathering of Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit and wildfowl with 2 Marsh Harrier passing through. At Lytchett Fields a small flock of 38 Golden Plover that were logged flying over. Off Hamworthy Beach another Great Northern Diver was hunting and 5 Spoonbill were seen out across at Arne. A Brambling was seen at Rempstone and a Goshawk flew over near Corfe Castle. On Poole Park boating lake 3 drake Goldeneye were together and the Barclays Peregrines were up on the favoured balcony. From Shell Bay, Studland, 3 Red-throated Diver flew south and 16 Sanderling were on the beach with 3 Great Northern Diver out on the water.

Goldeneye – Poole Park boating lake 

Last 24 hours to finalise those 2022 year lists and a last push saw a Velvet Scoter in through the harbour mouth first thing, along with 4 Great Northern Diver and 3 Red-throated Diver, 4 Red-breasted Merganser and 60 Grey Plover along Shell Bay. Holes Bay featured 144 Avocet and 200+ Dunlin and Black-tailed Godwit.

Wishing you good birding and a happy New Year from the Birds of Poole Harbour team.

Avocet – Holes Bay – Mark Wright 

The day started off well with the over-wintering Black Brant re-found off the Rempstone shoreline near Newton Bay. Highlights from around Studland included 1 Great Northern Diver at Shell Bay and at Middle & Knoll Beaches there was 1 Great Northern Diver, 6 Black-necked Grebe, 1 Slavonian Grebe and 6 Common Scoter. Off Jerry’s point there were 3 Black-necked Grebe, 2 Slavonian Grebe, 3 Great Northern Diver, 2 Goldeneye, 1 Common Scoter and 20+ Red-breasted Merganser. In Brands Bay was 1 Great White Egret, 2 Black-necked Grebe and 2 Common Scoter. Hen Harrier were logged in Lytchett Bay and Middlebere with another Great White Egret also in Middlebere. There were 4 Spotted Redshank in Middlebere with 1 in Holes Bay.

Black Brant – Newton Bay – OTBT Birder (Twitter – @BirderOtbt)

Prolonged rain and near horizontal gusts seem to have kept all but the hardiest birders indoors today, though plenty of birds were not similarly detered. At Lytchett Fields 3 Spotted Redshank were present on the Pools Field, along with 175 Black-tailed Godwit, 54 Common Redshank, 23 Dunlin and a few Wigeon and Teal. A larger group of Wigeon in the Bay was also accompanied by least 2 drake Pintail. Early afternoon White-tailed Eagle flew north over the fields, temporally flushing all of the other species. On the other side of the harbour at Jerry’s Point, Studland this afternoon there were 3 possibly 4 Great Northern Diver, 5 Black-necked Grebe, 8 Great Crested Grebe, 26 Red-breasted Merganser and 6 Goldeneye.

Pintail and Wigeon at Middlebere on Christmas Eve – David Turner

Yesterdays fine weather obviously got some mid-winter movement underway with 3 new arrivals into the harbour this morning. Firstly a Velvet Scoter was seen entering the harbour at dawn with 3 Great Northern Diver where it then spent the rest of the day off Jerry’s Point way out in south deep. Then, a Long-tailed Duck was found whilst the Velvet Scoter was being watched which was again, in South Deep, but more towards Green Island. Then, this afternoon a Red-necked Grebe was found off Shipstal Beach, Arne. Three great new birds which if stay until after the new year will be excellent additions to anyone starting a New Year list. Also of Shipstal were 28 Spoonbill and off Jerry’s Point 3 Black-necked Grebe and a Slavonian Grebe were logged with another Slavonian Grebe in Studland Bay. A ringtail Hen Harrier was seen in Middlebere and an adult male Hen Harrier was seen briefly at Swineham.

Velvet Scoter – Jerry’s Point, Studland – OTBT birder (Twitter – @BirderOtbt)

MERRY CHRISTMAS from the entire BoPH crew. We hope you’ve had an amazing day and that 2023 brings you all the birding joys you deserve!

We’re going to keep it short and sweet this evening as there’s Christmas dinner left over’s to be had, so the main highlights were 3 Slavonian Grebe around the Studland Peninsular with 1 off Jerry’s Point, 1 in Shell Bay and off Middle Beach. Also off Middle Beach was 1 Great Northern Diver and 2 Black-necked Grebe. At Middlebere there were 23 Spoonbill. In the Wareham Channel this morning 2 White-tailed Eagle were present as were 6 Marsh Harrier. 

Before the daty draws to an end, we’d like to give Christmas 2022 message…….As 2022 draws to a close, it’s given us time to reflect on what’s been an incredible year for our charity in terms of what’s been achieved and the excitement that’s built across Poole Harbour over the last 12 months. There’s no doubt that the period between 2020 & 2021 saw huge challenges, not just for small charities like ours but entire communities and individuals alike. However, 2022 saw resilience and determination begin to re-build which has been reflected in the support and interest in all our work across the board.

There’s no doubt that our biggest achievement this year was finally seeing Osprey’s successfully raise young on the south coast, which was a direct result of the reintroduction we began in 2017. Our female CJ7 and male 022 raised two youngsters, and many thousands of people enjoyed watching the drama unfold on the live webcam. In August, we hosted 30 Osprey cruises and sold 1600 tickets which was a massive increase compared to the 3 Osprey trips we hosted back in 2017. In fact, support for all our events across the year grew as did the audience we engaged and communicated with, which was brilliant.

Other projects we saw develop and completed this year was the installation of the new Ham Common view point in partnership with BCP Council and Rockley Holiday Park, the new wader protection zone at Studland in partnership with the National Trust, the continuation of our School Bird Boat projected which is funded by LUSH, the completion of a full breeding raptors of Poole Harbour study which will be published in the New Year, as well as other multiple projects, events, talks and media appearances which has helped build the charity.

Our team are primed and ready to make 2023 an even bigger success and can’t wait to see many (hopefully all) of year over the coming year. The support and kindness we’ve received from everyone over the years has made Birds of Poole Harbour the charity it is today, and we couldn’t do any of it without you.

So, from all of us here at ‘BoPH’, we’d like to say a MASSIVE thank you for your support and to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and an amazing New Year.

Here’s to an action packed 2023 x

Christmas Day Birding – Middlebere – Barbara Bisset