It was another busy day across the harbour, and it seems there’s no better time to get out and explore than now, although with another 3 months of winter to go, things can surely get better and better? That said, it’s pretty damn good now! Our Low-tide cruise this afternoon was mega busy with no less than 6 Great Northern Diver, plus 3 Red-throated Diver, 2 Common Scoter, c70 Red-breasted Merganser, 17 Goldeneye and c20 Great Crested Grebe on open areas of the harbour. In the Wareham Channel a White-tailed Eagle was sat out on the salt marsh of Shag Looe Point, at the top of the channel were 4 Marsh Harrier, 1 Great White Egret, with another seen flying from Arne to towards Holes Bay. There were 12 Spoonbill feeding south of Green Island, on an earlier School Bird Boat an Eider was seen in central harbour. An adult Yellow-legged Gull was on the mud in the Wareham Channel with c300 Dunlin, c500 Black-tailed Godwit, 40 Lapwing also present out there, as were small parties of Avocet containing 10-100 birds which were dotted around various shorelines. In Lytchett Bay 2 Marsh Harrier were constantly flying back and fourth past the Rock Lea viewpoint. The PCW Drain help a minimum of 8 Chiffchaff and what also looked like an over-wintering Willow Warbler there too with 1 Firecrest also present. A Spoonbill was in Holes Bay along with 85 Pintail.

White-tailed Eagle from Low-tide Cruise – Wareham Channel – Derek Morgan

Goldeneye from Low-tide Cruise – Central Harbour – Derek Morgan

Spoonbills from Low-tide Cruise – Newton Bay – Derek Morgan

Red-throated Diver from Low-tide Cruise – South Deep – Derek Morgan

Loads going on today, so we’ll just crack on with a full round up. From our Winter Safari Cruise this AM we logged 3 Red-throated Diver across the harbour and a minimum of 8 Great Northern Diver. At Swineham there were 4 Marsh Harrier and 3 Spoonbill were in the Wareham Channel feeding. The 3 Eider, including the adult male were out in central harbour and the lagoon looked good with lots of waders and winter duck. Today was also the Poole Harbour WeBS count and produced plenty of goodies including 1 Slavonian Grebe, 3 Great Northern Diver, 1 Red-throated Diver and 2 Common Scoter off Jerry’s Point. In Studland Bay there were 6 Black-necked Grebe, 1 Slavonian Grebe, 1 Eider and 6 Common Scoter. There were 3 Great White Egret on Swineham GP with 1 also (possibly one of the Swineham 3) on Wareham Common, plus another under the bridge that spits Holes Bay north and south. A Black Brant was in Newton Bay, a few Goldeneye appeared with individuals in Poole Park, off Baiter and 3 in central harbour. There were 2 White-tailed Eagle in and around the Wareham Channel late afternoon and a Merlin was sat on the post to the far right of Rock Lea viewpoint.

Marsh Harrier – Swineham – John Thorpe

A day of odds and sods today with the cold north easterly keeping birders at bay it seems. A Water Pipit was sat Lytchett Bay this morning and in Holes Bay NW there were 5 Spoonbill. At Sandbanks a Black Redstart was busy on the roof of the Haven Hotel and there was a minor arrival of winter thrush’s with 300 Redwing and 25 Fieldfare over the harbour entrance at dawn. A count of 95 Shag were logged flying through the harbour entrance at dawn along with c25 Red-breasted Merganser. The Great White Egret was again on Wareham Common and this evening a possible Caspian Gull came into roost on the Brownsea Lagoon.

Possible Caspian Gull (central bird) – Brownsea Lagoon 

Not so ‘ergh’ today, with another crisp (but very cold) winter sunset seeing out the day with Woodcock report flying out of multiple woodlands at dusk with 3 seen over Soldiers Road, 2 over the entrance of Middlebere, 7 flew out across the Piddle valley and 1 was seen over the Arne Road. The Great White Egret was still on Wareham Common, viewable from the cycle path on, at the Wareham end of the common. In Holes Bay the Spotted Redshank was in the SW section and off Jerry’s Point there were 2 Black-necked Grebe, 10 Red-breasted Merganser and 1 Great Northern Diver. A Yellow-browed Warbler was reported on Candford Heath and 2 Lesser Redpoll were at Arne. Numbers of winter birds do seem to be building nicely with bigger numbers of Pintail, Shoveler and Gadwall around now, although there’s still hardly any Goldeneye about which is a bit worrying with only 1 logged out in central harbour today. Maybe this up and coming cold spell will push more down? Marsh Harrier numbers seem to have dropped again with only singles seen at Lytchett Bay and Middlebere with 4 at Swineham. No doubt good numbers will return again soon.

A typical winter scene in Holes Bay – Good numbers of Pintail and Wigeon – Martin Adams

Misty conditions struggled to clear across the harbour this morning given the still weather. The Wareham Common Great White Egret was present for another day, seen while on the bypass. A Razorbill is still kicking around North Channel, today seen feeding off the Royal Motor Yacht Club, Sandbanks. An out exploring the harbour at low tide, 11 Spoonbill were feeding in the Middlebere Channel, watched from the Arne Lookout hide. By the end of the day, visibility was better and a roost watch off Jerrys Point logged 1 Great Northern Diver, 1 Red-throated Diver, c20 Red-breasted Merganser, 14 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Common Scoter, 3 Black-necked Grebe, 9 Avocet, 1 Sandwich Tern and a Marsh Harrier was in Brands Bay. Meanwhile, off Middle Beach, Studland just after sunset there were 6 Black-necked Grebe, 1 Slavonian Grebe, 17 Common Scoter, 8 Red-breasted Merganser and 5 Great Crested Grebe in several loose roosts.

Our safari this Sunday is sold out, but there’s still availability on the final two safari trips on the lead up to the Christmas break. More details about these trips can be found here. Numbers of winter visitors are building nicely across the harbour and our checklists are consistently hitting 50 species from the cruises – Great Northern Divers are set to have a good year while Red-throated Diver and Eider, a couple of smart open water water species seldom logged within the harbour, have frequently offered good views recently.

Spoonbill – Middlebere Channel Kate Plater

Curlew – Middlebere Channel Kate Plater

Despite the gloomy start to the morning, we had a stunning winter safari cruise, which kicked off to a promising start with 3 Great Northern Diver just off the north shoreline of Brownsea Island. Scanning the lagoon, 250 Avocet, 200 Black-tailed Godwit, 27 Bar-tailed Godwit, 12 Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 1 Grey Plover, 50 Wigeon, 30 Teal and 8 Shoveler.  Continuing round to the south side of the island we logged 1 Sandwich Tern, a flyover of c.40 Black-tailed Godwit, as well as 3 Great Northern Diver and a single male Goldeneye near Redhorn.  Around Ower and Newton Bay, number of Brent Geese also appeared to have inflated, with around 150 seen, along with high numbers of Oystercatcher and 25 Lapwing. As we approached the Central Harbour around the back of the islands, numbers of Red-Breasted Merganser appeared significantly higher than previous boats, with c.120 seen. Excitingly, the 3 Eider (including 1 adult male) were also present in the Central Harbour, with a flyby Spoonbill making it’s way to join the roosting flock of c.30 birds at Shipstal. As we made our way to the top end of the Wareham Channel, it was eerily quiet considering the large numbers of Marsh Harriers counted in the roost this week. However, once the White-tailed Eagle that we managed to distantly clocked on the Arne shoreline took to flight across the channel, at least 3 Marsh Harrier lifted out of the reeds at Keysworth, pursuing and mobbing the eagle until it landed. A further 2 Great Northern Diver were then logged near the entrance to Lytchett Bay, as well as 1 Sandwich Tern feeding in the entrance to the Wareham Channel, just before the finale of a Red-throated Diver in the Central Harbour as we made our way back to the Quay.

In Holes Bay, a count included 350+ Dunlin, 1000+ Wigeon, 200+ Avocet and 300+ Black-tailed Godwit. A single Spoonbill was seen feeding off Otter Point in Lytchett Bay. 2 Great Northern Diver, potentially the same that were seen near the entrance to Lytchett Bay were also reported, along with 3 Red-breasted Merganser.

Great Northern Diver – Hamworthy Park – @nikodogtwite

A decent day with some decent birds! This morning there were 7 Goosander on the water in Shell Bay before heading off into the harbour. There were also 3 Eider which were logged yesterday out in central harbour and then seen again round the back of Brownsea. On Brownsea 28 Spoonbill were roosting during the high tide. A Great White Egret was in the Lower Piddle Valley with 3 logged there yesterday. For a second day in a row Avocet were out feeding on French’s Fields at Lytchett Fields and there were 288 Dunlin and a Grey Plover. A late Swallow flew over Stoborough and at Baiter there were 122 Brent Geese. On Holme lane Gravel Pit a single Pochard was in amongst 21 Gadwall, 11 Wigeon and 14 Tufted Duck.

Eider Ducks – Central Harbour – Don Williams

Wood Duck – Creekmoor Ponds – John Newman

Calmer conditions after those we’ve become accustomed to these past few weeks made for an excellent Winter Safari Cruise this morning, with at least 8 different Great Northern Diver scattered across the harbour from Hamworthy to Brands Bay (a new peak count for this winter) along with 1 Red-throated Diver.  The scrapes at Swineham were indiscernible below a considerable layer of water which covered the majority of the fields and played host to plenty of Lapwing, Black-tailed Godwit, a few Curlew, Snipe, Teal, Gadwall and Shoveler, along with 1 Common Redshank and 2 Spotted Redshank. There were at least 4 Marsh Harrier in the Wareham Channel, and we were lucky to catch one of the White-tailed Eagles as it flew between Arne to Rempstone. On Brownsea Lagoon there were 35 Spoonbill, 100’s each of Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit and Dunlin, dozens of Redshank, Grey Plover and Ringed Plover along with 20+ Bar-tailed Godwit, 15+ Greenshank, and plenty of Teal, Wigeon, Shoveler and Shelduck.

Elsewhere, visitors to the Rock Lea viewpoint in Lytchett Bay were treated to 94 Avocet, 1 Green Sandpiper, Grey Plover, Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank, Teal, Red-breasted Merganser and close views of 1 Great Northern Diver. Also in the area were 3 Marsh Harrier, Grey Wagtail, and 1 colour-ringed Water Pipit (1K). Holes Bay held 1100 Wigeon, 257 Avocet, 87 Shoveler, 31 Pintail and 1 Common Sandpiper.

At the other end of the harbour off Jerry’s Point were 6 Black-necked Grebe, 7 Goldeneye, 1 Red-throated Diver, 2 Great Northern Diver, 16 Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher, 27 Red-breasted Merganser, 2 Common Scoter. Off Middle Beach at Studland were a further 5 Black-necked Grebe and a single Eider. Three more Eider were also photographed off Furzey Island and a watch of the harbour from Baiter Park offered 2 Great Northern Diver and 1 Razorbill still present, along with a single Kittiwake which flew across to settle on the water along the Brownsea Shoreline.

Great Northern Diver – Winter Safari Cruise – Alex King

Eider – South Deep – Don Williams

The importance of the harbour as a stopover and wintering site for raptors was demonstrated once again this morning, with a new record count of 31 Marsh Harrier emerging from roost sites in the western reaches (a target species for tomorrow’s Winter Safari Cruise)! One White-tailed Eagle was also present. Big movements of Cormorants have been reported across the harbour and the surrounding area today, likely to be more birds arriving from the continent to overwinter. Just beyond the harbour entrance in Studland Bay there was one female-type Eider, along with 7 Black-necked Grebe, 9 Common Scoter, 1 Great Northern Diver and 1 Red-throated Diver. A further 3 Black-necked Grebe were also present off Jerry’s Point. Passerine reports were much thinner on the ground today, but the Black Redstart was spotted again and photographed on the barn roof at Middlebere.

Black Redstart – Middlebere – Aidan Brown (@aidanjb118)