A fantastic day for sightings across the harbour, with a number of highlights. The Studland peninsula was well recorded, with Middle Beach featuring 2 Great Northern Diver, 4 Common Scoter and 1 Black-necked Grebe. In Shell Bay, 3 Great Northern Diver, and a Red-throated Diver were seen. From Jerry’s Point, the 4 Scaup continued to be present, as well as 3 Great Northern Diver, 8 Black-necked Grebe, 1 Common Scoter, 5 Goldeneye, 45 Red-breasted Merganser, and 1 Razorbill and 3 Long-tailed Duck seen off the SW shore of Brownsea Island. A further 2 Great Northern Diver were reported in Brands Bay, along with a Black Brant present amongst the Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 3 Sandwich Tern and 6+ Goldeneye.

Elsewhere in the harbour, Holes Bay produced 65 Avocet, 250+ Black-tailed Godwit, 40+ Curlew and a Goldeneye. A total of 77 Greylag Geese were counted on Arne Moors. A nice record of an egret roost flying east over Lytchett Bay this afternoon featured 20 Little Egret and 1 Cattle Egret. The lone Purple Sandpiper was reported again today on the groyne in front of the Sandbanks Pavillion.

We will be hosting another Pop-Up event at Knoll Beach, Studland in partnership with National Trust on Tuesday 22nd, our last event before Christmas, 11am-3pm. You can find out more on our news page here.

Red-breasted Merganser – Jerry’s Point – Garry Hayman

Studland Peninsula received a good grilling today in between the heavy downpours. Bramble Bush Bay welcomed the arrival of an Eider, along with 2 Great Northern Diver, 16 Great Crested Grebe, 35 Red-breasted Merganser, 1 Scaup, 16 Turnstone and a single Sanderling. Shell Bay continued to support the Red-necked Grebe, 3 Great Northern Diver and 8 Sanderling scurrying around Pilot’s Point. Two Great Northern Diver, 2 Great Crested Grebe, 9 Black-necked Grebe and 2 Common Scoter settled off Middle Beach, with a trickle of Gannets, 2 Kittiwake and auk species south. South Beach harboured a further 2 Great Crested Grebe offshore, with 3 Firecrest flitting about nearby. Beyond Studland NNR, a ringtail Hen Harrier was observed by serveral birders across the Wareham Channel, at times joined by a Merlin.

Don’t forget Birds of Poole Harbour will be stationed at Holes Bay tomorrow morning to coincide with the rising tide. More Holes Bay Pop Up event information available here.

We’ve also announced a new fundraiser to help fund a festive treat for the birds at Livability Holton Lee, the stars of our online feeding station webcam. Livestream webcams have been incredibly important to us this year, providing us with a connection to nature as we’ve been tucked away in our homes. As the year comes to an end, we hope you can help us fill up the feeders at Holton Lee in the new year by raising £250 for bird seed. You can show your support here.

Holton Lee Feeder Cam

Yesterday we celebrated one Red-necked Grebe that appeared during our Shell Bay Pop Up event. Today, 4 Red-necked Grebe were picked up offshore during a Branksome Chine seawatch this morning, along with a Black-throated Diver which drifted west, 8 Kittiwake and 5 Razorbill. Jerry’s Point added an additional 1 Black-necked Grebe , 13 Goldeneye, 9 Red-breasted Merganser and 4 Great Northern Diver to the mix.

Incredibly, after the recent sightings at Sandbanks, 2 Purple Sandpiper were reported at Pilot’s Point on the high tide among good numbers of Sanderling, Ringed Plover, Grey Plover and Turnstone. The bay held a further 3 Great Northern Diver and several Red-breasted Merganser. The Hartland Moor Merlin came to its favoured post this afternoon. Two Cattle Egret were associating with Little Egret flock in the A35 dual carriageway fields just beyond Bakers Arms roundabout. An stint at Holes Bay at dusk would surely pick up these birds coming in to roost! Nearby, a Red-breasted Merganser made its way to Poole Park boating lake.

Sanderling – Sandbanks (yesterday) – Jeremy Saul

The birds are coming thick and fast now with the discovery of a Red-necked Grebe settled off Shell Bay during our ‘Pop Up’ event at that site. Also 2 Great Northern Diver, 1 Red-throated Diver, 3 Black-necked Grebe and a Common Scoter off there too. Off Jerry’s Point there were another 2 Great Northern Diver, 4 Scaup, 30+ Red-breasted Merganser and 6 Goldeneye. At Sandbanks the Purple Sandpiper was again on the angled groyne and a Short-eared Owl was seen near the Middlebere track at dusk. There was also a Great White Egret over Studland. Also 16 White-fronted Geese appeared at Silverlake, near Crossways….does this mean we could see them appear in the Frome Valley over the next week or two?

Another good day today despite the weather. A Branksome sea watch produced 6 Red-throated Diver, 2 Black-throated Diver, 16 Kittiwake, 21 Med Gulls, c200 Auks (mainly Guillemot) and c10 Gannet. In the harbour another Black-throated Diver was off the Brownsea north shore with up to 7 Great Northern Diver. From Jerry’s Point there were 2 Great Northern Diver, 3 Scaup, 2 Black-necked Grebe, 2 Common Scoter, 6 Goldeneye and 2 Sandwich Tern and off Middle Beach Studland, 2 Black-necked Grebe, 2 Scaup (odd here) and 2 Red-throated Diver. The Brownsea Lagoon was busy again with c3900 Dunlin, 202 Grey Plover, 2 Spotted Redshank, 84 Bar-tailed Godwit, 280 Avocet, 9 Greenshank and 2 Spotted Redshank.

Purple Sandpiper – Sandbanks (yesterday) – Ian Ballam

Little Egret – Bramble Bush Bay – Nick Gadenne

An excellent return of sightings today compared to previous days. The juv Goshawk at Lytchett Fields from a few weeks ago was likely seen again being chased off by a Raven from Lytchett Fields over towards Holton Lee. This then flushed c200 Lapwing, 5 Greenshank and 4 Green Sandpiper from Holton Pools. This evening 2 Cattle Egret flew over Lytchett Fields from the Lytchett Minster direction, heading towards their evening roost. In the Wareham Channel 10 different Marsh Harrier were logged plus the female Hen Harrier was seen again. At Baiter 229 Brent Geese were in Parkstone Bay and 4 Great Northern Diver were off the Northern Brownsea shoreline. The Brownsea Lagoon was packed and saw c3900 Dunlin, 40 Knot, 790 Black-tailed Godwit, 280 Avocet, 88 Bar-tailed Godwit, 210 Grey Plover, 22 Ringed Plover and 2 Spotted Redshank. Off Jerry’s Point there were 4 Great Northern Diver, 1 Long-tailed Duck, 1 Slavonian Grebe, 1 Common Scoter, 3 Scaup, 2 Black-necked Grebe, 11 Goldeneye and 31 Red-breasted Merganser. A lone Purple Sandpiper was on the boulder groynes at Sandbanks this evening. At Swineham a single Pochard was on the pits with 110 Coot, 15 Great Crested Grebe and a Marsh Harrier was over Swineham Point. On the Swineham Pools the Barnacle Goose was present again with 140 Canada Geese, 12 Greylags and 250+ Lapwing. The male Merlin was on its usual post near the Middlebere entrance track this evening.

Barnacle Goose – Swineham Pools (yesterday) – Peter Moore

It wasn’t really a great day again for birding, with the harbour quite choppy and a damp yuck-ness everywhere! Still, there was a decent count of 7 Great Northern Diver in Bramble Bush Bay and 2 more in Studland Bay and the 4 Scaup were still off Jerry’s Point. On Sunday a Black-throated Diver was off Bramble Bush Bay. Blackcaps are now moving into urban gardens with up to 5 present in a central Poole garden today feeding on fat cakes. At the PC World drain 3 Common Chiffchaff were active and a Kingfisher was at the mouth of the drain. At Baiter there were 69 Brent Geese, 2 Med Gulls, 1 Goldeneye, several Rock Pipit, 3 Dunlin, 4 Turnstone and 20+ Oystercatcher and on the main Poole Park boating lake 3 Red-breasted Merganser, 1 male Goldeneye, 25+ Tufted Duck and 52 Oystercatcher.

Pintail – Brands Bay – Nick Gadenne

Wigeon – Brands Bay – Nick Gadenne

Brent Geese – Sandbanks Ferry – Nick Gadenne

Pretty bleak birding conditions for today’s Wetland Bird Survey for the BTO. Very few brave enough to venture out into the harbour this morning, although a juvenile male Marsh Harrier battling the winds around Swineham and Arne Moors made to trip worthwhile. A late night SRG ringing session at Sunnyside yielded nine new birds ringed, consisting of 3 Woodcock, 3 Common Snipe, 2 Jack Snipe and (quite remarkably!) a hadnsome first calendar-year male Gadwall.

Winter Pop-Up Event Announcement: Our next event will take place at Studland NNR in partnership with the National Trust Studland Team on Thursday 17th December, 10am to 1pm. Find our team stationed at Jerry’s Point and Shell Bay for another chance to gain an insight into these excellent winter birding hotspots. Learn how to bird the area, identify the local birdlife and discover why these sites are so important.

Mike Gould – Gadwall

An adult Pale-bellied Brent Goose was feeding with the Dark-bellied flock off the Brownsea shoreline this afternoon, as viewed from Jerry’s Point. Also recorded from the watchpoint were 4 Great-Northern Diver, 4 Scaup, 2 Black-necked Grebe, 5 Goldeneye, 28 Turnstone, 26 Sanderling, 13 Bar-tailed Godwit, 6 Grey Plover, 3 Ringed Plover, Red-breasted Mergansers, Great-crested Grebe, Black-tailed Godwit. The Harbour entrance logged 2 Black-necked Grebes, with a further 2 Black-necked Grebe at Middle Beach alongside 3 Common Scoter.

A Kingfisher, Grey Wagtail, 100+ Black-tailed Godwit, 120+ Avocet, 100+ Dunlin and 50+ Redshank all offered close views for an identification crash course during our Holes Bay Winter Pop-Up event this afternoon. It was great to see so many people out birding – make sure to keep an eye on the website and social media channels for upcoming events.

Yesterday’s Barnacle Goose was still in amongst the Canada Geese on Curlew Pools, Swineham today. Also of note were the 8 Lesser Redpoll feeding in birches near Stilt Pools, as well as 30 Curlew and 9 Black-tailed Godwit. Two Little Grebe were on the river, Redwing over and 10 Great-Crested Grebe on the gravel pit.

A visit to Bog Lane to the west of the harbour produced a Firecrest, Peregrine and Green Sandpiper. Middlebere channel supported 625 Avocet, 340 Lapwing, 6 Spotted Redshank, 67 Redshank, 41 Shelduck, 1 Sparrowhawk, good numbers of Teal & Wigeon, 12 Curlew, 1 Great-crested Grebe and 2 Brent Geese.

Grey Plover – Jerry’s Point – Garry Hayman

Beautifully calm conditions left the harbour flat as a pancake today, receiving good coverage today and producing the first Black-throated Diver for several years! The juvenile Black-throated Diver was in Whitley Lake off Shore Road with 3 Great Northern Divers. Overall, 8 Great Northerns were logged around Central Harbour, South Deep and North Channel. An equally impressive total of 4 Long-tailed Duck were present in the harbour today. Three remained distant off Jerry’s Point and the forth was 3 in Central Harbour.

Jerry’s point also recorded an additional 17 Goldeneye, 4 Scaup, 3 Black-necked Grebe, 23 Sanderling, 3 Ringed Plover, 28 Turnstone and Grey Plover, as well as numerous Red-breasted Merganser, Great Crested Grebe, Oystercatcher, and Dark-bellied Brent Goose. An excellent minimum count of Pintail at Brand’s Bay came to 140 individuals. As well as the wildfowl regulars, 280 Black-tailed Godwit, 7 Bar-tailed Godwit, c.700 Dunlin, 47 Knot, 31 Grey Plover, 67 Dark-bellied Brent Goose and 5 Avocet made for very enjoyable birding.

The best from Lytchett Bay this morning saw 72 Brent Goose, 38 Avocet, 2 Greenshank and 4 Green Sandpiper and another appearance from the Merlin. A Barnacle Goose was at Swineham this morning, feeding with c.50 Canada Geese. Three different Marsh Harrier in the area and 6 Chiffchaff were kicking around PC World Drain today.

Goldeneye – Garry Hayman – Jerry’s Point