It was great to get our School Bird Boat program going today with our first outing of the season seeing us take out Stoborough Primary School. It’s always good to get the kids connected to decent birds and this morning they were treated to 2-3 Marsh Harrier and a Great White Egret at Swineham, c250 Cormorant feeding in the Wareham Channel, 64 Spoonbill, c150 Avocet and c200 Oystercatcher on the Brownsea Lagoon and 2 Sandwich Tern at Poole Quay. It was frustrating they didn’t arrive for their trip a few minutes earlier as an Osprey flew over Poole Quay and headed towards Holes Bay as we were getting the boat prepped for the trip. In Holes Bay this morning the Great White Egret was feeding in the NE section again along with the Spoonbill and a Cattle Egret also flew over the bay mid-morning where there were c300 Wigeon, c400 Black-tailed Godwit and 2 Rock Pipit were back along the cycle path. At Lytchett Bay there was 2 Great White Egret on the fields and 2 Curlew Sandpiper, 3 Spotted Redshank, 175 Dunlin, 10+Greenshank, 150 Black-tailed Godwit, 137 Redshank, 130 Wigeon, 300 Teal, 2 Great Crested Grebe and a White-tailed Eagle out in the bay. A juvenile Hobby flew over the harbour entrance.

Great White Egret – Holes Bay – Rene Goad

The first Redwing of the season have arrived with birds both heard over night and seen in the Harbour today including, Lytchett Bay, Holes Bay and Upton. Other good records as well with 7 Great White Egret seen in Holes Bay, closely followed by a single Spoonbill. 1 Hobby and 1 Firecrest were also present here. The first Red-breasted Merganser of the autumn also arrived in today at Brands Bay as well as 10 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Pintail and 10 Greenshank being present. At Lytchett Fields RSPB there were 1 Red Knot, 1 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Green Sandpiper, 2 Common Snipe, 19 Greenshank, 1 Peregrine and 1 Marsh Harrier. Middlebere had a similarly good mix of waders as well with 30 Avocet, 1 Ringed Plover, 11 Grey Plover, 3 Red Knot and 3 Spotted Redshank. On Hartland Moor there was 1 Woodlark and 1 flyover Lesser Redpoll.

Lots of thrush movement going on at the moment with the first Redwing arrivals as well as many Ring Ouzel being reported throughout the county so it’s worth looking in the coming days to find any within the harbour.

Immature Spoonbill – Holes Bay – @petey632 on Twitter

Stunning conditions for this morning’s Autumn Safari Cruise delivered two Osprey, including a Scottish-ringed adult male (thought to be two-year-old 511 who has been hanging around in recent weeks) which flew right past the boat with a flatfish, having been briefly chased by a Marsh Harrier. Also present in the area were several passage Skylark moving overhead, 4 Kingfisher in the mouth of the Frome, 3 Grey Plover crossing the channel, a distant Merlin perched on the Keysworth shore, and both White-tailed Eagles on the gull islands, who watched nonchalantly on as two paddle-boarders cruised right past. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 70 Spoonbill, 40 Avocet, 1 Spotted Redshank, and 2 more Kingfisher, and as we returned to Poole Quay 8 Ringed Plover were sat on the marina wall. Highlights from elsewhere were 19 Greenshank on Sherford Pools in Lytchett Bay, and in Brands Bay there were 191 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 4 Knot and 1 Brent Goose.

Scottish-ringed adult male Osprey in Wareham Channel from Autumn Safari Cruise – Alison Copland

Kingfisher on the Brownsea Lagoon wall –  Alison Copland

A real feel of migration again today with hundreds if not thousands more swallows and martins passing through the harbour. Certainly the number of Spoonbill keep building with a total of 81 seen on the Brownsea Lagoon today. Osprey are still around as well with one unringed adult being seen in Brands Bay along with 5 Pintail, 6 Ringed Plover, 7 Grey Plover, 13 Bar-tailed Godwit, 3 Red Knot and 5 Mediterranean Gull. In Lytchett Bay the 6 Curlew Sandpiper were still present mixed amongst 136 Dunlin and 1 Red Knot. At Lytchett there were also 1 Spotted Redshank, 21 Greenshank, 1 Common Sandpiper, 2 Green Sandpiper, 2 Bearded Tits, 1 Marsh Harrier and 1 Peregrine. Holes Bay is similarly seeing very good numbers of wetland species with numbers of winter ducks building up nicely to 250+ Eurasian Teal and 300+ Eurasian Wigeon and double figures of Pintail and Shoveler. Also present in Holes Bay were singles of Spotted Redshank and Greenshank. Finally the Forster’s Tern was still visible from the Arne shoreline.

Chiffchaff – RSPB Arne – @brucetownsend on Twitter

A great Autumn Safari Cruise this morning provided a good diversity of species in different parts of the harbour. Around Swineham 2 Marsh Harrier were quartering the reeds as well as plenty of waders on the mud at the top of the Wareham Channel during low tide. This included 5+ Greenshank, 2 Common Snipe, 2 Green Sandpiper, c200 Black-tailed Godwit and c50 Curlew. The Forster’s Tern was still visible at Shipstal from the boat amongst Sandwich Terns. By the time we reached the Brownsea Lagoon it was now high tide and the Spoonbill were all roosting here with the total building up to 77 for the harbour. There were also 3 Avocet, 10+ Dunlin, 1 Turnstone, 3 Greenshank, c300 Oystercatcher and many more. One Osprey was also seen very distantly on the Holton shoreline.

Elsewhere in the harbour at Middlebere it was another good day for birds of prey with 1 Peregrine being seen again as well as 1 Osprey. Good numbers of Avocet building here with 25+ being seen as well as 9 Spoonbill and 1 Great White Egret. In Lytchett Bay there were 3 Curlew Sandpiper, 19 Greenshank, 2 Spotted Redshank, 1 Great White Egret and 1 Peregrine.

Peregrine Falcon – Coombe Heath – Kate Plater

Avocet and Common Redshank – Middlebere Channel – Kate Plater

A brighter day today allowed for some more activity from birds of prey as well as some more autumn arrivals. A raptor fest around Middlebere with 1 Osprey from Coombe Heath, 1 Marsh Harrier, 2 Peregrine, 1 Merlin and 1 Kestrel all being seen as well as 1 Spoonbill and 1 Great White Egret.  The Forster’s Tern was also still at Shipstal. Lytchett Bay today had the first arriving Jack Snipe of the autumn in Approach Field and at Lytchett Fields were 6 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Common Snipe, 1 Common Sandpiper, 2 Green Sandpiper, 2 Spotted Redshank, 1 Marsh Harrier and 1 Peregrine. Holes Bay had its first Great Crested Grebe of the autumn arrive as well as singles of Common Sandpiper and Wheatear.

Black-tailed Godwits and Common Redshank – Holes Bay – Alison Copland

A rather murky autumn day today although numbers of waders are continuing to build up nicely. Lytchett Fields was the busiest it’s been this autumn with 8 Green Sandpiper, 1 Common Sandpiper, 8 Greenshank, 104 Dunlin, 4 Curlew Sandpiper and 1 Spotted Redshank. On the Brownsea Lagoon the number of Spoonbill is the highest so far this autumn in the harbour with 74 seen this morning. The number will likely peak in the next few weeks but will we see a record harbour count with the previous highest being 80?

A good spread of birds in Brands Bay today as well with 3 Pintail, 2 Grey Plover, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Greenshank, 2 Red Knot and 33 Mediterranean Gull all being present. Wheatear are still passing through the harbour with 2 seen at Holes Bay and 3 at Hartland as well as 1 Woodlark at the latter. Birds of prey sightings were few and far between today as they were probably sheltering from the rain this afternoon but one Marsh Harrier was seen in Lytchett Bay.

Some of the 74 Spoonbills on the Brownsea Lagoon – @WildOnTheRoad on Twitter