It was a typical wet, blustery end of October today, but with the strong southerly it did deliver some new birds into the harbour with a Black-throated Diver low over Poole Quay at the end of our Autumn Safari cruise which headed towards the Wareham Channel. Plus, there was a tight flock of 24 Red-breasted Merganser off the Round Island shoreline. The Brownsea Lagoon was busy once more and logged 31 Spoonbill, c500 Avocet, 5 Greenshank and c200 Black-tailed Godwit. Female White-tailed Eagle G466 was sat along the Goathorn Peninsular, 3 Marsh Harrier and 2 Red Kite were over Swineham and a Peregrine was hunting off Hamworthy Beach. Out in central harbour there were 2 Common Scoter and the Snow Bunting was still on Studland Beach, just south of Pilots Point. In Middlebere this morning there were 12 Knot, 1 Spotted Redshank, 1 Curlew Sandpiper and 1 Common Sandpiper.

Female White-tailed Eagle G466 from this AM’s last Autumn Safari – Brands Bay – John Thorp

Spoonbill  from this AM’s last Autumn Safari – Brownsea Lagoon – John Thorp

A calm start to the day allowed for some early doors ringing before the wind built by mid-morning. Combined with yesterdays efforts an amazing 5 Water Pipit have already been colour-ringed at Lytchett Fields in the last 48 hours…..a great early winter arrival! Later this afternoon a Snow Bunting was found on Studland beach, just south of Pilots Point. There were 2 White-tailed Eagle in the Wareham Channel this morning, 2 Merlin were on Hartland Moor today and 4 Marsh Harrier at Swineham.

Snow Bunting – Studland Beach – Rob Johnson

As we approach November, our returning winter birds continue to arrive, and today (right on cue) the first Water Pipit of the autumn/winter was arrived and was ringed at RSPB Lytchett Fields. This week typically sees the first of these scarce winter arrivals with only 200-300 arriving into the UK each winter and Poole Harbour seeing 2-3 staying around certain salt marsh areas around Swineham and Lytchett Bay. From our Autumn Safari this morning the calm waters allowed for us to scan pretty much the whole harbour and saw us log c20 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Common Scoter and 1 Red-breasted Merganser, plus the roving flock of c500 sinensis Cormorants. At Swineham we saw 3-4 different Marsh Harrier including the near full adult male. Male White-tailed Eagle G463 also flew down the Frome Valley past us and later this afternoon 2 younger eagles were in the Wareham Channel seen flying up the Piddle Valley. The Brownsea Lagoon was stacked with birds including c500 Avocet, c70 Ringed Plover, c100 Dunlin, 15 Bar-tailed Godwit, 5 Greenshank, c200 Black-tailed Godwit and 6 Turnstone. Plus, the annual Spoonbill exodus from Brownsea has also occurred with only 1 present there today but 8 at Shipstal, Arne and 5 in Holes Bay NW. Also in Holes Bay there are already high totals of wildfowl with 1190 Wigeon, 501 Teal, 76 Pintail, 49 Shoveler counted. At Lytchett Fields there were 5 Green Sandpiper, 1 Spotted Redshank and late this afternoon an unconfirmed report of a Grey Phalarope was reported in Shell Bay, Studland. The PCW Drain still has c15 Common Chiffchaff, plus there were 2 Firecrest and a Cetti’s Warbler in the channel.

Male Marsh Harrier from this mornings Autumn Safari – Swineham – Harry McBride

Male Marsh Harrier from this mornings Autumn Safari – Swineham – Harry McBride

Water Pipit – Ringed under license at Lytchett Fields – Shaun Robson

A breezy day in the harbour. In Lytchett Bay there were 1 Spotted Redshank, 10 Greenshank, 1 Dunlin, 15 Avocet and 5 Crossbill . At RSPB Arne there was 1 female Scaup at the no-access Clay Pit. At the Shipstal hide there were 1 White-tailed Eagle, 25 Spoonbill and 1 fly over Lesser Redpoll plus this morning 7 Spoonbill were in Holes Bay.

Spotted Redshank – RSPB Lytchett Fields -petey632.bsky.social

The first Yellow-browed Warbler of the Autumn was heard in the harbour today at RSPB Arne calling next to the cafe. The 2 Brambling were also still present here and both were successfully caught and ringed under license. There was a huge amount of action in the Arne Moors/Swineham area today from our Autumn Safari Cruise with 2 Pink-footed Geese feeding on the shingle islands on Arne Moors. These are likely to be the birds that have been seen over the past few weeks further West at Silverlake, and have finally arrived in the harbour, amongst the huge growing flock of Canadas and Greylags. These were visible from Slepe Heath and the growing number of geese certainly makes other rare geese a good possibility in the coming weeks. 1 immature Merlin was in the mouth of the River Piddle and was later being chased by/chasing a Peregrine. 2 immature Peregrine were in the Wareham Channel practising their hunting, diving at other birds of prey, Curlew and anything they saw. 1 White-tailed Eagle also flew straight past the boat. At least 4 Bearded Tit were in the mouth of the River Frome. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 3 Grey Plover, c300 Avocet, 14 Greenshank, c20 Bar-tailed Godwit and a slowly growing number of Dark-bellied Brent Geese (c10). 1 Spotted Redshank was at RSPB Lytchett Fields.

Male Brambling – Caught and ringed under license

Pretty high tide today and as a result there was a lot on the Brownsea Lagoon including 2 Spotted Redshank, c700 Avocet, c53 Spoonbill, 25 Bar-tailed Godwit and by mid-day, a whopping 1083 sinensis Cormorant. There was a high count of 1196 in Poole Harbour in October 2023, but with what seemed like other roving flocks present today at other sites including c400 later in the day at Holes Bay, suggested there could be another record total spread across the harbour currently. This morning a 2024 White-tailed Eagle ‘G633’, flew up the Middlebere Channel and was later seen from our Autumn Safari Cruise in Brands Bay having a pop at a Mute Swan! Also from our Autumn Safari this morning there were 4 Marsh Harrier at Swineham and the first 2 Goldeneye of the winter landed briefly off Keysworth and this afternoon 9 Glossy Ibis headed towards the Wareham Channel to go and feed. There were also 2 late Swallow over Swineham this morning, 3 Kingfisher were on Poole Quay and a Spotted Redshank was at Lytchett Fields.

White-tailed Eagle ‘G633’ – RSPB Arne – Mark Wright