What another great early Spring day, made all the better by the fact that the now annual Forster’s Tern appeared this evening off Baiter Park. This individual was first found in the harbour in March 2023, and has since used the area as a staging site both in the spring and the autumn as it moves from it’s over wintering site in Brittany, Northern France, to a range of sites in Northern England during the summer. There’s a good chance it will hang around for a few days (possibly weeks), and should be easy to ID as there are currently no similar looking Common Terns present for several weeks, and the only Sandwich Terns present already have their full summer plumages in tact and yellow tips to the bills.

It was a stunning afternoon for our Low Tide Cruise, albeit with a rather cold breeze! We had 9 Black-necked Grebe, a good number for this time of year, off Jerry’s Point including birds in summer-plumage. A quick stop off to look into the Brownsea Lagoon at the start of the trip allowed us to see 2 Spoonbill and c150 Black-tailed Godwit with c40 Bar-tailed Godwit. Both adult White-tailed Eagles G466 and G463 of the Dorset pair were sat on Shag Looe for the entire trip. 2 Marsh Harrier were displaying in the Wareham Channel. Other highlights included 4 Great Northern Diver and c300 Dark-bellied Brent Geese on the mud around Ower Bay.

The Glossy Ibis flock of 10 were once again feeding out on Wareham Common again during most of the day, there were 8 Sand Martin at Holmebridge, 2 Red Kite and 2 White-tailed Eagle were in the Wareham Channel this afternoon and up to 3 Goshawk were seen around Middlebere/Arne. The adult Little Gull was in Lytchett Bay again, 50+ Cattle Egret were at Worgret near Purbeck Sports Centre and Marsh Harrier were displaying over the harbour once again.

BOC (Back of Camera) shot of the forster’s Tern off Baiter this evening – Joe Parker

What a crazy end to February with a whole suit of early Spring migrants having already arrived in to various parts of the UK. Today there were 4 Northern Wheatear, multiple Sand Martin, handfuls of House Martin and a small sample of Swallow logged across the country today, all with a day left of February to go! Despite the early grot, this afternoon produced a decent return from our Winter Safari Cruise including 3 Goshawk, with a 1st winter having a fight with a Raven over Brownsea before chasing each other off to Rempstone, plus 2 active of RSPB Arne. The adult White-tailed Eagle pair were settled on Goathorn as the tide dropped, waiting for their opportunity to go and hunt. A Great Northern Diver was off Hamworthy Beach, 3 Marsh Harrier were at Swineham, including a displaying male. RSPB Arne Moors held c50 Shoveler and c20 Curlew and the mouth of the Frome (Wareham Channel) saw c20 Grey Plover, c30 Avocet, c400 Dunlin and c50 Common Redshank. The Glossy Ibis flock were feeding on Wareham Common again, just south of the bypass, and a drake Mandarin was at Holmebridge briefly.

Adult White-tailed Eagle pair G466 (left) and G463 (right) on Goathorn from this afternoons Winter Safari Cruise – Alastair Swinnerton 

Firstly, we aplogise for the late sightings as we were all out at our Sunnyside ringing demo during the evening and didn’t get home until late but wow, wow wow….this is the day we have all been waiting for! With the start of the year almost exclusively being grey and rainy, apart from a couple slightly brighter days, Spring landed with a bang toady for multiple reasons. Considering it’s still only Feb 25th, there was a flush of butterflies on the wing including many Brimstones bouncing along woodland edges, Red Admirals enjoying early flowering gardens and migrant Peacock Butterflies moving along coastal sites. Not only that, but the first sub-Saharan migrants also arrived with 3 Sand Martin feeding over Swineham GP this evening whilst multiple Chiffchaff got their spring songs underway. The warmth also saw the harbour Marsh Harrier pair start displaying, Woodlark were in full song near Hartland and in the Lower Piddle Valley and mewing calls of displaying Common Buzzard were much in evidence across multiple skylines. The Swineham ‘egret roost’ was spectacular this evening with c60 Cattle Egret, c30 Little Egret, 2 Great White Egret and 10 Glossy Ibis all swirling around above the gravel pit in one big mega flock having been flushed by a Marsh Harrier…..a scene almost straight from southern France or Spain! During the day, the Glossy Ibis flock were once again feeding out on Wareham Common, just south of the bypass and a Goshawk was seen over Carey from there too. With the clear conditions, other birds of prey seemed to be moving around with a ringtail Hen Harrier soaring high over Rempstone at midday a Red Kite was over Swineham and the White-tailed Eagle pair were soaring over Brownsea and seen heading over Sandbanks towards Bournemouth. On the Studland side, 2 Common Scoter were still out off Middle Beach along with 2 Great Northern Diver and and 4 Black-necked Grebe. Winter still clings on and around the Sunnyside/Hartland area 5+ Jack Snipe were seen along with 10+ Woodcock. 

Jack Snipe – Sunnyside ringing demo – Sunnyside Farm

The slow drop in water levels are attracting the 10 Glossy Ibis flock back to Wareham Common. The long-staying flock were seen this afternoon south of the bypass. Nearby, 46 Cattle Egret were beyond the railway and a singing Blackcap in the trees by Wareham Surgery. Best of the rest, a single Pale-bellied Brent Goose on the Long Island sand spit, viewed from Shipstal Point and the adult Little Gull was at Holes Bay, off the PC World Drain outflow. Eagle activity increased through the day, with as many as four immature White-tailed Eagle moving low over Sandford and heading out towards Swineham at late afternoon.

We had two events running simultaneously today. Our free pop-up at Jerry’s Point, Studland featured five Black-necked Grebe, one Slavonian Grebe, a distant White-tailed Eagle over Goathorn and three Great Northern Diver. Meantime, our Winter Safari enjoyed mudflats peppered with waders up the Wareham Channel at low tide. Star appearances came in from Spoonbill, Sandwich Tern, early signs of Marsh Harrier pairing up, a different Slavonian Grebe in the Central Harbour and a stunning 2021 White-tailed Eagle G542 flyby low over Lilliput towards Brownsea Island. Wader numbers are starting to fall away slowly with Brownsea high tide counts down on previous weeks and consisted of 204 Avocet, 120 Oystercatcher, 9 Grey Plover, 10 Curlew, 99 Bar-tailed Godwit, 17 Black-tailed Godwit, 63 Redshank and 6 Greenshank.

Great Northern Diver – off Baiter Park –  Joe Parker

Fog and yet more precipitation set in through the day, putting a dampener on any potential weekend birding plans. That said, the few hours of dry weather at dawn was enough to run a Stour Ringing Group winter ringing project session visit near Arne featuring a stunning control of a Dutch-ringed and satellite tagged Kestrel(!). Check out the below map tracking the movement of the bird dispersing along the coast and crossing the channel before settling in Poole Harbour for the winter. Otherwise very little reported across the harbour, with a lone Goshawk over Wareham Causeway high towards Swineham at midday and Yellowhammer over Arable Field, Lytchett Bay the only other notable records.

Surprised by this movement? You might be fascinated to learn that Kestrel are actually well documented as partial, passage and winter migrants in UK. The BTO host an excellent summary of all Kestrel that have been ringed or recovered in Britain & Ireland.

Dutch-ringed Kestrel movement since last summer, arriving in the UK during November 2025

A colossal high tide coincided with today’s Winter Safari Cruise. We love to visit Brownsea Lagoon at high water to work through the roosting waders, and today an immature Peregrine had the same idea! After watching the raptor relentlessly chase down roosting birds, we tracked aross to the Middlebere Channel and enjoyed prolonged flight views of two adult White-tailed Eagle. Best of the rest during the trip included, one Black-necked Grebe at Arne Lake, nine Great Northern Diver across the North Channel, South Deep, Middle Mud and Hutchins, plus the two wintering Sandwich Tern off Baiter Park. Red Kite, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and Buzzard also made it on to the boat list for this morning, making for an excellent raptor-fest. Elsewhere across the harbour, the Holes Bay Little Gull was recorded at PC World Drain, along with the supporting cast of female Goosander and Spotted Redshank, while a Green Sandpiper was observed at Arne Moors.

Dunlin high tide roost with Ringed Plover (centre), Poole Quay Breakwater © Joe Parker

Adult winter Little Gull, Holes Bay © Joe Parker

Spotted Redshank, Holes Bay © Joe Parker

A much better day for getting out birding compared to yesterday! 1 Purple Sandpiper was sat on the groyne off Sandbanks beach, further along from it’s usual hangout near the Haven Hotel. Also present was 1 colour-ringed Sanderling, it will be interesting to find out the origin of this bird once we hear back! The 10 Glossy Ibis were once again feeding in the field behind Wareham rugby club, alongside 96 Curlew. 1 Goosander, viewed from the PCW drain, and 1 Little Gull were still present in Holes Bay. A lunchtime walk along Baiter Park, offered up 2 Great Northern Diver and 69 Dark-bellied Brent Geese feeding on the fields including sat-tagged bird ‘SY.’ The high tide wader roost was present on the rocks at Poole Quay with 260 Dunlin and 6 Ringed Plover counted. Over at Hatch Pond there were 325 Black-tailed Godwit flying over heading south, as well as 1 Little Grebe and 2 Raven. 62 Cattle Egret were on Wareham Common this morning, with other birds of note including 1 Mediterranean Gull flying east.

Colour-ringed Sanderling – Mick Brooks – Sandbanks