Although the ice had largely gone, the cold was very much still in the wind, but with a lot of snow forecast for much of the country over the coming days, will we see the birding benefits? This afternoon a fantastic count of 52 Russian White-fronted Geese landed on Swineham GP, having gone missing from their favourite fields at Ridge since January 5th. The Tundra Bean Geese were also at Binnegar again this morning, but were seen heading in from the harbour direction about 9:15am, so they could be roosting somewhere in the Frome Valley at night? The Yellow-browed Warbler was pleasing crowds at Hatch Pond pretty much all day and this morning the Black-throated Diver entered the harbour just after sunrise. There was 1 Purple Sandpiper on the angled groyne at Sandbanks near the Haven Hotel, 5 Great Northern Diver were spread across northern areas of the harbour and there was 1 each of Black-necked Grebe and Slavonian Grebe off Jerry’s Point. The roaming Glossy Ibis of 10 flock were seen around Wareham and headed to the Swineham roost at dusk, plus there were 20+ Cattle Egret in fields around the west of Wareham. A Green-winged Teal was found out from Shipstal Point, RSPB Arne this afternoon.

We also received some fascinating extra news today in relation to a sat-tagged dark-bellied Brent Goose, ring number ‘SY’, that was seen and photographed by Simon Johnson on December 29th at Baiter, and again by our team member Mya Bambrick at the start of the year. Not only have we received the ringing location back which was in March 2025 at Butjadingen, Lower-Saxony in NW Germany, we’ve also received tracking maps highlighting the birds migration route, breeding grounds and over-wintering site from the last 11 months. Plus, a detailed map of this birds movements around Poole Harbour since it’s arrival in early November. This is such great data for a bird that we see so frequently, but often don’t take too much notice of!

Dark-bellied Brent Goose ‘SY’ photographed on Dec 29th by Simon Johnson – Baiter Park

Data highlighting ‘SYs’ migration route, breeding location and over-wintering location

Data highlighting ‘SYs’ movemnets around Poole Harbour since it’s arrival in early November. 

Tricky to photograph Yellow-browed Warbler – Hatch Pond – Rene Goad