We hope everyone had a good Christmas and Boxing Day. What a beautiful day today was. Our main highlight (although not in the harbour) was finding a Black Kite just north of the harbour, near Almer. This is a decent winter record with most UK Black Kite records being during spring and autumn periods of migration. Winter records usually mean they’re over-wintering in particular areas, so there’s a good chance it could stick around. They’re subtly different to Red Kite with a notable shallow fork in the tail, with a much darker upper wing pattern and darker rufous on the underside. They’re also not as ‘lanky’ as Red Kite with much shorter, narrower wings (like a Buzzard) and they’re overall a bit stockier. We managed to get a short video grab before it drifted off which shows some of the key features. From around the harbour it was quite quite sightings wise, with 2 Slavonian Grebe in Studland Bay, 1 Cattle Egret on Wareham Common and 3 in Lytchett Minster the only other notable from the day.
Despite the cold, overcast start to the day, by lunchtime the harbour was basking in glorious spring sunshine…
Find out moreA pretty chilly day still, but with things due to warm up a bit later in the week,…
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