This weekend saw the Dorset Wildlife Trusts Wild about Brownsea weekend where members of the public could visit the island and get involved in a whole manner of activities and learn about Brownsea unique wildlife. The DWT kindly invited us to sit in the Mac Hide all weekend and talk to people about the birds of Poole Harbour and the conservation work that is carried out to protect them. Obviously some bird watching took place in between talking to people and some great birds were seen. The biggest surprise was when a Honey Buzzard drifted across the lagoon upsetting all of the Common Tern colony.  Other highlights included 3 Roseate Terns on Sunday afternoon along with an Arctic Tern earlier in the afternoon.  There were 6 Avocet including a colour-ringed bird I couldn’t quite make out the colour combination, also 2 Sanderling, 1 Dunlin, 240 pairs of Sandwich Terns, 100+ pairs of Common Tern plus all the usual Oystercatcher, Gadwall, noisy Black-headed Gulls and the lovely breeding Yellow-legged Gulls. Also a newly fledged Med Gull, but as none have bred on Brownsea this year it must have come from somewhere else in the harbour. All in all a total of 34 species were recorded on the lagoon over 2 days including four species of Tern and six species of Gull. If you haven’t been to witness one of Dorset’s best bird spectacles I highly recommend you get over there in the next couple of weeks