Torrential rain in the harbour, but that didn’t put us off from our Winter Safari Cruise this morning. Plenty of good birds to be seen despite the weather with 6 Great Northern Diver and 2 Black-throated Diver flying in to the harbour entrance and 1 Black-throated Diver was later off the south-western end of Green Island. There were also 1 Velvet Scoter and at least 4 Great Northern Diver off Jerry’s Point. With there being so much rain recently and with the tide so high (a foot above prediction), some of the classic roosting spots were flooded throughout the harbour. Up the River Frome Valley there were c200 Black-tailed Godwit and c50 Lapwing being moved by 5-6 Marsh Harrier that were coursing this area. On the Brownsea Lagoon a lot of the islands were flooded, but a huge number of birds were roosting in the shallow water with c500 Avocet, c500 Black-tailed Godwit, 12 Greenshank and c20 Bar-tailed Godwit. Similar conditions too in Holes Bay with not much space for roosting birds, so 200+ Avocet was the best. 1 male Hen Harrier flew through the Middlebere Channel this afternoon.