What a great day it was to have a Pimms or two (or three or four). Not so good when you get a phone call at 17:30 saying a BLACK STORK had just been photographed flying low over the Arne Road, and I’m stuck at home unable to drive. However, the search was on and local birders Steve Smith and Nick Hopper took on the challenge. A good vantage point was needed to see if the bird was flying between sites and eventually after about 30 minutes it was seen flying over Arne and dipping into the Middlebere area. Another search proved fruitless until it was then seen flying over Middlebere towards the Wytch Channel where it eventually settled and was joined by 3 Spoonbill. This was the 6^th Poole Harbour record, which includes two historical reports of birds shot in 1839 and 1849 with all six records bar one coming from Middlebere, the other being at Lytchett Bay in May 2011. Migrants along the Middlebere track this morning included 1 Garden Warbler, 3 Sedge Warbler, 3 Whitethroat, numerous Willow Warbler and Blackcap, the Barn Own was seen briefly and 2 Green Sandpiper were out in the channel. On RSPB Lytchett Fields there was 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Ruff, 13 Dunlin, 1 juv Marsh Harrier, 111 Black-tailed Godwit, 61 Redshank, 5 Greenshank, 11 Green Sandpiper and 2 adult Yellow-legged Gull.

Black Stork with 3 Spoonbill – Wytch Lake (near Middlebere) Aidan Brown