HAPPY NEW YEAR! With a nice block of high pressure sitting over us for the start of the new year it made for a nice start to New Year birding, with plenty of people out building their 2019 lists!

The harbour received some good coverage and saw the White-fronted Goose at Bestwall with the Greylag flock, 1 Ruff and 6 Golden Plover flushed off the Keysworth estate by gunfire, which then flew up and headed up the Piddle Valley. 7 Cattle Egret were in fields below the Worgret Manor, which were viewable from Bog Lane along with c200 Redwing and Fieldfare too and a good finch flock consisting mainly of Chaffinch but would well be worth watching for scarcer species over the course of the winter. A Great White Egret was at Little Sea, Studland. The Mandarin Duck was still in Poole Park and was joined by a feral (and un-tickable) Bar-headed Goose (as lovely as it is though) with 4 Goldeneye still on the main lake. Three Great Northern Diver were logged with 2 in Brands Bay and 1 off Baiter.  Off Shipstal Point there were 21 Spoonbill. Off Middle Beach, Studland there were 12 Black-necked Grebe and a single Slavonian Grebe with another 6 Black-necked Grebe in Bramble Bush Bay. A ringtail Hen Harrier was in Poole Harbour west and 2 Marsh Harrier were in the mouth of the Frome. In Bramble Bush Bay a high count of 31 Sanderling were on the shoreline and 3 Sandwich Tern were off Baiter. At Arne there were 2 Firecrest with another at Upton CP. In Holes Bay north, a good selection of waders and wildfowl filled the mudflats and tideline with Avocet, Pintail, Knot, Black-tailed Godwit, Shoveler, Teal and Wigeon all present in good numbers. At Norden sewagae works there were 4 Chiffchaff and 1 Firecrest with a further c10 Chiffchaff at the PC World drain, consisting on 2 pale tristis types.