With October now upon us it won’t be long before flocks of Redwing can be heard overhead on cold autumn nights and Fieldfare break the morning silence with mischievous chuckling as they arrive from the north. Talking of visitors from the north, the harbour saw a whacky if not slightly dubious arrival on Monday when a dead Red Grouse was washed up on the beach in front of the cottages on Brownsea! Where it came from is anyone’s guess, but the bird was relatively ‘fresh’ and easily identifiable so perhaps an unwanted bird from a local estate? The ringtail Hen Harrier was again present around the Middlebere/Hartland area. Brownsea is holding some really nice totals at the moment including a whopping flock of 39 Spoonbill which can be viewed on our Brownsea webcam. I’m pretty sure we’ll break the 40 mark this week, and who knows…could we possibly even see 50 by mid October? Also on Brownsea 17 Spotted Redshank, 3 Grey Plover, 4 Knot but only 150 Black-tailed Godwit and 2 Avocet, indicating that a number of the new arrivals have already moved on to their Middlebere wintering area as there were 1029 Black-tailed Godwit and 354 Avocet at Middlebere yesterday. Also at Middlebere 10 Bar-tailed Godwit, 7 Greenshank, 7 Spotted Redshank, 15 Redshank, 1 Yellow-legged Gull, 6 Med Gull, 3 Marsh Harrier and a Peregrine. Out in Brands Bay one of the Great White Egrets was present, also 34 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Osprey, 2 Grey Plover, 210 Black-tailed Godwit, 100 Redshank, 10 Pintail, 4 Whimbrel and 1 Kingfisher. In Holes Bay 5 Ringed Plover and 10 Turnstone were good records, also there 3 Kingfisher, 2 Grey Wagtail and a Common Buzzard.