After some patience and detective work, Water Pipit “1K” (ringed last winter at Lytchett Fields) made another appearance on the fields. This is the 9th field record of 1K since ringing, but it has yet to be observed beyond the ringing site. Hopefully these colour ringed birds will be observed on migration or on territory at their high altitude breeding grounds over the coming seasons. The Bay also logged its first Red-breasted Merganser for the season, with a raft of 7 welcoming in the new month. The 4 Velvet Scoter continue to show off Middle Beach, Studland and a female Goosander was still present in the NE Holes Bay sector, while a Kingfisher was logged along shoreline and the male Tufted Duck was still off the PC World drain. Middlebere enjoy a stunning disoute between a male and female Merlin with a ringtail Hen Harrier for 20 minutes!

The evening saw us hosted our second public ringing demo of the winter at Sunnyside. It was another successful session, in fact our best ever with 4 Jack Snipe (including one originally ringed in Nov 2019!), 1 Common Snipe, 3 Woodcock, 1 Redwing and 1 Pied Wagtail caught for the group.

Jack Snipe & Common Snipe – Sunnyside Ringing Demo – Steve and Julie Smith