Today we took out our first School Bird Boat of the winter and we were lucky with the weather, having only 6mph winds for a calm and pleasant cruise.  An Osprey was spotted first thing flying directly over the Birds of Poole Harbour Office. 4 further Osprey were recorded with 3 together at Holes Bay and 1 seen at the same time close to the boat, resulting in an unusually high number for this time in the year. Also recorded from the boat were 2 Peregrine, c30 Spoonbill, c50 Avocet, 4 Sandwich Tern and 6 Dark-bellied Brent Geese. A Wheatear was also seen at Holes Bay. 

Brownsea Lagoon was flourishing today with a variety of species recorded including 2 Curlew Sandpiper, 3 Spotted Redshank, 14 Knot, 12 Greenshank, 52 Bar-tailed Godwit, 10 Ringed Plover, 6 Grey Plover, 1 Sanderling, c12 Curlew, 2 Kingfisher, 3 Firecrest and a Cetti’s Warbler (a rare sighting for Brownsea).

At Greenlands Farm there was a single Whinchat, 6 Wheatear and plenty of Chiffchaff. We also carried out our first night ringing session of the autumn in the south of the harbour which resulted in a handful of Common Snipe seen (1 caught and ringed) and a single Jack Snipe seen.

At Middlebere there were 24 Wigeon, 800+ Black-tailed Godwits , 300+ Avocet, 4 Redshank, 9 Shelduck, 1 Sparrowhawk, 2 Spotted Flycatchers around the barns along with 10+ Chiffchaff.