We apologise for the late sightings post, but last night we hosted our last public ringing demo at Sunnyside which once again was a great success and was finished off perfectly with our first Lapwing caught during a demo. Although the birds seemed ‘jumpier’ last night and reluctant to stay still, we still managed to catch 3 Jack Snipe, 1 Woodcock, 1 Pied Wagtail and the Lapwing. Interestingly, one of the Jack Snipe was a re-trap from January 2020, and aged as a 1st winter back then, meaning it made it’s first migration to Poole Harbour in autumn 2019! And here we are in late winter 2022 and it’s returning to exactly the same area of fields. In total a minimum of 10 Jack Snipe were seen across the site, along with 8+ Woodcock, with 6 more seen up near Scotland Farm. At Swineham 2 Great White Egret now seem to be semi permanent on the pits, at Holes Bay, the first ‘passage’ Red Kite of the spring drifted over. These will become more frequent now as we move into March and April with peak passage seeming to occur in late April/early May. The male Goshawk was once again seen to bomb it’s way down through Middlebere and a male Merlin was on Hartland whilst the ringtail Hen Harrier was seen briefly near Middlebere. From Middle Beach, Studland there were 15 Black-necked Grebe, 1 Slavonian Grebe, 7 Common Scoter and 1 Great Northern Diver whilst off Redhorn Point, there were 4 Goldeneye and 3 Scaup. 

Jack Snipe – Sunnyside – Brittany Maxted

Lapwing – Sunnyside – Brittany Maxted