Sightings11/02/2022

Harbour Update – posted 10/02/22

Sorry for the delay with posting sightings for today. As you may already know, there’s been some information come out today in regards to the Isle of Wight White-tailed Eagle reintroduction project that we wanted to gather together and include in the sightings.

But first, today’s sightings. It’s been a very interesting day of reports, with the highlight being the adult Bonaparte’s Gull in Lytchett Bay still present, best viewed from the Turlin Screen. The Bonaparte’s Gull was first found yesterday evening pre-roost, and was refound this morning amongst the Black-headed Gulls in the bay. Lytchett Fields provided great views of a Brambling using the feeding station again today. Middlebere also brought a few nice reports, especially the 10-12 Golden Plover seen in the channel, along with 1 Great White Egret. At Studland, Middle Beach produced a count of 9 Common Scoter, 3 Black-necked Grebe, 2 Great Crested Grebe and several Mediterranean Gull. Over in Bramble Bush Bay, 3 Sanderling, 3 Turnstone, 2 Redshank, 1 Little Egret, 22 Red-breasted Merganser, 18 Brent Geese, 4 Gadwall and 4 Shoveler were counted. At Swineham, c.350 Lapwing were reported, along with c.100 Dunlin and 1 Marsh Harrier. At Holes Bay, 2 Snipe were reported near Cobb’s Quay.

And now on to the difficult news… We were extremely disappointed to hear that two of the White-tailed Eagles from the Isle of Wight reintroduction have been found dead on the South Coast, one of which, it has been confirmed, was found in Dorset. Results of the post-mortems have not been released, but suggestions are that the deaths of the two birds happened under suspicious circumstances, rather than natural causes. Time will tell.

As a charity, we are even more-so gutted to see the photo of one of the deceased birds featuring a leg ring that appears to read “G461”, the link to which can be found here. Those of you that have been following out updates will know that this individual is the young male that was regularly visiting the harbour in the past months. For many of the people who watched this bird, it was the first time they had ever seen an eagle, and the hope and excitement that was brought for nature restoration South Coast was immeasurable. G461 was also the eagle that was seen on Brownsea Lagoon by a boat full of school children during our School Bird Boat Project last year, swiftly becoming one of the highlights of BoPH’s project work. That experience is now a very poignant moment, and we hope, in spite of what is found in the post-mortem results, that it’s something that can be replicated in the not-too-distant future.

Dorset Police have issued a statement asking for the public to be vigilant and report anything that seems suspicious in relation to the death of this bird, especially as 3 other eagles are currently in Dorset. We now await the results of the post-mortem with baited breath.

Bonaparte’s Gull (left) with Black-headed Gull – Lytchett Bay – Steve Smith

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