Today was grim, grim, grim and in amongst it all were the Poole Harbour WEBS counters trying their best to log the harbour’s wader and wildfowl totals. No easy task in 30mph winds and driving rain, but carry on regardless they did and managed to muster a Red-throated Diver into the harbour through the harbour mouth, 200 Brent Geese on Baiter and 5 Goldeneye in Poole Park, with 2 Sandwich Tern in Parkstone Bay. Because much of the harbour failed to drain away on the low tide, wader numbers were fairly spare with c220 Avocet feeding in the Wareham Channel and only a handful in the mouth of Middlebere and Wytch Lake, whereas further up the river valley’s Good numbers of Lapwing, Black-tailed Godwit and Curlew were feeding on flooded areas such as Arne Moors and Bestwall. In Middlebere a Great White Egret was feeding late afternoon and Spoonbills were spread across Arne Bay, Holes Bat NE, Lytchett Bay and the Brownsea Lagoon.  There was some fascinating news from Sunnyside, just next to Ridge where The Stour Ringing Group re-caught a Jack Snipe that was first ringed in November 2013, proving winter site fidelity of this species at this specific site. We’re not sure how often this has been proven of this species anywhere in the UK, plus the bird was an adult when it was first ringed four years ago so it’s a hardy little thing too. 

 Black-tailed Godwits – Holes Bay – Simon Buckell