A crisp morning and stunning sunrise for our Winter Safari Cruise this morning which started off well with a flock of 14 Barnacle Geese flying over Poole Quay and heading towards the Wareham Channel. This is a good record as a rare winter visitor to Poole Harbour. A flock of 10 was later picked up in a field to the west of Swineham gravel pit. Still very good numbers of Great Northern Diver around the harbour with 15 logged on the trip and probably more lurking in other parts of the harbour. We also had 11 Spoonbill off Fitzworth, 2 Marsh Harrier, 12+ Goldeneye, 1 Great White Egret and 1 Pochard at Swineham.

Elsewhere in the harbour the first Scaup of the winter turned up with a female in Brands Bay. Also in Brands Bay were 1 Golden Plover and 1 Slavonian Grebe. In Holes Bay, there were 5 Knot in the NW along with 1 Greenshank and 500+ of both Dunlin and Black-tailed Godwit and the 1 Black-throated Diver was still in the South.

Female Scaup – Brands Bay – @birderOtbt on twitter