Mirror calm waters welcomed us this morning for our Wareham River and Harbour Cruise which aided viewing open water species immensely. Plus, it was a perfect harbour day being cold, beautiful and full of birds. Highlights from the boat included the Black-throated Diver close to the boat, along with 2 Great Northern Diver too. A minimum of 5 Guillemot were logged, mostly off the urban shorelines (Baiter, Whitecliff and Poole Port) and there was a good spread of Red-breasted Merganser (minimum of c150), 17 Goldeneye were mostly in the Wareham Channel and c30 Great Crested Grebe were spread around. At Swineham there were 5 Marsh Harrier moving around, also a ringtail Hen Harrier and 2 Egyptian Geese were on the Swineham Scrapes. c150 Lapwing were being flushed by the Marsh Harrier’s around Keysworth and there were 5 Little Grebe in the mouth of the Frome. The Brownsea Lagoon was busy and logged c200 Avocet, 3 Greenshank, c400 Black-tailed Godwit, c100 Bar-tailed Godwit, c200 Dunlin but only a handful of Grey Plover and Knot. Elsewhere the Black Redstart was seen again in the Tatnam area near Longfleet School, and this evening the Glossy Ibis was seen out on the mud of Lytchett Bay. Off Middle Beach, Studland there were 14 Black-necked Grebe and 9 Great Crested Grebe. The over-wintering male Goshawk was also seen in Middlebere again this afternoon.
Excellent comparison shots of today Black-throated Diver (above) and one of the Great Northern Diver (below) from this mornings bird boat – Central Harbour – Alison Copland
Spring seems to be creeping along with more displaying and nest building birds today, including multiple Raven pairs/territories…
Find out moreAlthough you couldn’t see further than 100m for much of the day, there were birds to be found…
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