This morning a Poole Harbour raptor count included 4 Marsh Harrier out of the roost, including 2 sub adult males, 2 Osprey out in the Wareahm Channel including the individual that’s been faithful to the Keysworth fence posts for about a month, 1 Hobby over the Moors, 1 Sparrowhawk, 3 Kestrel and 4 Buzzards. No Merlin have been seen yet, but like with Hen Harrier, it should be any day now that we see our firsts of the winter. There were 7 Woodlark calling over Soldiers Road.

A high tide count at RSPB Lytchett Fields today saw a whopping 1181 birds using the site. This is an incredible total for a couple of soggy fields and although admittedly the majority were Teal and Black-headed Gulls it highlights how important the site is on a large high tide during peak migration time. The counts from  the 2 public viewpoints consisted of……

Field 3 & 4 combined – Sherford Pools

236 Teal

1 Wood Sandpiper

1 Moorhen

5 Greenshank

1 Ruff

21 Redshank

9 BT Godwit

29 Dunlin

3 Snipe

6 Little Egret

1 Kingfisher

5 Lapwing

27 BH Gull

1 Green Sandpiper

1 Herring Gull

Field 5 – Frenche’s Pools

1 Curlew

3 Greenshank

256 Teal

2 Moorhen

63 BT Godwit

1 Knot

27 Lapwing

4 Snipe

18 Dunlin

3 Little Egret

27 Redshank

71 BH Gull

1 Ringed Plover

1 Green Sandpiper

5 Wigeon