It was a blissful start to the day with no breeze and flat calm waters. As a result it made viewing open bodies of water across the harbour easy and pleasant. Determined to find the Red-necked Grebe that had been seen entering the harbour several times over the last couple of weeks, we scanned several sights before finally finding it off Baiter, feeding around the standings of the old flying boat terminal structure. It was present with 2 Great Northern Diver and 6 Red-breasted Merganser too and in searching for the grebe we also found a Black Redstart along Pearce Avenue, Poole. In Parkstone Bay off Baiter the Slavonian Grebe was present for a second day and was feeding with 3 Goldeneye and 4 Great Crested Grebe. Out in Poole Bay, a scan out from the top of Cliff Drive produced 2 Great Northern Diver, 1 Black-throated Diver, 1 Razorbill and 8 Great Crested Grebe. In Lytchett Bay there were 44 Brent Geese, at dawn the flock of 18 Cattle Egret were seen heading up the Frome Valley and there were 3 Marsh Harrier and the ringtail Hen Harrier seen in the mouth of the Frome off Swineham.

Slavonian Grebe – Baiter Park – Paul Morton