A freezing day again today, meaning that much of the harbour was frozen this morning, including the Brownsea Lagoon. That didn’t stop our Winter Safari though this morning, which brought us great views of 10+ Bearded Tit in the mouth of the River Frome as well as 3 Marsh Harrier and 1 Peregrine. We also had 5 Spoonbill and a female-type Scaup in the Wareham Channel, likely the same bird from Sunday. The White-tailed Eagle pair were on show as well, distantly soaring in the sunshine up over Rempstone and Studland. At least 12 Great Northern Diver were still widely distributed around the harbour. As Brownsea was frozen most of the birds had departed the lagoon, but there was still a flock of 50 Bar-tailed Godwit and 2 Greenshank.

It seems most of the birds in the harbour had gone to Holes Bay due to the ice with impressive counts of 3212 Black-tailed Godwit, 562 Dunlin and 60 Knot. 1 Ringtail Hen Harrier was in Lytchett Bay as well as 1 on the Arne Peninsula. At Middlebere there were 1 Spotted Redshank and 1 Spoonbill.

Ringtail Hen Harrier – Mark Wright