Finally, some cold, crisp winter evenings have descended upon us. There’s nothing better than a fading orange glow on a winter horizon as corvids call whilst they enter roosts and Tawny Owls begin courtship battles in the twilight. The last couple of evenings have seen lovely November sunsets, although slightly ruined by having to turn the heating on when we’ve got home! That said, this morning also saw a perfect sunrise, and another decent haul of 22 Marsh Harrier out of the west harbour roost. Then chaos pursued as one of the White-tailed Eagles thats currently present decided to pay a visit to Swineham where c300 geese have recently been residing. It was no surprise that once it had arrived over Swineham, all the geese took to the air and scarpered. By later in the day, Marsh Harrier had dispersed to Lytchett Bay, Brands Bay, Holmebridge and Middlebere. Holes Bay Wigeon totals were still growing with 1263 present today with 98 Shoveler and 27 Pintail. The Creekmoor Ponds Wood Duck continues to be popular with more visitors today, and with this mornings still conditions several pulses of Wood Pigeon were on the move but only smaller flocks of 400-500 over the harbour. Worryingly there was only a single Black-necked Grebe off Middle Beach this evening, when there should be double figures by now. Spoonbill were spread between Arne (16) and Brownsea (17) today.

Finally, we know that webcams were a big focus and source of hope during lockdown, especially our Brownsea Lagoon webcams. So when our system broke down about a year ago, we were keen to get a new system up and running that would bring that focus back. Finally, after a few teething issues, we’ve now got a completely new system, with new cameras operating meaning you can now view the Brownsea Lagoon 365 days a year again. Today Spoonbill were the stars, as were hundreds of Avocet. The links to the webcams can be found on the webcams page of our website or by following the links below.

Screen grabs of Spoonbill and Avocet on the new Brownsea Webcams this morning