The day started grim, turned nice for a few minutes, then went grim again, which was a shame as it was our last ‘Bird Boat’ of the calendar year. We didn’t let the weather dampen our spirits though and a good haul of birds were seen with 2 Black-throated Diver bobbing around in the North Channel, 1 Red-throated Diver off Gold Point and 3-4 Great Northern Diver dotted around. We had 7 Spoonbill in the Wareham Channel, a Water Pipit was off Swineham Point with 2 Marsh Harrier in that area too and a Barnacle Goose was on Arne Moors. In South Deep 2 Black-necked Grebe were bobbing about with 2 Goldeneye off Jerry’s Point and an adult male Peregrine was causing havoc in Arne Bay, upsetting c200 Curlew. In the mouth of the Frome there were c300 Avocet and the Brownsea Lagoon saw a whopping c2000 Herring Gull coming into roost. This morning there was still at least 1 Purple Sandpiper on the Sandbanks groynes, the Long-tailed Duck flew into the harbour this morning bang on 8am again along with 7 Great Northern Diver. A male Hen Harrier was seen in Lytchett Bay this morning and both White-tailed Eagles were hunkered down in Brands Bay this evening in the driving rain, keeping a low profile.

Red-breasted Merganser – South Deep