As we know birds are currently arriving or moving through the harbour in numbers at present and it’s always nice to receive info of high profile birds using the harbour. We recently received info from the RSPB’s Skydancer Project informing us that two sat-tagged Hen Harrier had recently used the harbour.  First there was a juvenile male Hen Harrier, which was tagged in mid-Wales in summer 2017 and after roosting in Poole Harbour on 5^th October he then continued another 333km SSE and roosted not far east of Chateaubriant in Pays de la Loire region of northern France on the night of the 6^th. He then moved another 85km south west and roosted just south of Nantes on the 7^thbefore moving another 55km to the coast near Challans on the 8^th where he seems to have settled. Then a juvenile female Hen Harrier that was tagged in Scotland in summer 2017 moved south out of Scotland on 1^st October spending 1 night in the North Pennines, 1 night on the North York Moors, 2 nights on the east side of London and 1 night to the east of Portsmouth. She roosted in Poole Harbour for 2 nights on 6^th and 7^th October before moving off north-west to Exmoor National Park. Seeing these incredible birds is often nice enough, but having a back-story to them is a wonderful added bonus. The Stilt Sandpiper was again in Middlebere for most of the morning before heading off around 15:30. With wind and rain intermittent throughout the day birding was pretty tough going with just the Wood Sandpiper, 1 Curlew Sandpiper and 5 Ruff on Lytchett Fields. There as a late Hobby hawking insects over Slepe Heath with 1 Merlin and 4 Marsh Harrier frequenting Poole Harbour west. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 64 Spoonbill and 14 Spotted Redshank counted. 

Juv male Hen Harrier – mid-Wales – RSPB Skydancer project