With the wind easing it made for a more pleasant days birding for those out and about. There was a Meadow Pipit passage going o high above the harbour where a vigil from the top of Slepe Heath logged a minimum of c800 passing north but realistically it would have been more than 1000+ with birds crossing in different areas. They were passing on a broad front, but the bulk of the passage seemed to be coming from the Corfe Gap area, over Arne/Wareham Channel area and over Keysworth/Holton Lee. Also logged were 2 Sand Martin over Swineham and weirdly 15 Fieldfare heading high south! A Peregrine was seen taking a wader from Middlebere and the Great White Egret was still at Little Sea. Holes Bay is still holding a few birds with 19 Pintail still, also 210 Wigeon, 6 Shoveler, 52 Shelduck, 10 Great Crested Grebe, and 138 Black-tailed Godwit. On Swineham GP there were 4 Pochard, 13 Great Crested Grebe and 23 Reed Bunting, 5 Cetti’s Warbler and 3 Chiffchaff around the lake. With the winds finally swinging SW on Monday, will we see a greater influx of early common spring migrants?

Plenty of ‘cronking’ Raven around the harbour now