Today was our last school bird boat of the winter and we welcomed special guests Chris Packham and Lucy McRobert from the AFON group on board as we made our way around what was initially a yucky wet trip, but it soon cleared we were treated to calm waters and a good number of birds. There are still a minimum of 4 Great Northern Diver in the harbour and the 10 Spoonbill were again on Shipstal. An evening watch from the harbour mouth during the low tide saw a huge number of birds taking advantage of the exposed sand bars and shingle banks. Although the majority of birds were made up of Herring and Common Gull, there was also a great mix of other species including 4 Common Scoter in Studland Bay, 9 Black-necked Grebe in and around the harbour mouth, 3 Great Northern Diver in South Deep, 1 Spoonbill in Brands Bay, 11 Ringed Plover in Bramble Bush Bay, 15+ Sanderling on Shell Beach, 1 Sandwich Tern through the harbour mouth, 52 Red-breasted Merganser dotted around, 24 Great Crested Grebe, 300+ Brent Geese, 8 Goldeneye, 1 Rock Pipit, 4 Med Gulls and 4 Turnstone. At Lytchett Pools there were a whopping 10 Water Pipit and 8 Scandinavian Rock Pipit with another 2 Water Pipit near French’s Pools. There were 8 Med Gulls dotted around the Lytchett Fields site and 1 Spotted Redshank, 2 Greenshank, 3 Green Sandpiper and 1 Marsh Harrier were also recorded. 

School Bird Boat with Chris Packham

School Bird Boat with Chris Packham