Frome flood fields held a single Cattle Egret. It’s great to see at least one bird over-wintering as this species was once rare in Britain and Dorset until 2006, but by 2009 it had been removed from the BBRC list. In autumn 2018, numerous records were obtained from several sites around the harbour with a max count of 7 birds in the Frome Valley and by December 2018 a flock of 20 were frequent in the Frome valley. The flooded fields also supported c100 Black-tailed Godwit, 20 Lapwing and plenty of Black-headed Gulls.

A very wet but packed Middlebere channel featured c2000 wildfowl, c350 Avocet, 5 Spotted Redshank, 30 Curlew, 150 Lapwing and a splattering of Black-tailed Godwit. Within the space of 20 minutes, both Peregrine and juvenile Marsh Harrier made a welcome appearance to the channel.

A grand total of 7 wader species could be found along Baiter Park this morning with 12 Turnstone, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Black-tailed Godwit, 100+ Oystercatcher, 2 Dunlin, 4 Redshank and 2 Greenshank. The Great Northern Divercontinued to show off Baiter slipway today. A drake Goldeneye was also present on Poole Park throughout the day.

Greenshank – Baiter Park – Paul Morton