MERRY CHRISTMAS from the entire BoPH crew. We hope you’ve had an amazing day and that 2023 brings you all the birding joys you deserve!

We’re going to keep it short and sweet this evening as there’s Christmas dinner left over’s to be had, so the main highlights were 3 Slavonian Grebe around the Studland Peninsular with 1 off Jerry’s Point, 1 in Shell Bay and off Middle Beach. Also off Middle Beach was 1 Great Northern Diver and 2 Black-necked Grebe. At Middlebere there were 23 Spoonbill. In the Wareham Channel this morning 2 White-tailed Eagle were present as were 6 Marsh Harrier. 

Before the daty draws to an end, we’d like to give Christmas 2022 message…….As 2022 draws to a close, it’s given us time to reflect on what’s been an incredible year for our charity in terms of what’s been achieved and the excitement that’s built across Poole Harbour over the last 12 months. There’s no doubt that the period between 2020 & 2021 saw huge challenges, not just for small charities like ours but entire communities and individuals alike. However, 2022 saw resilience and determination begin to re-build which has been reflected in the support and interest in all our work across the board.

There’s no doubt that our biggest achievement this year was finally seeing Osprey’s successfully raise young on the south coast, which was a direct result of the reintroduction we began in 2017. Our female CJ7 and male 022 raised two youngsters, and many thousands of people enjoyed watching the drama unfold on the live webcam. In August, we hosted 30 Osprey cruises and sold 1600 tickets which was a massive increase compared to the 3 Osprey trips we hosted back in 2017. In fact, support for all our events across the year grew as did the audience we engaged and communicated with, which was brilliant.

Other projects we saw develop and completed this year was the installation of the new Ham Common view point in partnership with BCP Council and Rockley Holiday Park, the new wader protection zone at Studland in partnership with the National Trust, the continuation of our School Bird Boat projected which is funded by LUSH, the completion of a full breeding raptors of Poole Harbour study which will be published in the New Year, as well as other multiple projects, events, talks and media appearances which has helped build the charity.

Our team are primed and ready to make 2023 an even bigger success and can’t wait to see many (hopefully all) of year over the coming year. The support and kindness we’ve received from everyone over the years has made Birds of Poole Harbour the charity it is today, and we couldn’t do any of it without you.

So, from all of us here at ‘BoPH’, we’d like to say a MASSIVE thank you for your support and to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and an amazing New Year.

Here’s to an action packed 2023 x

Christmas Day Birding – Middlebere – Barbara Bisset