Sightings27/01/2021

Harbour Update – posted 27/01/21

Today we were able to run a full harbour survey, the first of the year, in order to census the harbour and to complement the data gathered during the January WeBS on the 10th which was partially incomplete due to covid restrictions. With the settled weather recently there seemed to have been a big clear out of Great Northern Diver with only 2 across the harbour! In contrast we managed a respectable 217 Red-breasted Merganser which is more than the WeBS total of 170. There were 101 Great Crested Grebe and 52 Goldeneye. Of note the 4 Scaup seemed to have relocated to the west side of Green Island and there were 13 Black-necked Grebe logged in total. There were 2 Slavonian Grebe off Jerry’s point and the 4 Long-tailed Duck were also in South Deep. A Black Brant was at Shipstal Beach, Arne and a singles of Hen and Marsh Harrier were in the Wareham Channel. On Swineham GP there were 2 Pochard and 77 Curlew were on the Stilt Pools. Lapwing numbers seemed low with only a single flock of c120 seen. Three different Sparrowhawk were logged in different places and the Brownsea Lagoon held 1 Spotted Redshank, 103 Bar-tailed Godwit, c1500 Black-tailed Godwit, c30 Knot, c60 Grey Plover, 8 Sanderling, c20 Ringed Plover, 4 Greenshank and c120 Avocet. In total only 17 Spoonbill remain with 13 on Shipstal and 4 roosting on ‘Gull Islands’, which was a first for us. In Holes Bay there were 1476 Wigeon, 1000+ Black-tailed Godwit, c170 Avocet, 150+ Dunlin, 31 Curlew plus still good numbers of Pintail and Shoveler with a single Goldeneye in Holes Bay NE. The PCW Drain still held the Siberian Chiffchaff as well as 10 Common Chiffchaff, 1 Firecrest, 4 Goldcrest, 1 Cetti’s Warbler, 1 Kingfisher and 1 Grey Wagtail.

Siberian Chiffchaff – PCW Drain 

Black Brant – Shipstal Beach, RSPB Arne

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