Prolonged rain and near horizontal gusts seem to have kept all but the hardiest birders indoors today, though plenty of birds were not similarly detered. At Lytchett Fields 3 Spotted Redshank were present on the Pools Field, along with 175 Black-tailed Godwit, 54 Common Redshank, 23 Dunlin and a few Wigeon and Teal. A larger group of Wigeon in the Bay was also accompanied by least 2 drake Pintail. Early afternoon White-tailed Eagle flew north over the fields, temporally flushing all of the other species. On the other side of the harbour at Jerry’s Point, Studland this afternoon there were 3 possibly 4 Great Northern Diver, 5 Black-necked Grebe, 8 Great Crested Grebe, 26 Red-breasted Merganser and 6 Goldeneye.

Pintail and Wigeon at Middlebere on Christmas Eve – David Turner