Another brilliant Winter Safari Cruise this morning with the flat calm conditions permitting excellent views of 1 Black-throated Diver in the North Channel, along with a distant Velvet Scoter, 3 nearby Great Northern Diver, 2 Sandwich Tern, and a flock of 60 Bar-tailed Godwit. In the southern reaches of the harbour we encountered 750 Brent Geese, 1 Spoonbill, 6 Black-necked Grebe, 6 Eider (the usual group of five in the central harbour and a single female off Goathorn), plus 12 Goldeneye: one of our highest counts this winter! In the Wareham Channel there were 4 Marsh Harrier interacting as they quartered the reedbeds, where a small flock of Bearded Tit was heard and briefly seen. Another 2 Spoonbill were feeding on the rising tide, along with 90 Avocet, 25 Lapwing, 300 Dunlin, 1 Greenshank. Both Grey and Common Seal were also seen on the trip, along with the briefest glimpse of an Otter in the entrance to the River Frome!

Elsewhere between Studland and Shell Bays there was 1 Black-throated Diver (possibly the same individual seen from our cruise), 2 Great Northern Diver, 5 Common Scoter, 11 Black-necked Grebe, 9 Great Crested Grebe and 22 Sanderling, while just inside the harbour off Jerry’s Point there was also 1 Slavonian Grebe. In Lytchett Bay from Rock Lea View 150 Avocet, 50 Oystercatcher, 15 Lapwing, 30 Curlew and 2 Black-tailed Godwit, and in the Middlebere Channel a ringtail Hen Harrier was present this morning.