There was some good coverage today with a decent range of species logged. At Middlebere the ringtail Hen Harrier flew by the hide and on the mud there were c250 Avocet, c150 Lapwing, 31 Curlew, 110 Dunlin, 27 Grey Plover, 1 Spotted Redshank, 1 Greenshank and 2 Firecrest were around the cottages. In the Frome Valley a Great White Egret was with a few Little Egret, but for some reason this winter we’re totally devoid of Cattle Egret. Our Poole Town walk came up trumps with a Slavonian Grebe in Parkstone Bay along with 2 Great Northern Diver off Baiter and on Poole Park Lake 4 Goldeneye and 1 Red-breasted Merganser were present. Off Jerry’s point there were 3 Great Northern Diver, 2 Slavonian Grebe, 1 Black-necked Grebe, 39 Red-breasted Merganser, 12 Sanderling and 25 Turnstone and in Brands Bay 2 Black-necked Grebe, 1 Great Northern Diver, 3 Bar-tailed Godwit, c600 Black-tailed Godwit and good numbers of Pintail. In the Wareham Channel only 3 Marsh Harrier have been present in the last few days and the Merlin was on its roosting post this evening. Finally the 4 Scaup were still in Holes Bay SE this morning.

Red-breasted Merganser – Poole Park – Rene Goad