Wow its cold! Often with these icy blasts from the north we see arrivals of scarcer species into the harbour like ‘grey geese’ species such as White-fronted Geese, Pink-footed etc and even birds like Bewick’s and Whooper Swan, so if when out and about you see flocks of wildfowl or swans flying over, certainly in the Frome and Piddle Valley area its well worth giving them all a good look. Golden Plover is another bird to look out for during cold weather and with snow forecast north of us in central and eastern England in the coming days then it could well force some of these birds down our way. Today saw a light passage of thrush first thing this morning with both Redwing and Fieldfare on the move in small numbers overhead. Lytchett Bay on the low tide was full of birds as was Holes Bay and Upton Country Park with Lytchett Bay holding 13 Spoonbill, 32 Brent Geese, 73 Avocet, 181 Black-tailed Godwit and an adult ringtail Hen Harrier. In Holes Bay mid afternoon the low tide produced c50 Avocet in Holes Bay NE and good numbers of Black-tailed Godwit, Oystercatcher, Wigeon, Teal Shelduck. Poole Park boating had only 3 Goldeneye on it today but 11 Little Grebe, 1 Kingfisher and 3 Grey Wagtail around the site. At Arne around 300 Avocet were spooked in the mid morning sun by a Peregrine, which provided startled beauty in as much it looked incredible with black and white twisting and turning in the sun beams, but not very beautiful for the Avocets. There were also 2 Marsh Harrier a Merlin at a Water Pipit in Middlebere too. In Poole Harbour west it seems the Hen Harriers were unsettled by a large herd of Sika Deer moving through their normal roosting spot with neither the recent male or female settling down tonight. Our ringing site up on Ballard, which will soon be drawing to a close for the season in the next couple of days ringed another stunning adult male Brambling. Woodcock numbers seem to be building with 3 seen flying over the Arne Road at dusk, and according to the Woodcock network website, an arrival in from Scandinavia over the last 24 hours has swelled numbers.  

Male Brambling – Ballard Down – Olly Slessor

Rock Pipit – Whitley Lake, Sandbanks – Ian Ballam

Water Pipit – Middlebere – Ian Ballam

Avocet – Middlebere – Ian Ballam