Conditions over night evolved into a perfect opportunity for a dawn sea watch, with a SE wind building and rain forecast for mid morning. Poole Bay is a large area that relies on the SE wind to push migrating sea birds closer to the shore as they migrate their way up through the English Channel. Several local Poole birders were out early this AM monitoring migrating sea birds and from Branksome Chine returned with a great bird log. Totals included 7 Arctic Skua, 1 Pomarine Skua, 1 Great Skua, 1 Black Tern, 3 Arctic Tern, numerous Common and Sandwich Tern, c15 Whimbrel, 5 Dunlin, 1 Great Northern Diver, 4 Common Scoter, 1 Red-breasted Merganser, 4 Shelduck, c50 Gannet, 5 Fulmar, a decent passage of Great Black-backed Gulls, several Med Gulls, a single 1^st summer Kittiwake, 1 Hobby and 43 Swallow. A Watch from the top of Ballard Down returned 2 Pomarine Skua, 8 Arctic Skua (5 of which were the same as the Branksome birds), 1 Manx Shearwater, 41 Common Scoter, 3 Brent Geese, 32 Whimbrel, 3 Fulmar and c100 Gannet. And there was more action at the harbour mouth with a single 1^st summer Little Gull, 2 Arctic Tern and 5 Little Tern all logged. At Lytchett Fields there were good numbers of waders with 3 Bar-tailed Godwit, 3 Ruff, 12 Dunlin, 4 Greenshank, 1 Common Sandpiper and the pale-headed Egyptian Goose. 

Knot and Ringed Plover – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam