Firstly, we aplogise for the late sightings as we were all out at our Sunnyside ringing demo during the evening and didn’t get home until late but wow, wow wow….this is the day we have all been waiting for! With the start of the year almost exclusively being grey and rainy, apart from a couple slightly brighter days, Spring landed with a bang toady for multiple reasons. Considering it’s still only Feb 25th, there was a flush of butterflies on the wing including many Brimstones bouncing along woodland edges, Red Admirals enjoying early flowering gardens and migrant Peacock Butterflies moving along coastal sites. Not only that, but the first sub-Saharan migrants also arrived with 3 Sand Martin feeding over Swineham GP this evening whilst multiple Chiffchaff got their spring songs underway. The warmth also saw the harbour Marsh Harrier pair start displaying, Woodlark were in full song near Hartland and in the Lower Piddle Valley and mewing calls of displaying Common Buzzard were much in evidence across multiple skylines. The Swineham ‘egret roost’ was spectacular this evening with c60 Cattle Egret, c30 Little Egret, 2 Great White Egret and 10 Glossy Ibis all swirling around above the gravel pit in one big mega flock having been flushed by a Marsh Harrier…..a scene almost straight from southern France or Spain! During the day, the Glossy Ibis flock were once again feeding out on Wareham Common, just south of the bypass and a Goshawk was seen over Carey from there too. With the clear conditions, other birds of prey seemed to be moving around with a ringtail Hen Harrier soaring high over Rempstone at midday a Red Kite was over Swineham and the White-tailed Eagle pair were soaring over Brownsea and seen heading over Sandbanks towards Bournemouth. On the Studland side, 2 Common Scoter were still out off Middle Beach along with 2 Great Northern Diver and and 4 Black-necked Grebe. Winter still clings on and around the Sunnyside/Hartland area 5+ Jack Snipe were seen along with 10+ Woodcock. 

Jack Snipe – Sunnyside ringing demo – Sunnyside Farm

The slow drop in water levels are attracting the 10 Glossy Ibis flock back to Wareham Common. The long-staying flock were seen this afternoon south of the bypass. Nearby, 46 Cattle Egret were beyond the railway and a singing Blackcap in the trees by Wareham Surgery. Best of the rest, a single Pale-bellied Brent Goose on the Long Island sand spit, viewed from Shipstal Point and the adult Little Gull was at Holes Bay, off the PC World Drain outflow. Eagle activity increased through the day, with as many as four immature White-tailed Eagle moving low over Sandford and heading out towards Swineham at late afternoon.

We had two events running simultaneously today. Our free pop-up at Jerry’s Point, Studland featured five Black-necked Grebe, one Slavonian Grebe, a distant White-tailed Eagle over Goathorn and three Great Northern Diver. Meantime, our Winter Safari enjoyed mudflats peppered with waders up the Wareham Channel at low tide. Star appearances came in from Spoonbill, Sandwich Tern, early signs of Marsh Harrier pairing up, a different Slavonian Grebe in the Central Harbour and a stunning 2021 White-tailed Eagle G542 flyby low over Lilliput towards Brownsea Island. Wader numbers are starting to fall away slowly with Brownsea high tide counts down on previous weeks and consisted of 204 Avocet, 120 Oystercatcher, 9 Grey Plover, 10 Curlew, 99 Bar-tailed Godwit, 17 Black-tailed Godwit, 63 Redshank and 6 Greenshank.

Great Northern Diver – off Baiter Park –  Joe Parker

Fog and yet more precipitation set in through the day, putting a dampener on any potential weekend birding plans. That said, the few hours of dry weather at dawn was enough to run a Stour Ringing Group winter ringing project session visit near Arne featuring a stunning control of a Dutch-ringed and satellite tagged Kestrel(!). Check out the below map tracking the movement of the bird dispersing along the coast and crossing the channel before settling in Poole Harbour for the winter. Otherwise very little reported across the harbour, with a lone Goshawk over Wareham Causeway high towards Swineham at midday and Yellowhammer over Arable Field, Lytchett Bay the only other notable records.

Surprised by this movement? You might be fascinated to learn that Kestrel are actually well documented as partial, passage and winter migrants in UK. The BTO host an excellent summary of all Kestrel that have been ringed or recovered in Britain & Ireland.

Dutch-ringed Kestrel movement since last summer, arriving in the UK during November 2025

A colossal high tide coincided with today’s Winter Safari Cruise. We love to visit Brownsea Lagoon at high water to work through the roosting waders, and today an immature Peregrine had the same idea! After watching the raptor relentlessly chase down roosting birds, we tracked aross to the Middlebere Channel and enjoyed prolonged flight views of two adult White-tailed Eagle. Best of the rest during the trip included, one Black-necked Grebe at Arne Lake, nine Great Northern Diver across the North Channel, South Deep, Middle Mud and Hutchins, plus the two wintering Sandwich Tern off Baiter Park. Red Kite, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and Buzzard also made it on to the boat list for this morning, making for an excellent raptor-fest. Elsewhere across the harbour, the Holes Bay Little Gull was recorded at PC World Drain, along with the supporting cast of female Goosander and Spotted Redshank, while a Green Sandpiper was observed at Arne Moors.

Dunlin high tide roost with Ringed Plover (centre), Poole Quay Breakwater © Joe Parker

Adult winter Little Gull, Holes Bay © Joe Parker

Spotted Redshank, Holes Bay © Joe Parker

A much better day for getting out birding compared to yesterday! 1 Purple Sandpiper was sat on the groyne off Sandbanks beach, further along from it’s usual hangout near the Haven Hotel. Also present was 1 colour-ringed Sanderling, it will be interesting to find out the origin of this bird once we hear back! The 10 Glossy Ibis were once again feeding in the field behind Wareham rugby club, alongside 96 Curlew. 1 Goosander, viewed from the PCW drain, and 1 Little Gull were still present in Holes Bay. A lunchtime walk along Baiter Park, offered up 2 Great Northern Diver and 69 Dark-bellied Brent Geese feeding on the fields including sat-tagged bird ‘SY.’ The high tide wader roost was present on the rocks at Poole Quay with 260 Dunlin and 6 Ringed Plover counted. Over at Hatch Pond there were 325 Black-tailed Godwit flying over heading south, as well as 1 Little Grebe and 2 Raven. 62 Cattle Egret were on Wareham Common this morning, with other birds of note including 1 Mediterranean Gull flying east.

Colour-ringed Sanderling – Mick Brooks – Sandbanks

Pretty grim weather for any birders out there today, with very limited sightings as expected! Amongst the stormy weather were 3 Kittiwake seen from Branksome Chine this morning. If you regularly read our sightings page, you may have seen us post about a BTO metal ringed Black-headed Gull, seen from Baiter Park Car Park, which was originally ringed as an adult in Dec 2011. Well today we got the data back from the BTO and turns out it was ringed at Poole Park, a stunning movement of 2km! Joking aside, if you ever see a ringed bird when out birding, try your best to read it, and submit to the BTO. It’s all really important data, to enable us to find out more about a whole range of aspects of bird ecology and behaviour including longevity, site fidelity, and movements.

Metal ringed Black-headed Gull, Baiter Park 16 Feb © Joe Parker

Today’s Young Birders ID Course (a project kindly supported by the Cameron Bespolka Trust) capitalised on the excellent low tide this afternoon, enjoying close views of three Slavonian Grebe, eight Black-necked Grebe, three Great Northern Diver, 38 Sanderling, Dartford Warbler and Firecrest, plus a stunning carpet of Dark-bellied Brent Goose, Wigeon, Teal and Dunlin along the southern mudflats. Find out more about our community for like-minded young conservationists and wildlife-lovers here.

Holes Bay was also chock-a-block with birds at low tide! The videos below were captured by one of our team this afternoon. Elsewhere, Crossbill were logged at Wareham Forest and Jerry’s Point. The fringes of the recording area clinched three Goosander west of Holmebridge, while a Spotted Redshank was recorded at Lytchett Fields, along with 97 Common Redshank, 6 Greenshank and a Green Sandpiper. And although they avoided us during the ID Course, two White-tailed Eagle were seen near Brands Bay earlier in the day.

Young Birders ID Course – exploring Jerry’s Point and Redhorn Quay

The stiff westerlies built throughout the day with seemingly few birders venturing out. A lunch break birding jaunt around Baiter Park included a Pale-bellied Brent Goose in with 121 ‘Dark-bellies’. This less-frequently encountered race of Brent Goose breeds in e. North American Arctic and n. Greenland, predominantly wintering in e. USA and Ireland. ‘SY’ the satellite-tagged Dark-bellied Brent Goose continues to kick around the harbour, feeding along the shoreline. The Baiter car park Black-headed Gull flock also featured a BTO metal ringed individual originally ringed as an adult in Dec 2011, awaiting details to find out where in the UK it has come from…

Elsewhere, a flying visit to Whitley Lake logged 24 Bar-tailed Godwit, 33 Sanderling and a couple of Mediterranean Gull. Middlebere enjoyed a raptor-fest, clocking up Goshawk, Sparrowhawk and a male Merlin by 11AM. Four Black-necked Grebe still present off Jerry’s Point, with a further three out in Studland Bay along with a Slavonian Grebe off Knoll Beach. Our team also led a Winter Birding ID Course across Studland this afternoon, starting at Shell Bay with two Great Northern Diver, followed by a further ‘GND’, three Black-necked Grebe, c.200 Dunlin and two Greenshank at Jerry’s Point. The course concluded at Brand’s Bay which boasted two White-tailed Eagle!

Pale-bellied Brent Goose (centre) in with Dark-bellied flock © Joe Parker