Sightings highlights today were over at Studland, with a Red-necked Grebe reported off Jerry’s Point, along with 4 Scaup. In Studland Bay from Middle and South Beaches, 1 Red-throated Diver, 1 Great Northern Diver, 10 Black-necked Grebe, 5 Great Crested Grebe, 13 Common Scoter, 14 Red-breasted Merganser and 1 Razorbill counted. 1 ringtail Hen Harrier was seen over Lytchett Bay this morning. Holes Bay provided excellent views of 597 Dunlin, c.1000 Black-tailed Godwit and 100+ Avocet from the Stone Bench, as well as 11 Brent Geese and 2 Red-breasted Merganser in the South. At RSPB Arne, sightings across Shipstal Point included 27 Spoonbill, 15 Red-breasted Merganser, 30 Brent Geese and a Marsh Harrier. Coombe Heath also featured a Merlin and ringtail Hen Harrier. At Baiter this afternoon, 148 Brent Geese, 57 Oystercatcher, 300+ Starling and several Turnstone were counted feeding on the fields. Finally, we’ve received some great info back from Mark Thomas at RSPB, regarding a ringtail Hen Harrier that was photographed near Middlebere yesterday by Nigel Gidey which had a colour ring A1Z. It was ringed in Northumberland in 2021. Brilliant!

Dark-bellied Brent Geese – Baiter – Martin Adams

Hen Harrier – near Middlebere – Nigel Gidney

Well, that didn’t last long. Beautiful sunshine on Wednesday, pouring rain today! Oh well….at least spring is on its way with Song Thrush, Great Tit and some Blackbird already beginning to sing. Also, some Great Spotted Woodpecker are starting to ‘drum’ too with individuals heard at Upton CP and RSPB Arne. Out across the Wareham Channel a Great White Egret flew across and two separate Marsh Harrier were active. Off Jerry’s Point there were 2 Great Northern Diver with another 2 off Shell Bay and 1 off Baiter. At Lytchett Fields 5 Jack Snipe were logged during a ringing session and on Holme lane GP there was a winter peak count of 8 Pochard along with 23 Gadwall. 

Peregrine Falcon – Middlebere – Mark Wright (@markwright12002)

We’ve had a nice range of sightings with the sun and blue skies out today. Reports from Studland this morning included 4 Great Northern diver in Shell Bay, along with 1 Slavonian Grebe and 26 Brent Geese. 1 Siberian Chiffchaff was also seen from South Haven, as well as 28 Linnet heading North. Later in the morning, 4 Great Northern Diver, 2 Slavonian Grebe and 3 Common Scoter were seen in between Redhorn and Jerry’s Point. At Middlebere, 2 ringtail Hen Harrier, 1 Barn Owl, 1 Merlin (f), 1 Kestrel, 3 Spotted Redshank and c.450 Avocet were present. The White-tailed Eagle G461 was seen in flight from Lytchett Fields and Ham Common, seemingly dropping down to Holton Lee this morning. The nice range of raptor sightings continued at Swineham, with 1 Hen Harrier and 1 Marsh Harrier reported, as well as 1 Goosander and 2 Great White Egret amongst the highlights. In Middlebere, a rare occurrence of an adult Goshawk which ploughed through around midday. And even rarer, it was photographed too! An stunning and rarely recorded bird in the harbour. There was 1 Purple Sandpiper was reported on the Sandbanks groynes amongst Sanderling this morning. Finally, we hosted our penultimate public ringing demo last night and caught a record 12 Jack Snipe, 9 of which were new and 3 were previously ringed earlier this winter (October 2021). Also logged were 5 Woodcock (with 1 caught) and plenty of Common Snipe (with 1 ringed).

Purple Sandpiper – Sandbanks – Andy (@nikodogtwite on Twitter)

Goshawk – Middlebere – Peter Twamley (@twamers Twitter)

A reduced number of sightings today, but at least some sunshine for a while this afternoon, and unbelievably, tomorrow os due to be sunny…..all day!!

At South Haven, Studland today there were 5 Great Northern Diver around the harbour entrance, with 2 Black-necked Grebe at the harbour mouth (with one flying in), 29 Sanderling, 34 Grey Plover and 2 Razorbill. The 2 Purple Sandpiper were on the rocky Sandbanks groynes and 3 Scaup were off Jerry’s Point. Male White-tailed Eagle G461 was seen again near Middlebere and 3 Goosander flew up the Piddle Valley at dusk. At Lytchett Fields there was 1 Merlin, 1 Firecrest and a Spotted Redshank, with another Merlin bombing across Brands Bay. Plus, there were 2 Firecrest at Creekmoor Ponds.

Pintail – Brands Bay 

The Christmas and New Year buzz all comes to an end for many tomorrow….typical, just as it’s forecast for the sun to come out. Anyway, still plenty to see today with male White-tailed Eagle seen several times, firstly in Brands Bay at around 11:30am, before then heading to Brownsea where he was seen and photographed from Baiter and Whitecliff, then at around 16:00 he was seen over the Wytch Channel heading towards Middlebere. Off the Houseboats there was a Great Northern Diver, 4 Black-necked Grebe, 3 Scaup and a Razorbill. In Brands Bay there were 2 Slavonian Grebe, 1 Scaup, 2 Common Scoter and 1 Guillemot. A Red-necked Grebe flew into the harbour entrance at dawn and there were 6+ Great Northern Diver around Studland/Shell Bay area and 3 Razorbill. Out from the Middlebere ‘lookout’ there were 2 Hen Harrier logged and 2 different Merlin, with a Peregrine causing havoc at the top of Middlebere a few times. Out in central harbour there were 3 Black-necked Grebe and 1 Great Northern Diver. At Holme Lane 3 Woodlark were in the usual cattle field feeding and a Cattle Egret was at the end of the Bog Lane footpath. The 2 Purple Sandpiper were on the groynes at beyond the Haven Hotel and there were 3 Spotted Redshank and 7 Spoonbill in Middlebere. Finally, a Norwegian colour-ringed Rock Pipit was seen in the Wytch Channel area, which we’re currently waiting to receive the ringing details for.

Merlin – Middlebere – Mark Wright (@markwright12002)

Red-breasted Merganser – Poole Park – Rene Goad (@GoadPhotography)

Once again more people were out birding again today with rewards had in Brands Bay with 2 Tundra Bean Geese in Brands Bay. The Upton/Creekmoor birds weren’t there today, so could suggest it was two of the three. However some plumage characteristics suggest these could have been in fact be two different (new) individuals. Sadly they didn’t stay long and flew off SE and couldn’t be re-located. A Hen Harrier was hunting for over an hour at the back of Greenlands farm and over the salt marsh. It was accompanied by a Merlin, with the Merlin sat on a gorse bush as the Hen Harrier hunted all around it. This partnership is quite a regular occurrence each winter with Hen Harrier and Merlin often complementing each other with different hunting techniques, but often both rewarding one another with prizes! there was a Razorbill in Brands Bay with  7 Goldeneye, 2 Slavonian Grebe, 4 Scaup, 1 Common Scoter, approx  350 Common Gulls, 7 Turnstones, 400 Dunlin, 10+ Grey Plover and Sandwich Tern. Male White-tailed Eagle was in Middlebere again today and was beautifully captured on camera (see image below). Off Knoll beach this evening there was disappointingly only 12 Black-necked Grebe in the roost…..in Jan 2011 there were 80!!! Also 10 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Slavonian Grebe and 7 Common Scoter this evening.

White-tailed Eagle G461 – Middlebere – Pennhillman

Firstly……HAPPY NEW YEAR! With 2021 now behind us, all of us here at BoPH are excited for the year ahead and the opportunities that may present themselves. Poole Harbour and South Dorset are certainly going to be an exciting place to be over the next several years, with multiple progressive and game changing projects in place. Ospreys, Sea Eagles and (hopefully) Beaver releases, landscape scale land regeneration schemes, wetland creation projects! Of course, these aren’t all being carried out by us, but by other local organisations and partnerships too. Regardless of who’s doing them, it currently feels like there’s no better time to be a birder and naturalist in Dorset…..so we’re raising a glass not only to 2022, but what the future brings as a whole over the next many years. Chin chin.

A good list of species kicked off the new year with 2 Siberian Chiffchaff at Shell Bay, Studland also 15 Gannet and 5 Kittiwake south there. In Shell Bay there were 3 Great Northern Diver and a sea watch from Branksome produced 5 Red-throated Diver, 3 Kittiwake, 2 Fulmar and a Razorbill. From the Bog Lane footpath the Cattle Egret was seen again in the Lower Frome Valley and at Middlebere there were 2 Spotted Redshank, a ringtail Hen Harrier, 1 Merlin and male White-tailed Eagle G461 was seen a couple of times, once in Brands Bay and again in Middlebere. At Lytchett Fields a Jack Snipe was flushed and off Middle Beach, Studland 9 Common Scoter and 1 Black-necked Grebe. At the Houseboats at Studland there were 20 Sanderling and the 3 Scaup were distant off Jerry’s Point. The Tundra Bean Geese were originally in fields next to the main Upton CP car park but later flew to the fields back at Longmeadow Lane again. There were 27 Spoonbill on Shipstal, Arne, another Spotted Redshank at Lytchett Fields.

Group of Spoonbill yesterday at Middlebere which contained 4 Dutch ringed individuals – Mark Wright

A great end to whats been an up and down year with a low-tide cruise to see out 2021. Plenty to see, despite the gloom. Around the Jerry’s Point area there were 2 Great Northern Diver, 3 Scaup, 4 Common Scoter and 2 Slavonian Grebe (seen from the shore, not from our boat trip). Off Brownsea there were 2 Razorbill and a Guillemot was off Poole Quay. In the Wareham Channel there were 3 Marsh Harrier, 14 Spoonbill, c200 Lapwing, c300 Dunlin and plenty of Curlew and Black-tailed Godwit. Off Shell Bay there were 6 Great Northern Diver and 3 Black-necked Grebe with 2 Razorbill off Pilots Point. There were 2 Sandwich Tern in Brands Bay and on the high tide 30 Spoonbill were in Middlebere. White-tailed Eagle G461 was seen briefly off Green Island and a Goshawk was over Hartland late afternoon. The Tundra Bean Geese were still in fields around Upton CP and a Cattle Egret was in the Frome Valley again.

Spoonbills seen from boat cruise – Wareham Channel – Alison Copland.

Yep….another grim grey day, brightened up however with the news that male White-tailed Eagle, G461 arrived back into the harbour. A sea eagle was seen flying from Round Island around midday, and some corresponding with the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation provided the info we needed to confirm it was him. He hasn’t been present for around a month now, but it’s great that he’s now back and once again checking out some of his old haunts. Lets see how long he stays here for now. Hopefully indefinitely! There was a single Cattle Egret in the Frome Valley, viewed from the Bog Lane loop walk and the 3 Tundra Bean Geese were still in fields next to Long Meadow Lane, Creekmoor. Off Jerry’s there were 3 Scaup, 2 Great Northern Diver, 3 Common Scoter and 18 Red-breasted Merganser with a Merlin also dashing across Brands Bay. In Middlebere there were 27 Spoonbill, 3 Spotted Redshank and c600 Avocet.

Red-breasted Merganser – Poole Park – Mark Wright @markwright12002