All eyes on the Brownsea Lagoon webcams this evening to stream the gull roost. With a first winter Glaucous Gull seen yesterday, it’s likely to appear again this evening. The familiar Jerry’s Point crew continue to impress, with 4 Long-tailed Duck, 5 Common Scoter, 4 Scaup, 3 Slavonian Grebe, 2 Black-necked Grebe, 14 Goldeneye and Red-breasted Merganser present. Whitecliff shoreline featured 2 Goldeneye, 17 Turnstone, 5 Oystercatcher and a single Dark-bellied Brent Goose that separated from the large flock feeding on Baiter playing fields. Numerous observers spotted the Peregrine on the ADSA high-rise building. Another Peregrine was logged around Old Harry, perched on the cliffs with several Rock Pipit around. The surrounding fields held a minimum of 8 Yellowhammer and c.10 displaying Skylark. South Beach clocked up c.100 Mediterranean Gulls, c.70 Common Gulls, 1 Great Northern Diver. Plus there was 1 Slavonian and 1 Black-necked Grebe. On the return leg there was a Great Northern Diver and close views of Shag. The woods leading to Old Harry held a Firecrest.

Finally, highlight of the day was a 1st winter Glaucous Gull that appeared on the Brownsea Lagoon webcam at 17:20. We’ll be scanning again each evening to try and re-find it, so make sure to tune into the Mac Hide webcam from 5pm to help us search!

Glaucous Gull – Screen grab from Brownsea Lagoon webcam

Peregrine – ASDA highrise – Shazz Hooper

Male Pintail – Holes Bay – Rene Goad

It was nice to squint a little today as the sun broke from the clouds late morning. The welcome warmth prompted some activity and we encountered our first butterfly of the year on the wing – a Peacock. It terms of bird records, an unringed Water Pipit was observed at Holton Pools and 3 Spotted Redshank were feeding in Middlebere Channel. A search for the Sandbanks Purple Sandpiper returned 3 Black-necked Grebe, Great Northern Diver and a Kittiwake. Moving south of the Ferry Terminal, Shell Bay clocked up a further 2 Black-necked and 2 Slavonian Grebes, 1 Great Northern Diver and a handful of Gannets feeding offshore. Jerry’s Point and Redhorn Quay totals included 4 Long-Tail Duck, 3 Common Scoter, 4 Great Northern Diver, 3 Slavonian Grebe, 4 Scaup, 4 Black-necked Grebe and good numbers of Goldeneye. Knoll Beach produced 26 Mediterranean Gull, 5 Common Scoter, a single Black-necked Grebe and several Great Crested Grebe. Turnstone were very prominent with good counts across the northern side of the harbour, various counts observed feeding flocks at Hamworthy (22), Poole and Baiter Parks (21), Whitley Lake (34) and Sandbanks (30).

Peacock Butterfly – Piddle Valley

Mediterranean Gull – Knoll Beach – Garry Hayman

The Holes Bay Common Sandpiper continues to show well, today being photographed through the foliage from the cycle path while 2 Water Pipit were recorded at Lytchett Fields. Jerry’s Point continues to delight with 7 Black-necked Grebe, 6 Slavonian Grebe, 4 Great Northern Diver and the Pale-bellied Brent Goose. Four Long-tailed Duck remained distant offshore and the regular 4 Scaup were still off Redhorn Point.

Comparison of Black-necked (left) and Slavonian Grebe (right) – Jerry’s Point – Garry Hayman

Common Sandpiper – Holes Bay – Ian Ballam

There it is….January 2021 finished with already. No-one should ever wish time away, but in these circumstances I think we’re well within our right to wish some sun and warmth our way. That said, the cold weather further north pushed some birds this way including 5 Russian White-fronted Geese over Lytchett Fields. We hope more of these will appear over the coming weeks as birds begin making their way back north and places like Lytchett Fields, Swineham and the Frome Valley could all easily hold passage geese during February, so if out on your daily exercise in those areas keep an eye out. Other highlights at Lytchett Fields were a colour-ringed Water Pipit, a male Merlin, 1 Jack Snipe and c200 Linnet in the arable field. On the Asda building there were 2 Peregrine back, no doubt plotting and planning on perhaps trying to figure out where they can potentially lay eggs this year? We really hope so! Off Jerry’s Point there were 4 Long-tailed Duck, 4 Scaup, 3 Common Scoter, 18 Goldeneye, 5 Slavonian Grebe, 3 Black-necked Grebe, 4 Great Northern Diver and the usual spread of Red-breasted Merganser and Great Crested Grebe. At Holes Bay the over-wintering Common Sandpiper was back at the drain channel entrance, a Goldeneye was just off the cycle path and Wigeon numbers in Holes Bay are already dropping off.

Plus, exciting news – This evening Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin kindly launched news of our new Reintroduction and Rewilding Summit, an online event planned for April 10th which will showcase some of the most progressive and exciting nature restoration projects across the UK (and Europe). Although the actual event isn’t until April 10th, each week leading up to that day we’ll be posting a new podcast, hosted by Charlie Moores which seeks to draw out the detail of many of these projects and provide context in how they fit into a wider nature recovery framework.

Podcasts will feature the likes of Roy Dennis, Derek Gow, The White Stork Project and The Vulture Conservation Foundation. Plus, on April 10th not only will a whole range of topics and projects be discussed, guest speakers will also include people such Benedict Macdonald (of Rebirding fame) and young birder Indy Greene.

You can get full details by visiting our website and you can listen to the first podcast on the webpage, which this week focuses on the Poole Harbour Osprey project – https://www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk/the-reintroduction-rewilding-summit/

Comparison shots of Common ‘collybita’ Chiffchaff (above) and Siberian ‘tristis’ Chiffchaff (below)

PCW Drain- Rene Goad

January has almost come to an end and we can soon look forward to the shortest month of the year. Lets then get that quickly out of the way and done with before the excitement of spring engulfs us. The less said about today the better, with persistent rain falling pretty much all day. Only real highlights were 2 Goldeneye and 1 Red-breasted Merganser on Poole Park Lake, 1 Great Northern Diver, 30 Red-breasted Merganser and 38 Turnstone off Baiter and at a very flooded Lytchett Fields, 21 Avocet, 3 Green Sandpiper, 5 Greenshank and a flock of 30 Stock Dove.

Despite the rain, we do have an exciting announcement planned for Sunday evening so make sure you check our website and social media channels for updates. It will hopefully provide the inspirational and motivational need we all desire at the current moment in time….So watch this space.

Bar-tailed Godwit – Shore Road

A Great Northern Diver was spotted off the Hamworthy shoreline this morning, along with 30 Turnstone along the old jetty. PC World Drain continues to support Kingfisher, Firecrest and the Siberian Chiffchaff among the Common Chiffchaff. Continuing the urban round up… c.70 Goldfinch, 2 Mistle Thrush and 5 Turnstone were logged at Poole Park. Whitley Lake shoreline held 91 Bar-tailed Godwit, 29 Turnstone, 16 Sanderling, 48 Oystercatcher, 12 Dark-bellied Brent Goose and 3 Curlew.

Jerry’s Point clocked up a further 3 Great Northern Diver, 5 Common Scoter, 4 Scaup, 3 Black-necked Grebe, 7 Goldeneye, 19 Red-breasted Merganser and 11 Turnstone. A Spoonbill was feeding in Brand’s Bay and a Pale-bellied Brent Goose joined the Dark-bellied flock off Redhorn Quay, along with 5 Bar-tailed Godwit, 3 Slavonian Grebe, 1 Great Northern Diver, 1 Black-necked Grebe and 14 Goldeneye. A falling tide at Lytchett Fields produced 2 Greenshank, 67 Redshank, 280 Lapwing, 50 Teal and 10 Common Gull in amongst 500 strong Black-headed Gull flock.

Pale-bellied Brent Goose – Redhorn Point- Garry Hayman

Spoonbill – Brand’s Bay – Garry Hayman

A Peregrine caused some commotion behind Lilliput petrol station at this morning as it passed overhead towards Ashley Cross. Two Firecrest, 1 Redwing, 1 Blackcap and 6 Tufted Duck were the hightlights at Creekmoor Lakes while Holton Pools featured both Greenshank and Redshank. Lytchett Bay totals included 14 Dark-bellied Brent Goose, 5 Egyptian Goose over, 75 Wigeon, 100 Teal, 11 Red-breasted Merganser, 63 Shelduck, 55 Avocet, 1 Spotted Redshank, 30 Curlew, 3 Greenshank, 82 Redshank, 150 Lapwing, 7 Snipe, 4 Spoonbill, 2 Mediterranean Gull among 400 Black-headed and 36 Common Gulls, a single Chiffchaff, 2 Marsh Harrier and a Kestrel. Other birds of prey logged across the harbour included a Merlin over Hartland Moor and a ringtail Hen Harrier quartering Middlebere.

Redwing – Creekmoor Lakes – Martin Adams

Today we were able to run a full harbour survey, the first of the year, in order to census the harbour and to complement the data gathered during the January WeBS on the 10^th which was partially incomplete due to covid restrictions. With the settled weather recently there seemed to have been a big clear out of Great Northern Diver with only 2 across the harbour! In contrast we managed a respectable 217 Red-breasted Merganser which is more than the WeBS total of 170. There were 101 Great Crested Grebe and 52 Goldeneye. Of note the 4 Scaup seemed to have relocated to the west side of Green Island and there were 13 Black-necked Grebe logged in total. There were 2 Slavonian Grebe off Jerry’s point and the 4 Long-tailed Duck were also in South Deep. A Black Brant was at Shipstal Beach, Arne and a singles of Hen and Marsh Harrier were in the Wareham Channel. On Swineham GP there were 2 Pochard and 77 Curlew were on the Stilt Pools. Lapwing numbers seemed low with only a single flock of c120 seen. Three different Sparrowhawk were logged in different places and the Brownsea Lagoon held 1 Spotted Redshank, 103 Bar-tailed Godwit, c1500 Black-tailed Godwit, c30 Knot, c60 Grey Plover, 8 Sanderling, c20 Ringed Plover, 4 Greenshank and c120 Avocet. In total only 17 Spoonbill remain with 13 on Shipstal and 4 roosting on ‘Gull Islands’, which was a first for us. In Holes Bay there were 1476 Wigeon, 1000+ Black-tailed Godwit, c170 Avocet, 150+ Dunlin, 31 Curlew plus still good numbers of Pintail and Shoveler with a single Goldeneye in Holes Bay NE. The PCW Drain still held the Siberian Chiffchaff as well as 10 Common Chiffchaff, 1 Firecrest, 4 Goldcrest, 1 Cetti’s Warbler, 1 Kingfisher and 1 Grey Wagtail.

Siberian Chiffchaff – PCW Drain 

Black Brant – Shipstal Beach, RSPB Arne

Pretty miserable conditions throughout the day wasn’t inspiring of some birding exercise. The day was brightened by the presence of a Water Pipit at Holton Pools, accompanied by a Green Sandpiper. Due to the murk, it was difficult to call categorically whether this pipit is colour-ringed or not. A c.150 strong Linnet flock were on the wires above the Arable Field, Lytchett Bay.

Water Pipit – Holton Pools – Tony Furnell

We’ve delved into our archives again and put together a Holes Bay Lockdown Birding feature. With restricted opportunities to be out and about connecting with nature, we hope that this series will offer an insight into the birdlife to look out for when taking your daily exercise. As always, please adhere to and follow all current government advise, rules and guidelines when exercising locally.

Holes Bay welcomed a true wildlife spectacle today. Among the 100+ Avocet, 90+ Dunlin and carpet of 800+ Wigeon a staggering 1700+ Black-tailed Godwit murmuration took place over the bay. Absolute magic on the fringes of Poole Town! The Sandbanks Purple Sandpiper was spotted one of the groynes near the volleyball Court. Similar totals around Jerry’s Point again today with 4 Long-tailed Duck, 3 Slavonian Grebe, 3 Common Scoter, 1 Great Northern Diver, 2 Black-necked Grebe and a Goldeneye offshore, and a supporting cast of Sanderling, Greenshank and Bar-tailed Godwit on the low tide. A colour-ringed Sanderling was scuttling around Shell Bay beach. A cracking Kingfisher was captured on camera at Poole Park and 2 Lesser Redpoll seen feeding around the Stone Bench and pond at Upton Country Park.

Hampshire ringed Sanderling – Shell Bay – Nick Mudge

Kingfisher – Poole Park – Clare Slade

Purple Sandpiper – Sandbanks – Garry Hayman

Final video of the Murmerating Black-tailed Godwit in Holes Bay this morning, really was an impressive sight(not done justice by the video) @harbourbirds @BayHoles pic.twitter.com/CrJy9mG9Mk

— ian ballam (@ianballam) January 25, 2021