It was blimmin cold again today, certainly good weather for winter geese to stick around, and in fact the Russian White-fronted Goose flock grew ever so slightly to 34, and the 5 of the recent 6 Bean Geese were also feeding with them, all of which were still in the first fields just east of Ridge, along the Arne Road. The White-fronted Goose flock is part of a national influx thats currently taking place, with several thousand having arrived from mainland Europe just before Christmas. ‘Russian White-fronts’ are far more numerous across Europe than their closely related subspecies the ‘Greenland White-front’ which is actually of high conservation concern. Likewise with the Bean Geese, which all look to be ‘Tundra Bean Geese’, which is the commoner of the two subspecies, the other being ‘Taiga Bean Goose’. With so many Russian White-fronted Geese and Tundra Bean Geese currently in the country, and with so much of the winter remaining, theres a good chance these totals will grow.

Elsewhere there were 4 Slavonian Grebe off Jerry’s Point with 2 Great Northern Diver, plus 4 Spoonbill were in Lytchett Bay, several Red Kite seemed to be on the move with sighings over Oakdale, Upton and Creekmoor. There were 2-3 White-tailed Eagle moving around the Wareham Channel/Lytchett Bay area and a Merlin was at Middlebere. Finally, we received information relating to teh sad fate of a Wood Pigeon that was ringed at Carey back on August 21st this year, which was sadly found dead a few days before Christmas in North Central France, giving us a clue as to at least where some of our migrating Wood Pigeon go for the winter. Hundreds of thousands leave the UK each November and it’s always been considered the many?/most? go to the Cork Oak forests in Spain and Portugal, but it seems some just decide to hop across the channel to soak up a bit of French culture for the winter….sadly this particular one didn’t even see in the New Year.

Two Bean Geese (left and centre) and 1 Russian White-fronted Goose (right) – Ridge – Perter Moore

Juvenile Wood Pigeon ringed at Carey Secret Garden on Aug 21st 2025 – Ed Betteridge

Finding location and distance traveled of Wood Pigeon from Aug 21st when ringed at Carey Secret Garden and finding location on Dec 22nd 2025

With the recent goose influx, it was no surprise that today a settled flock was found around the harbour when a decent total of 31 Russian White-fronted Geese and 6 Tundra Bean Geese were found feeding in a field just east of Ridge, near RSPB Arne. This White-fronted Goose flock is the largest for the Poole Harbour area in quite some time, with flock sizes ranging from just 1 – 19 over the last 15 years, the average in that period being only 2.5 per year. They used to be an almost annual occurrence up until the mid to late noughties when sightings and flock sizes dropped off dramatically. Late December is typically the time when parties would arrive, so the timing is spot on, but for 2025, this is an excellent ‘modern’ total. There was also a report of 6 ‘grey geese’ that flew over Lytchett Bay which could have reffered to the/a Bean Goose flock.

Elsewhere there were were 7 Black-necked Grebe and 2 Slavonian Grebe off Jerry’s Point, 1 Spotted Redshank was at Lytchett Bay and there were White-tailed Eagles reported over Lytchett Bay, Middlebere and Brands Bay. There has definetaly been an arrival of Redwing and Fieldfare with more small parties much in evidence, plus 3 Pochard in Brands Bay was quite a turn up along with 1 in Poole Park too with c30 Tufted duck. 

Russian White-fronted Geese – Ridge, Wareham – Mark Wright

Russian White-fronted Geese – Ridge, Wareham – Mark Wright

We’d like to extend a massive Happy Christmas to all our followers and supporters and an even bigger thank you with 2025 having been another incredible year for the charity. With only a few days left of the calendar year we look forward seeing what 2026 brings and look forward to seeing you all at some point over the coming months.

Yesterdays ‘goose run’ continued, albeit to a lesser extent, but still saw 5 Tundra Bean Geese logged out on RSPB Arne Moors, plus there 14 Russian White-fronted Geese. It also seemed to be an eagle day with multiple individual White-tailed Eagles moving about including 2-3 over and around Studland Bay this morning, plus other sightings in the Wareham Channel and at Middlebere. A Black-throated Diver was seen at the harbour entrance again this morning, a Black Redstart was on building in Upton at Sandy Close.

White-tailed Eagles over Studland Bay on Christmas Morning – @twamers.bsky.social (BlueSky)

Having had no real ‘cold spell’ for much of the winter so far, and no north-easterly winds since early October, there was a glimmer of hope that yesterdays swing in wind direction would finally deliver some winter goodies. Things were looking promising when yesterday there definitely seemed to be an increase in Redwing and Fieldfare moving about. Not thousands, but certainly more than there have been, including vocal  parties moving last night. Last night the NE wind really picked up, and by mid-morning it sounded like there was a bit of ‘goose movement’ going on when White-fronted Geese and Bean Geese started being report from several sites across southern Britain, including Lodmoor. Then, at 12:20 a party of 6 grey geese flew over Middlebere which were quickly identified as Bean Geese, then about 15 minutes later a lone individual settled in Middlebere for 15 minutes before disappearing off towards the Wareham Channel. Then about an hour later 4 Bean Geese were reported flying over the Wareham Channel, and 3 grey geese were seen over Lytchett Bay. Later this afternoon, a party of 5 Russian White-fronted Geese were found in the paddocks north of ‘Curlews Cottage at Swineham, and another 5 were reported out on RSPB Arne Moors. This is quite an arrival, and with the NE winds set to stay for a few days, could more arrive, and whats the true total? Hopefully with folk out birding during the Christmas break, more will be found….but how many?

Elsewhere this morning 2 Great Northern Diver and 1 Black-throated Diver flew into the harbour this morning, on Wareham Common there were 33 Cattle Egret and a lone Merlin. The Glossy Ibis flock of 10 were also at the Swineham floods this afternoon, there were 2 Spoonbill at Lytchett Bay and 29 on Shipstal Point, RSPB Arne.

Lone Bean Goose arriving at Middlebere – Mark Wright

Bean Goose at Middlebere – Mark Wright

There were a few early signs of spring with Goshawk seen displaying briefly at an undisclosed site, highlighting that once this week (Christmas) is out of the way, spring isn’t just around the corner, it’s practically here! There was a good candidate for for a Siberian Chiffchaff on Wareham Common this afternoon, in the company of 4 Common Chiffchaff. In Middlebere there was 1 Spotted Redshank, 1 male Merlin, 3 Marsh Harrier and 12 Fieldfare. Wareham Common Cattle Egret numbers were much reduced today with 19 this afternoon, but also 10 at Holmebridge. The harbour entrance was a bit quieter this morning and only saw 1 of each Great Northern and Black-throated Diver fly in, but 4 Great Northern Diver were off Jerry’s Pointb along with 3 Black-necked Grebe. 

Potential Siberian Chiffchaff – Wareham Common – Trevor Warwick

A completely different day to yesterday with calm sunny conditions, meaning more birds and birders were out. 1 Purple Sandpiper was still on the groynes opposite the Sandbanks Beach Car Park. 10 Glossy Ibis were in Curlews Field, Swineham and 66 Cattle Egret headed from Wareham Common towards Swineham at dusk. On the Brownsea Lagoon there was an impressive count for the site of 74 Grey Plover along with the first Spoonbill (1) for some weeks. There were also, 317 Avocet, 20 Curlew, 63 Bar-tailed Godwit, 476 Black-tailed Godwit, 10 Greenshank, 8 Turnstone and 316 Dunlin. 10 Crossbill flew over the Arne RSPB car park this morning and 2 Brambling were also seen at Arne. 20 Spoonbill were at Shipstal. 3 Black-necked Grebe were in Studland Bay. c400 Avocet were in the Middlebere Channel along with 1 Marsh Harrier and 8 Fieldfare were along the entrance track to the Avocet Hide. 1 Red Kite flew over Rock Lea View, Lytchett Bay and 1 male Mandarin Duck was in Poole Park.

Mandarin Duck – Poole Park Lake – Clive Hargrave