Another mostly fine day, with a few hard-hitting down pours to break up the serenity. A final ringing session of the year at Lytchett Bay produced 16 Bearded Tit which is a good end of year total considering many disperse in October. Off Jerry’s Point this afternoon there was 1 Velvet Scoter, 1 Slavonian Grebe, 7 Black-necked Grebe, 5 Goldeneye, 6 Great Northern Diver and c40 Red-breasted Merganser. A Spotted Redshank was in Lytchett Bay, both adult White-tailed Eagles were in the Wareham Channel this afternoon, 12 Spoonbill were on Shipstal Point, Arne, Marsh Harrier were at Swineham and 15 Cattle Egret were at Holmebridge.

Male and female Bearded Tits – Lytchett Bay – Ed Betteridge

Well, much better conditions for birding today and quite a lot had been blown in after the storms of yesterday. More divers around the harbour with a minimum of 8 Great Northern Diver counted from our Winter Safari Cruise this afternoon, but probably a few more lurking off distant shores. They were mainly confined to South Deep, off Jerry’s Point and Brands Bay, but 2 more along the south-western shore of Brownsea too. 1 Red-throated Diver was also off Jerry’s Point along with 1 Velvet Scoter, 6 Black-necked Grebe and 1 Slavonian Grebe. 2 more Black-necked Grebe were west of Furzey Island and 4 were off Middle Beach Studland (+1 more Great Northern Diver) for a harbour total of 12 Black-necked Grebe. The 2 Pink-footed Geese were also still on RSPB Arne Moors. At Middlebere there were 1 Great White Egret, 125 Avocet and 2 Marsh Harrier. In the Wareham Channel the 2 White-tailed Eagles were sat on a sandy cliff before taking off. Huge numbers of birds feeding on the low tide here too with 4 Spoonbill, c500 Avocet, c20 Grey Plover, c500 Dunlin and c200 Black-tailed Godwit. At Swineham at least 4 Marsh Harrier were active and 10 Glossy Ibis were feeding in the wet field south of the gravel pit. The 2 Pink-footed Geese were still on Arne Moors amongst the Greylags. At Lytchett Bay from Rock Lea View on the rising tide there were similar numbers of birds with 400+ Wigeon, 65 Avocet, 1 Spotted Redshank, 2 Greenshank, 250+ Black-tailed Godwit and 1 Ruff was on the fields this morning. 4 Cattle Egret were on Wareham Common. Holes Bay North also providing very good numbers of waders with 631 Black-tailed Godwit, 550 Dunlin, 255 Avocet and 23 Knot. 1 Red-breasted Merganser was at Poole Park, no doubt sheltering after the wind yesterday.

Great Northern Divers – Jerry’s Point – Garry Hayman

Another stunning day in the harbour before the weather turns tomorrow. Still fairly limited numbers of divers in the harbour for the time of year, but nice sightings of 1 Great Northern Diver, 1 Black-throated Diver, 95 Shag and 12 Red-breasted Merganser flying in through the harbour entrance this morning. 1 Water Pipit was at Wytch Lake by the causeway.

Nice conditions for our Winter Safari Cruise this afternoon where thousands of waders and ducks were feeding on the low tide in the Wareham Channel. There were c400 Avocet, 7 Spoonbill, c20 Grey Plover, c200 Black-tailed Godwit, c50 Curlew and c50 Dunlin. 2 White-tailed Eagles were active in this area too with adult female G466 of the local pair and a 2-year old juvenile G644 putting up all of the c300 strong flock of Greylag Geese and Canada Geese along with the 2 Pink-footed Geese still on Arne Moors. 2 Marsh Harriers and 1 Raven also had a tussle with the Eagles. The 2 Velvet Scoter were still off of Jerry’s Point and 2 Black-necked Grebes were sheltering close to Furzey Island. On the Brownsea Lagoon by high tide there were c500 Avocet, c50 Bar-tailed Godwit, 8 Turnstone and 8 Greenshank.

Shag – From our Winter Safari Cruise today – Harry McBride

A really nice arrival this morning of 50+ Barnacle Geese into the harbour, flying up the Middlebere Channel, before then heading out towards Round Island. Only a sporadic visitor to Poole Harbour and sightings of just ones and twos are presumed to be escapees from collections, often hanging out with mixed goose flocks. But when a big flock of Barnacle Geese arrives like this, they are likely to be from true wild populations in northern Europe/Svalbard/Greenland. 1 male Hen Harrier also came through the Middlebere Channel and 1 Great White Egret.

The 2 Velvet Scoter came in through the harbour entrance this morning along with 1 Great Northern Diver, 5 Red-breasted Merganser, 1 Great-crested Grebe and 83 Shag. The Velvet Scoter were seen later this afternoon from Jerry’s Point along with now 2 Slavonian Grebe and 7 Black-necked Grebe. 16 Spoonbill were feeding in Holes Bay NW this afternoon. At Lytchett Fields RSPB there were 1 Ruff, 310 Lapwing, 309 Teal, 54 Dunlin, 45 Redshank, 1 Green Sandpiper and 1 Marsh Harrier as well as small numbers of Avocet and Black-tailed Godwit.

Barnacle Geese – Middlebere Channel – Richard Stephenson

The 2 Velvet Scoter were still off Jerry’s Point this morning. Numbers of Red-breasted Merganser seem to be finally building, with more groups spread all across the harbour totalling c100. The Ruff was still on French’s Pool, Lytchett Fields RSPB, with 128 Lapwing. At Swineham this afternoon there was 1 Spoonbill, 1 Great White Egret, 1 Green Sandpiper, 4 Marsh Harrier, plus 8 Cattle Egret and 16 Little Egret came into the roost on the gravel pit.

From our School Bird Boat this morning, there was a juvenile Peregrine in the Wareham Channel taking on about everything it saw (unsuccessfully), going after Marsh Harrier, Great Black-backed Gull, Carrion Crow and Raven in just a couple of minutes. On the Brownsea Lagoon new Tern nesting islands are currently being installed, but still a surprising number of birds undisturbed by the work of the digger with, c400 Avocet, 5 Grey Plover, c50 Bar-tailed Godwit, 12 Greenshank and plenty of waterfowl. Fantastic work by the Dorset Wildlife Trust to be increasing the potential nesting habitat here for Terns and Waders, come next summer. 1 adult White-tailed Eagle was in the Wareham Channel this afternoon. In Holes Bay the 3 Spoonbill were feeding again and a possible Grey Phalarope was reported in the north-west. There were also 2 Glossy Ibis at Swineham this afternoon.

2 Velvet Scoter – Off Jerry’s Point from Wednesday’s Winter Safari – Elin Davies

It was such a stunning morning with sunrise seeing a hat-trick of divers entering the harbour with 2 Great Northern, 1 Black-throated and 1 Red-throated Diver all entering trough the harbour mouth, plus another single Great Northern Diver was in Shell Bay. A Goshawk was seen from the cordite way viewpoint this afternoon and 3 White-tailed Eagle were seen between the Wareham Channel and Middlebere. Holes Bay is hosting it’s usual good haul of early totals with 44 Knot today, plus 1 Spoonbill, 100+ Pintail, 1000+ Wigeon and c500 Dunlin.

Avocet – Middlebere