What a shame the calm weather of this morning didn’t welcome us for our windy boat trip yesterday. Still, it gave us a chance (and a reason) to get up and out early for sunrise so we could monitor a lot of the open water species roosts at sites like Studland and Brands Bay, Jerry’s Point and Poole Bay. With much of the harbour being flat calm at dawn some excellent totals and range of species were logged. Starting in Studland Bay there were 12 Black-necked Grebe, 14 Common Scoter, 1 Great Northern Diver, 5 Great Crested Grebe, 3 Med Gulls and 3 Ring-necked Parakeet flew over. In Brands Bay there were 32 Red-breasted Merganser, 200+ Brent Geese and 3 Goldeneye. From Jerry’s Point 1 Long-tailed Duck, 2 Slavonian Grebe, 4 Great Northern Diver, 11 Black-necked Grebe, 7 Goldeneye and c40 Red-breasted Merganser were counted. Shell Bay hosted 2 Great Northern Diver and 2 Black-necked Grebe and on Pilots Point it was great to see a small roost once more (it used to host thousands of waders in the 1980s/90’s) with 27 Ringed Plover, 21 Sanderling, 25 Grey Plover and 1 Knot logged with a fly over Sandwich Tern too. Poole Bay saw 2 more Great Northern Diver and a Red-throated Diver, whilst the north Channel off Evening Hill saw 2 more Great Northern Diver and a Red-throated Diver was off Baiter. From Hamworthy Beach, 2 Black-necked Grebe, 68 Red-breasted Merganser and 7 Goldeneye were present. In total 11 different Great Northern Diver were logged today as were 27 Black-necked Grebe. There were also 2 Hen Harrier in the harbour today with the female still present around Middlebere and a new juv male bombing about near Swineham Point. In the mouth of the Frome, 4 Marsh Harrier were active with another further up the Frome Valley near Bog Lane. The floodplain at Holmebridge is holding good numbers of birds including (the Swineham?) 436 Canada Geese, 21 Pintail, 2 Shoveler, 9 Curlew and 42 Mute Swan and on the West side 61 Mute Swan, 40+ Lapwing, 50+ Teal and lots of Redwing and Fieldfare. In the Middlebere orchard a Firecrest, Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting and Bullfinch were present and in the channel c200 Lapwing, 150 Avocet, 100 Black-tailed Godwit and 1 Spotted Redshank.

Black-necked Grebe – Shell Bay

Slavonian Grebe – Jerry’s Point

Sanderling & Ringed Plover flock – Pilots Point, Studland 

Great Northern Divers – Hamworthy Beach – Ian Ballam

We achieved great coverage today from our rather chilly harbour cruise. The winds were cold, but the birding was excellent. Wareham channel produced 5 Marsh Harrier and a ringtail Hen Harrier quartering the surrounding reedbeds. A meander up the River Frome to Redcliffe picked up 200+ Lapwing with smaller flocks of Dunlin interspersed. Shipstal Point featured 21 roosting Spoonbill and a drake Goldeneye (in total 7 were observed during the trip). Great Northern Diver were in abundance with 9 individuals recorded from the boat. A Common Scoter offered wonderful views as it flew past the boat near South Deep. Larege numbers of Black-tailed Godwit were on Brownsea, with a minimum of 1000 birds roosting on the relatively sheltered lagoon. Bar-tailed Godwit were also present in smaller numbers, with at least 70 logged.

A watch from Jerry’s Point late afternoon produced a Long-tailed Duck, which unfortunately eluded the cruise. Elsewhere, the Pale-bellied Brent Goose was still present at Baiter Park in the morning and a Peregrine was also perching at ASDA, Holes Bay.

Marsh Harrier numbers hit double figures again today with 10 leaving the Wareham Channel roosts this morning. A ringtail Hen Harrier flew south-east along Slepe Heath mid-morning. A Single Long-tailed Duck was off Redhorn Quay, along with 2 Great Northern Divers, 3 Black-necked Grebe and 9 Goldeneye. A Great Northern Diver, Black-necked Grebe and numerous Red-breasted Merganser were visible from Jerry’s Point. Baiter offered 1 Great Northern Diver off the beach, 11 Turnstone, 5 Great Crested Grebe and 1 Sandwich Tern. A Pale-bellied Brent Goose was among the Dark-bellied flock feeding at Baiter Park this morning.

Pale-bellied Brent Goose (left) – Baiter Park – Ian Ballam

A Great Northern Diver frequented Holes Bay South throughout the day and was still present at dusk. Merlin continue to show regularly near Middlebere lay-by, this evening saw a hunting male. Notable records from Shipstal Point, Arne include 22 Spoonbill, 2 Sandwich Tern, 3 Red-breasted Merganser and 1 Goldeneye. A ringtail Hen Harrier was also observed over Arne. Nearby, Middlebere channel held 3 Spotted Redshank, both Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwit, c200 Lapwing and c350 Avocet. Holton Pools saw Redshank, Greenshank and Kingfisher.

Regular visitors to the sightings page may remember the excellent November WeBS survey back on the 24th. Totals from the harbour wide count have been collated totalling an impressive 21527 birds from 58 species. This is the highest November count over the past five years! Two WeBS species total records were broken this time. These were 390 Pintail (the previous highest number was 341) and 2 Long-tailed Duck (previously only one recorded). Other less common species recorded in November included 1 Red-throated Diver, 9 Great Northern Diver, 1 Slavonian Grebe, 1 Common Scoter, 2 Green Sandpiper, 25 Black-necked Grebe.

Returning to today’s sightings, Baiter Park held 3 Bar-tailed Godwit, 4 Black-tailed Godwit, 10 Turnstones, c150 Brent Goose and 1 Greenshank. Some great totals were recorded on Brownsea Lagoon with 172 Grey Plover, 39 Knot and 1805 Black-tailed Godwit of note. Other Lagoon totals worth a mention include 194 Avocet, 90 Bar-tailed Godwit, 3 Sanderling and singles of Ringed Plover, Spotted Redshank and Snipe. Swineham late afternoon produced 2 Woodcock along Bestwall road, Water Rail squealing on the flood meadows, a Tawny Owl in the pines and as the rain showers fizzled out, 5 Marsh Harrier were quartering around the west Harbour.

It seems that today is the calm before the storm, with strong winds and heavy rain forecast tomorrow. On a cold crisp day across the harbour another good variety of species were logged with the Yellow-browed Warbler still in Chads Copse at Lytchett Bay along with 2 Chiffchaff there too. At the PCW Drain at Holes Bay 2 Cetti’s Warbler, 5 Chiffchaff and a Firecrest were still present along the drain, visible from KFC. At Shell Bay, Studland there were 27 Sanderling, 8 Ringed Plover, 1 Great Northern Diver and 3 Black-necked Grebe. The ringtail Hen Harrier was seen at both Lytchett Bay and Swineham. At Morden Bog the Great Grey Shrike was just west of the decoy pond. Out in central harbour 3 Sandwich Tern were actively hunting and a Merlin was on its favoured roosting pole on Hartland. On Poole park boating Lake 2 Goldeneye were present.

Goldeneye – Poole Park – Ian Ballam