South Central harbour was teeming with activity on the low tide and many open-water highlights included 1 Long-tailed Duck, 2 Slavonian Grebe, 11 Black-necked Grebe, 3 Great Northern Diver, 27 Goldeneye, c100 Great Created Grebe, c70 Red-breasted Merganser and 1 Common Scoter. Huge numbers of waders and wildfowl were feeding out on the exposed mudflats including 18 Spoonbill, c40 Grey Plover, lots of Black-tailed Godwit, c400 Avocet and Curlew with 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Firecrest and 1 Great White Egret. The highest Lapwing count (167) at Lytchett Fields this autumn was logged today, along with 62 Avocet, 20 Black-tailed Godwit 75, Brent Goose, 40 Curlew, 31 Dunlin, 16 Gadwall, 3 Greenshank, 2 Kingfisher, 2 Knot, 167 Lapwing, 2 Pintail, 2 Spotted Redshank, 107 Redshank, 299 Teal, 2 Water Rail, 534 Wigeon and a Yellow-legged Gull. The 2 Velvet Scoter were off Jerry’s Point with 6 Common Scoter and 3 Black-necked Grebe off there too.

Swineham held abundant numbers of Coot on the gravel pits with a few Shoveler scattered amongst them. Great Crested Grebe, Gadwall, Mallard & Tufted Duck and Little Grebe were all recorded along the Frome. At least 150 Lapwing were among the Piddle flood fields and 2 Marsh Harrier were seen quartering the area. A flock of 6 Bearded Tit were observed over the Frome.The old scrape at Swineham harboured 50 Lapwing, 20 Mallard and 6 Curlew while the new scape 3 held and additional Snipe, 8 Shelduck, several Black-tailed Godwit, 40 Curlew, 2 Shoveler, 2 Gadwall & Mallard. The Two Rivers produced c150 Curlew, c125 Canada Geese and the White-fronted Goose amongst the Greylag in Frome flood field opposite Redclyffe Yacht Club.

Elsewhere, a Short-Eared Owl was found this evening flying between Soldiers Road and the Arne Road junction. It appeared from the Slepe Heath side and moved on west along the base of Stoborough Heath. A total of 7 Marsh Harrier had gathered in the west Harbour by sunset. Studland Bay featured a Red-throated Diver, 4 Black-necked Grebe and 11 Red-breasted Merganser and c100 Brent Goose entered harbour this morning at 9.15am. Rockley Park featured 106 Brent Goose, offering close views from the Park. Goathorn offered small numbers of Avocet, A single Great White Egret, Woodcock, Firecrest and 2 Bar-tailed Godwit. Fitzworth Point was of a hive of activity, vast numbers of waders present as usual, including more unusual visitors for the area including 12 Turnstone and 3 Sanderling. The evening also produced a Merlin over towards Wytch Causeway.

 Spoonbill gatecrashing Avocet party – Wytch Lake

Feeding Avocet flock – Wytch Lake

We left the quay at 12:30pm with a low tide expected at 1:20pm, so we crept along the northern shoreline before entering the Wareham Channel as the tide flowed past us out towards the harbour mouth. As shorelines became exposed birds began to reveal themselves as Curlew, Oystercatcher and Brent Geese lined the shingle and sand banks. On the northern Arne shoreline 9 Spoonbill busily fed as Red-breasted Merganser began to appear in small flocks. Great Crested Grebe became numerous very quickly and Gadwall began to appear. As hoped for Marsh Harrier showed up along the Keysworth shoreline with 3 present including a 2^nd year male, 1 juv and an adult female. Towards the mouth of the Piddle a flock of c120 Avocet fed in a tight flock as Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin and a few Redshank searched the mudflats. We entered the Frome and Little Grebe seemed abundant on the river fringes as two Kingfisher showed superbly sat on low rocks on the shore. As we crept up the rived a few Reed Bunting gave them selves away as Shoveler, Gadwall, Greylag Geese and Lapwing became really conspicuous on the floodplain and new Swineham scrapes with c150 Lapwing, c30 Shoveler plus 100+ Coot on the main gravel pit. As we exited the river 2 Bearded Tit showed briefly on the edge of the reed bed as more Lapwing arrived to settle on the mudflats. Out towards central harbour more and more Great Crested Grebe were logged and a single Slavonian Grebe was in Balls Lake. Goldeneye were represented in a few small flocks (mostly females) with flocks of 11, 4 and 2. We managed a healthy 4 Great Northern Diver with 1 off Hamworthy Beach, 2 in South Deep and 1 off Furzey Island, with a single Red-throated Diver off Green Island. We managed to catch up with a couple of Black-necked Grebe in the Balls Lake area and off Jerry’s Point  a single Velvet Scoter was logged and at 4pm (by a land based observer) 13 Common Scoter settled in Brands Bay at dusk. We passed the Brownsea Lagoon as the light began to fade as many (mostly) Herring Gull came into roost but it was also busy with Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin, Avocet, a few Knot, Greenshank, Grey Plover and a Peregrine was settled on the Tamrisk Island. Other bits and pieces included a Cetti’s Warbler singing up the Frome, several Raven overhead, a flock of 17 Snipe over, 2 Egyptian Geese, a small flock of Redwing, a few fly over Rock/Water Pipit, 1 Stonechat, It was quite a trip, and when you add in the commoner species such as Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Shags, Cormorants, Wigeon, Teal, Common Gulls, Starlings and so on it made for an extremely productive trip with 76 species logged in all.

Returning to today, Sunnyside Scrape received an uncommon visitor in the form of a Little Grebe. Brownsea Lagoon saw 2 Greenshank, 18 Curlew, 4 Brent Goose, 1 Green Woodpecker amongst numerous Avocet, Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit and Dunlin. A small flock of Shoveler spent the day shoveling but not wildfowl numbers on the lagoon today were relatively low. Holton Pools held Redshank, Greenshank, Stonechat as well as a Marsh Harrier making a welcome appearance. A total of 85 Brent Goose were feeding at Baiter Park and a Firecrest and Grey Wagtail frequented Norden sewage works, Corfe Castle. A notable flock of 65 Pintail frequented Shipstal, amongst numerous Curlew and 17 mobile Spoonbill. Great Northern Diver was close in at Baiter this morning and a pair of Goldeneye were close in at Parkstone Bay this morning.

Woodcock – Sunnyside Ringing Demo – Dorothy Widnall

Common Snipe – Sunnyside Ringing Demo – Dorothy Widnall

Great Northern Diver – Baiter – Ian Ballam

 Goldeneye – Parkstone Bay – Ian Ballam

High water levels at Lytchett Bay held good numbers on Approach Field including Dunlin, Greenshank, Redshank, Green Sandpiper, Lapwing and Teal. Also, 2 Marsh Harrier quartering about Lytchett Fields this morning with the 2nd bird seen to catch a teal on French’s Pool.

Water Rail – Poole Park – Samuel Levy

The ringing session at Lytchett Heath began with views of a Marsh Harrier leaving the roost at Lytchett heading west. Yesterday saw 3 Marsh Harrier leaving Lytchett in the morning. Holton Pools also recorded an individual late morning. The ringing session was fairly quiet with a couple of Cetti’s Warbler and a Redwing the highlights.