A visit to Swineham Gavel produced c150 Coot, 37 Gadwall, 2 Tufted Duck, 3 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Little Grebe, 2 Cetti’s Warbler, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Kingfisher and 6 Reed Bunting. Nearby, the flood fields opposite Redclyffe Yacht Club held 1 White-fronted Goose with 2 domestic geese, 37 Curlew, 1 Grey Heron, 2 Cetti’s Warbler and 1 Chiffchaff.

A quiet Sunnyside scrape featured 14 Teal, Little Egret and 2 Meadow Pipit. The second November Scaup was recorded today. A female/1st winter was seen brieflyin Holes Bay NE, before flying south of railway line. The Bay also harboured 427 Dunlin and 2 Knot amongst the more common assemblages.

A pair of Bar-tailed Godwit continue to Baiter Park as their main feeding area, amongst the Oystercatcher flock, while a Poole garden featured a male and female Blackcap. Littlesea featured 1 Great White Egret and high Kingfisher activity was logged at Holton Pools.

Brownsea Lagoon saw an increase in Spoonbill numbers in recent weeks.  A total of 21 individuals were recorded with the webcam, accompanied by several hundred Dunlin, Knot, Ringed Plover, Grey Plover and Black-tailed Godwit.

Arne featured its first Brambling of the Autumn, located near the RSPB Welcome Hut and a Marsh Harrier was quartering over reedbeds in front of Raptor screen.

Jerry’s Point offered 1 Great Northern Diver, 5 Black-necked Grebe, 2 Common Scoter, 17 Red-breasted Merganser and abundant Great Crested Grebe. 40 Oystercatcher, 4 Turnstone, 3 Dunlin, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit and a single Grey Plover on opposite spit. Brands Bay held c200 Brent Goose, 40 Pintail, c100 Lapwing, c150 Black-tailed Godwit, 60 Curlew & 30 Redshank. A total of 6 Dartford Warbler were recorded on Studland Heath.

Bar-tailed Godwit – Baiter – Ian Ballam

Plenty of great sightings today, with a good range picked up on the survey boat, including c150 Red-breasted Merganser, 200 Great Crested Grebe and 450 Brent Geese. Brownsea Lagoon was highly productive, with 1000+ Dunlin, c50 Grey Plover, 15 Spoonbill, 4 Sanderling, c150 Avocet, 3 Spotted Redshank, Knot, Ringed Plover, 12 Bar-tailed Godwit, c800 Black-tailed Godwit, and Common Snipe.

Unusually, there was a record of a Sanderling feeding at Lytchett Bay this morning. This is the first sighting during winter on record. At Lytchett Fields there were reports of 1 Spotted Redshank, 3 Greenshank, 3 Green Sandpiper and 70 Lapwing, as well as over 100 Avocets and 57 Brent Geese in Lytchett Bay and 4 Water Pipits on the Pool Field.

Unfortunately, still no sign of the Long-eared Owl at Swineham, but otherwise great sightings of Marsh Harrier, 300 Curlew, 134 Lapwing, 1 Swallow, 2 Pochard and 1 Peregrine. Other highlights include 3 Great Northern Diver, 3 Common Scoter, 3 Velvet Scoter in the central harbour, 1 White-fronted Goose at Bestwall, 1 Merlin feeding at Arne, 12 Black-necked grebe and 1 Red-throated Diver seen near Hamworthy beach.

A Red-necked Grebe was seen to fly into the harbour this morning, along with 85 Shag, 25 Red-breasted Merganser, 1 diver sp. & 1 Sandwich Tern and the groynes opposite Sandbanks Pavilion features 22 Ringed Plover & 5 Sanderling. A Slavonian Grebe was recorded at Baiter amongst 2 Goldeneye, 2 Great Crested Grebe and a Rock Pipit.

Unfortunately, no sightings of the Long-eared Owl today at Swineham, hopefully it will be seen again in the next few days. However, still good sightings of 3 Marsh Harrier, c15 Bearded Tit, 1 Merlin, 107 Curlew, 93 Gadwall, 1 Brambling and 3 Cetti’s Warbler at Swineham.

Some nice sightings of 3 Common Scoter, 1 Great Northern Diver and Black Necked Grebe seen at Jerry’s Point.

Other records include 25 Wigeon, 4 Gadwall and 1 Pintail at East Holme, and 20 Pintail, 80 Black-tailed Godwits, 1 Common Sandpiper and 110 Brent Geese recorded in Brands Bay.

Unfortunately, no sightings of the Long-eared Owl today at Swineham, hopefully it will be seen again in the next few days. However, still good sightings of 3 Marsh Harrier, c15 Bearded Tit, 1 Merlin, 107 Curlew, 93 Gadwall, 1 Brambling and 3 Cetti’s Warbler at Swineham.

Highlights from a visit to to Jerry’s Point include 3 Common Scoter, 1 Great Northern Diver and Black Necked Grebe. Other records include 25 Wigeon, 4 Gadwall and 1 Pintail at East Holme, and 20 Pintail, 80 Black-tailed Godwits, 1 Common Sandpiper and 110 Brent Geese recorded in Brands Bay.

A Long-eared Owl at Swineham was the showstopper today. The species remains very rare in Dorset and extremely rare in the Harbour, with only a couple of records confirmed within the Harbour this century! Our school bird boat today logged 2 Velvet Scoter seen in the central harbour area this morning. Other highlights from the trip included 2 Spoonbill on Brownsea Lagoon and building numerous of Red-breasted Merganser in the Central Harbour.

A high tide visit to Coombe Viewpoint offered c200 Lapwing, c250 Avocet, Wigeon, Black-tailed Godwit & a female Marsh Harrier and a brief visit to the Holton Lee pool early afternoon produced 4 Greenshank, 1 Spotted Redshank, 3 Redshank, 2 Green Sandpiper and a Kingfisher.