The harbour was looking great today with plenty of birds to be seen. At sunrise the Common Crane was again leaving the Hartland area heading south west and was seen again at dusk coming in from the Corfe direction, heading towards Arne Moors. A Short-eared Owl was hunting along the Holton shoreline at dusk and 3 different Marsh Harrier went into roost in Poole Harbour west. A male and female Hen Harrier were seen near the mouth of the Frome/Swineham and a Great White Egret was in Shell Bay with 2 Cattle Egret in Lytchett Minster. In Studland Bay there were c20 Black-necked Grebe and a Great Northern Diver was in Shell Bay. Brands Bay was full of birds with c30 Knot, c70 Grey Plover and c20 Pintail the highlights along with good numbers of commoner waterfowl. Brownsea Lagoon was also looking good as plenty of Avocet were active out in front of the hide, 3 Greenshank were on the stony islands, c150 Bar-tailed Godwit flew in to roost and a single Spotted Redshank was at the southern end. At Norden Sewage works 2 Chiffchaff (one in full song) and a Grey Wagtail were present. At Sunnyside Farm, a night survey saw a minimum of 6 Jack Snipe present.

Arne was busy today with c300 Avocet in Middlebere with 1 Merlin and 2 Marsh Harrier along the channel and 50 Lapwing, 1 Shoveler, 1 Gadwall, c30 Wigeon and 50 Black-tailed Godwit at the top end of the channel. Off Shipstal there were another 11 Spoonbill and off Shipstal Beach 5 Goldeneye, 7 Great Crested Grebe and c20 Red-breasted Merganser. In the Arne car park 3 Firecrest were in the Holly at the end of the lane near the toilets. At dawn 1 drake Goosander and 1 Great White Egret flew up the Frome Valley, c300 Avocet were in the Wareham Channel and a ringtail Hen Harrier was at Swineham and 2 Crossbill flew over the Arne road at dawn. The Common Crane was again seen in flight over the Hartland area but couldn’t be relocated. At Holme Lane 6-7 Cattle Egret were still in the field along the road and in South Deep there were 2 Great Northern Diver and 2 Black-necked Grebewere in Brands Bay. At Holton Pools a Water Pipit retuned. 

Water Pipit – Holton Pools – John Pick

The Common Crane flew in from the south today, over the Wareham Channel and towards the Arne Moors. Will it be found on the deck again any time soon? In Middlebere there was the sub-adult male Hen Harrier, 1 Marsh Harrier and 1 Spoonbill. At Swineham there were 4 Egyptian Geese, 4 Pochard on the Gravel Pits, 1 Marsh Harrier at Swineham Point with 2 Water Pipit, 6 Skylark, 5 Rock Pipit and 5 Common Snipe out on the marsh. 7 Cattle Egret were viewable from the road along Holme Lane.

The stillness departed today and a steady wind built throughout the day, which to be honest we could really do with. A bit of unsettled weather will hopefully draw in some more Great Northern Diver or scarcer sea duck or grebe species into the harbour. These recent settled conditions have been great for birding, but has seen a departure of things like the Eider, Common Scoter, Long-tailed duck and Red-necked Grebe that were all present right up until the end of last year…just as the weather calmed down. Either way, it will be interesting to see what turns up during and after these stronger blows. Some other good news it that Poole Park Lagoon has been drained! This provides an exciting birding experience right in the centre of town which back in 2010 saw two American species drawn to the lakes….Long-billed Dowitcher and Ring-billed Gull. There were no American species present today (that we were aware of) but there was a great supporting cast including 1 Water Rail (great Poole Park record), 4 Goldeneye, 11 Little Grebe, 42 Tufted Duck, 1 Wigeon, 2 Teal and 1 drake Shoveler, also 3 Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Redshank and 11 Oystercatcher. The Mandarin was also still on the smallest pond. At Middlebere the ringtail Hen Harrier was seen mid-morning and a Merlin was on Hartland.

Newly drained and bird-rich Poole Park Lagoon

Little Egret – Holes Bay – Rene Goad

It was flat calm by the end of the day and a perfect mid to late winter scene. Although spring is just around the corner and dreams of warmer weather are almost here, we can’t help but feel sad every time winter drifts away as cold stillness and beauty then become the distant memory and large numbers of waders and wildfowl melt away into the spartina. With that said it seemed fitting a nice selection of winter birds were reported today with 2 Common Scoter and a Great Northern Diver off the southern shore of Brownsea. In Middlebere 5 Spotted Redshank were at the top end of the channel and a Marsh Harrier flew past the hide. In Studland Bay 11 Black-necked Grebe were off Middle Beach and in Bramble Bush Bay 12 Sanderling were on the beach. Chiffchaff are still present at several sites with 4 at Norden Sewage works and 5 at the PC World Drain. Wigeon, Teal, Pintail, Brent Goose and Shelduck numbers around the harbour seem at the highest for the winter with our December WeBS count totals now in showing there were Wigeon [4718], Dunlin [2094], Black-tailed Godwit [1634], Lapwing [1765], Avocet [1223], Brent DB [1178], Red Breasted Merganser [203], Goldeneye [45], Black-necked Grebe [24], Great White Egret [1], Spoonbill [34] present on Dec 30^th. Elsewhere 5 new Cattle Egret were found in fields next to the bakers Arms in Lytchett Minster, 2 Barn Owl were at Middlebere, the Little Owl was seen again at Holton Lee and the Green Sandpiper was on Holton Pools. This evening we also carried out a ringing session at Lytchett Bay having taken it easy in recent weeks with the Christmas period with 1 Woodcock, 1 Common Snipe and 1 Skylark ringed.

Woodcock – Lytchett Bay – Stephen Menzie

With the New Year out of the way, you could have been mistaken for thinking we’d already reached mid-March today rather than early January. It felt and looked as if there had been a massive clear out of birds from right across the harbour, certainly open water and harbour species. We hosted a school bird boat, which produced very little with only c70 Red-breasted Merganser, 4 Goldeneye, c20 Great Crested Grebe and c10 Spoonbill being the main highlights. Similarly, along the Studland peninsular totals were equally scant with only 5 Black-necked Grebe off Shell Bay and another 5 off Middle Beach. Interest was so stretched that reports of the Ring-necked Parakeets at South Beach, Studland became a noteworthy highlight! At Holmebridge a Green Sandpiper flew down the valley, 4 Cattle Egret were along Holme lane and at Middlebere the ringtail Hen Harrier was seen. A surprise Barn Owl flew across the road on the A35 heading towards Upton CP. On the plus side, despite the low number of birds today, as the wind dropped a stunning sunset treated many onlookers right across the harbour.

Ring-necked Parakeet – Studland Village – Ian Ballam

Sunset over Sandbanks and Brownsea

The day started slow but ended with a cold bang as a Common Crane was discovered sat out in the middle of Hartland Moor. Sadly it didn’t hang around long and was only seen by a couple of observers before it disappeared off west. Since 2014 Common Crane sightings have become a bit more frequent (still only a couple of sightings per year), but with breeding populations increasing up on the Somerset Levels and at Slimbridge it could be that they become a regular winter feature here in the harbour over the next decade. Other than that 6 Cattle Egret were in fields along Holme Lane, Middlebere seems to be ‘THE’ wader hang out spot currently with excellent numbers of Avocet, Lapwing and Black-tailed Godwit viewable from the hide. The Mandarin was on the smallest Poole Park pond and 3 Goldeneye were on the main boating lake. At Holton Lee from the feeder hide Reed Buntings are moulting into spring plumage already and Siskins are now again back on the scene probably preparing for the breeding season ahead.

The tides are currently good for Holes Bay viewing late afternoon and today there was a great selection of birds along the SE part of the cycle path. On a falling or rising tide Holes Bay NE tends to be better on the peak low tide, the SE section is better as the birds follow the tide line out and under the bridge. This afternoon masses of birds were gathered in the SE section including a stunning group of Avocet right next to the path along with c800 Wigeon, c200 Teal, c 200 Dunlin, 2 Knot, c50 Black-tailed Godwit along with lots of Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank and gulls. Elsewhere it was much of the same with the White-fronted Goose was still at Bestwall, at Norden Sewage Works there were 3 Chiffchaff, 1 Firecrest and 3 Red-legged Partridge. Along Holme Lane 6 Cattle Egret in fields below Worgret Manor and in the PC world drain another 4 Chiffchaff. At dawn a likely 2^nd winter Glaucous Gull was off Baiter, settled in the gull roost but lifted off and headed of high NE at 7:45am. Along the Turlin shoreline at Lytchett Bay a male Merlin was zipping along the shoreline hunting. Around Studland a single Great Northern Diver was in Bramble Bush Bay, a total of 15 Black-necked Grebe were around the peninsular and 3 Ring-necked Parakeet were near the South Beach car park. At Sunnyside 2 Peregrine seemed content on harassing all the duck and Lapwing that were present.

Avocet flock – Holes Bay SE – Paul Morton

Black-tailed Godwit – Holes Bay – Rene Goad

There were quite a few birders out today and as a result a good range of sightings were submitted. Having not been reported for a few days the White-fronted Goose was still out just west of Bestwall. Down at Swineham Point 2 Marsh Harrier were stirring from Giggers Island and a few Water Pipit were in the channels to the east. At Holmebridge a drake Goosander flew over west towards the harbour and in the woods a Marsh Tit was in the mixed tit flock again. Along Holme Lane 7 Cattle Egret were in fields to the north of Bog Lane, c15 Black-necked Grebe were logged off Middle beach, Studland and a Slavonian Grebe was off Bramble Bush Bay with a Great Northern Diver too. There  was a possible arrival of duck as Holes Bay NW saw a decent count of 35 Shoveler Duck along with what looked like a slight increase in Pintail and Gadwall too. Along the Whitley Lake cycle path at Sandbanks both Turnstone and Bar-tailed Godwit were feeding close to the cycle path and a small flock of Sanderling were roosting on the groynes around the corner from the Haven Hotel. From our BoPH HQ front door today 92 Cormorant, 9 Red-breasted Merganser, a fly by male Goldeneye, 4 Ringed Plover, 1 Sandwich Tern, 3 Great Crested Grebe and 2 Black-necked Grebe (along the Brownsea shoreline) were logged. In Poole Park Lake there were 4 Goldeneye and 1 Red-breasted Merganser.

Goldeneye – Poole Park boating lake – Clare Slade

With the temperature dropping it seems there has been a bit of a clear out of some bird species as frost became settled on many cars even before 9pm. A night monitoring session at a usually productive site for Common Snipe, Woodcock and Teal saw ZERO birds present suggesting they’d moved out (south?) for a short while. However with the still weather continuing, open water species continue to be easier to count/find with 17 Black-necked Grebe out in Studland Bay, 2 Great Northern Diver out in South Deep, 21 Goldeneye and 24 Spoonbill off Shiptal Point, Arne and 2 Sandwich Tern off Baiter. A ringtail Hen Harrier was at Slepe Heath and then later seen at Middlebere for a brief period and out on the salt marsh Brent Geese totals seem to be at peak numbers with many birds spread out across the southern shores of the harbour. The results from our December WeBS count should be through soon so we’ll publish the results when they’re through.