The forecast looks good for some visible migration at coastal watch points over the next week or so. With thrush’s, finches, wagtails, pipits and larks on the move, a watch at dawn can be quite spectacular especially at places like South Haven or Ballard Down. Today the first Red-breasted Mergansers were also looked with 5 out in South Deep, off the south shore of Brownsea along with 3 Black-necked Grebe. A Great White Egret was seen on Little Sea, Studland mid afternoon.  From Poole Quay the Kingfisher was seen again near our HQ and 3 Swallow passed over. At Hatch Pond another Kingfisher was seen and a Cetti’s Warbler was heard. Between the harbour mouth and Brownsea 20+ Swallow and 16+ House Martin flew through. And at Baiter there were 11 Turnstone and a Carrion Crow doing its best to disguise its self as a Magpie. On Hartland a female Merlin was in the centre of the moor at dawn, and just 1 Marsh Harrier came out of the roost.

Turnstone – Baiter – John Pick

Carrion Crow – Baiter – John Pick

The forecast yesterday looked good for a vis-mig session, but at the last minuet the temperature rose quite substantially, enough so that a thick blanket of fog descended up the harbour by late evening. However all was not lost as another Yellow-browed Warbler was found along the coast path from South Beach at Ballard Down and in the gloom a Hawfinch passed over heading NE. There were also some other finches on the move with c30 Siskin, c50 Goldfinch, c30 Linnet, 4 Greenfinch and 2 Chaffinch over along with 5 Skylark, 9 Blackcap, 7 Chiffchaff, c40 Meadow Pipit, 3 Yellowhammer and 1 Reed Bunting passing through and over the area. Several good contenders for freshly arrived Continental Robin were also ringed at our ringing site during the morning too. A moth trapping session as part of our two-year Moths of Poole Harbour study caught the projects first Clifden Nonpareil. On Hartland the Cuckoo that was found on Saturday was still hanging about on SW corner of the moor where there was also a late Common Redstart. On Shipstal Point, a high count for this autumn/winter of 45 Spoonbill were counted. It seems the female Merlin on Hartland is pretty settled and has been seen out in the centre of the moor for almost a week now. A Woodlark passed over Sunnyside at dawn and in the Frome Valley 3 Cattle Egret were next to the railway line up near Holmebridge. 

Continental Robin – Ballard Down 

Clifden Nonpareil – Ballard Down

With the large number of Yellow-browed Warbler arriving into the UK last week its no surprise that they’re now beginning to trickle in to Dorset and today another was found in the harbour, this time in the PC World drain, next to KFC at Wessex Gate retail park. Not necessarily the first place you’d think of to look for a rare/scarce bird but amazingly today’s was actually the 5^th Yellow-browed Warbler to be found at this funny/weird little site in just three years! There were also 3 Blackcap, 3 Common Chiffchaff, 1 Siberian Chiffchaff, 1 Kingfisher and 1 Grey Wagtail there today too. Up on Hartland a Firecrest was in a Long-tailed Tit flock which has prompted us to acknowledge that this autumn Goldcrest are virtually nowhere to be seen. Is anyone else seeing any? The harbour’s first Ring Ouzel of the autumn was seen along the track of Middlebere and Marsh Harriers were at Middlebere, Lytchett Bay and Swineham (all possibly the same birds).  At Lytchett Fields another Firecrest was near the waterworks and out on the fields were c150 Black-tailed Godwit, c40 Dunlin and 60 Meadow Pipit.

Yellow-browed Warbler – PCW Drain – Ian Ballam

A fairly grim start to the day which eventually cleared thankfully, but there wasn’t much reported over the course of the day. At Middlebere there were 105 Avocet, c200 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Spotted Redshank, 35 Lapwing, 21 Curlew and a Wheatear. In Upton CP there were 2 Firecrest and in both Holes Bay and Lytchett Bay drake pintail were logged arriving in. On and around Hartland Moor there was still 1 female Merlin and a Peregrine with still only 2 Marsh Harrier coming out of the west Poole Harbour roost. At Lytchett Fields there were 2 Spotted Redshank and along Soldiers Road 3 tardy Swallow. On the Wareham to Stoborough causeway the 2 Cattle Egret were again feeding in amongst the cows on the west side of the road.

We’ve said this numerous times this year but the warm weather seems to be impacting a range of biodiversity across the harbour, even this late in the year. Today in the late afternoon, early evening it was 22 degrees, which for mid October is a crazy temperature. More average would be 14 degrees so with this in mind it was amazing that we found a Smooth Snake out on a heathland near Hartland this afternoon, which is a species that normally goes into hibernation in October. Also, a late Cuckoo was photographed up on Hartland which is about two-weeks later than normal. Also out and around Hartland was a female Merlin, 1 Hobby still and a Peregrine with both immature male and female Marsh Harrier out over the Wareham Channel. Out on Shipstal Point, Arne the Spoonbill flock is staying consistent at 40 birds…will we see it increase at all? With the wind still fairly steady this morning another sea watch was attempted with only 1 Diver sp (likely Great Northern Diver), 2 Brent Geese and 2 Gannet the birds of note. At the Wareham by pass the 2 Cattle Egret were seen again to the west of the bridge amongst the cattle. At Lytchett Fields there were c200 Black-tailed Godwit, c200 Redshank, 6 Greenshank, 5 Green Sandpiper, 1 Knot and 1 Spotted Redshank and at Holton Pools the Kingfishers are kindly continuing to satisfy the numerous visiting photographers.

Smooth Snake – Hartland Moor

With a strong southerly wind blowing it made sense to attempt a Branksome sea watch which would be the first of the season. It was surprisingly productive with one (possibly two) distant Skua sp, most likely Arctic, 1 Eider, 4 Common Scoter, 3 Dunlin, 1 Curlew, 11 Med Gull, 5 Brent Geese and 26 Gannet. At Middlebere there were singles of Marsh Harrier, Merlin and Peregrine and still 2 Spotted Redshank.

A really great mix of birds today which included a ringtail Hen Harrier on Hartland, although it didn’t look to stick around, also 2 Merlin, 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Hobby and a Peregrine seen there too. On the Wareham bypass 2 Cattle Egret was seen with the cows again near the causeway. In Holes Bay NE 2 Green Sandpiper over were possibly a site first, also 700+ Black-tailed Godwit and 50+ Dunlin present. On Sunnyside Pools there were 2 Green Sandpiper and at Lytchett Fields 1 Spotted Redshank, 200+ Redshank, 8 Greenshank, 4 Green Sandpiper, 700+ Teal, 150 Black-tailed Godwit and 1 Knot. On the Brownsea Lagoon Avocet numbers saw a marked increase with c500 present. In Middlebere there were 2 Spotted Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 30 Avocet and 1 Peregrine.

How warm is it? With the forecast predicting 22 degrees today its no surprise many autumn vis-mig species are so low in numbers…they still think its mid-summer! Normally by now species such as Lesser Redpoll, Goldfinch, Linnet and Siskin are passing in good numbers along Ballard and South Haven however numbers so far have been minimal. We really need a good cold snap to bring things back into sync and to prompt some birds to get moving. That said, a flock of 10 Barnacle Geese over Sunnyside Farm was a good record. The/a Cattle Egret was again near the Wareham Causeway, although further west towards the bypass. On Brownsea 8 Spoonbill were still present but later moved over to Arne and there were also 5 Spotted Redshank on Brownsea along with 26 Curlew, 11 Grey Plover, 10 Greenshank, 119 Black-tailed Godwit, 13 Bar-tailed Godwit, 397 Avocet, 18 Shoveler and 8 Wigeon. There was a Merlin on Coombe Heath and another (or the same) on Hartland Moor and a Firecrest in the Arne car park. There was a Wheatear at Lytchett Fields along with 1 Knot, 16 Dunlin and 200+ Redshank in Lytchett Bay. At Lytchett Heath a ringing session at dawn to monitor Bearded Tit numbers in the reedbed saw 23 caught (15 new and 8 re-traps).

Male and female Bearded Tit – Lytchett Heath – Paul Morton

Just like buses, you wait a couple of weeks for a Yellow-browed Warbler and then two come along at once. This morning a second in two days was ringed up on Ballard along with 26 Chiffchaff and 23 Blackcap. With the wind swinging westerly thrush passage dropped off and only 4 each of Redwing and Song Thrush were logged over Lytchett Heath. At Holton Pools a Marsh Harrier drifted in front of the hide and at Shipstal the Spoonbill flock stood at 32.

Yellow-browed Warbler – Ballard Down – Olly Slessor

Unlike most passage migrants that pass through the harbour in both spring and autumn there are some that just pass through during the latter part of the year and can sum up Autumn migration all on their own. One of those species is Yellow-browed Warbler, a bird that was once considered an extreme rarity but is now a regular migrant each October. Although several had appeared across the UK in recent weeks, it was no where near as ‘busy’ with YBW this autumn compared to recent years…that was until today. An estimated 500 turned up across the UK, mostly along the east coast but one did manage to trickle its way down to us with one ringed and logged moving through Ballard Down. With so many in the UK now (and more probably arriving) its well worth keeping an eye and an ear out for these dinky autumn delights. Also logged moving through Ballard was 27 Chiffchaff, 44 Blackcap, 1 late Common Redstart, 1 Song Thrush but only 1 Goldfinch…where are the finches??? On Brownsea there were 8 Spoonbill and c350 Avocet and later 8 Spoonbill were also in Lytchett Bay including colour-ringed bird ‘AE’ which was ringed in Holland in 2006 and has been seen regularly in Lytchett Bay/Poole harbour since 2013. Lytchett also had its first Merlin of the autumn. In Wareham at least 1 Cattle Egret remained along the causeway. A nocturnal sound recording session at Holton Lee saw thrush passage increase slightly with almost equal amounts of Redwing (45 calls) and Song Thrush (42 calls) passing over during the course of the night.

Eight Spoonbill – Lytchett Bay – Shaun Robson