There were some incredible downpours today and plenty of rainbows on offer. It looked as if a pot of gold was on offer at the end of a rainbow out in Poole Bay when a Swift species was picked up flying across Studland Bay towards Old Harry. In mid-November the logical thought would be it was a Pallid Swift, an extremely rare vagrant to Dorset with no Poole Harbour records. However, the bird was watched for a good few minuets as it travelled across the bay and all features actually pointed towards Common Swift. An exceptionally late record for this species. Another frustrating encounter was had over Poole when a large (and silent) pipit flew over at dawn, which gave an overall appearance of Richards Pipit but flew over and disappeared before it could be clinched. There was a minimum of 9 Cattle Egret next to the Stoborough causeway mid afternoon. At Sunnyside there were 2 Egyptian Geese again and on Poole Park boating lake the 3 Goldeneye and the Mandarin Duck were still present.  From Shipstal 28 Spoonbill were on the point. At Holton Pools Kingfisher, Green Sandpiper, Wigeon, Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Water Pipit, Marsh Harrier and Little Egret were all viewable from the hide. In Middlebere 8 Spoonbill were hunkered up for a while at the end of the channel and the Avocet and Black-tailed Godwit flock were out in front of the hide.

Female Goldeneye – Poole Park Lake – Rene Goad

The storm that was forecast didn’t really kick in until late afternoon/early evening but was certainly wild, enough by midday to create some pretty dramatic scenes especially along the Studland beaches. There were a few birds bobbing around on the waves including 12 Common Scoter in Studland Bay and Black-necked Grebes in Shell and Bramble Bush Bay. Off Jerry’s Point 8 Goldeneye and 11 Red-breasted Merganser were feeding in the shallow water of the low tide. In Brands Bay there were 3 Black-necked Grebe, 45 Great Crested Grebe, 27 Red-breasted Merganser, 3 Goldeneye, 2 Spoonbill, c230 Wigeon and 37 Brent Geese. The 3 drake Goldeneye in Poole Park have now been joined by a female.  

Tonight we ventured out for our third time this autumn to try and see if any Woodcock had arrived back on the south coast. We looked at several fields around the Hartland area and managed to log c15 Woodcock in the end, which was great for early November. With the ‘Woodcock Moon’ occurring on Nov 23^rd we expect another big arrival of birds from Russia and Eastern Europe then. We also managed to catch one at Arne Farm, which was actually a re-catch of a bird that we had originally ringed on 21/12/16 which is great news and proves winter site fidelity at Arne Farm for Woodcock for the first time.  This morning a single Cattle Egret flew over the Stoborough causeway again heading west up the Frome Valley…where have the other 20 gone? At Morden Bog it was a grey day mostly because an adult male Hen Harrier was seen briefly, as was the Great Grey Shrike. At Holton Pools, the high tide again forced lots of birds to use the exposed banks of the scrapes and saw Curlew, Black-tailed Godwit and Redshank out in front of the hide along with 2 fly by Marsh Harrier and a Water Pipit and Green Sandpiper later in the day when the tide receded.

Woodcock – Arne Farm – Paul Morton

Wow, some pretty horrendous weather systems pushed on through today! So much so that it was not even tempting to head out, despite the possibility of a Little Auk or Leach’s Petrel turning up. Most birds were just hunkered up and staying low with only 1 Cattle Egret seen today flying over the Stoborough Causeway. Also, in torrential rain and wind a Short-eared Owl was seen flying high over Lytchett Bay heading north…brave owl! At Arne there were 32 Spoonbill out on Shipstal Point. At Holton Pools a Green Sandpiper was in front of the hide along with 1 Water Pipit earlier in the day. At Sunnyside farm 2 Egyptian Geese were on the fields. In Poole park the 3 drake Goldeneye were still on the main boating lake and the crowd-pleasing Mandarin had also moved to the main lake.

It was still Cattle Egret mania today with 21 behind Curlew Cottage at Swineham/Bestwall just outside Wareham. They can be quite elusive though and although seen together twice in two days, the flock can easily disappear as quickly as they appear. Checking the rest of the Frome Valley is always worth a shot, certainly at the Wareham bypass bridge, the Stoborough Causeway and from Holmebridge. At Holton Pools 2 Water Pipit were on the scrape but the huge high tides also saw 60+ Redshank out in front of the hide along with several Black-tailed Godwit, Teal and Wigeon. On Canford Heath 2 Firecrest were ringed out on the heath along with an excellent total of Greenfinches (63). Out in Studland Bay there were 3 Black-necked Grebe. We’ve also had the information back for the yellow-flagged Bar-tailed Godwit found during our WeBS count the other day. It was ringed as a 1^st winter female on the 26/08/18 at Klepp in SW Norway.

Ringed (Klepp SW Norway) and overwintering (Poole Harbour)  location of Bar-tailed Godwit seen during WeBS on Nov 4th

Well, that didn’t take long! In a matter of days we saw our Cattle Egret flock rise from four, to eleven to twenty today. This is a massive total and again breaks a Poole Harbour record. Surely this ‘irruption/colonising’ of Cattle Egret over the last couple of years here in southern Britain will see a breeding population big to grow? A pair did breed at the Little Egret colony last year but now with probably over 70 (or close to) Cattle Egret currently in the county it makes a good basis for a decent colony to begin. In Poole Park the drake Mandarin was popular again, giving views down to about 6 inches as it fed from peoples hands!!! There were also 3 Goldeneye still on the main boating lake too and 3 Sandwich Tern were roosting the reed islands. At Little Sea, Studland there were now 2 Great White Egret which lays to rest the question of how many there are currently in the harbour…well, around the Studland peninsular anyway. There could be others hanging around the Wareham Channel/Middlebere area. There were also 2 redhead Goosander still on Little Sea. Tonight, amongst the whizz and pops of brightly coloured fireworks there was a good passage of Redwing and Song Thrush going over. We wonder if any get caught in the crossfire?

Two of twenty Cattle Egret at Bestwall, near Wareham – Gordon Mutton

Poole Harbour WeBS days are always good for a few ‘turn ups’ with so many birders out around the harbour surveying. And sure enough a couple decent findings were made. Firstly a Poole Harbour record flock of 11 Cattle Egret were found in the Frome Valley, just north of East Holme. Its quite possible there are more about and as the winter progresses it would be great if we could get up to the same dizzy heights as Abbotsbury and see 50+ by January! There was also a Black Brant found out in the Wareham Channel which although will be tricky to see as the whole area is surrounded by private land, it will almost certainly join one of the more accessible flocks of Brent Geese in and around Middlebere or Arne so well worth scanning through those Brent flocks. In Bramble Bush Bay the Eider was still present and out in Studland Bay 6 Black-necked Grebe and 8 Common Scoter and another 2 Black-necked Grebe in Shell Bay.  Goldeneye numbers are rising with 14 off Long Island and another 3 drakes in Poole Park where the Mandarin was again present on the small lake. In the morning there were c500 Avocet on the Brownsea Lagoon, which later moved to the mouth of Wytch lake on the low tide. On Swineham GP a single Pochard was kind of noteworthy and 3 Spotted Redshank were in the mouth of the Piddle with 7 Bearded Tit there too. There were 2 Marsh Harrier commuting between Swineham and Lytchett Bay. A flock of 31 Spoonbill were feeding off the northern Arne shoreline and a flock of 12 Crossbill went over the Arne approach road. Across the whole harbour on the low tide waders were giving good views in still calm conditions…well, from 1pm anyway and a colour-flagged Bar-tailed Godwit was photographed which seems to be from a Norwegian ringing scheme.  

Black Brant – Wareham Channel – Nick Hopper

Bar-tailed Godwit – Goathorn – Paul Morton

Mandarin Duck – Poole Park – Ian Ballam

Goldeneye – Poole Park – Ian Ballam

Still a pleasant day today but with a wind building from the south-west a choppy sea and rustling trees made things a bit tricky for birding. That said being tucked up in a hide was well worth it as at Holton Pools there were two Water Pipit again also 2 Green Sandpiper, 1 Marsh Harrier, 17 Teal and out in Lytchett Bay 26 Avocet and 9 Brent Geese. Out in Bramble Bush Bay there were 2 redhead Goosander and 32 Red-breasted Merganser. There was a dash of colour in Poole Park with a drake Mandarin Duck on the main lagoon. From the Coombe Heath hide at Arne and the Middlebere hide, looking down into Middlebere there were c500 Wigeon, c500 Avocet and small numbers of Grey Plover, Dunlin and Black-tailed and Godwit. The sight of c500 Avocet flying around what is quite incredible and well worth going to see.

With November starting much like October was, mild and sunkist we are beginning to think is winter ever going to start? For most of the day the harbour was like a mill pond, which made scanning for open water species nice and easy. Out in Bramble Bush by the female Eider was still present and a single Black-necked Grebe was there too and 34 Red-breasted Merganser. There were also seven Black-necked Grebe off Middle Beach and two off Shell Bay with 11 Common Scoter off Middle Beach as well. In Lytchett Bay there were 2 redhead Goosander. The Great Grey Shrike was at Morden Bog it looks for another winter. On Holton Pools up to 2 Water Pipit were present and the sandy spit on Long Island (opposite Shipstal Point) had 17 Spoonbills. The Brownsea Lagoon had 500 Avocet and three Spotted Redshank. On Hartland Moor 2 Merlin were dashing about. Our ringing station on Ballard Down saw a surprise Water Rail ringed, which highlights that a whole manner of different species are on the move this autumn on migration. In Whitley Bay, Sandbanks up to 50 Brent Geese were just off the cycle path along with 9 Turnstone (on the pavement)! and 2 Bar-tailed Godwit out on the sand. Simply just being out and around the harbour currently is a joy in itself with flocks of up to 300 curlew out at Shipstal Point and all the Brent Geese now arriving, it looks as if we could have an exciting winter ahead of us.

Female Water Rail – Ringed up on Ballard Down – Olly Slessor

As winter creeps in so do the wintery bird species looking to kick autumn into touch. A female Eider was off the Houseboats at Studland which is a good early winter record with 6 Goldeneye and out in Shell Bay there were 2 Black-necked Grebe and 9 Common Scoter. In Brands Bay there were a few decent wildfowl totals with 359 Wigeon, 40 Pintail and 149 Teal. In the Frome Valley 4 Cattle Egret were found about 300m east of Holmebridge which were tricky to see but had flown to the floodplain near High Tor 20 minutes after being found. At Holton Pools a flock of 31 Lesser Redpoll flew over the hide towards Lytchett Fields, there were 18 Teal and 8 Wigeon on the pools with a Greenshank and Green Sandpiper and later in the day a Marsh and Hen Harrier and Water Pipit were logged too. In Holes Bay NE a single Bar-tailed Godwit was with 300+ Black-tailed Godwit, 800+ Wigeon and 2 Avocet with 2 Rock Pipit along the cycle path. In the warm sunshine a common Chiffchaff was in full song along the PC World drain. At Middlebere 2 Marsh Harrier flew past the hide and there were another 2 near Ridge later in the day which could relate to the same birds.

We’ve also now published our end of season Osprey 2018 blog, which gives an update on the ups and downs our team experienced this year. It offers an honest overview but is filled with the positive aspects we can build on and look forward to next year – FULL BLOG HERE

Bar-tailed Godwit – Holes Bay NE – Ian Ballam