It was a proper bird-filled day across the harbour today, as the winter chill began to set in. Our Winter Safari Cruise was busy from start to finish and logged both adult White-tailed Eagles, one first in the Wareham Channel, then both later in the trip along the southern shores of the harbour. At Swineham there were some great wetland birds including 8 Glossy Ibis on the pools, 1 Bittern flew over the Swineham meadows and 15 Cattle Egret were out over the Piddle Valley, plus 3-4 Marsh Harrier were floating about. A 1st winter Red-throated Diver was off Hamworthy Beach, two groups of 3 Black-necked Grebe were split between central harbour and Brands Bay, and this morning a Black-throated Diver flew into the harbour. Just off Middle Beach there were 4 Common Scoter and a Razorbill. There was a flock of 16 Spoonbill that flew across central harbour during our boat trip, then later during WeBS 18 were feeding off Shipstal Point. Wildfowl numbers have dramatically increased with large numbers of Teal, Wigeon and Pintail now back, but still only c500 dark-bellied Brent Geese. A decent sized Cormorant flock was hunting off Green Island, joined by plenty of Little Egret as the White-tailed Eagles watched on. There are now c50 Red-breasted Merganser back, mostly spread along the southern shores and in central harbour. A 1st winter Little Gull was also at Swineham and a Spotted Redshank was on Brownsea.

sinensis Cormorant feeding flock with Little Egrets and gulls off Green Island from this AM’s Winter Safari – Alison Copland

Spoonbill fly-by from this AM’s Winter Safari – Central Harbour – Mike Ixer

A dense foggy start to the day made birding tricky, but quite a few birds were on the move last night including Redwing and Fieldfare, with both being ringed under license in the Lower Piddle Valley this morning. As the fog cleared the Glossy Ibis flock consisting of 12 birds emerged on one of the pools at Swineham just south of the main gravel pit. Both adult White-tailed Eagles were in the Wareham Channel this morning. The harbour mouth was pretty quite but saw 105 Shag fly through the entrance at dawn, but no divers today.

Fieldfare – Lower Piddle Valley – Ed Betteridge

It’s still incredibly mild and not feeling like mid-November at all, which seems to be holding up lots of the winter birds. Still good birds to see with 1 Water Pipit and 1 Rock Pipit colour ringed at Lytchett Fields RSPB this morning. 1 Spotted Redshank was also present, commuting between the Bay and the Fields along with 1 Grey Plover and 6 Greenshank. The Glossy Ibis were still at Swineham in the very flooded fields, although only 5 could be picked out, no doubt the other 7 were lurking around somewhere. 1 juvenile White-tailed Eagle was seen flying from Coombe Heath, Arne and the adult female G466 dropped into the Wareham Channel this morning during our School Bird Boat. 1 male Merlin flew North over Carey, a different individual to yesterday’s bird.

Water Pipit having been colour ringed – Lytchett Fields – Shaun Robson

Rock Pipit having been colour ringed – Lytchett Fields – Shaun Robson

Colour Ring on Water Pipit – make sure to report any colour ring resightings – Shaun Robson

A bit of rain first thing but the recent wind and rain seems to have brought in some new arrivals into the harbour. 1 Black-throated Diver and 1 Red-throated Diver were seen flying in through the harbour entrance this morning, along with still large numbers of Shag (127). From our Winter Safari Cruise this morning we also had 2 Great Northern Diver in South Deep, 2 Common Scoter in central harbour and 5 Black-necked Grebe sheltering on the north side of Furzey Island. There were c700 Avocet on the Brownsea Lagoon, 15 Bar-tailed Godwit and 16 Greenshank. 11 Glossy Ibis were showing well at Swineham, viewed from both the boat and the two rivers walk. There were also 3 Marsh Harrier, c300 Avocet (no doubt overlap with Brownsea birds), 3 Grey Plover and 1 White-tailed Eagle in the Wareham Channel on the low tide. 1 Merlin was seen flying over Wareham Common this afternoon. 20 Spoonbill were at Shipstal point, RSPB Arne.

Avocet – Wareham Channel from Winter Safari Cruise – John Thorpe

Even though the Isle of Wight White-tailed Eagle project only started in 2019, their presence in and around south Dorset has become so ‘standard’ that there’s literally a chance of bumping into one anywhere around Poole Harbour and Purbeck, just like some of our team yesterday who had one fly right over their car at the Bakers Arms roundabout! What isn’t so ‘standard’ are hunting observations, with most sightings of eagles either sat for hours on end, or passing overhead with slow lumbering wing beats. However, this morning an incredible spectacle was observed with 3 individuals hunting off the Purbeck coast, attempting to catch fish in amongst a gull flock. The scene was straight out of a Norwegian fjord or Scottish Loch and quite incredible that it was in fact Purbeck. Then, later this afternoon a different 2 individuals were hunting geese and cormorants in the Lower Piddle Valley. Quite a remarkable change in circumstances. In the Frome Valley near Holmebridge a Swallow was feeding over the floodplain, plus there were 25 Cattle Egret there. A Great White Egret was on Wareham Common, 2 Spotted Redshank and a Ruff were in the Lower Piddle Valley and a Curlew Sandpiper was in Lytchett Bay this morning.

2 of 3 White-tailed Eagles hunting off the Purbeck coast this morning – Garry Hayman