Hopefully, today was the last period of foul weather for a while, with a beautiful ridge of high pressure now settled in over the UK for the next week. The foul weather did deliver our first sub-Saharan spring migrant of the year, with a male Northern Wheatear on Hartland Moor. This probably one of the earliest records for Poole Harbour of this species and follows a bit of a pattern of other early migrants appearing across the UK this year. We’re now entering ‘Bittern time’, with an opportunity to possibly see Bittern moving about Swineham GP at dusk, and in a few weeks time, the possibility of watching Bittern leave. This evening one was seen flying from Arne Moors, over onto Swineham GP at around 18:30, presumably to go and roost there. It called a few times as it flew as it flew from Arne Moors to Swineham which is always a joy to hear. From our School Bird Boat this AM, Bovington Academy enjoyed views of a White-tailed Eagle flying over Shipstal Point, at RSPB Arne, also 2 Black-throated and 1 Great Northern Diver off the Brownsea Lagoon sea wall and 1 Common Guillemot off Poole Quay. Tonight we were hosting our final Sunnyside ringing demo of the winter which was a cold, still night making catching tricky but we did end up with 3 Jack Snipe caught, including a re-trap of an individual we caught in mid-November last year.

Sanderling – Sandbanks Groynes 

Spring seemingly continues to press on with more and more Sand Martin arriving across the country and a Northern Wheatear on Portland Bill today. A small handful of early migrants across the country in late February isn’t too unusual, but this year, a decent total and variety of spring migrants have already arrived suggesting we could be in for an early season?

Here in the harbour no sub-Saharan migrants have been logged yet, but this morning a small passage of Meadow Pipit were seen coming in off the sea over Studland Bay which would suggest European arrivals. This morning the 5 Black-throated Diver were still off Baiter, feeding in a small tight group out towards Salterns Marina, along with 1 Great Northern Diver and 2 Sandwich Tern. At Lytchett Bay, a Little Gull was reported on Lytchett Fields and 1 Spotted Redshank was out in the bay in the low tide. A ringtail Hen Harrier was in Middlebere this morning plus 1 Spoonbill, 1 Red Kite and 1 Goshawk seen there too. It seems various White-tailed Eagles were moving around today with sightings of 1 White-tailed Eagle out over the Wareham Channel, 1 over Ballard Down, 1 over Morden Bog, 1 over Morden/Lytchett Matravers and 1 over Corfe. The Hawfinch was still in St Marys Church Yard, Lytchett Matravers. A pair of Goosander were on the river just north of Holmebridge and 5 Cattle Egret flew over Wareham Common.

Ringtail Hen Harrier – Middlebere – Alison Copland

White-tailed Eagle and Common Buzzard – Lytchett Matravers

An interesting day with torrential rain at dawn, but blindingly bright sunshine and a brisk SW breeze by this afternoon. The warmth of the day got many of the over-wintering Common Chiffchaff in the PCW Drain singing with 10+ along the channel warming up for the season ahead. The harbour faithfuls were still spread around with 1 Slavonian Grebe, 1 Black-necked Grebe, 1 Long-tailed Duck and 3 Great Northern Diver off Jerry’s Point. There was at least 1 Black-throated Diver still off Evening Hill, Sandbanks, there were up to 9 Spoonbill were on Shipstal Point, RSPB Arne. A random Jack Snipe was wandering around out on one of the lawns of the Brownsea Lagoon, seen during the boat trip this afternoon. Up to 3 Sandwich Tern were in central harbour, the Hawfinch was in Lytchett Matravers church yard again, a Spotted Redshank was in Holes Bay, a female Merlin was hunting in Lytchett Bay this morning and both adult Peregrines were on their usual balcony on the Asda flats at Hole Bay. Finally, a huge thanks to birder and photographer Simon Johnson for providing us with this great info he’s received back from a colour-ringed Turnstone he photographed at Baiter late last year: This female Turnstone was ringed on 08.03.2024, and is believed to have hatched in 2023 or earlier. Ringing took place near Alert, Nunavut, Canada Lat 82.49167 Lon -62.34167. Alert is the northernmost continuously inhabited place in the world and about 4000km away!!

Jack Snipe wandering around on Brownsea Lagoon lawn this afternoon seen from Winer Safari this afternoon – John Bishop

Great Northern Diver amongst the waves – Brownsea south shore from Winter Safari this afternoon – John Bishop

Turnstone ringing location in Alert, Northern Canada in March 2023 and over-wintering site in Poole

Well, at least we had one day of sun and slight spring warmth, but today it was back to rain. However, we’ve been keeping an eye on the national birding news over the weekend and it’s great to see a whole suit of early spring migrants have already arrived! Last week the first Northern Wheatear was found in Avon, a Little Ringed Plover was in Suffolk yesterday, multiple Sand Martin have been recorded across the country and even a few Swallows have been seen. These are early, but it’s not unusual if the correct weather systems are in place for this group of species to arrive in late February, with the weekends (and certainly todays) weather system blowing in all the way from southern Europe, which has deposited these early arrivals. The weather patterns over the next couple of weeks seem a bit all over the place, so whether we see more early arrivals is a bit unsure, but we know many people will be keeping an eye out.

Yesterday afternoon a juvenile Glaucous Gull was reported off the Brownsea south shore, in-between Brownsea and Furzey Island. This is the best time for scarce gulls to arrive into the harbour with Glaucous, Iceland and Caspian all found in Poole Harbour during late Feb and during March. A Black-throated Diver was off Parkstone Yacht Club, a Spotted Redshank was in Holes Bay and the Barnacle Goose was seen at Swineham GP again. The White-tailed Eagle pair were over Middlebere this morning before seen heading towards Corfe area. The Hawfinch was still in St Marys Church yard, Lytchett Matravers.

Pintail – Holes Bay NW

A glorious Spring day in the harbour with for the sunshine providing some warmth for the first time in a long time. There was lots of activity as a result with plenty of bird song and movement. At least 1 Hawfinch was still present just outside of area at St Mary’s Church Lytchett Matravers and one of the juvenile White-tailed Eagles tracked west over this area too this morning. In Lytchett Bay there was 1 Spotted Redshank, 4 Greenshank and 1 Red Kite. 1 Spotted Redshank was also in Holes Bay.

4 Spoonbill were in the Middlebere Channel but numbers do seem to be dropping in the harbour as spring passage gets going. 24 Spoonbill arrived back at Holkham in north Norfolk yesterday, to get ready for breeding, so there has clearly been a push out of wintering sites in the last couple of days. From our boat this afternoon the local pair of White-tailed Eagles were back on their usual spot of Shag Looe in the Wareham Channel. The Barnacle Goose was still at Swineham, swapping between the gravel pit and Arne Moors. 2 Marsh Harrier were also hunting Teal here. More and more Mediterranean Gulls are moving around and arriving back into the Wareham Channel and 1 male Goldeneye was also here. 2 female-type Common Scoter were in Central Harbour and 5+ Great Northern Diver were spread throughout the harbour including one that flew out the harbour entrance. Off Jerry’s Point there were 6 Black-necked Grebes, 4 Slavonian Grebe, 1 male Common Scoter and 1 Long-tailed Duck.

Goshawk – RSPB Arne – Alison Copland

White-tailed Eagle – Wareham Channel BoPH Winter Safari Cruise – Sue Ketteridge

Mediterranean Gull in breeding plumage – Wareham Channel from BoPH Cruise – Sue Ketteridge

A pretty drizzly difficult day today making birding tricky. We weren’t put off for our Young Birders visit to Brownsea Island for the new Lookout Hide’s opening. Thanks to Dorset Wildlife Trust for inviting us. Lots of birds sheltering on the lagoon including c200 Avocet, 3 Greenshank, 3 Sanderling, 2 Ringed Plover, 20+ Turnstone, 30+ Grey Plover, 76 Bar-tailed Godwit. On the journey to and from the island there were 4 Great Northern Diver on the north shore of Brownsea and 1 Black-throated Diver still off Salterns Marina, although viewing was difficult so the 4 are probably still around nearby. Off Jerry’s Point the male Common Scoter was still present along with 2 Black-necked Grebe and 1 Great Northern Diver. 5 Spoonbill were at Shipstal, Arne and 3 White-tailed Eagles were in the Wareham Channel.

A very grey day from the Avocet Hide on Brownsea

Today wasn’t as cold as the last few days, and the sun even tried to pop out a few times. There are still loads of great birds across the harbour and our Winter Safari this morning managed to catch up with quite a few. The 5 Black-throated Diver off Evening Hill/Salterns Marina were still feeding in a tight flock just before midday, the Long-tailed Duck was with 4 Red-breasted Merganser off Jerry’s Point and an adult male Common Scoter was also new in off Jerry’s Point with 4 Black-necked Grebe there too and 5 more in central harbour. There were 3 Spoonbill in the Wareham Channel and 3 Ruff were flying around with Lapwing over Keysworth. A Goshawk briefly lifted out of a confier block on Arne to attack a Raven, but quickly disappeared again. Great Northern Diver numbers seem to have dropped off with only 3 logged today (rare for Black-throated to out-number Great Northerns). Wader numbers seemed slightly lower with c400 Avocet spread between the Wareham Channel and Brownsea and only about c50 Bar-tailed Godwit also on Brownsea. A lone Common Guillemot was off the Brownsea Quay and 6 Cattle Egret were on Wareham Common. Plus, as we predicted yesterday, this morning saw the first Sand Martin of the year, in Charmouth, West Dorset. Thats both Wheatear and Sand Martin now logged this year, meaning spring migration is truly underway!

Common Guillemot – Brownsea Quay – From Winter Safari this AM

There was still a bitterly cold easterly wind whipping across the harbour today, but on a few occasions the sun did attempt to come out. Although White-tailed Eagles already seem to be part of the Poole Harbour furniture these days, it’s always an amazing moment when one gets clocked flying over Poole Town Centre, which is what happened this afternoon when a juvenile was seen flying in over Poole and then Baiter Park, before heading towards the Wareham Channel. A Jack Snipe was flushed at Lytchett Bay this morning, at least 3 Black-throated Diver were still off Baiter/Evening Hill and up to 5 Spoonbill were in Middlebere. The Lytchett Matravers, St Mary’s Church Hawfinch seems to be quite flighty and not really hanging around that long, often opting to sit in the tops of surrounding trees. Off Jerry’s Point only a single Slavonian Grebe and Great Northern Diver could be found but it wasn’t exactly the best conditions. A few early Reed Bunting are making their way back on territory with the main bulk of the males ‘winter abrasion’ having now been completed, revealing their black hoods, with just a few brown flecks left on the heads.

Great Northern Diver – Jerry’s Point 

Male Reed Bunting – Swineham