The jokes gone too far now. A few days of SW winds in October would be acceptable, even a week or two, but an entire month takes the biscuit. With easterly dreams fading away fast and the vis-mig spectacle only available for a few more weeks we’re in desperate need of a wind swing. A few more passes of rain and strong winds on and off throughout the day hampered any decent birding opportunities but our first night survey of the ‘winter’ proved semi productive with the first 2 Woodcock of the winter back on winter territory in the Lower From Valley along with 50-75 Common Snipe and 1 Jack Snipe ringed. The Stilt Sandpiper was in Middlebere, the juv male Hen Harrier was on Hartland Moor with 3 Merlin. Firecrests were on Brownsea, in the Arne car park, Knowle Beach, Studland and Upton CP. 

Jack Snipe – Lower Frome Valley – Paul Morton

It was pretty grim for most part of the morning but it eventually cleared by mid-afternoon. Best of the day included a Yellow-browed Warbler in the Arne car park along with 2 Firecrest in a tit flock. Saturdays juv Goshawk was seen again, this time over the Arne Road, heading towards the Wareham Channel getting nailed by corvids. A Hen Harrier was also over the Wareham Channel area as were 2 Merlin and a Peregrine. Also on the southern edge of the Wareham Channel were 6 Ruff, c300 Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Grey Plover an adult Yellow-legged Gull. The Stilt Sandpiper was out in front of the Middlebere hide again along with c350 each of Avocet and Black-tailed Godwit, 1 late Whinchat, 1 Kingfisher and a Merlin. A Ruff was on the beach at Shell Bay which was an odd record and a good Studland record. On Slepe Heath/Hartland up to 3 Merlin were reported bombing around late afternoon. Yesterdays reported Nutcracker was also looked for but sadly couldn’t be confirmed but a Firecrest in a mixed-tit flock was a worthwhile runner up. The Redstart was still at Holton Pools, Spoonbills were on the Brownsea Lagoon, Shipstal Point, Arne, Lytchett Fields and in the Wareham Channel. 

Today was another interesting day with some more rarities/scarcities turning up. Star bird today was Poole Harbours only second ever Caspian Gull which was on the edge of the Wareham Channel, with the first appearing on Corfe Mullen tip back in 2003. This species should be more regular and to be quite honest could feasibly be a weekly/monthly visitor to the harbour, but with Poole Harbour being so vast and the Wareham Channel gull roost quite hard to monitor, pinning them has proved to be quite difficult over the years. Another great bird today was a Turtle Dove that was seen on wires along Slough Lane, Lytchett Bay. Sadly this is only the second record for the year of what used to be a fairly regular autumn migrant.  Then, as the day was drawing to a close a report of a possible Nutcracker was sent through, seen in flight over Knowle Beach car park entrance. Now this really would be an exceptional end to what’s been an exceptional year of birding in Poole Harbour. Sadly, the bird in question flew deep in to the woods and couldn’t be re-found. At Lytchett Fields there were 5 Spoonbill, 2 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Ruff, 1 Merlin, 12 Skylark and 1 Lesser Redpoll with the female Common Redstart still at Holton Pools. A juvenile Hen Harrier appeared in Poole Harbour west at Slepe Heath this afternoon and 2-3 Merlin have been favoring Hartland Moor this October, often venturing towards Middlebere. There are still only 3-4 Marsh Harrier frequenting the Poole Harbour west roost. In Middlebere the Stilt Sandpiper was still present in the company of 2 Spoonbill, 3 Greenshank, 6 Knot, 1 Green Sandpiper and c200 Avocet.

Caspian Gull – Wareham Channel – Marcus Lawson

Caspian Gull – Wareham Channel – Marcus Lawson

Common Redstart – Holton Pools – Richard Stephenson

Horrid day today but with at least one star bird. A juvenile Goshawk was seen several times flushing waders in Middlebere and was superbly captured on film by birders in the Middlebere hide. Despite increasing populations in the New Forest and even here in Dorset these are still really rare birds in Poole Harbour, with this individual consisting of only the second record this year (the first also at Middlebere in September). The Stilt Sandpiper was again in the channel for most of the day until the high tide pushed all the waders off. Merlin, Marsh Harrier and Peregrine were also in Middlebere along with 3 Knot, 3 Spotted Redshank and c200 Avocet.

Goshawk – Middlebere – Steve Smith

The wind blew strong this morning but eased off through the day. Despite the constant SW winds a few more Yellow-browed Warbler are trickling through with one at Holton Lee in front of the feeder hide briefly with a Firecrest, one at Branksome and another ‘YBW’ along the access track to Middlebere. The Stilt Sandpiper was showing well in Middlebere too with 2 Whimbrel also present, 1 Great White Egret in Wytch Lake and 54 Spoonbill at Shipstal and 9 on Brownsea. On Hartland 2 Merlin were buzzing about. In front of the new hide at Holton Pools a female type Common Redstart and a Wheatear were feeding on the mud and a Green Sandpiper, 2 Greenshank and 2 Kingfisher with 6 Lesser Redpoll also overhead. On Studland Beach 100 Med Gull were feeding and 2 Brent Geese flew across Studland Bay. Out in central harbour 6 Red-breasted Merganser were bobbing about along with c50 Great Crested Grebe.

 Stilt Sandpiper with Knot – Middlebere – Simon Buckell (Simon Buckell blog)

Stilt Sandpiper_2822 from Waderworld on Vimeo.

 Spoonbill – Brownsea Lagoon – Hamish Murray

 Spotted Redshank – Brownsea Lagoon – Hamish Murray

As we know birds are currently arriving or moving through the harbour in numbers at present and it’s always nice to receive info of high profile birds using the harbour. We recently received info from the RSPB’s Skydancer Project informing us that two sat-tagged Hen Harrier had recently used the harbour.  First there was a juvenile male Hen Harrier, which was tagged in mid-Wales in summer 2017 and after roosting in Poole Harbour on 5^th October he then continued another 333km SSE and roosted not far east of Chateaubriant in Pays de la Loire region of northern France on the night of the 6^th. He then moved another 85km south west and roosted just south of Nantes on the 7^thbefore moving another 55km to the coast near Challans on the 8^th where he seems to have settled. Then a juvenile female Hen Harrier that was tagged in Scotland in summer 2017 moved south out of Scotland on 1^st October spending 1 night in the North Pennines, 1 night on the North York Moors, 2 nights on the east side of London and 1 night to the east of Portsmouth. She roosted in Poole Harbour for 2 nights on 6^th and 7^th October before moving off north-west to Exmoor National Park. Seeing these incredible birds is often nice enough, but having a back-story to them is a wonderful added bonus. The Stilt Sandpiper was again in Middlebere for most of the morning before heading off around 15:30. With wind and rain intermittent throughout the day birding was pretty tough going with just the Wood Sandpiper, 1 Curlew Sandpiper and 5 Ruff on Lytchett Fields. There as a late Hobby hawking insects over Slepe Heath with 1 Merlin and 4 Marsh Harrier frequenting Poole Harbour west. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 64 Spoonbill and 14 Spotted Redshank counted. 

Juv male Hen Harrier – mid-Wales – RSPB Skydancer project

A slightly slower day in terms of visible migration but birds did get moving in small numbers eventually. At South Haven, Studland 3 Redwing, 175 Siskin, 2 Brambling, 5 Bullfinch, 1 Woodlark, 2 Firecrest and small numbers of Goldfinch, Linnet and Chaffinch headed north along with 9 Swallow and 1 Common Scoter through the harbour mouth. At Arne 2 Hawfinch settled briefly in trees above the Arne café before moving off. Studland churchyard had good numbers of Blackbird and Song Thrush moving around the bushes. Up on Ballard, 3 more Brambling headed north with c150 Linnet and 20 Goldfinch and 2 late Common Redstart were also ringed. The Stilt Sandpiper re-appeared in Middlebere, hanging out with the Black-tailed Godwit and the Great White Egret was also present again. At Lytchett Fields a late Wood Sandpiper also appeared with a Curlew Sandpiper, 4 Ruff and the standard Redshank and Dunlin. 

Common Redstart – Ballard Down – Olly Slessor

Wheatear – Holes Bay – John Pick Grendon

 Today was a classic autumn day with a great range of species seen and true signs of autumn migration. The first Yellow-browed Warbler to be ringed in Poole Harbour this year was up on Ballard Down where 2 Firecrest were also ringed along with 23 Lesser Redpoll and 22 Chiffchaff, 9 Blackcap and 8 Goldcrest. A Cattle Egret also arrived in low over Ballard before heading NW over Studland Village. On top of Glebelands, Ballard a strong passage of Linnet, Goldfinch and Siskin went through west with Meadow Pipit and alba Wagtails mixed in. Out on a flat calm Poole Harbour 6 Red-breasted Merganser were in South Deep off the southern Brownsea shore with 20 Great Crested Grebe and 3 Black-necked Grebe. Out in Studland Bay another 7 Black-necked Grebe were feeding with 1 Guillemot, 1 Common Scoter, c30 Med Gull and 1 juv Gannet also settled out in the bay. Another Hawfinch passed over Poole Town mid-morning and another 4 bounded south along Middle Beach Studland. On the Brownsea Lagoon 60 Spoonbill were settled on the high tide. Kingfishers were in Holes Bay NW (Upton CP, Poole Park, Holton Lee and at Shipstal, Arne. At Lytchett Fields 34 Skylark passed overhead, 1 Curlew Sandpiper and 4 Ruff were on the fields and both Peregrine and Marsh Harrier were touring the area. 

Yellow-browed Warbler – Ballard Down – Paul Morton

A fairly slow news day with info of another Yellow-browed Warbler moving through with a tit flock near Wareham train station. At Lytchett Fields a single Little Stint, 2 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Ruff and good numbers of Redshank, Snipe and Lapwing. On Hartland a single Merlin has been regular most days recently but by this evening 3 were perched up together. On Brownsea 45 Spoonbill were roosting along with 10 Spotted Redshank and c200 Avocet. A sea watch from Branksome Chine produced c30 Gannet West along with 7 Common Scoter east and 3 Brent Geese west. 

Poole Harbour sunset by air – Simon Buckell (Simon Buckell Blog)

Well well well. We were only saying yesterday that finch passage had picked up across the harbour and low and behold 3 Hawfinch were heard and seen flying over Holes Bay at around 13:30. Hawfinch in Poole Harbour are exceptionally rare however over the last few days good numbers had been on the move across the UK with other Dorset sites seeing them pass over too, so it was more likely a case of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’ any would get seen within the Poole harbour area. The Poole Harbour WeBS counts seemed initially disappointing as the tide wasn’t particularly low but the Great White Egret was seen in Wytch Lake and Middlebere, the Velvet Scoter was out in central harbour and 46 Spoonbill were on Brownsea. The Yellow-browed Warbler was again in trees around the Middlebere Hide and the Stilt Sandpiper was out on the mud in front of the hide with 6 Knot, 2 Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Spotted Redshank, c500 Avocet, 1 Spoonbill and a fly by Hen Harrier. At Lytchett Fields there were 3 Ruff, 2 Curlew Sandpiper and 1 Little Stint. Additional goodies on Brownsea included 2 Little Stint and 1 Ruff. There were 33 Brent Goose in the Wareham Channel with 3 Pintail and 555 Black-tailed Godwit. In Poole Harbour west there are currently 5 Marsh Harrier and single of both Hen Harrier and Merlin are frequent around Hartland Moor. 

 Merlin – Middlebere – Simon Buckell

Merlin (juv)_2755 from Waderworld on Vimeo.

  Great White Egret – Middlebere – Simon Buckell

Great Egret@Middlebere.MVI_2745 from Waderworld on Vimeo.

 Peregrine – Middlebere – Simon Buckell

Peregrine@Middlebere. from Waderworld on Vimeo.