What started off as a fairly calm morning, actually finished off breezy and wet. On Friday night a night lamping session in the Lower Frome Valley produced 2 newly ringed Jack Snipe with another 4 seen, plus 4 Woodcock seen too. The wandering Snow Bunting was pinned down again today ay Shell Bay beach, up near Pilots Point, although it did seem to go missing at the end of the day and also in Shell Bay 2 Sandwich Tern and 3 Black-necked Grebe . The 4 Corfe Mullun Waxwing were still pleasing crowds on Hanham Road. At Lytchett Fields both the Lesser Yellowlegs and Green-winged Teal were still present. An evening vigil at Lytchett Bay/Fields saw 9 Spoonbill come on the fields to feed a Merlin dashed over in the darkness and 5 Fieldfare went over.

We’ve also just put on 2 BRAND NEW SPRING BOAT TOURS. Click the link below for full details…

Birds of Poole Harbour – DAWN DISCOVERY BOAT TOUR

Green-winged Teal – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

Just a few of the usuals around today with both Green-winged Teal and Lesser Yellowlegs on Lytchett Fields and the Hartland Great Grey Shrike. The 4 Waxwing in Corfe Mullun were still on Hanahm Road too. On Hatch pond, 4 Med Gulls was notable and the Great Crested Grebe were in full display mode.

We’ve also just put on 2 BRAND NEW SPRING BOAT TOURS. Click the link below for full details…

Birds of Poole Harbour – DAWN DISCOVERY BOAT TOUR

Early March can see the arrival of our first Sand Martins and Wheatear, but although we’re still waiting for those to arrive, there are also magical departures you can witness if you situate your self at the right place at the right time. Bittern are an annual winter visitor to the harbour but are tricky to locate in the deep dense reedbeds. Sadly, they don’t breed in the harbour (yet, or not that we currently know of), but each March over-wintering birds depart back to their breeding grounds, but in a manner that if experienced, you’ll never forget. On calm March evenings when the conditions are crisp, perfect and still, Bittern up and leave their reedbed hide aways at dusk and take to the air. What makes the experience even more memorable is that when gaining height they call a soft gentle bark-type call, which carry’s across the stillness of the fading light as the birds circle higher and higher before you eventually lose them in the darkness. Last night local surveyor Nick Hopper was lucky enough to witness this event at Swineham as a Bittern circled above his head calling before gaining height and disappearing north. Elsewhere in the harbour it was still busy with winter birds as 11 Barnacle Geese were on the Swineham GP, the Great Grey Shrike was still along Soldiers Road, Hen Harriers, Merlin and Peregrine were all busy in the Poole Harbour west area and in the Wareham Channel 7 sightings of at least 5 different Marsh Harrier was encouraging as the breeding season approaches. Off Swineham point 2 Spoonbill and a Spotted Redshank were feeding. The Lesser Yellowlegs was still on Lytchett Fields. The 4 Waxwing were still up in Corfe Mullen on the end of Hanahm Road, dropping down to feed on berry’s occasionally in Bakers View. At Arne, 16 Spoonbill were on Shipstal. In the Wareham Channel good numbers of Red-breasted Merganser are still about and numerous pairs of Raven took advantage of the bright sunshine and windy conditions to perform and display their elaborate tumbling displays to one another.

A nice still morning, but sadly the drizzle and ‘dank’ made birding a bit trickier. Still, calm waters made viewing birds easier. Off shore at Studland there was a single Great Northern Diver, 4 Black-necked Grebe, 8 Great Crested Grebe and 6+ Med Gulls. In the woods behind Knoll Beach 20+ Lesser Redpoll was a good count for what’s been a pretty scarce species this winter. At Middle Beach car park there was a single Firecrest and off Fort Henry, Studland there were 2 Great Northern Diver, 4 Ring-necked Parakeet and c10 Black-necked Grebe, most in transitional summer plumage. The 4 Waxwing were still using the large tree at the end of Hanham Road, but venturing off throughout the day. At Lytchett Fields the Lesser Yellowlegs and Green-winged Teal was on French’s Pools and a Firecrest was along Slough Lane. In the Holes Bay area a Sandwich Tern was in the NE corner, the Ruff and leucistic Black-tailed Godwit were feeding in the fields north of the cycle path and a Woodcock flew over Fleets Corner at dawn. At dusk a raft of 4 Red-throated Diver and 12 Great Crested Grebe were out in Poole Bay.

Ruff and leucistic Black-tailed Godwit – Upton CP  & Holes Bay cycle way – Ian Ballam

With the Ring-billed Gull turning up in Lytchett Bay two evenings in a row, it made sense to see if it came in for a third night too. So, like the two previous evenings a vigil was set up to watch for its return. Well, a Ring-billed Gull did turn up, and it too was an adult but was amazingly a different individual from the previous two nights, as obvious dark streaking could be seen on the head and nape, where as the bird from the two previous evenings had been completely clean headed. How many more are out there? Whilst watching for the Ring-billed gull, the Lesser Yellowlegs came into view, feeding out in the bay and both Hen Harrier and Merlin were also seen, whilst the Green-winged Teal was re-found on Sherford Pools in the morning. A chilly school bird boat saw 2 Great Northern Diver, 1 Common Scoter, 2 Black-necked Grebe, 2 Sandwich Tern and 12 Spoonbill, with zero Goldeneye seen the whole way around the harbour. There were also lesser numbers of Great Crested Grebe, but still plenty of Red-breasted Merganser. In Poole Harbour west, 2 ringtail Hen Harrier are currently now the only representatives of the over-wintering gang and both a male and female Merlin dashed around chasing each other up on Hartland Moor. At night ringing session in the lower Frome Valley saw a minimum of 4 Woodcock seen but none ringed as totals are now much reduced with birds beginning to move off. We did however ring our first ever ‘lamped’ Wigeon! The Corfe Mullen Waxwing were again moving around near the Poole Harbour boundary up near Springdale Road, Corfe Mullen. 

Waxwing – Corfe Mullen 

Wigeon – Lower Frome Valley

Redwing – Holton Lee

After yesterdays Ring-billed Gull in Lytchett Bay, efforts were made to try and see whether it came back in again before going to roost, most likely in the Wareham Channel. An early evening watch saw good numbers of gulls arriving in Lytchett Bay and then all of a sudden, low and behold there it was! A full adult Ring-billed Gull out in the center of the bay where it was settled for 20 minutes before disappearing into a deep channel. The Lesser Yellowlegs was also out in the bay feeding with several Redshank. The 4 Corfe Mullun Waxwing were again sat in a tree near Lesley Shand funeral directors and were also seen on the corner of Hanham Road again. Out in Poole Bay a single Red-throated Diver, 2 Great Northern Diver and 12 Great Crested Grebe with a single Fulmar west. 

Waxwing – Corfe Mullen

Common Buzzard – Holton Lee

Today was the February Poole Harbour WeBS count which always produces good counts of birds and occasionally a goodie here or there. Today it was Lytchett Bays turn to report ‘find of the day’ in the shape of an adult Ring-billed Gull, which was settled in the bay briefly before lifting off and headed towards the Wareham Channel. It was gulls galore in the harbour on today’s low tide with literally thousands littering the mudflats around the entire harbour, mostly Common Gull by the looks of things with a good spread of Black-headed, Herring, Great Black-backed, Lesser Black-backed and lesser numbers of Mediterranean Gull. There were also Yellow-legged Gulls in Wytch Lake (1) and on the Brownsea Lagoon (3). There’s no better time to try and find scarcer gull species and with so many gulls visiting the harbour each day hopefully it’s a case of when rather than if we see the likes of Iceland and Glaucous Gulls starting to appear, or perhaps even another Ring-billed Gull or two. Equally unexpected was a group of 5 Slavonian Grebe off the houseboats at South Haven, a species that’s seen big declines over the last 5-10 years. Also off the houseboats was a single Great Northern Diver and a Merlin was on Studland Heath. On the main Poole park boating lake was 1 Kingfisher, 8 Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Red-breasted Merganser and 2 Goldeneye. At Norden sewage works 1 Firecrest was present and up to 6 Chiffchaff were feeding/singing. The Lesser Yellowlegs was on Lytchett Fields early morning and Spoonbills were on Shipstal, Brownsea and in Wytch Lake and the Wareham Channel. At Swineham 11 Barnacle Geese were on the main pit. There was also a report of a ‘brown owl’ flying over the marsh at Middlebere on Friday evening. 

A blustery and blowy day, over cast sky and damp in the air…not quite the glorious early spring day we had last weekend, but still, its best not to rush and will the spring away, remember, it is still only February! Which in turn means there’s still plenty of a good winter birds to try and catch up with. Day by day the Poole Harbour Black-necked Grebes are transforming more and more into their much more attractive summer plumage and even the Great Northern Diver that are frequenting the harbour mouth area are moulting and changing ever so slightly. There are still lots of Great Crested Grebe across the open bodies of water in the harbour, all at various different stages of moult, some also in full summer finery and some still as dull as dish water (bit harsh we know). Many of the Reed Bunting that are frequenting the Holton Lee/Lytchett Bay area are also mostly half way through their abrasion process, where the tips of their winter plumage wear away revealing summer breeding plumage underneath. The Holton Lee feeding station is a good place to see examples of this as several males are currently feeding below the feeders. At Lytchett Fields the Lesser Yellowlegs was on French’s Pools. At Poole Park there was no sign of the Goosander but 3 Goldeneye, 3 Red-breasted Merganser, 2 Kingfisher and 4 Little Grebe were all out on the main boating lake. 

There was a nice mix of birds today as the weather settled and provided us with a calm and still evening. At the harbour mouth early evening a Great Northern Diver and 4 Red-breasted Merganser flew out to roost, the Eider was off Pilots Point again, a Sandwich Tern was fishing in Poole Bay and a Razorbill was settled off one of the Sandbanks Groynes. In Poole Park the drake Goosander was still present with 4 Little Grebe, 3 Goldeneye, 2 Red-breasted Merganser, a Kingfisher and a Water Rail. In Holes Bay north there were still 20 Pintail, 100 Dunlin, 1 Knot and the Smew was in Holes Bay NE. At Lytchett Bay a Jack Snipe, 2 Marsh Harrier, a Peregrine the Lesser Yellowlegs and the Greenshank were all noted across the site. An amazing encounter of a Gannet flying over the mouth of the River Frome, near Swineham took local birder Nick Hopper by surprise. Black-necked Grebes were in Studland and Shell Bay as well as South Deep. At Arne 14 Spoonbill were on Shipstal and the Great Grey Shrike was seen again along Soldiers Road. One thing we forgot to mention was that a couple of grey male Hen Harriers joined our regular 4 in the west of the harbour on Wednesday morning. The Corfe Mullen Waxwing were again at Hanahm Road with 4 present. 

The tides are currently good for gull watching as they come into the harbour to roost for the night. Low tides an hour prior and during sunset attract large numbers of gulls to come and settle which in turn may attract in scarcer species such as Iceland and Glaucous Gulls. Late February and into March is the best time to Look for rarer gull species so its well worth swatting up on ID features. Sadly, no such gulls were found in amongst the several thousand Black-headed Gulls that came into pre-roost at Lytchett Bay, although c20 Med Gulls were still nice to see. The Lesser Yellowlegs was out in the bay feeding with a group of Redshank and a single Greenshank hugged the marsh. Out in the Turlin Channel 4 Red-breasted Merganser and 1 Great Crested Grebe were feeding. Over Holton Lee a Green Sandpiper went over with a Marsh Harrier following after. The 4 Corfe Mullun Waxwing were seen again at the end of Hanham Road but only briefly. A fine drake Goosander was swimming around on Poole Park boating lake with 3 Goldeneye, 3 Red-breasted Merganser and 3 Little Grebe.