We’re currently waiting for Wood Pigeons here in Poole harbour, an odd thing to be waiting thing I’m sure you’ll agree and you may be thinking why not just look out in our gardens? There are plenty there? Well, that is true, but what we’re actually waiting for is the big Wood Pigeon migration that takes place every year in early to mid November when tens of thousands pass along the south coast but mostly concentrated over the Poole and Christchurch Harbour area. To give you an example on November 7^th 2010 a whopping 160,000+ Wood Pigeon migrated over Poole Harbour in a single morning! So as you can understand, although this is a very common species to witness this type of migration is quite something. There has already been some big passage in central England as birds move south and we’re hoping that they get to us over the coming days. When they do start moving in big numbers they pass high over the Sandbanks peninsular across over Brownsea and carry on west. At Arne today there were 28 Spoonbill out on Shipstal and both Lesser Redpoll and Brambling in the Arne car park. In Middlebere two late Curlew Sandpiper were with Dunlin along with 700+ Avocet and 600+ Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Green Sandpiper and several passes of ringtail Hen Harriers from the National Trust hide and along the approach lane Redwing, Fieldfare, Chiffchaff and Goldcrest were seen. Up on Hartland a Merlin was seen dashing across the heath. At Holes Bay a late Wheatear was on the cycle path near the PC World outflow along with a Kingfisher there too and in Lytchett Bay 2 Spoonbill were feeding on the low tide. There was still a late bit of passage with a Woodlark over a view point in Poole Harbour north. 

IMPORTANT Lytchett Fields temporary closure notice –

RSPB is suspending public access to the Lytchett Fields Reserve due to the risks present from unauthorised cattle being present. RSPB regrets any inconvenience caused and access will be re-opened as soon as the unauthorised trespass has been removed. Access to other areas of Lytchett Bay remain open.

Spoonbill – Lytchett Bay – Shaun Robson

Little Egret – Middlebere – Keith Rawling

Winter is really taking grip now with wind chills forcing hands into gloves and faces into scarfs but don’t let that put you off heading out around the harbour as the birds will be there to find. Starting off at Shipstal (now Autumn Watch have gone) 30 Spoonbill are back on the spit and a Siberian (tristis) Chiffchaff was in the Arne car park. A ringtail Hen Harrier was on Hartland mid-morning and in Middlebere the Great White Egret showed briefly and 300+ Avocet were in the Middlebere Channel. If you’re around the Sandbanks area then keep in eye out in Whitley Lake/Shore Road on a high tide as Red-breasted Merganser and Goldeneye numbers begin to rise and on low-tides Bar-tailed Godwit, Sanderling and Turnstone can all be seen at closeat close quarters.Doing a sea-watch from Branksome Chine or the harbour mouth should produce Red-throated Diver with 2 passing early morning and Gannet and Kittiwake are present too. 

IMPORTANT Lytchett Fields temporary closure notice –

RSPB is suspending public access to the Lytchett Fields Reserve due to the risks present from unauthorised cattle being present. RSPB regrets any inconvenience caused and access will be re-opened as soon as the unauthorised trespass has been removed. Access to other areas of Lytchett Bay remain open.

Although the rain set in and stayed set in for most of the day, there was still a nice selection of birds to be seen starting out in the harbour where there was a imm/female type Eider out in central harbour along with 3 Common Scoter off Goathorn Point and a marked increase in Red-breasted Merganser with around c50 in total, most in or around the Brands Bay area. At dusk a Red-throated Diver flew out of the Wareham Channel and headed towards the harbour mouth. The Great White Egret seen in Middlebere along with 250+ Avocet. At Lytchett Bay a Water Pipit was caught and ringed, a first for the site. The Brownsea Lagoon had plenty of bird on it including 200+ Cormorant, 28 Spoonbill, 300+ Avocet and 13 Spotted Redshank. The raptor numbers keep on building with now 4 different Hen Harrier in Poole Harbour south with two adult males, a juv ringtail male and a female, also at least 5 different Marsh Harrier  and 2 Merlin have been recorded. Finally, there was a report of a Red-breasted Flycatcher on Brownsea Island, near the Mac Hide which is annoying for two reasons, firstly the island is closed for the season and secondly, if accepted then it would constitute the first ever Poole Harbour record for this species. 

IMPORTANT Lytchett Fields temporary closure notice –

RSPB is suspending public access to the Lytchett Fields Reserve due to the risks present from unauthorised cattle being present. RSPB regrets any inconvenience caused and access will be re-opened as soon as the unauthorised trespass has been removed. Access to other areas of Lytchett Bay remain open.

Common Scoter – Goathorn, nr Brands Bay

The harbour is getting better and better by the day at present with winter species building in numbers and getting easier to see. On low tides at Baiter, Turnstones and Ringed Plover can be found feeding along the shorelines whilst in Holes Bay the first Avocets (for this part of the harbour) were feeding fairly close to the cycle path in Holes Bay north along with big numbers of Wigeon and Teal still. Brent Geese numbers are still building with 100+ along the Studland Beaches and Red-breasted Merganser numbers are building nicely out in Bramble Bush Bay, Brands Bay and near the harbour mouth. In Middlebere the Avocet and Black-tailed Godwit flocks are something you should try and get to see either from Arne or from the Middlebere Hide as frequent visits from Marsh Harriers and Peregrines turn lazy autumn afternoons into a portrait of excitement and panic.  The 3 Hen Harrier were still present in Poole Harbour south today with a single Merlin. At Lytchett Fields, counts included 271 Dunlin, 1 Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Grey Plover, the Lesser Yellowlegs and 2 Water pipit.

IMPORTANT Lytchett Fields temporary closure notice –

RSPB is suspending public access to the Reserve due to the risks present from unauthorised cattle being present. RSPB regrets any inconvenience caused and access will be re-opened as soon as the unauthorised trespass has been removed

Brent Geese – Studland – Phyl England

Wigeon – Holes Bay – Ian Ballam

Water Pipit – Lytchett Fields – Ian Ballam

Another lamping session in the Lower Frome Valley saw at least 6 Jack Snipe (but none ringed) and c30 Common Snipe (with 1 ringed). The Great Grey Shrike was seen again on Canford Heath early doors. In Poole Harbour west there are now 3 different Hen Harrier, 2 males and a female with at least 1 Merlin on Hartland.  At Lytchett Fields, there were 2 Jack Snipe, 1 Water Pipit, 1 Grey Plover and the Lesser Yellowlegs. On the Brownsea Lagoon the Spoonbill count today was 35 along with 3 Firecrest in the woods near the Mac Hide. During our night recording sessions the rate of thrush passage continued to be strong with Redwing, Blackbirds, Fieldfare and Song Thrush still passing right the way through the night and surprise sounds included a late Common Sandpiper (or over-winterer)? and our first night recorded Lapwing from our listening station with one flying over and around Poole Town centre for several minuets.  Holes Bay north, which has to be one of the best urban birding sites around looked incredible on both the low and high tides today with a whopping count of around 1200 Wigeon and only slightly fewer Teal whilst up to 10 Great Crested Grebe and a single Red-breasted Merganser were feeding in Holes Bay south. 

Common Snipe – Lower Frome Valley – Paul Morton

The fine still weather continues and what better way to enjoy a crisp autumn morning than to find a Great Grey Shrike on top of a pine tree which is what happened for a local birder on Canford Heath this morning. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 23 Spoonbill, c400 Avocet and 200+ Cormorant along with good totals of Black-tailed Godwit, Oystercatcher, Dunlin, Redshank, Greenshank, Bar-tailed Godwit and Grey Plover. At Lytchett Fields the Lesser Yellowlegs was still present as was the Curlew Sandpiper and 2 Water Pipit. In Middlebere the wader spectacle remains as fantastic as ever as nearing 1000 Avocet were constantly being put up by several passing Marsh Harrier, a Peregrine and an occasional female Merlin. At South Haven a female/immature type Black Redstart was in Bramble Bush Bay. 

Avocets – Middlebere – Simon Kidner

It was a quieter day today which was to be expected for a foggy Monday morning, although 3 Firecrest in a private north Poole garden was a nice start to the day. In Middlebere a ringtail Hen Harrier passed by the NT hide and an adult male was on Hartland plus the Great White Egret was in the channel too. At Lytchett Fields the Lesser Yellowlegs was still present, another Jack Snipe was flushed, 2 Water Pipit was on the fields and a Marsh Harrier passed over. There were also good totals of comer species such as Snipe, Redshank, Dunlin, Greenshank, Lapwing and Teal. From Hamworthy Beach a small Red-breasted Merganser roost formed out in central harbour at dusk and on Brownsea 30 Spoonbill were roosting.

Finally, our night sound recording gear was out again last night in Old Town Poole and although the night was a clear night, there was still a decent passage of thrushes, again mainly Redwing, Blackbird and Song Thrush with a few Fieldfare thrown in for good measure, but due to the clear conditions call frequency and regularity was far less intense compared to Friday and Saturday night when thick, low cloud cover dominated the night sky. However, the undoubted highlight was a Firecrest that passed right over our microphone at 1:49am giving two different call types that we’d expect for Firecrest. From carrying out our night migration work for a couple of years now, we’ve been able to obtain the equivalent set of calls for night migrating Goldcrest too and can show you below the difference between the two. We’re learning so much about night migration using this monitoring technique that even in the last year we’ve unearthed some pretty incredible discoveries. You may remember back in August and September we began encountering Ortolan Buntings in many of our night recordings, well, in partnership with the Sound Approach you can now read a recently published article which discusses in detail how we came to our conclusion that Ortolan Buntings were passing over Poole during their peak migration time.

 Firecrest 31/10/16 @ 01: 49 Old Town Poole – Call of a night time migrant

Goldcrest 09/10/16 @ 2:29am Calls of a night time migrant – Old Town Poole listening station

After Friday nights incredible thrush passage we placed our recording gear out again on Saturday night and were again treated to an almighty passage of mainly Redwing, Song Thrush and Blackbird. There were so many calls throughout the night that the mear thought of counting them all sent shudders down our spine, but based on totals from Friday night our best estimates from Saturday night came to around 3400+ Redwing calls, 1300+ Song Thrush calls, 1000+ Blackbird calls, 60+ Fieldfare calls plus 15 Skylark calls and 1 Common Snipe. Both Friday and Saturday night saw low, thick dark cloud cover which would explain why the passage was so intense as birds were forced to call more and were flying at a lower altitude. With Sunday night being a brighter, clear, starlit night it will be interesting to if the passage is as intense and prolonged. Other highlights from around the harbour included a superb adult male Hen Harrier which quartered over Hartland Moor mid morning, followed by a ringtail Hen Harrier, Merlin, Peregrine and Kestrel. On Brownsea 32 Spoonbill were still roosting on the high tide, heading off to Fitzworth to feed on the low tide. At Lytchett Fields the Lesser Yellowlegs is still present along with a Jack Snipe that was flushed near one of the viewpoints, a Marsh Harrier over and a Grey Plover on the fields. 

To give you an idea of what the thrush passage was like over Friday and Saturday night we have provided just a five minuet section for you to listen to from midnight on the night of October 29th. Best listened to with headphones.

 Strong Redwing, Blackbird & Song Thrush passage – 00:00 29/10/16 Old Town Poole Listening Station

After a short break from night sound recording from our listening station in Old Town Poole, the conditions looked good for a decent thrush movement so we stuck our gear out to see what was moving…well, as it turned out quite a lot actually! There was a big pulse of thrushes with 3256 Redwing calls, 1045 Song Thrush calls, 712 Blackbird calls, 54 Fieldfare calls, 4 Skylark, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Yellowhammer and 3 Golden Plover recorded, to say counting all that lot was a little tricky would be an understatement! Our dish was out again on Saturday night and we can’t wait to see/hear what the totals are. Elsewhere in the harbour, at Lytchett Bay there were 4 Brent Geese, 1 Marsh Harrier and 1 Red-breasted Merganser out in the bay, on Lytchett Fields there was the Lesser Yellowlegs, 1 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Grey Plover, 1 Merlin, 4 Chiffchaff, 1 Blackcap and a Water Pipit. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 24 Greenshank, 9 Spotted Redshank, 34 Spoonbill, 7 Knot, 1 Merlin and increasing numbers of Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover and Dunlin. There were Firecrests at Arne (1) and Upton CP (2). There was another Yellow-browed Warbler at Arne along with at least 3 different Marsh Harrier in Middlebere.

 Golden Plover 29/10/16 03:25 Old town Poole Listening – Calls of a night time migrant

As autumn gives way to winter and the trees turn to golden shades of brown the signs of winter birding continue to be recognised as several more Red-breasted Merganser appeared in Whitley Lake, Sandbanks along with an increasing total of Brent Geese. In Poole Harbour west, winter raptors are being seen more frequently now as 2 Hen Harrier, 5 Marsh Harrier and Merlin are being recorded almost daily now. The Black Redstart was again on the barn roofs at Arne and 2 Firecrest were in the car park. On Brownsea there were 30 Spoonbill. Lytchett Fields saw at least 1 Curlew Sandpiper still and the Lesser Yellowlegs was present in the morning and a Firecrest was along Slough Lane. The Great White Egret was viewable on Arne, from Hamworthy Beach along with 4 Sandwich Tern.