Dorset saw a good range of species arrive today but could the harbour produce the goods too. The years first Hobby was seen circling high above Arne Moors around midday and there were also 3 Marsh Harrier present around the Wareham Channel area and the ringtail Hen Harrier was seen again on Hartland. At South Haven, Studland a single Great Northern Diver was near the harbour mouth along with 4 Sandwich Tern. At Swineham migrants included 7 Chiffchaff, 3 Willow Warbler, 1 Swallow and several Sand Martin, whilst resident birds were represented by 16 singing Cetti’s Warbler, 3 pairs of Great Crested Grebe and 1 Marsh Harrier over the point. At Holton Lee 10+ Chiffchaff were singing in surrounding woodland and on the heath Dartford Warbler were again active. 

Chiffchaff – Holton Lee – Richard Stephenson

Meadow Pipit – Arne RSPB Reserve – Keith Rawling

Great Crested Grebe – Swineham – Keith Rawling

Today was fine spring day with the surprise appearance of a Short-eared Owl over Arne moors at dawn, the first in quite some time. At Lytchett Fields there was a single Wheatear 5+ Willow Warbler, 20+ Chiffchaff, 1 Red-breasted Merganser in the Bay, 2 Greenshank and a Water Pipit on the Pools Field. In Middlebere 4 Spoonbill were feeding and a minimum of 5 Swallow dashed through past the hide. Off Baiter a single Great Northern Diver was seen off the Brownsea shoreline and at least 10 Red-breasted Merganser were out in central harbour. In the Arne car park 2 Firecrest were still present and along the Arne Road a Merlin was seen. At Holton Lee a single Wheatear was present, also 2 Woodlark and good numbers of Dartford Warbler. 

Dartford Warbler – Holton Lee – Sarah Jane Spinney

Today was another quiet day in terms of sightings reported with just 1 Water Pipit at Lytchett Pools and 2 Greenshank and 2 Green Sandpiper on Lytchett Fields at a Willow Warbler in surrounding hedges. At Poole Park Lake 15 Sand Martin were still feeding over the lake and a Swallow dashed over too. Night recording on wednesday and thursday night was very quiet with just a total of 7 Redwing, 1 Blackbird and 1 Curlew over the two nights!

Amazingly the Black Guillemot was seen off the SE corner of Brownsea again having gone missing/not ben seen for over a month. Another re-appearing bird was a ringtail Hen Harrier that’s been see on and off at dusk over the last week. Still not many summer migrants but a female Brambling and 3 Redwing north at South Haven were signs that winter migrants were still passing through. A female Merlin was up on Hartland.

The fine spring weather encouraged a few spring migrants to drop into the harbour today including a good arrival of Chiffchaff right the way around the harbour with a minimum of 10 at Holton Lee, 16+ at Lytchett Fields, 10+ at the PC World Drain, 5+ South Haven and double figures along the Arne Road. Several more Willow Warbler dropped in too with 2 at the PC World Drain, 4 at South Haven and 1 at Middlebere. At Lytchett Fields there were up to 11 Water Pipit, 2 singing Cetti’s Warbler and 2 Swallow through. Also at South Haven a Firecrest was present and 4 Redpoll passed over. Out in Bramble Bush Bay 1 Great Northern Diver, and 2 summer plumaged Black-necked Grebe were still present. Someone also reported Blackbird chicks had hatched in a garden in Wareham. 

Wheatear – Holton Lee

Willow Warbler – PC World Drain

Sunshine and shows forced down a few more migrants today including the Harbours first 2 Willow Warblers at Middlebere. Also at Middlebere 1 Swallow, 4 Chiffchaff, 6 Spoonbill, 2 Spotted Redshank, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 pair of Red-breasted Merganser and 4 Stonechat. Over Poole Park boating lake 40 Sand Martin and 2 Swallow were feeding. On Brownsea there was a single Spoonbill, 1 Wheatear, 2 Spotted Redshank, 2 Greenshank, 12 Avocet and several Med Gulls.

Great Spotted Woodpecker – Holton Lee

Siskin – Arne RSPB Reserve

Mistle Thrush – Holton Lee

Storm Katie was causing havoc last night, smashing up most things that seemed to get in her way. A slightly annoying state of affairs seeming as we thought we were well past this grotty weather and on the right track for balmy spring days and masses of migrants. It is still only March we have to keep reminding ourselves and have the real bounty of April and May to look forward to yet so we won’t lose too much sleep (unlike last night)! A few hardy migrants made it through with a House Martin passing over Holton Lee and Lytchett Fields early doors, however a huge high tide flooded almost the entire Lytchett Fields site, forcing most waders and all Water Pipits off, leaving space for only 80+ Black-tailed Godwit, 8 Gadwall, lots of Teal and Shelduck and a handful of Common Redshank. At Holton Lee there were numerous Chiffchaff singing and 2 Woodlark were seen. In Middlebere there were 5 1^st summer Spoonbill including a Dutch colour-ringed bird. At Arne the incredibly tame and wonderfully numerous Siskin on the feeders are enough to keep anyone entertained, especially the bright green males. Also at Arne 2 Crossbill were reported and several Chiffchaff were singing. From Middle Beach, Studland there were 4 Great Northern Diver, 4 Common Scoter and a single Black-necked Grebe. In Middlebere there were 6 Spoonbill. 

We’re hoping to get our sound recording gear back out on our listening station in Old Town Poole again on Wednesday night, and with all this bad weather potentially holding things up, it could be a good session. We’ve also had some feedback from Magnus Robb at the Sound Approach who has kindly ID’d some recordings from a couple of weeks ago for us. As you can probably imagine, it’s a bit of a minefield when analysing a nights recording with some sounds you recognise right away, and others that literally leave you scratching your head for days, needing a bit of time (and expert knowledge) to work out. Magnus has shed some light on a couple of interesting recordings made back on the 21^st and 23^rd of March. These include our second Golden Plover of 2016, confirmation of Common Scoter calling over urban Poole and best of all…Woodcock passing over, performing a version of its high-pitched squeak flight type call. Utterly amazing!

Golden Plover – Golden Plover – Call of a night time migrant over Old Town Poole Listening Station – 21/03/16, 00:38

Common Scoter – Common Scoter – Calls of a night time migrant, Old Town Poole Listening Station – 23/03/16, 23:33

Woodcock – Woodcock – Calls of night time migrant, Old Town Poole Listening Station – 23/03/16, 19:30

We take back yesterdays comments regarding tough birding days…it should be written that TODAY was actually the toughest of birding days with the highlights consisting of a single Sand Martin and a Green Sandpiper at Holton Lee reported to us. That was it! 

So, to divert your interests we’ve been working with the Poole Harbour Study Group who have kindly donated several semi-recent reports/surveys, which focus on bird populations within Poole Harbour. These can now be found on our surveys page and can be used as reference material. In total there are 6 donated from the PHSG and 1 from the RSPB. We’d like to extend our thanks to both the PHSG and RSPB for these welcome additions to our BoPH survey archive.

The title of the surveys are…

 Wader and Waterfowl Roost Survey Of Poole Harbour 2002/03

Numbers And Distribution Of Black-necked Grebe And Other Waterbirds at Studland, Dorset 2005/06

Important Breeding Birds Of Poole Harbour 2004 . Part 1 Water Rail. Part 2 Redshank

Important Birds Of Poole Harbour And Their Status 1998/99 – 2004/05

Important Birds Of Poole Harbour 2002

Bird Invertebrate Prey Availability In Poole Harbour 2004

Poole Harbour Breeding Redshank Survey 2014

If you looked up the definition ‘tough birding day’ in the birding bible then today would have surely been the written description. Wind and yuk conditions did nothing to aid anyone who was hoping to get out in search of spring migrants and that included us on our monthly field trip to the Sunnyside Farm and Soldiers Road area. The best we could muster were 2 Chiffchaff and 2 Woodlark which thankfully gave great views feeding just meters away from us. Realising we weren’t going to see much more we headed for Arne and a quick loop around Coombe Heath where 6 Spoonbill and a flyby Wheatear brightened things up slightly. A nice find of 6 Brambling feeding in a Chaffinch flock in Wytch Farm Wood, Rempstone was welcomed, although this is private land. Best of the rest was 1 Sand Martin at Lytchett Fields and 18 Sanderling on Shell Beach, Studland. 

Sanderling – Shell Beach, Studland – Denise Davis

Little Egret – Holes Bay – Jaqui Taylor

A busy day today with plenty about. Starting Knoll Beach, Studland where out off the beach 2 Great Northern Diver, 1 Black-necked Grebe and 8 Red-breasted Merganser were bobbing about out in the sun. On the heathland there a Woodcock dashed by, 2 Peregrine were circling high and plenty of Dartford Warbler and Stonechat were active. Out around Lytchett Fields the areas first Wheatear was on the newly ploughed field and a Little Ringed Plover was out on Sherford Pools. There were another 2 Little Ringed Plover in the lower Frome Valley near Swineham on a muddy pool. A Red Kite drifted over Arne around 2pm. There was promising news regarding Poole Harbour Marsh Harriers that a pair have been seen actively nest building and displaying which is great news. At Greenlands Farm, Studland there were 10 Wheatear and a single Sand Martin. At Swineham there were 2 Bearded Tit, 5 Chiffchaff and 7 Med Gulls. Finally there were 2 Spoonbill in Middlebere. 

Little Ringed Plovers – Near Swineham – Paul Morton

Meadow Pipit and Stonechat – Slepe Heath – Paul Morton

Reed Bunting – Slepe Heath – Paul Morton