Today was our last school bird boat of the winter and we welcomed special guests Chris Packham and Lucy McRobert from the AFON group on board as we made our way around what was initially a yucky wet trip, but it soon cleared we were treated to calm waters and a good number of birds. There are still a minimum of 4 Great Northern Diver in the harbour and the 10 Spoonbill were again on Shipstal. An evening watch from the harbour mouth during the low tide saw a huge number of birds taking advantage of the exposed sand bars and shingle banks. Although the majority of birds were made up of Herring and Common Gull, there was also a great mix of other species including 4 Common Scoter in Studland Bay, 9 Black-necked Grebe in and around the harbour mouth, 3 Great Northern Diver in South Deep, 1 Spoonbill in Brands Bay, 11 Ringed Plover in Bramble Bush Bay, 15+ Sanderling on Shell Beach, 1 Sandwich Tern through the harbour mouth, 52 Red-breasted Merganser dotted around, 24 Great Crested Grebe, 300+ Brent Geese, 8 Goldeneye, 1 Rock Pipit, 4 Med Gulls and 4 Turnstone. At Lytchett Pools there were a whopping 10 Water Pipit and 8 Scandinavian Rock Pipit with another 2 Water Pipit near French’s Pools. There were 8 Med Gulls dotted around the Lytchett Fields site and 1 Spotted Redshank, 2 Greenshank, 3 Green Sandpiper and 1 Marsh Harrier were also recorded. 

School Bird Boat with Chris Packham

School Bird Boat with Chris Packham

Today was the Poole Harbour WeBS and despite the wind a great variety of birds were counted. Highlight was a 1^st winter Iceland Gull that landed on Brownsea as the gull roost assembled. Unfortunately a Buzzard passed over and flushed it before we could get it on the camera. Also on the lagoon were just 1 Spoonbill and a Spotted Redshank. In Holes Bay, the Smew was again just south of the railway line with 3 Goldeneye, 4 Great Crested Grebe, 21 Avocet, 1 Yellow-legged Gull and 2 Med Gull. Out in the Wareham Channel 7 Spoonbill were feeding, also 15 Grey Heron out on the mud, also 1 ringtail Hen Harrier and 2 Marsh Harrier seen. At Swineham a female Goldeneye was on the pits and 350 Lapwing and a single Spotted Redshank were in in the mouth of the River Piddle. Lytchett Bay saw 1 Spotted Redshank, 4 Greenshank and 1 Marsh Harrier. The Great White Egret made a reappearance at Littlesea, Studland and out in Brands Bay there were 2 Spoonbill, 5 Greenshank, 3 Great Northern Diver, 1 Red-throated Diver, a few (almost) summer plumaged Black-necked Grebe and a single Red-necked Grebe. On Lytchett Pools a nice selection of Pipits included 3 Water Pipit, several Rock Pipit (1 presumed littoralis) and a few Meadow Pipit offering good comparison opportunities.

Water Pipit – Lytchett Pools – Peter Moore

Rock Pipit – Lytchett Pools – Peter Moore

Meadow Pipit – Lytchett Pools – Peter Moore

Today was our third and final Family Bird Boat of the winter, which has seen us run three free trips for families to get out and enjoy their local environment together. Over the three trips we’ve taken out around 225 people and have been able to show them some great wildlife spectacles. Todays was no different and although its obvious that a fair number od waders and wildfowl have moved off already for the spring, there was still plenty to keep everyone entertained on a blustery Saturday morning. Highlights included 3 Great Northern Diver, 3 Black-necked Grebe, 10 Spoonbill, 1 Guillemot, 80+ Red-breasted Merganser, 15+ Goldeneye, 1 Sandwich Tern, 5 Med Gulls, c50 Avocet, c20 Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Yellow-legged Gull and a small mixed flock of Dunlin, Grey Plover and Knot.  AT Lytchett Fields there were 7 Water Pipit back on the Pools Field with 1 Rock Pipit and 43 Redwing, also 3 Sandwich Tern out in the Bay with 271 Dunlin. At Holton Lee 7 Green Sandpiper were on Holton Pools, a really great winter count.

Many thanks to local wildlife photographer Peter Moore who accompanied us on our Bird Boat today and has provided a wonderful set of photos for us to show you.

Bar-tailed Godwits – Shore Road – Peter Moore 

Great Northen Diver – Central Harbour – Peter Moore

Goldeneye – Central Harbour – Peter Moore

Red-breasted Merganser – Central Harbour – Peter Moore

Red-breasted Merganser – Central Harbour – Peter Moore

Shag – Central Harbour – Peter Moore

Fairly quiet today with only 1 Guillemot, 3 Great Northern Diver, 1 Sandwich Tern and 5 Turnstone reported off Baiter. In Poole Park there were 5 Goldeneye still displaying. A Firecrest was in Upton CP.

Spring like sums up today and very pleasant it was too, warm, dry and hopefully a sign of things to come. The Black Guillemot was again viewable from the mainland, out towards the Brownsea SE shore. At North Haven, Sandbanks 4 Purple Sandpiper were on the groynes around the corner from the Haven Hotel. A raptor watch from Soldiers Road saw plenty enjoying the sun, mainly Buzzard with 20+ noted also 2 Kestrel, 1 Merlin on Hartland, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Peregrine, 4 Marsh Harrier and a ringtail Hen Harrier flew along Arne Moors. In Holes Bay a single Spotted Redshank was seen along with the over-wintering Common Sandpiper and at least 2 Firecrest were at Norden Sewage Works still. At Arne a decent flock of 15+ Siskin are coming to the feeders and singing quite happily in the sunshine. The 15 Spoonbill are still off Shipstal Point, Arne. 

Purple Sandpiper – Sandbanks – Ian Ballam

Rock Pipit – Sandbanks – Ian Ballam

Long-tailed Tit – Lytchett Bay – Ian Ballam

A ringtail Hen Harrier was hunting over the reedbed’s of Lytchett Heath, Lytchett Bay early morning. A Woodcock ringing session between Holton Lee and Lytchett Bay saw six birds seen and 2 ringed. A Ringed Plover calling over Lytchett Bay was a notable winter record. Other than that, all the usual’s were holding strong with Firecrests at Norden, Spoonbills at Arne, 1-2 Spotted Redshank in Holes Bay and Marsh Harrier in the Wareham Channel. Come on spring migrants hurry up…it’s all getting a bit samey! 

Spotted Redshank – Holes Bay – Jaqui Taylor

Red-breasted Merganser and Common Gull – Moriconium Quay – Michelle Collier

Starlings – Holton Lee – Paul Morton

Firstly, the 2015 Lytchett Bay report is now available to read via our survey page. Follow the link below and scroll to the very bottom of that page, this is where you’ll be able to download the new report. Shaun Robson has done another exceptional job in interpreting the data from what was another record-breaking year for the site in terms of numbers of species seen and total bird days for some pretty exceptional species. The site seems to be going from strength to strength and with spring just around the corner who knows what will turn up at Lytchett Bay this year – http://www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk/poole-harbour-surveys

Bird wise, there’s not much change and in fact there seems to be quite a decline in the numbers of waders and wildfowl over the last week with birds moving off already. In Holes Bay the Smew was still there with 2 Goldeneye. At Lytchett Bay there was a Firecrest near Beech Road. Out in Lytchett Bay a Spoonbill was on the point of Otter Island and 7 Red-breasted Merganser and 2 Gadwall were on the water. A Red Kite passing over Sandy Lane, Upton was a sign spring is on its way and the 2 Firecrest were still at Norden Sewage Works. A Hen Harrier was seen in Middlebere and 3-4 Marsh Harrier were around the Wareham Channel. 

Little Egrets in tree – Lytchett Bay – Ian Ballam

Med Gull on Ice – Lytchett Bay – Ian Ballam

We’ll start off with some non-birdy news which is that a Seal pup was photographed on Studland beach yesterday, it seemed very obliging apparently! Although we regularly see Common Seals in and around the Shipstal area, we’ve never seen a young pup before. Holes Bay was again looking great early morning on the low tide with 1 Spotted Redshank by the outflow, 64 Avocet, 200+ Dunlin and 100+ Black-tailed Godwit very close to the cycle paths. In the PCW Drain a ringed Firecrest was seen and 3 Chiffchaff. A female type Black Redstart was photographed in a back garden in central Oakdale, feeding on mealworms. In Lytchett Bay, raptors consisted of 1 each of Peregrine, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel with a Spotted Redshank off the Black Pipe. A Woodcock was caught by Stour Ringing Group on Sunday night at Sunnyside Farm that had first been ringed by the group at the same location on 30/11/13. There were another 2 Woodcock seen on Lytchett Fields too. At Swineham Point, 3 Jack Snipe were flushed along the footpath.

A fairly standard affair with the usual’s still clinging on. Firecrest were still at Norden Sewage Works (2), with another 2 in the Arne car park and one in a garden in Wareham. The Smew was still in Holes Bay south/north. Out on Lytchett Fields there were 2 Avocet, 1 Greenshank, 28 Lapwing, 3 Snipe, 1 Kestrel and 1 Buzzard. 14 Spoonbill were out on Shipstal and a grey male Hen Harrier and 2 ringtail were around the Slepe Heath/Hartland area however one ringtail gained great height (6-700m or so) before it turned into a speck of dust and then vanished! An evacuee saying goodbye? There are still several Marsh Harrier about too around the Wareham Channel area. 

The day started off cold and icy with our February field trip, which we’ll mention in a minute, but we were soon warmed up to boiling point when news came in late afternoon that a potential White-tailed Eagle had passed over Poole Harbour at 11am on Wednesday morning. A local observer was working over at Parkstone Yacht Club when he noticed ‘a huge, slow flapping, wide winged’ bird fly over from over Brownsea towards Whitecliffe. The observer stated….

On Wed at 11am (ish) I saw huge, slow flapping, wide winged bird, rising, circling / drifting South, single bird high above the habour between Whitecliff & B’sea. Silhouetted. Had no binocs. For me it said Eagle.

I used the word “huge” because that was the first thing that caused a sharp intake of breath. Living in Bere Regis I’m accustomed to Buzzards, Ravens and it was clearly significantly bigger. Next, the flight was neither soaring nor steady, it was slow flapping, gliding a bit, flap a few times again. Generally circling and drifting slowly and without obvious purpose towards Brownsea from off Parkstone YC where I was working. Very broad wings were obvious and dominating and maybe raised a bit rather than flat during the gliding. It was almost difficult to see either head or tail, so dominant were the wings. That made me think for a minute of Vulture (which again I am very familiar with from Pyrenees and Andalucia.)

Now, this initial statement was made on Wednesday but unfortunately without a photo or any other observers it seemed this mystery bird would go unidentified. However, in Hampshire today, a White-tailed Eagle was seen heading north over Cliddesden mid morning. Although the two sightings could be completely un-related, the strength of the observers account over Poole Harbour on Wednesday strongly suggests it could have been the same bird. This is also not the first time this  situation has occurred in Poole Harbour when on May 9^th 2008 a large Eagle species was seen flying over Hartland Moor (also thought to have been a White-tailed Eagle) being mobbed by Buzzards, whilst a first year WT Eagle had been over-wintering in Hants only a few weeks prior to the sighting.

Bird news from today included a good haul of sightings from our field trip around the bays of Studland despite the cold icy winds. Out in Brands Bay were 8 Black-necked Grebe, 10+ Pintail and 2 Great Crested Grebe. In Bramble Bush Bay 2 Great Northern Diver, 2 Goldeneye, 4 Red-breasted Merganser, 1 Ringed Plover and 2 Turnstone were counted with another 2 Great Northern Diver out in Studland Bay. At Norden Sewage Works a Firecrest was still present feeding on the filter beds with 2 Chiffchaff, 5+ Goldcrest and 1 Grey Wagtail. On a public bird boat the Black Guillemot was found nearer to the Sandbanks side and the Smew holds strong in Holes Bay. At dusk the Bittern was again seen flying over the Moors and a grey male Hen Harrier was seen at Hartland.