A fairly quiet day with a ringing session at Lytchett Heath providing a bit of interest with several Redwing ringed along with only the 2^ndWater Rail at Lytchett Bay in the last 10 years. At dawn there was an obvious but limited thrush movement with Redwing and Song Thrush passing in over but numbers soon fizzled out at dawn. There were a minimum of 5 Bearded Tit in the reed beds there too and Blackcap and Chiffchaff were present to. A Ruff at Lytchett Fields was the first ‘different’ wader in a while in amongst the standard Snipe, Lapwing, Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank and Teal.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION –  We Received information of a suspicious looking white transit van touring the back roads of Hartland Moor, Middlebere and Soldiers Road with the passenger of the vehicle getting out approaching parked cars and trying door handles to check if the cars were locked or not. Unfortunately a number plate wasn’t obtained but the van was said to be scruffy looking with a lot of foliage on it, plus ‘ladders and boards on it’

The arrival of more Short-eared Owls is perhaps an indicator of things to come weather wise with 3 in the harbour today. One was out across Arne Moors, another was seen to leave the marshy area of Littlesea, Studland at dusk and another spent the day at Lytchett Bay being spotted high over the bay at dawn and then hunting out across the marsh at dusk, even landing on our net poles just before dark while we were out ringing Pied Wagtail roosts. The ringtail Hen Harrier was over Slepe Heath and then went out across Arne Moors whilst both Peregrine and Marsh Harrier were settled on posts out on Hartland Moor when a Merlin dashed in between the two. At Lytchett Bay there was also a Marsh Harrier, 4 Skylark in the Arable Field and several Goldcrest and Chiffchaff. Another (or possibly the same) ringtail Hen Harrier was seen out across Greenlands Farm and a Great White Egret was on Littlesea whilst another was at Shipstal, Arne. A new Brambling was at the feeding station in the Arne car park and still a few Firecrest there too. 

There was a bizarre occurrence today when a guided walk at Arne RSPB reserve quite literally bumped into a Great White Egret in the woods near the Shipstal Hide. It was during a period of heavy rain so it could be that the bird was sheltering in woods to keep dry, but the group was able to approach very close (within 30m) which is odd for Great White Egret as they’re normally very shy birds. It casually just wandered off into the woods and out onto the marsh and wasn’t seen again. Injured? Or just disliked the rain? Other than the usual suspects there wasn’t much else reported due to the rain. 17 Spoonbill were on Brownsea, Marsh Harriers were noted at Lytchett Bay and Middlebere. There are still a minimum of 2 Firecrest in the Arne car park and the ringtail Hen Harrier flew up the Middlebere Channel where there was also a reasonable passage of Fieldfare and Redwing overhead.

We have just uploaded our latest survey, carried out by and titled – Corvids of Poole Harbour. This is a revised study that Nick carried out back during the 2007/08 winter period but also incorporates his recent winter Magpie roost survey which was carried out during the 2014/15 winter period.

Read the survey here – CORVIDS OF POOLE HARBOUR

We’ve also recently been building relationships with another local landowner to allow us to put up more Barn Owl boxes. With some of the funds raised from our monthly field trip program we purchased two more Barn Owl boxes and put them up at a site near Ridge, just outside Wareham. The boxes were erected two weeks by Jason Fathers from Wildlife Windows and we’ll be checking them in the following weeks to see if any wandering birds have taken to them yet. Keeping fingers crossed!

Jason Fathers from Wildlife Windows and our new Barn Owl boxes

Another vis-mig session was held up on Glebelands, Ballard where 3 Brambling, 6 Crossbill, 11 Yellowhammer, 21 Bullfinch, 54 Fieldfare, 88 Redwing, 40 Skylark, 50c House Martin, 20c Swallow and a steadyish passage of Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Linnet, Redpoll, alba Wagtails and Meadow Pipits were passing over head and a female Merlin and 2 Peregrine were also seen.  From Middlebere a ringtail Hen Harrier was finally photographed and more Fieldfare were seen arriving overhead. From the Arne side it was also noted that there were 2 Great White Egret present again in the Middlebere Channel. On Brownsea there were 27 Spoonbill, 42 Dunlin, only 3 Spotted Redshank, 4 Greenshank, 2 Grey Plover, 1 Turnstone, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Peregrine and 2 Firecrest. The best at Studland was a female Marsh Harrier hunting over the South Haven pool. 

Today proved you don’t have to be at a coastal site to get good vis-mig birds when a Lapland Bunting passed over Lytchett Heath at 8:30am calling low overhead and passing off to the NW. Also over the Lytchett Bay area were 2 Crossbill, 2 Egyptian Geese, 1 Rock Pipit, 5 Fieldfare and 6 Redwing. A Yellowhammer at Lytchett Fields the previous day was the first since November 210! At Arne a Hawfinch passed over the car park calling and 2 Firecrest and the Brambling were still viewable in the car park area. A Short-eared Owl flew over Slepe Heath and out across Arne Moors towards Swineham at 5pm and 3 Marsh Harrier, including a sub-adult male were present there too. A first year Cetti’s Warbler was singing in Poole Park and a Red-throated Diver was out off Fisherman’s dock. A flock of c200 sinensis Cormorant flew out across Whitecliff/Baiter towards the harbour mouth. 

There was a good report of not one but two Great White Egret in Middlebere during the morning, potentially confirming what we thought may be the case that there were in fact two separate birds. Another Short-eared Owl was seen out hunting over Arne moors, whilst harassing a couple of the 7 Marsh Harrier. The two Brambling at the Arne VC were present again feeding in amongst Chaffinch and House Sparrows whilst up to 3 Firecrest can still be seen in and around the car park. Several flocks of Fieldfare were seen passing over the Middlebere track heading north. The Spoonbill flock remained separate with birds both on Brownsea and Shipstal Point, Arne. 

The male Brambling at Arne was joined by a female and could be viewed on and off from the visitors centre window in the car park where there were also several Firecrest too. A Merlin flew in through the harbour mouth with another seen at Arne and 3 Red-breasted Merganser were sat off Furzey. There were 32 Spoonbill with 20 At Arne and 12 on Brownsea. Our monthly BoPH field trip at Greenlands Farm/Brands Bay area scored well with 4 Crossbill, 1 Ring Ouzel, 6 Lesser Redpoll, 100+ Fieldfare, 300+ Redwing, 1 Peregrine, 1 Marsh Harrier, 4 Dartford Warbler, 4 Stonechat and the Great White Egret was on Little Sea. Overhead Chaffinch, Siskin, Reed Bunting, Swallow and a few flocks of Wood Pigeon all passed north and out in Brands Bay there were 20+ Pintail, 400+ Black-tailed Godwit along with the usual Redshank, Curlew, Teal, Wigeon etc. Also on Brownsea were 10 Spotted Redshank, 12 Greenshank, 100+ Avocet, 200+ Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Sandwich Tern, 15 Little Egret, 1 Turnstone, 5 Swallow, 1 Rock Pipit, 1 Kingfisher and a Red Kite passed overhead.

One of my personal highlights from the last few days is a male Brambling that’s taken up semi-residence at the feeders out the back of the Arne visitor’s center. Although not a rare bird by any stretch of the imagination, they can often be extremely difficult to see and catch up with in the harbour each winter, sometimes with no birds over-wintering at all, just a few migrants during the autumn. Out in the Wareham Channel 3 Marsh Harrier were gliding about before going into roost and 4 Woodlark, 6 Crossbill and a Peregrine passed over Slepe Heath with the female Merlin still present there. There was a small movement of thrush’s at dawn with around 100 Redwing a similar number of Song Thrush and a handful of Fieldfare. Spoonbill totals were split between Brownsea and Shipstal combining at 31 birds and 14 Spotted Redshank, 350 Avocet and 9 Greenshank were also on the lagoon.

There has been a bit of an influx of Short-eared Owls this week with 7 on Portland and 2 at Durlston. Its well worth keeping an eye out around Arne, Hartland Moor, Slepe Heath, Soldiers Road etc at dusk and dawn as these sites have historically always been good places for this species. Ring Ouzels, Firecrests, Black Redstarts and more Brambling will all be around somewhere and are all classic mid to late autumn birds. And where are those Yellow-browed Warblers??????

Some exciting news came to light today when a recording of a mystery Pipit from yesterdays Glebeland’s vis-mig session was analysed to show it to be an Olive-backed Pipit. The recording has been submitted to the DRC (Dorset Rarities Committee) along with a description and an annotated sonagram created by Magnus Robb explaining his conclusion. If accepted it will be a first record for Poole Harbour and coincidently came a day before one was trapped and ringed on Portland!

 Olive-backed Pipit – Glebelands, Studalnd 12/10/15

At Middlebere 6 Crossbill passed north along the track along with a few Siskin, 1 Skylark, 3 Bullfinch and Goldcrest were calling from every bush. From the hide there were 200 Avocet, 300 Black-tailed Godwit, 11 Pintail, 1 Peregrine, 1 Marsh Harrier and 1 Kestrel. Thrush passage at Lytchett Bay consisted of 152 Redwing/Song Thrush north whilst at South Haven, Studland 18 Redpoll, 315 Siskin, 253 Linnet, 273 Goldfinch, 161 Chaffinch, 2 Mistle Thrush, 23 Song Thrush, 19 Redwing, 90 Meadow Pipit, 25 Swallow, 11 House Martin and a Sparrowhawk all passed the across the harbour mouth. On Brownsea there were 16 Spoonbill, 18 Spotted Redshank and a Peregrine. A ringtail Hen Harrier was seen at Arne and the Marsh Harrier roost has stayed consistent with 7 birds.

The conditions couldn’t have been any better today for visible migration along the Poole Harbour coastal areas and with two vis-mig sessions taking place at the usual spots, Glebelands and South Haven. At Glebelands the sheer number of birds passing up and over the ridge was staggering, a true migration spectacle. It started around 6:30am when a few Redwing and Song Thrush were noted passing overhead and by 7am the first Goldfinches started to pass by. Over the next hour Linnet, Goldfinch, Siskin and Chaffinch all started going by in flocks of between 10-50 every few seconds and that continued right up until 9am. Redpoll were also present in good numbers moving over every 5 minuets in 4 or 5s and a total of 13 Crossbill were reached with flocks of 7, 3 and 3. Another highlight was potentially 4 Tree Sparrow that traveled with a flock of Chaffinch and there were also 3 Reed Bunting, 2 Yellowhammer and a constant stream alba Wagtails, Meadow Pipit and to a lesser extent Hirundines. No definitive counts were made as we were trying to work out flight lines for all birds passing by and in total 3 definitive lines were found. One that the finches were following, then one further west that finches, alba wagtails and Skylark were following and another further west again that only thrushes were following. A Ring Ouzel was even discovered in the valley beneath the thrush line. At South Haven a coordinated count was made with 3 Reed Bunting, 3 Bullfinch, 323 Goldfinch, 116 Linnet, 271 Siskin, 13 Redpoll, 74 Chaffinch, 2 Tree Sparrow, 5 Fieldfare, 41 Redwing, 41 Song Thrush, 63 Meadow Pipit, 49 Pied Wagtails, 2 Skylark, 1 Sparrowhawk and 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker all moving across the harbour mouth. There were 277 Cormorant all fishing in a feeding flock just in the harbour mouth. A session at Boarder Road, Lytchett Bay produced 21 Song Thrush, 4 Redwing, 4 Fieldfare and 2 Blackbird all north with a further 157 Thrush sp.