Today sightings were few and far between with a single Little Tern in Brands Bay briefly and the Curlew Sandpiper and Wood Sandpiper still present at RSPB Lytchett Fields along with good numbers of Dunlin, Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit and Lapwing. Spoonbills continue to commute between Brownsea and Arne with a steady group of 28 so far. Last year numbers really built up in October, so with 28 already present are we going to see the British record of 49 (held by Brownsea last year) get smashed? It was also observed that the first Redwings of the autumn arrived on the east coast this week. We don’t normally see ours until early October but do occasionally get some earlier during late September vis-mig watches.

Talking of vis-mig, below are a couple more sound recordings from the session up on Ballard last Saturday. The first is quite special. It was thought at the time that we had recorded an Ortolan Bunting but we wanted to double check with the guys at the Sound Approach who kindly confirmed it’s definitely an Ortolan. Its quite tricky to hear but the three diagnostic calls can be heard at 4.5, 10 and 20 seconds. To illustrate why they’re Ortolan Bunting calls I’ve included cut outs from the recordings sonagram showing the peaked ‘n’ shape type call they do, which the Sound Approach describe in Catching the Bug, referring to migrating Ortolan Buntings as “showing much variation in pitch, calls are typically single notes spaced well apart, plucked from different strings of the same instrument”

Ortolan Bunting migrating over Ballard Down on 19/09/15 – 6:09am

Secondly, here are a flock of Linnet passing close by over the cliff top. Linnets will be one of the numerous species encountered during autumn vis-mig watches, but its worth familiarising your self with these calls as they can sound similar to other species such as Goldfinch, but as the Sound Approach state, “their twittering averages lower-pitched (than Goldfinch) and has far less range between the higher and lower notes.

Linnet flock migrating over Ballard Down – 19/09/15 

What started off as a blanket of thick fog covering the harbour, eventually gave way to a stunning late summers day. The only draw back was that the first Poole Harbour WeBS (Wetland birds Survey) count of the winter was due to start at 9am, which the think fog hampered for about 45 minutes but eventually cleared. Highlights included a Great White Egret in Brands Bay and then another (or the same) viewed from the Wytch Causeway. At Lytchett Fields the Wood and Curlew Sandpiper remained also there 635 Teal, 313 Redshank, 4 Knot, 5 Green Sandpiper, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Kingfisher and 22 Little Egret. There’s certainly no shortage of Little Egret at the moment with 36 counted from the Shipstal Hide at Arne and many others around the harbour too. 23 Spoonbill were seen near Wytch and then flew towards Arne. 3 Lesser Redpoll passed over Shipstal Point. There were masses of Hirundines, mainly Swallow taking advantage of the warm weather and presumed abundance of flying insects. A scan across any skyline would result on hundreds (likely) thousands of birds all busily feeding. Other than that wildfowl numbers are slowly increasing as Teal and Wigeon can now be seen at most of the usual haunts and the lone Brent Goose was again at Shore Road. A Whinchat was on Hartland Moor

Between now November, vis-mig (visible migration) can be encountered at several coastal spots along the harbour such as Ballard Down and South Haven. This movement occurs every year and involves species such as wagtails, finches, pipits, larks and hirundines. Durlston CP is one of the best places in the country to experience this, but many of the birds that pass over Durlston then come and pass over the harbour (especially in a NE wind). Identifying these birds by sight is almost impossible as they pass over-head, often in large flocks so the only other way to identify them is by sound. Over the next few weeks we’ll be posting sound recordings on this blog of some of the species you can see and hear pass over-head during the vis-mig season, which will hopefully help you be able to identify them on your own out in the field.

We’ll start with some easy ones. Meadow Pipits pass in big numbers every autumn and have a distinctive high-pitched call which they make continously as they fly over.

Meadow Pipit – Flight calls of a flock of 20+ passing over Ballard Down on 19/09/15

Another good one to try and pick out is Grey Wagtail. These also move in reasonable numbers through out the autumn and have a distinctive double note call as they pass over-head. Grey Wagtail will migrate either individually, in two’s, threes or sometime’s in larger groups.

Grey Wagtail – Flight calls of a migrant passing over Ballard Down on 19/09/15 

A moderate NE breeze blew across the harbour in the very early hours, prompting a sound recording session up on Ballard Down and the chance of some decent vis-mig (visible migration) totals. Although the breeze eased off pretty quickly (by 8:30am), the time in between (5:30am – 8:30) proved very productive. With a big push of 100+ Meadow Pipit and roughly double of numbers Swallow too. Other birds on the move early included 76 Linnet, 15 Goldfinch, 11 Siskin, 8 Greenfinch, 2 Lesser Redpoll, 1 Tree Pipit and 6 Grey Wagtail. I’ll be uploading a few recordings over the coming days of migrants on the move. Grounded migrants up on Ballard included 30+ each of both Chiffchaff and Blackcap, 10+ Whitethroat, 2 Wheatear, 1 Redstart, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Dartford Warbler, 10+ Goldcrest also 2 Peregrine, 1 Sparrowhawk and 1 Buzzard all present. At Greenland’s Farm 2 Tree Pipit passed overhead and present in the bushes were 8 Chiffchaff, 5 Blackcap, 1 Whinchat and a Spotted Flycatcher.  At Holes Bay there were large numbers of hirundines feeding above Upton CP, also a Dartford Warbler near the railway line (very rare here), 4 adult Yellow-legged Gulls in the bay, also c280 Black-tailed Godwit and c200 Wigeon.  At Lytchett Fields the Wood Sandpiper and Curlew Sandpiper remained. 

First up, a Wryneck was discovered along the Middlebere track during the morning, which showed well for a couple of viewers but then disappeared never to be seen again unfortunately. However the track also saw 3 Whinchat, 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Redstart, and a female Bullfinch and from the hide 3 Spotted Redshank and a Greenshank were noted. At RSPB Lytchett Fields another scares Woodpecker showed its self when a Lesser-spotted Woodpecker flew across the fields, settled for a short while and then moved on. Lesser-spots do occasionally move with the tit flocks during the autumn so well work keeping an eye out for them. It was also a big Chiff/Willow morning at Lytchett Bay with a combined total of around 150 birds, also 6 Spotted Flycatcher, 5 Whitethroat, 1 Grasshopper Warbler, 3 Whinchat, 1 Wood Sandpiper, 1 Curlew Sandpiper and 2 Ruff all present. A count at Brands Bay saw 170 Teal, 9 Wigeon, 12 Pintail, 6 Greenshank, 49 Dunlin, 2 Common Tern, 2 Sandwich Tern and a surprise single Black Tern. 

Another vis-mig session at South Haven this morning unfortunately didn’t reap the same rewards as yesterday, and in fact Steve Smiths new UK day record for Siskins lasted only one day with Sandwich Bay, in Kent seeing 4520 Siskin yesterday morning! A meager 62 were noted at South Haven, along with 5 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Garden Warbler, 2 Spotted Flycatcher and 2 Wheatear. On the Turlin Moor shore of Lytchett Bay there were 2 each of Redstart, Spotted Flycatcher, and Whitethroat also 15+ Blackcap a few Chiffchaff and plenty of Swallows streaming by. Elsewhere around the site were Stonechat a few Reed Buntings, 2 Cetti’s Warbler, a Kingfisher, 1 Common Sandpiper a few Siskin over and an Osprey high over the bay. On the Brownsea Lagoon 14 Spoonbill, 9 Spotted Redshank, 18 Greenshank, 250+ Avocet and 4 Knot were counted. 

Today saw an excellent vis-mig movement across the coastal areas of Poole Harbour with concentrated counts made at South Haven, Brownsea Quay and to a lesser extent Baiter Park. It started around 9am when local birder Steve Smith started his count from South Haven and began to note big numbers of Siskin moving along with several other species too. He informed Mark Constantine who was on the Quay at Brownsea Island who was also experiencing movement overhead with birds passing over north. Mark then called us in our office and we hurried down to Baiter to see if we could catch any of the passage coming over which to my delight we did. The conditions seemed perfect with a large front moving up from the SW and a steady NE breeze for the birds to fly into. Any wind with north is can get birds moving but a NE tends to be the most productive for numbers and variety of birds. In the end Steve managed to count a whopping 2423 Siskin at South Haven, a new UK Siskin day record! Also counted during Steve’s South Haven count included 10 Sand Martin, 1232 Swallow, 2 House Martin, 9 Tree Pipit, 291 Meadow Pipit, 15 Grey Wagtail, 6 Chiffchaff, 3 Goldfinch, 4 Linnet and 17 Lesser Redpoll…all heading north. You can read Steve’s account of his mornings count HERE. Marks count from Brownsea was almost equally impressive with 585 Siskin, 20 Goldfinch, 26 Greenfinch, 14 Chaffinch, 1 Redpoll, 1 Skylark, 406 Swallow, 15 Sand Martin, 10 House martin, 86 Meadow Pipit, 18 Tree Pipit, 1 Grey Wagtail, 3 Pied Wagtail, 1 Whimbrel and 1 ad female Sparrowhawk…again, all north. From Baiter, Hirundines were streaming in off the water, all following a very defined channel across the water, hitting the corner of Baiter and passing right over our heads. Interestingly though, no finches were making their way to Baiter…just plenty of Hirundines, Meadow Pipit and Grey Wagtail. In Brands Bay the Great White Egret put on a good show, and a Grasshopper Warbler was seen next to the hide.  At RSPB Lytchett Fields a juvenile Curlew Sandpiper was found, also the Wood Sandpiper remained with 2 Ruff, 22 Knot (a Bay record), 46 Dunlin, 9 Green Sandpiper, 5 Greenshank, 51 Redshank, 79 Black-tailed godwit, 2 Ringed Plover, 435 Teal, 5 Whinchat, 1 Osprey fishing in the bay and good numbers of Hirundines passing through. Holton Lee saw 1 Whinchat, 1 Osprey, 12 Goldcrest and 6 Chiffchaff. Late news from Monday when a Poole Harbour MEGA was reported…a Little Owl at Arne, sat on one of the farm buildings.

We have also just published our latest survey, carried out by Nick Hopper, which is titled

Pied Wagtails of Poole Harbour – A winter roost survey 2014/15.

Nick provides a fascinating insight into the pre and post roosting activities of our over-wintering Pied Wagtails here in the harbour.

This morning a Poole Harbour raptor count included 4 Marsh Harrier out of the roost, including 2 sub adult males, 2 Osprey out in the Wareahm Channel including the individual that’s been faithful to the Keysworth fence posts for about a month, 1 Hobby over the Moors, 1 Sparrowhawk, 3 Kestrel and 4 Buzzards. No Merlin have been seen yet, but like with Hen Harrier, it should be any day now that we see our firsts of the winter. There were 7 Woodlark calling over Soldiers Road.

A high tide count at RSPB Lytchett Fields today saw a whopping 1181 birds using the site. This is an incredible total for a couple of soggy fields and although admittedly the majority were Teal and Black-headed Gulls it highlights how important the site is on a large high tide during peak migration time. The counts from  the 2 public viewpoints consisted of……

Field 3 & 4 combined – Sherford Pools

236 Teal

1 Wood Sandpiper

1 Moorhen

5 Greenshank

1 Ruff

21 Redshank

9 BT Godwit

29 Dunlin

3 Snipe

6 Little Egret

1 Kingfisher

5 Lapwing

27 BH Gull

1 Green Sandpiper

1 Herring Gull

Field 5 – Frenche’s Pools

1 Curlew

3 Greenshank

256 Teal

2 Moorhen

63 BT Godwit

1 Knot

27 Lapwing

4 Snipe

18 Dunlin

3 Little Egret

27 Redshank

71 BH Gull

1 Ringed Plover

1 Green Sandpiper

5 Wigeon

Autumn really kicked in today with strong winds and heavy rain through out most of the afternoon, and did the predicted Sabine’s Gull or Grey Phalarope turn up…did it heck, but there’s still plenty of time for that. On Brownsea there were 28 Spoonbill, a newly arrived Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Little Stint, a minimum of 7 Spotted Redshank, 250+ Avocet and an increase in Wigeon numbers. At RSPB Lytchett Fields 1 Wood Sandpiper remained, also 2 Ruff, 3 Ringed Plover, 44 Dunlin, 8 Green Sandpiper, 20+ each of Lapwing, Redshank and Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Whinchat, 1 Peregrine Falcon, 514 Teal and several Chiffchaff. Baiter saw some birds hunkered down during the strong winds, including 6 Sandwich Tern out on the playing field, also on the low tide 33 Ringed Plover, 8 Turnstone and 1 Dunlin.  

Last week we carried out our Dorset Discovery Autumn tour, our third tour this year in partnership with the Dorset RSPB team. The trip was a huge success and you can read the full trip report and species list HERE. We’ll be uploading information on next years tours in the next couple days, so watch this space.

Wood Sandpiper – RSPB Lytchett Fields

To watch in HD click on the cogged shaped symbol and select 1080HD

The forecast for the coming week looks very tasty indeed with strong SW winds on Monday and Tuesday with the wind then swing SE on Wednesday. Always the optimist, these conditions are classic for species such as Sabine’s Gull and Grey Phalarope, so be sure to check any gull flocks or muddy pools for a wandering migrant. Back to the real world, RSPB Lytchett Fields was back to ists best this morning with 2 Wood Sandpiper, 3 Ruff, 7 Ringed Plover, 2 Common Sandpiper, 43 Dunlin, 5 Greenshank and 20+ of each Redshank, Snipe and Lapwing. Also around the site were 3 WillowChiff, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 3 Whinchat and several Blackcap. On Brownsea yesterday there were 3 Ruff, 2 Little Stint, 28 Spoonbill, 1 Knot, 250 Avocet, 220 Dunlin and good numbers of both Green and Spotted Redshank. An Osprey was sat in a dead tree at Rempstone. 2 Redstart were seen along Soldiers Road. 

Poole Harbours purple patch continued today with a Red-backed Shrike that was discovered at Greenland’s Farm mid-afternoon. Unfortunately it didn’t hang around long and couldn’t be relocated after five hours searching. This is only the second record of this species since 2012. Also along Studland there were 10 Pintail, 16 Wigeon, 154 Teal, 1 Great White Egret, 3 Avocet, 4 Greenshank, 23 Dunlin, 1 Sanderling, 2 Turnstone, 5 Yellow Wagtail and 1 Wheatear at Brands Bay, whilst at South Haven there were 7 Sanderling. Late news of a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker at Sandford Heath earlier this week. An Osprey was seen catching a fish in Holes Bay north mid morning and there were still 4 Spotted Flycatcher on the Upton CP boarder and now up to 100 Wigeon there too. There were 4 Knot near the Holes Bay outflow. The Brownsea Lagoon now has 25 Spoonbill roosting on the high tide and at least 5 Spotted Redshank and 10 Greenshank. At RSPB Lytchett Fields there was still 1 Wood Sandpiper, 3 Ruff, 2 Knot, 1 Curlew, 21 Dunlin, 4 Greenshank, 8 Green Sandpiper, 2 Ringed Plover, 2 Peregrine, 1 Marsh Harrier, 3 Yellow Wagtail and 2 Whinchat.