With the low mist over the weekend it seemed inevitable that a pea soup fog would roll in at some point, and it certainly did this morning. It didn’t take too long to burn off, and when it did it revealed a few surprises, not least a Snow Bunting found at the Lytchett Bay feeding station feeding with Greenfinches and Chaffinches this afternoon. An incredibly good, if not rather random find for a species that prefers rugged, coastal habitats during the winter, rather than woodlands next to a sewage works on the edge of town! The Forster’s Tern was still showing off in Poole Park all day, still attracting decent crowds and the Little Gull was still in Lytchett Fields. Around Sandbanks a Black-throated Diver was off Shore Road Beach, a Purple Sandpiper was on groyns  along from the Haven Hotel, a Red-necked Grebe was reported in Studland Bay with Black-necked Grebe and the 10 Glossy Ibis were on Wareham Common. Tonight a dusk watch/listen produced a good total of c60 Sand Martin and the first Little Ringed Plover of the Spring, also 2 Spoonbill, c60 Cattle Egret, 3 Great White Egret and 2 Marsh Harrier. Plus, a Bittern left in near total darkness at 18:43 which was heard but not seen as it seemed to have tracked quite far north before it was heard calling as it left. We set up a static recorder just in case any Bittern decided to leave and managed to just about get seven calls as it flew off into the darkness, but it was already quite far off before it started calling, so we’ve stated the seconds within the recording that you can hear the bird call: Bittern calls can be heard at 3, 8, 11, 18, 28, 38 and 46 seconds. Bittern calls sit at a very low frequency with the peak of the call only reaching 1.4kHz as highlight on the sonagram below.

Eurasian Bittern call sonagram – Swineham GP – 09/03/26

A return to decidedly wintery conditions again today. The Forster’s Tern continued to show well at Poole Park. Lytchett Bay featured the Little Gull again from Rock Lea View, plus two Pintail (a site scarcity). Our wintering icelandic Black-tailed Godwit are preparing for spring, with many moulting into breeding plumage. The colour ringed individual (centre) roosting on Brownsea Lagoon was originally ringed at at Axe Estuary in Nov 2013. Highlights from today’s safari five smart Black-necked Grebe back of the islands, a White-tailed Eagle in the Wareham Channel, four Great Northern Diver, six newly-arrived Sandwich Tern and two Spoonbill on Brownsea Lagoon. Other niceties around the harbour include a Spotted Redshank at Holes Bay NE Creekmoor outflow, 2,500 Black-tailed Godwit and two Knot in NW sector, while a circuit from the hide through the woodland clocked 12 singing Firecrest. Finally, the long-staying Glossy Ibis flock were doing the rounds, first logged at Wareham Common, then later over Careys Secret Garden.

Islandic Black-tailed Godwit, Brownsea Lagoon © Joe Parker

Tricky conditions today with a grey, low mist over much of the area during the course of the whole day. That didn’t stop a fleet of birders enjoying the Poole Park Forster’s Tern all day as it regularly visited it’s favourite perching posts on the eastern edge on the main boating lake. The Glossy Ibis flock were out on Wareham Common, in Lytchett Bay there was an adult Yellow-legged Gull and the adult Little Gull and 2 White-tailed Eagle were in the Wareham Channel.

Forster’s Tern – Poole Park – Mark Wright

With the cloud cover arriving last night, and the wind swinging round northerly it’s back to feeling rather wintery again, but hopefully not for too long. It was much of the same again today, with all the recent regulars putting in an appearance somewhere. The Forster’s Tern was once again showing brilliantly on the main Poole Park boating lake, often moving to settle on buoys further out, but would return to the short posts near the enclosed reedy area on the eastern edge, plus the male Mandarin Duck was also on the main boating lake and a female flew over Holmebridge. The 2 Common Crane were seen again, coming in from high over Wareham Common about 11:30am, before heading down towards Swinehem, but they wren’t seen settling anywhere. The Water Pipit was once again seen from our Winter Safari this AM in the mouth of the River Frome and there were 4 Marsh Harrier around the Swineham/Keysworth area. The White-tailed Eagle pair were sat on the shoreline near Ower Bay, 3 Great Northern Diver were counted with 1 off Poole Quay, one off Hamworthy Beach and another near the harbour entrance, and 5 Black-necked Grebe were in Brands Bay. The Brownsea Lagoon is starting to transition from a winter site to a spring site with some new arrivals including a summer plumaged Ringed Plover, plus 89 Mediterranean Gulls and 2 Spoonbill, although these have been around since the autumn. The lagoon also held 394 Black-tailed Godwit, 158 Oystercatcher, 74 Avocet, 124 Redshank, 51 Bar-tailed Godwit, 16 Curlew, 12 Greenshank and 11 Grey Plover. A Red Kite drifted down the Piddle Valley, the 10 Glossy Ibis were still out on Wareham Common, beneath North Walls, 31 Cattle Egret were on the northern area of Wareham Common and a Great White Egret was on Bestwall meadows. Finally the adult Little Gull was once again off Rock Lea View in Lytchett Bay and a Spotted Redshank was out in the bay.

Forster’s Tern – Poole Park boating lake

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Another day, another series of harbour highlights including another new bird for the harbour this winter/early spring in the shape of a Water Pipit at Swineham, photographed from our Winter Safari Cruise this AM. Typically a few over-winter around Lytchett Bay/Swineham, but despite much searching, none have been logged yet this year until today, and this could be a spring passage migrant thats just passing through on it’s way south.

There was also great excitement at Carey Secret Garden mid-morning when we were initially alerted by Herring Gull alarm calls and saw male White-tailed Eagle G463 passing over, when all of a sudden we then heard Common Cranes calling before all three then started circling together. This is such a perfect example of species recovery in action and a huge well done and congratulations to everyone involved in making these projects reality. This is an encounter that probably hasn’t been seen in the UK for several centuries, but now it’s happening….its real. Species recovery has the ability to positively impact eco-systems, economies and both physical and mental health. Let’s all work smarter to make these types of experiences a possibility for EVERYONE, no matter where you are in the country.

Other exciting encounters today included the Forster’s Tern giving point blank views in Poole Park after lunch, but it was quite unsettled having first been seen in the harbour entrance this morning, then commuting back and fourth between Baiter and Poole Park on and off. Whilst in Poole Park it offered exceptional photography opportunities as highlighted by Mark Wrights (quite frankly) ridiculously great photos below.

Spring arrivals continue with Chiffchaff now singing at multiple sites and at Swineham tonight, despite no Bittern leaving, there were 24 Sand Martin bombing about. The 10 Glossy Ibis were still on Wareham Common, there were 20 Cattle Egret at Holmebridge and 17 on Wareham Common. Off Middle Beach there were 3 Black-necked Grebe, 1 Great Northern Diver and 5 Common Scoter. 

Common Crane and White-tailed Eagle soaring over Carey Secret Garden, Lower Piddle Valley this morning.

Water Pipit – Swineham/River Frome from this AM’s Winter Safari – Joe Parker 

Forster’s Tern – Poole Park – Mark Wright

Forster’s Tern – Poole Park – Mark Wright

It seems with each new day, a new species appears, which isn’t un-typical during spring migration, but when the recent arrivals include Forster’s Tern, Great Bustard and todays ‘new arrivals’….2 Common Crane, it makes for quite exciting birding. The high pressure and clear sky’s are obviously getting birds moving, and we’re sure there will be more new arrivals over the coming days, but whats unknown is what level of scarcity will they be? The first Wheatear? The first Little Ringed Plover? Or Poole Harbours first Great Spotted Cuckoo??

Yes, today 2 Common Crane arrived in down the Piddle Valley and settled at Keysworth for a short while late morning before then heading to Arne Moors briefly, before then heading back up the Frome Valley, over Wareham. For a brief moment they were circling over the 10 Glossy Ibis and 50+ Cattle Egret around Wareham Common…..now thats not a sentence we would have predicted 10 years ago! No Bittern were logged this evening due to the fog, but there were 2 Sand Martin at Swineham today and 6 at Holmebridge, where there were also 1 Great White Egret. The Forster’s Tern seems to be preferring the urban side of Poole this spring with sightings again around Parkstone Bay, and it was even seen sat out on sticks in the middle of Poole Park boating Lake, plus it visited the Brownsea Lagoon briefly. There were 3 different White-tailed Eagles around the harbour including the adult pair and a new 2023 arrival in the Wareham Channel ‘G641’. One of teh most vocal birds singing already is Firecrest, as the Dorset/South coast colonisation continues, with males singing from pretty much every mixed deciduous/coniferous woodland around the harbour!

Singing Firecrest – Annabel Sharpe 

New birds are coming thick and fast this year. With the Forster’s Tern a few days ag0 and the first trickle of summer migrants over the last week, the last thing we were expecting was a message to say there was a Great Bustard up on Ballard Down! Interestingly, the bird was associating with 2 Roe Deer for the whole day, and permanently grazed with them, perhaps thinking it too was a deer of sorts. After watching for a short while, it became obvious that it had an orange ‘flag’ on the lower left leg, which suggested it’s from the Salisbury Plain population/project and incredibly, we’ve already heard back from the Great Bustard Project Team providing info on this bird.  Below is the info from Siobhan Lewis:

This is only the 3rd Poole Harbour record, despite the Salisbury Plain/Wiltshire population now growing quite considerably to about 100 individuals. It will be interesting to see how long he stays until he heads off back north to the Salisbury Plain in time for the summer. The Forster’s Tern was reported briefly again off Baiter mid-afternoon, just after 3pm and the 10 Glossy Ibis were once again out on Wareham Common, viewable from North Walls. There were 4 Black-necked Grebe and 2 Great Northern Diver off Middle Beach, Studland, 3 Spoonbill were on Shipstal, RSPB Arne and 2 White-tailed Eagle were in the Wareham Channel this afternoon. Finally, a dusk watch at Swineham GP resulted in a ridiculous count of 9 Eurasian Bittern that lifted and circled above the gravel pit, with only one calling, before all then settled back down into the reed beds again. Will/did they leave after dark or will they all (or more) go tomorrow??

Great Bustard – Ballard Down 

It seems things are getting better and brighter by the day, with the next few days looking to be even better. March has started with a bang, and today saw the first 2 Dorset Northern Wheatears of the year with individuals at Kimmeridge and Lodmoor, meaning the first Poole Harbour record isn’t too far away. The good news today was that the Forster’s Tern re-appeared, in pretty much the same spot it was re-found on Saturday. It was sat on a mooring buoy in Parkstone Bay this afternoon about 15:30, before heading off to hunt along the Baiter, Whitecliff and Lilliput shorelines before then heading off towards Brownsea about 16:30. There was also an incredible chorus of Mediterranean Gulls, most of which were in full summer plumage, with 163 in Parkstone Bay alone and around 250-300 spread across the northern shores. As (is currently) usual the Glossy Ibis flock were on Wareham Common pretty much all day and the 53 Cattle Egret were moving around the NW fringes of Wareham (Worgret and Wareham Common). Out in Brands Bay/Jerry’s Point there were still 3 Great Northern Diver, 10 Black-necked Grebe, a Spotted Redshank was out in Lytchett Bay and a male Merlin was out near RSPB Arne Moors.

The Wareham Cattle Egret flock – Worgret/Wareham Common – Annabel Sharpe

Forster’s Tern – Baiter (on Saturday) – Joe Parker