Spring really felt like it had sprung today, I even had Red Admiral in the garden this afternoon. An RSPB bird boat left Poole Quay this morning and we weren’t disappointed. The Black Guillemot showed brilliantly next to the boat off the Brownsea southern shore, there were 4 Black-necked Grebe off the house boats at Studland and16 Spoonbill on Shipstal Point, Arne and another 4 on Gold Point. The Brownsea Lagoon held Avocet, Black and Bar-tailed Godwit, Dunlin, Knot, Grey Plover, Greenshank, Redshank, Oystercatcher, a pale-phase Buzzard, Shovler, Teal and Wigeon. In Holes Bay today the Smew re-appeared in Holes Bay south and 2 Spoonbill, 2 Spotted Redshank and a Common Sandpiper were near the outflow along with a couple of Chiffchaff and the Siberian Chiffchaff.  The Poole Harbour raptor count is still strong with 4 Hen Harrier seen today in and around Middlebere, including 2 males, and there are still several Marsh Harrier around the Wareham Channel and Merlin was on Hartland. Black-necked Grebes were in Shell Bay and off Middle Beach with 5 Common Scoter at the latter. Earlier in the week there were 1161 Black-tailed Godwit in Holes bay which is certainly notable. 

Although still cold, the wind eased throughout the day and some nice sightings were reported. There are now 6 different Hen Harrier in the harbour, 3 males and 3 females two of which are new in over the last two days. There were three separate sightings of Bittern at Swineham this evening, representing possibly one, two or possibly three individuals due to the different locations and timings of each sighting. Firecrests seem to be getting active again with the birds in the Arne car park showing off quite well. The Spoonbill gathering on Shipstal is still present with 23 birds present. A flock of 100+ Fieldfare were in one of the fields along Soldiers Road, the most I’ve seen this winter.  In Holes Bay 2 Spoonbill were at the outflow along with 1 Spotted Redshank, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Kingfisher and a Grey Wagtail.

Still cold and still not much change in the birds. There were 3 Spoonbill at the Holes Bay outflow today plus two Spotted Redshank and a Common Sandpiper. There are still 3 Hen Harrier in the harbour and 2 Merlin were on Hartland. 1 possibly 2 Bittern were out on Arne Moors and Marsh Harrier can still be seen fairly easily around the Wareham Channel. Out in the harbour Goldeneye seem to have overtaken Red-breasted Merganser in total number visible and a Peregrine was hunting over Shipstal. 2 Great Northern Diver are still off the Brownsea north shore. Holes Bay south was packed to the rafters this evening on the low tide with Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Black-headed Gull and Shelduck making up the main bulk of species. 

Not much change in the Poole Harbour birding scene recently with the Smew in Holes Bay still taking center stage with the close range Spoonbills and Spotted Redshanks providing a an equally entertaining side show. A sub-adult male Hen Harrier has been present in Middlebere the last two mornings along with 8 Spoonbill a Merlin, 704 Avocet and a Marsh Harrier. Out in Studland bay 3 Slavonian Grebe were present as were 128 Brent Geese and 17 Med Gulls.

 Lapwings – Middlebere 02/02/15

I went out recording the other night a few hours before the snow hit Dorset and was being watched by a HUGE solar ring around the moon making it look like a giant eye was following me around everywhere. Anyway, whilst making my way down to Middlebere these Lapwing were making a range of sounds I wasn’t familair with. Within the recording are a few standard  Lapwing calls (27 and 50 seconds), but the squeeky, scratchy calls throughout are sounds I don’t think I’ve heard from Lapwing before. 

The Smew was again close into the Holes Bay outflow for a short time mid morning, also there the usual 2 Spotted Redshank and 5 Spoonbill there today. At Hatch Pond a minimum of 30 Snipe were present in the short cut area of reedbed, hunkered down in the snow, also there 2 Great Crested Grebe, 18 Tufted Duck and 2 Gadwall.  4 Black-necked Grebe were in Shell Bay, 2 Hen Harrier in near Newton bay and at Arne 24 Spoonbill, 2 Merlin, 2 Hen Harrier and a Woodcock.

It was a cold, chilly all day and I’m sure we’ve seen a small cold weather movement (maybe just local?) of some species. Today I took a school group out on a bird boat around the harbour and there was an obvious rise in numbers of Red-breasted Merganser, Goldeneye and Great Crested Grebe in every section we visited. Out on Shipstal at least 15 Spoonbill were still present, a Great Northern Diver was off the Brownsea north shore and a few Black-necked Grebe were present, one off Brownsea south shore and one a couple of hundred meters off Poole Quay. The Brownsea Lagoon was totally frozen over, meaning many birds had been pushed out to other areas like Holes Bay, which as predicted was full of birds this afternoon. Highlights near the outflow included 2 Common Sandpiper, 2 Spotted Redshank, 1 Spoonbill, 1 Kingfisher, the Smew which commuted between the outflow and the bridge, also 5 Goldeneye near the bridge plus 300 Avocet, 200 Black-tailed Godwit, 200 Redshank, 300 Wigeon, 200 Teal, 8 Dunlin and numerous Curlew, Oystercatcher and a good gathering of gulls. 

Today I led our monthly field trip, this month was around Swineham and although windy, the northerly direction of the icy blast meant we were largely sheltered most of the way around. Good numbers of wildfowl out on the pits including Pochard, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Teal, Shoveler and plenty of Greylag and Canada Geese. Marsh Harrier were present most of the way around, with a few over the GP and a few more over the reed beds. Nine Spoonbill (flock of 7 then 2) headed up the Frome Valley at dusk and a few large flocks of Lapwing were spooked by the harriers. A few Cetti’s Warbler were calling and a flock of 8 Fieldfare were near ‘Curlews cottage’. Black-tailed Godwit were also moving up and down the valley in small numbers as were a few Curlew. The sunset was also stunning. There was a great wildfowl count in Brands Bay yesterday with 266 Pintail, 639 Teal and 162 Wigeon, there were also 3 first winter Spoonbill there today, a sub-adult female Marsh Harrier and large numbers of commoner waders. South Haven saw 4 Black-necked Grebe with a few more and a Slavonian Grebe of Middle Beach. Spoonbill were also present in Holes Bay on the low tide today, with the usual Spotted Redshank and yesterday 2 Common Sandpiper were present. 

The Smew is still spending most of its time hanging around the railway bridge that splits Holes Bay north and south often in the company of a few Goldeneye and Red-breasted Merganser. Also in Holes Bay today were 278 Avocet, 2 Spoonbill, 1 Common Sandpiper and good numbers of common waders. A Red-necked Grebe was off South/Middle Beach yesterday afternoon.

Thanks Ian Ballam for this photo of a colour-ringed Avocet from Holes Bay recently. The information has come back from the original scheme stating this bird was ringed as a chick in Suffolk in 2011, and this is actually its second appearance in Holes Bay in consecutive winters. 

Disturbance and Estuary Birds

Presentation by Catherine Collop from Bournemouth University about her research into the effects of disturbance on wintering birds in the local area.

Tuesday 10 February  at 7.30pm

Venue – Carter Community School, Blandford Close, Hamworthy, BH15 4BQ

 Viewing the Future – RSPB and Biotope

Booking essential, only a handful of places left…

To book, click here – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/viewing-the-future-tickets-15404684827

For more info, click here – http://www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk/viewing-future-rspb-and-biotope

This morning I was lucky enough to catch and ring a Siberian (tristis) Chiffchaff, a rare relative of our Common (collybita) Chiffchaff. Although they are often much paler, this is not a diagnostic characteristic of a Siberian Chiffchaff as some Common Chiffchaff can be just as pale. The only true way to ID a Siberian Chiffchaff is through its call, which this bird kindly did for me whilst it was in my hand, and then repeated when I turned my sound recording gear on. You can see in the sonagram the downward (sad sounding) inflection of the call, where as a Common Chiffchaff call would have an upward rising inflection of its call. 

During the same ringing session I was also fortunate enough to re-trap a Common Chiffchaff that through our ringing data shows it has returned for its third winter in a row having originally been caught and ringed in January 2013. Proving winter site fidelity in winter Chiffchaff is an interesting and fairly new phenomenon, however knowing where these birds breed would be the icing on the cake. Are they local breeders or like our over-wintering Blackcap, visitors from much further afield? Also ringed was a new female Firecrest and a male and female Goldcrest. In Holes Bay the Smew was again present just south of the railway bridge and the counties tamest Spoonbill and Spotted Redshank continued to feed in the Holes Bay outflow on the low tide.