The Smew was again in Holes Bay today, this time just south of the railway bridge next to the Holes Bay dual carriage way. It was feeding with 2 Goldeneye on the low tide and was constricted to the narrow, shallow channel, which made it easy to find.

Smew – Holes Bay (south) – 26/01/15 – To watch in HD press play and then click on cog shaped symbol at the bottom of the video screen and click on 1080 HD

Whilst watching the Smew I was also treated to a whole host of other species including a Spoonbill near the outflow, 40+ Avocet, Curlew, Redshank, Dunlin, Oystercatcher, Teal, Wigeon, Shelduck, Gadwall, Little Egret, Red-breasted Merganser, Brent Goose, Cormorant and Mute Swan…it really is a great urban birding spot. 

Today saw Birds of Poole Harbour host an RSPB bird boat which left Poole Quay at 10:30am and over 100 keen members of the public enjoyed the trip. Before I talk about that, I’ll just mention two other good birds found in the harbour today. Firstly, the Great Grey Shrike (that was originally found yesterday) was again on Godlingston Heath but was also seen right on the boarder of Greenlands too. Potentially, this bird may have been around all winter as this is a largely under-watched area of the harbour, and well done to the people that found it.  Secondly, the redhead Smew that was found in Holes Bay a few weeks ago was back again today and spent most of the day hanging around the railway bridge the separates Holes Bay north and south. Back to todays boat trip where we started off by landing on Brownsea then followed by a tour of the harbour. The lagoon was looking great (as usual) with 3 Spoonbill, 3 Spotted Redshank, 10+ Greenshank, 200+ Avocet, 100+ Bar-tailed Godwit, 100+ Black-tailed Godwit, plus numerous Dunlin, Grey Plover and the odd Turnstone, Knot and Snipe. Out on the water Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser and Great Crested Grebe were plentiful and a Marsh Harrier spooked a couple of hundred Brent Geese in Middlebere. A Kingfisher also welcomed us on the Brownsea Quay. If you want to witness the winter spectacle of the Brownsea Lagoon, then the National Trust open the island at weekends starting from February 7^th 2015. Marsh and Hen Harriers were noted in Middlebere and Brands Bay. Off the Houseboats in Bramble Bush Bay 5 Black-necked Grebe were feeding and a Slavonian Grebe was feeding in the Brownsea Channel yesterday. 

Today we were lucky to have David Lindo (aka the Urban Birder) join us on our school bird boat trip where we were treated to some of the flattest water I have ever seen in Poole Harbour. From the boat we saw 30+ Spoonbill, 3 Great Northern Diver, 1 Black-necked Grebe, 100+ Red-breasted Merganser, 20+ Goldeneye, 100 Avocet, 200 Brent Geese and 3 Common Seals. David and I then did a whistle stop tour of some of the urban birding areas of Poole Harbour where we managed to tick off 1 Spoonbill, 2 Spotted Redshank, 50 Avocet, 300 Wigeon and a Med Gull in Holes Bay, 10 Sanderling, 2 Sandwich Tern, 100+ Bar-tailed Godwit and 5 Med Gull at Shore Road Sandbanks, 200 Brent Geese at Baiter and several Chiffchaff at the Fleets Corner outflow.

Yesterday, I also took a short recording of the singing Woodlark I mentioned in yesterdays blog post. 

The first sonagram below shows the full recording and each of the four series of calls the bird made. The below sonagram is an enlargement of the fourth series of calls in the recording

Firstly, there is a talk I would like to promote that is taking place on Monday 9th February 2015 at 19:30 in the Poole Museum.

The talk is titled ‘Viewing the Future’ and focuses on how interaction between people, wildlife and the natural world can be managed in such a way, creating a totally new experience for visitors to a nature reserve or to the public in an urban area. The presentation will be spit into two parts, the first being presented by the RSPBs senior wetland ecologist, Graham White who will talk about how to maximise nature reserve design for both people and wildlife. The second half will be hosted by Tormod Amundsen from Biotope, the worlds first (and only) Ornithological Architects. Biotope are a Norwegian based company that specialises in ‘thinking outside the box‘ when it comes to interpreting the natural world. Biotopes concepts and bird hide ideas have become widely talked about across the country over the last few years, prompting Tormod to host his second tour here in the UK (last one was in 2013) and sharing some of their ideas and visions. 

Our Birds of Poole Harbour charity have liaised with Biotope over the last 3 years looking at possible projects around the local area, for which their ideas and designs (I think) are perfectly suited for this location.

Why not join us to find out what the RSPB have been doing at other reserves around the country to bring people closer to nature.

There are only 50 places available and the talk is free of charge. To book your place just follow this link and enter your name and email address.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/viewing-the-future-tickets-15404684827

This promises to be a highly informative talk so don’t miss out and book on now!

Today at Ballard Down there was 16 Fulmar, 1 Peregrine, 7 Red-legged Partridge 35+ Skylark, 3 Stonechat and 24 Yellowhammer (superb count). Studland
saw 1 Firecrest in the churchyard and 28
Redwing. At South Beach
3 Slavonian Grebe, 8+ Black-necked Grebe and 7 Common Scoter were noted. Godlingston saw 
3 Snipe. Brands Bay hosted 4
Spoonbill and 59 Avocet. In Lytchett Bay this evening on the falling tide 2 Spoonbill were in the outflow and the bay was full of Avocet, Dunlin, Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit and Oystercatcher whilst a Golden Plover on one of the fields was a welcome surprise.  Up on Slepe Heath this morning 2 Woodlark were in song….not quite full song but giving it a good go and several Dartford Warbler made the most of the morning sun. 

A smattering of sightings from today. Middle Beach saw 12 Black-necked Grebe, 1 Slavonian Grebe, 10 Common Scoter and 19+ Med Gulls. In Brands Bay
there were 3 Spoonbill 46 Avocet 76 Grey Plover, 24 Knot and a whopping 1010+ Dunlin. Yesterday 3 Great Northern Diver were off the Brownsea north shore and 30+ Spoonbill were on Shipstal Point, Arne.

There were 2 Red-necked Grebe off North Haven this morning and 22 Black-necked Grebe off Middle Beach with another 11 in Brands Bay. Also off Middle Beach 1 Slavonian Grebe and 10 Common Scoter. There was a Great Northern Diver off South Haven and 3 Spoonbill in Brands Bay with 69 Red-breasted Merganser and 4 Goldeneye. 3 Purple Sandpiper were still at North Haven. There was a massive count of Common Snipe at Hatch Pond of 100+ but still no Bittern.  I’ve also been sent some great photos of the Black Guillemot taken from a boat trip that went out at the weekend.

The Black Guillemot was again off the south-eastern end of Brownsea, which with a scope would be viewable from the Studland Peninsular and possibly North Haven, especially in calm water. Off Middle Beach there was 1 Red-necked Grebe, 2 Slavonian Grebe and 10 Common Scoter. The Great White Egret was again at Eastern Lake, Littlesea.  At Lytchett Bay 2 Spotted Redshank were on the wet Fields with 1 Water Pipit, 1 Greenshank, 100+ Dunlin, 200+ Lapwing and several Snipe. There were still 32 Spoonbill at Shipstal Point and 1 Hen Harrier over Coombe Heath.

Most of the reports again came from the Studland area where a female Long-tailed Duck was found off Middle Beach, which later joined the 13 strong flock of Common Scoter. Also off Middle Beach 2 Great Northern Diver, 3 Slavonian Grebe, and numerous Black-necked Grebe.

Today wad the third and final day of our first Dorset Discovery Tour, in partnership with the RSPB Dorset team. I’ll write trip report in the coming days but today saw us visiting the Studland Peninsular and Brownsea.  At South Beach Studland there was Red-necked Grebe x 1,
Slavonian Grebe x 2,
Black-necked Grebe x 6,
Great Northern Diver x 2,
Common Scoter x 10,
Velvet Scoter x 1 likely 1st year bird with Common Scoter,
Chiffchaff x 1. Brownsea saw 3 Spotted Redshank, 4 Greenshank, a Peregrine chase,
Avocet 300+,
Pintail x 2,
Turnstone x 3,
Sandwich Tern x 2,
Kingfisher x 1,
Bar-tailed Godwit 100+,
Buzzard x 1 very pale bird,
Marsh Harrier x 1 hunting over lagoon. Yesterday there was an incredible 7 Great Northern Diver off Middle Beach, including a raft of 6! There have been some pretty impressive Black-tailed Godwit flocks recently too with 1352 in Holes Bay yesterday.

Today was the first day of new DORSET DISCOVERY Winter tour, in partnership with the RSPB, and what a start to our three day tour. Around 20 Spoonbill were out on Shipstal point, Studland and 200 Avocet were in Middlebere. Dartford Warbler were up on Shipstal viewpoint and out on the water Red-breasted Merganser, Great Crested Grebe and a Common Scoter were off Shipstal Point.  Elsewhere the Black Guillemot was off the Brownsea Quay today proving its still around despite long absences.  A Velvet Scoter was seen at the harbour mouth along with a Great Northern Diver and 5 Black-necked Grebe. Off Middle Beach were 4 Slavonian Grebe, 8 Common Scoter, 1 Red-necked Grebe and plenty of Black-necked Grebe.