The Long-tailed Duck was still only a few meters off the long groyne just outside the harbour mouth, giving great views for around 10 seconds at a time in-between dives. Out in central harbour a Marsh Harrier was a strange sight crossing the water and heading for Brownsea. There was a Great Northern Diver off Jerry’s Point, Studland and a Common Scoter off Goathorn Point. On Shipstal there were 20+ Spoonbill, with one feeding on the Brownsea Lagoon too. A Golden Pheasant was seen on the lawn of Furzey Island during a school bird boat.  Numbers of Red-breasted Merganser, Goldeneye and Great Crested Grebe still remain fairly low around the harbour.

This morning a Long-tailed Duck was found just outside the harbour mouth feeding 2 meters off one of the rocky groynes  giving great views. From a school bird boat trip today a Great Northern Diver was off Pottery Pier, Brownsea, 3 Black-necked Grebe were in-between Brownsea and Goathorn Point, 20+ Spoonbill were on Shipstal Point, Brownsea Lagoon hosted good numbers of Avocet, Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Grey Plover, Dunlin, Redshank, Greenshank, Shoveler, Wigeon and Teal. The lower Frome Valley is packed with birds at present and seems to be holding almost the whole Poole Harbour Black-tailed Godwit flock with 800+ just east of the Stoborough Causeway with 257 Lapwing and 31 Curlew, another 200+ Black-tailed Godwit at Bestwall and 2 Marsh Harrier there. Out on Arne Moors a ringtail Hen Harrier was hunting along with 2 Marsh Harrier, 52 Fieldfare passed overhead and there were (possibly the same as Bestwall) 200 Black-tailed Godwit feeding on the fields. The NE breeze produced a small bit of thrush movement at Lytchett Bay with Fieldfare 281, Song Thrush 41, Redwing 3, Thrush Sp (Song Thrush/Redwing) 73, Mistle Thrush 5. Swineham is also keeping busy with Chiffchaff 2, Cetti’s Warbler 12, Goldcrest 9, Bullfinch 2, Pochard 9, Shoveler 19, Gadwall 50, Wigeon 5, Yellow-legged Gull 3 on the pit, Marsh Harrier 3 including a juv plucking something on the edge of the pit, Spotted Redshank 1 point, Greenshank 1 point, Pintail 19, flocks of 14 and 5 flew in from the direction of Holton, Brent Goose 5, Avocet 19 off the point, Med Gull 2 off the point, Common Gull 320 mouth of the Frome. At Hatch Pond 12 Snipe and 2 Water Rail were present in the short stubbled area of the reedbed.

This morning was our monthly BoPH field trip, this month being held at Arne RSPB Reserve. Despite a bit of fog hampering our views early doors, it very quickly disappeared and we were treated to near perfect conditions with no breeze, mill pond like water, warm sunshine and great light. Arne is great right the way through the year, but winter can often prove to be the most productive time, and this morning’s list certainly compliments this theory. Just standing in the car park prior to the walk Fieldfare, Redwing, Firecrest, Nuthatch and Treecreeper were all logged. We then headed up onto Coombe Heath and towards Middlebere where Dartford Warbler, Black and Bar-tailed Godwit, Avocet, Curlew, Redshank, Teal, Wigeon, Brent Geese and Shelduck all gave good views. We finished on Shipstal Point, where in idyllic conditions 1 Velvet Scoter, 1 Common Scoter, 5 Black-necked Grebe, 15+ Goldeneye, 80+ Great Crested Grebe, 30+ Red-breasted Merganser, 2 Lesser Redpoll and 2 Dartford Warbler were counted. In Brands Bay the Great White Egret was present again and a Great Northern Diver was off Jerry’s Point. At North Haven a Purple Sandpiper was again present with several Ringed Plover and a Black Redstart. A Black Redstart was on a house near the Tatnam, Poole. In Whitley Lake, Shore Road 23 Bar-tailed Godwit and 5 Sandwich Tern were on East Dorset Sailing Club pier. 

As predicted the harbour is now starting to seem a bit busier with open water species such as Red-breasted Mergansers and Great Crested Grebes with the former now appearing in good numbers in the bays around the harbour entrance. A Great Northern Diver was out off Bramble Bush Bay and 3 Goldeneye were in Brands Bay. 4 Velvet Scoter that passed the harbour mouth, heading towards Studland Bay was a good record. Its possible they may have even of settled in Studland Bay somewhere. There was also a single Purple Sandpiper on the sea wall just in front of the Haven Hotel, and 8 Ringed Plover on rocks there. A Black Redstart was in outside my office window in Old Town Poole. A Ring Ouzel was along the Corfe River Valley. Off Branksome yesterday morning 20+ Gannet, 4 Razorbill, 6 Kittiwake and 6 Brent Geese passed by.  A Marsh Harrier passed over Slepe Moor and it was noted that Redwing and Fieldfare numbers are certainly increasing day by day. There were 4 Sandwich Tern in Brands Bay with a Merlin chasing pipit across there too. There were 26 Ringed Plover on Shell Bay Beach along with 5 Sanderling.

ADDITIONAL NEWS – A Short-eared Owl was seen on the eastern edge of Hartland Moor yesterday evening and 100+ Fieldfare were found roosting out in the heather there. There are still 2 ringtail Hen Harrier and 8 Marsh Harrier present in the harbour.

A magic moment this morning when during a Branksome sea watch a beautiful Short-eared Owl flew in off the sea right past us in conditions you wouldn’t even expect to see a duck in let alone an Owl. The bird fought its way across the beach and then up over the chine inland, which is something I’ve never witnessed before. I know Portland or Durlston sometimes see Short-eared Owl come in off the sea, but I would never have expected on at Branksome. This experience (only just) surpassed a moment that occurred only a minute previously when a Leach’s Storm Petrel bombed past our watch point heading west to east, before it vanished into the gloom. Other birds noted were a handful of Kittiwake, 2 Dunlin, 1 Ringed Plover, several Brent Geese and 2 Gannet. At Baiter the Brent flock is increasing with 292 today, 3 Sandwich Tern, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Dunlin and 6 Turnstone. At Lytchett Bay 6 Greenshank, 1 Spotted Redshank, 2 Grey Wagtail, 1 Marsh Harrier and 2 Chiffchaff.

Saturdays blow passed through pretty quickly and the hope that a Little Auk may get found in the harbour somewhere didn’t come to fruition, although there’s still plenty of time for that to happen. Starting with the Poole Harbour raptors there are still two ringtail Hen Harrier about, but it seems the male that was present for a short time last week has now moved through. 7 Marsh Harrier were seen leaving the roost and 2 Merlin were out over Arne Moors. In total there were 24 Black-necked Grebe counted with 23 in Studland Bay and 1 in Bramble Bush Bay, there were also 9 Common Scoter in Studland Bay, 3 Ring-necked Parakeet near Fort Henry and 3 Dartford Warbler near the toll booth at the chain ferry. The fields around Swineham, Bestwall and Arne Moors are extremely flooded at the moment and are holding good numbers of Black-tailed Godwit, Lapwing , Curlew, Graylag and Canada Geese. Along the old tram line up on Hartland there were 3 Ring Ouzel feeding in hawthorn along with newly arrived Fieldfare, Redwing, Song Thrush and Blackbird. 

The strong southerly wind that built up from the early hours looked good for a Branksome sea-watch, and after a combined effort from a handful of people there was a good four hours coverage spent watching from the beach huts. Over this time period a nice range of species were recorded in reasonable numbers, baring in mind this site is most definitely not a Dorset premier sea-watching spot, but can be quite productive in the right conditions. Totals included 4 Pomarine Skua, 1 Arctic Skua, 5 Little Gull, 3 Great Northern Diver, 1 Shearwater sp (likely Balearic), 7 Red-breasted Merganser, 18 Brent Geese, 11 Common Scoter, 5 Dunlin, 5 Shelduck, 2 Razorbill, 5 Auk sp, 11 Gannet, large numbers of Kittiwake, 2 Oystercatcher and 2 Curlew.  Out on Baiter there were 2 Sandwich Tern and 65 Brent Geese. At Arne, the Firecrest were active in the car park with at least 2 present, along with a Marsh Tit (rare here now) and a Brambling. Out in Studland Bay just 1 Common Scoter, 2 Black-necked Grebe, 4 Great Crested Grebe, 6 Med Gulls, and a few Brent Geese. Out in Brands Bay 1 Great White Egret, 5 Goldeneye, 2 Red-breasted Merganser, 2 Sandwich Tern, a late Swallow, 3 Pintail, 10 Black-necked Grebe and 13 Great Crested Grebe.

Not much to report on today other than having recently changed the design of our Barn Owl box and put in a new camera one of our Barn Owls has suddenly re-appeared after a 3-month absence. Hopefully this is the beginning of a re-colonisation of the box and its mate will soon follow after.

http://www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk/barn-owl-webcam

Other than that, 3 Spotted Redshank, 4 Green Sandpiper, 2 Greenshank and 2 Marsh Harrier at Lytchett Bay were the only other birds of note. 

Yesterday morning saw 21500 Wood Pigeon move across the harbour but a sudden blanket of cloud soon put a stop to the spectacle. Elsewhere in the country Portskewett, Gwent  saw 200,000 move yesterday. The Great White Egret was again in Brands Bay, 3 Black-necked Grebe were off Middle Beach and 10+ Chiffchaff were along the woodland trail. Shipstal saw 46 Spoonbill and there were 2 Firecrest in the scrub next to the toilets at Arne. A small piece of Thrush movement occurred at Lytchett Bay with 43 Fieldfare and 38 Redwing, with 2 Spoonbill in the bay and a Jack Snipe over. A quick sea-watch took place off Branksome Chine after news arrived that Portland was seeing good numbers of Pomarine Skua off the bill. The sea-watch from Branksome produced 1 Pomarine Skua, 1 Arctic Skua, 7 Little Gull, 2 Common Scoter, 9 Gannet, 14 Wigeon, 15+ Kittiwake and 1 Razorbill. A school bird boat today saw an increase in Red-breasted Mergansers appearing, but still not much else in the way of Divers or Goldeneye, lets hope the full moon tomorrow night sees an arrival of birds.  

This morning looked like a possible Wood Pigeon morning but after ‘only’ 4000 birds having passed over the harbour the movement petered out very quickly. When you look at the Netherlands and Belgium for comparison today who counted 3 million on the move south you can see why our 4000 was slightly underwhelming. From the same watch point, 2 Skylark, 4 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Fieldfare, 11 Redwing and a Firecrest. A stunning male Hen Harrier arrived yesterday and is now roosting with the two ringtails along with 6 Marsh Harrier still nearby. The Hen Harrier are still commuting between Middlebere, Swineham and now Lytchett Bay. There was also a Merlin and a Peregrine out over the Wareham Channel. 3 adult type passed North Haven yesterday morning but distantly and in the gloom meant an ID couldn’t be clinched, but they were either Arctic or Pomarine. The Great White Egret was again out in Brands Bay and Red-breasted Merganser numbers continue to increase. There were 12 Black-necked Grebe off Middle Beach and 6 Sanderling in Shell Bay.