Have just seen on the news that the south coast storm is on its way…excellent news for sea watching! The last time strong south-westerly’s hit the south coast Weymouth and Portland was littered with Leach’s Storm Petrels and species like Grey Phalarope, Sabine’s Gull and Skua’s can all get blown on to our shores. Obviously take care if you are out, and take advise from local news channels, but weather systems like this can produce really fascinating bird watching.

Today ‘Birds of Poole Harbour’ and Stour Ringing group were invited to do a ringing demo at the RSPB Arne reserve. Unfortunately, persistent rain all morning stopped the session in its tracks, but not before a few decent birds were ringed in-between showers. Firescrest, Treecreeper, 2 Blackcap, Long-tailed Tit and Chaffinch were just a few of the species shown to the public today. Also at Arne today 22 Spoonbill at Shipstal, 4 Firecrest in the carpark and Redwing were passing over in good numbers.

The male Hen Harrier and a juv Marsh Harrier tumbled together in the wind out towards Swineham. Also 5 Red-breasted Merganser out in the Wareham Channel, 100+ Lapwing around Swineham and a Jack Snipe at Sunnyside Farm.

On Brownsea today 1 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Little Stint and 400 Avocet, along with Knot, Grey Plover, Black-tailed Godwit, Greenshank and Spotted Redshank.

From Shore Road, Sandbanks a few Bar-tailed Godwit are gathering with a few Turnstone, Sandwich Tern and Oystercatcher.

The Ring Ouzel and Scaup were still present at Swineham yesterday.

A small break in the weather this morning allowed birders all over the county to get out quick before the wind and rain took over again. After such long periods of un-settled weather birds are desperate to get on the move again, so it was a little surprising that with the routine finches and thrushes at South Haven this morning a Hoopoe was spotted from the Studland Chain Ferry, flying across the harbour mouth and heading over the Haven Hotel towards Sandbanks. Hoopoe are normally associated with being a scarce spring passage migrant, although the two that have occurred in Poole Harbour this year occurred during the first winter period of this year and in the autumn! Also from the harbour mouth this morning a light passage of Siskin and Redpoll north, Linnet, Goldfinch and Skylark west and 2 Red-throated Diver in.

At Swineham today and yesterday a Ring Ouzel was feeding on berries along the main track and a Greater Scaup was on the main pit today with 2 Pochard and an adult Yellow-legged Gull.

At Lytchett Bay a Jack Snipe was flushed from a reedbed and the Ruff was still present out on the mud and juv Curlew Sandpiper was on the pools field. Also there 2 Green Sandpiper, 6 Greenshank, 1 Kingfisher and some ‘vis mig’ of Skylark and Linnet passing overhead.

Over on Hartland Moor at least 3 juv Marsh Harrier, the male Hen Harrier and a male Merlin.

Off Middle Beach only 4 Black-necked Grebe along with a female Common Scoter, 5 Razorbill, 3 Med Gull and a Sandwich Tern.

At Holton Lee a Firecrest was present with 2 Fieldfare, 10 Redwing and good numbers of the usual finches.

At Arne 26 Spoonbill remain, small numbers of Redwing arrived and a Peregrine put on a good show.

WOW – Just had a phone call to say PALLAS’S WARBLER at South Beach, Studland now!  The below map shows that this is the most southerly and westerly occurance of this species in the whole of the UK this autumn.

Can you believe it’s almost November! Where has this year gone? It’s certainly turned very wintery, despite being a very unseasonal 17 degrees today.

The strong southerly wind may be keeping many of our visitors from the north away but there is still a decent mix of birds coming from various sites.  

At Upton CP 6 Spotted Redshank were present from the concrete bench, along with good numbers of Teal and Wigeon.

A watch from Middlebere saw 20 Brent Geese arrive, 1 Marsh Harrier, 5 Lapwing, 6 Grey Plover, 6 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Redshank, 5 Spotted Redshank, 3 Greenshank, 20+ Dunlin and 1 Green Sandpiper.  

In the last two days Swineham has seem 2 Spotted Redshank, 3 Greenshank, 3 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Green Sandpiper, 2 Rock Pipit, 2 Yellow-legged Gulls, 1 Stonechat and 2 Raven.

Out near Shore Road 2 Sandwich Tern were fishing and 3 Turnstone were on the sea wall.

A high tide survey at Lytchett Bay saw 1 juvenile Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Ruff, 2 Spotted Redshank, 9 Green Sandpiper, 3 Greenshank, 54 Lapwing, 55 Redshank and 4 Black-tailed Godwit.

A Merlin and Peregrine were both hunting over the lagoon today where 500+ Avocet are now present, 400+ Black-tailed Godwit and 22 Grey Plover.

Some nice coverage from around the harbour today with our monthly guided walk taking place this morning around the Greenlands Farm/Brands Bay area. Highlights included overhead passage of Redwing, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Lesser Redpoll, Linnet, Siskin, Goldfinch and Chaffinch. On the heathland Dartford Warbler and Stonechat were seen with Bullfinch, Raven, Peregrine, Kestrel and Meadow Pipit also present. On to Brands Bay where 1 Common Scoter, 12 Red-Breasted Merganser, 41 Great Crested Grebe, Brent Geese, 50+ Redshank, 30+ Curlew, 3 Ringed Plover, 12 Pintail, Teal and Wigeon all showed well.

Off Middle Beach, Studland Black-necked Grebe numbers have risen from 6 to 11, also there 2 Common Scoter.

At Arne 25 Spoonbill, 1 Marsh Harrier, (possible Greenland race) Wheatear, 10 Brent Geese, 200+ Oystercatcher, 2 Snipe, 40+ Meadow Pipit and 8 Pintail.

A huge high tide around the whole harbour forced many wildfowl and waders out of their usual haunts, but at Lytchett Bay 2 Greenshank, 1 Green Sandpiper, 32 Lapwing and 2 Snipe, 5 Brent Geese and 11 Black-tailed Godwit managed to find a bare piece of ground to roost on.

It’s been pretty quite around the harbour over the last few days, but a big increase in the number of raptors, especially around the Wareham Channel has been a welcome sight. Today the Wareham Channel held 5 Marsh Harrier, 1 Hen Harrier, 2 Merlin, 2 Peregrine, along with Kestrel, Buzzard and Sparrowhawk. These are all species of raptor you could expect to see around the harbour throughout the winter in a single day.

At Lytchett Bay 2 Spotted Redshank, 2 Green Sandpiper, 63 Lapwing, 7 Greenshank, 3 Kingfisher, 1 House Martin, 1 Marsh Harrier and an obvious arrival of Blackbirds with 40+ in a small area.

Blackcap and Chiffchaff are still passing through many hedgerows, although numbers are dropping off slowly.

At Sunnyside/Soldiers Road a Firecrest was near the car park, 11 Skylark passed overhead, a flock of 100+ Linnet were feeding in one of the fields and 2 Snipe were flushed.  

Around the country, quite a few Great Grey Shrike have arrived, and as this bird is a scarce but almost annual migarnt to Dorset, it will be well worth checking the tops of all the pine trees on any heathland walks you take!

With the large Thrush (mainly Redwing) movements that have taken place over many parts of the UK within the last week an early morning survey was conducted to try and track any movement through the harbour. On the 24^th of October last year a large passage of 5000+ Thrush’s passed over heading north, but it was unclear exactly what route they take to enter and leave Poole Harbour.

Unfortunately, the weather over the last few days hasn’t been ideal for Thrush passage, as clear skies and no wind at dawn proved fruitless for the survey.

However, the survey was well worth it when at 07:55 I watched a Great White Egret fly in from the NE over Shipstal Point and land briefly on the saltmarsh before being harassed by two Herring Gulls and headed off east towards the harbour mouth.  Great White Egrets are notoriously difficult to catch up with in the harbour as they normally only ever fly over or stop for a matter of minutes before leaving again. They are also exceptionally rare in the harbour and quite often get mistaken for distant, lone Little Egrets.

Nearby at Middlebere a male Hen Harrier was noted, 1 female Marsh Harrier, 1 Merlin, a juvenile Peregrine, 1 Grey Plover, 522 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Greenshank, 1 Green Sandpiper, 1 Kingfisher and 8 House Martin and 3 Swallow.

The 6 Black-necked Grebe are still off Middle Beach, Studland.

In Brands Bay 50 Great Crested Grebe, 1 female Common Scoter and in Bramble Bush Bay the first 4 Red-breasted Merganser of the autumn.

At Greenlands Farm another juvenile Peregrine was present, and caught a Starling, lots of Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtails out on the fields and at least 5 Dartford Warbler on top of the hill opposite the entrance gate to Greenlands.

In Stoborough a Ring-necked Parakeet made a brief visit to a garden.

Overhead passage is really exciting this time of year with thrush’s, finch’s, pipits, wagtail’s, buntings and larks all on the move, so it’s well worth learning their various calls to try and pick them out as they fly overhead. 

Still a couple of places avaailable for this saturdays walk around Greenlands Farm. For full details click on this link – http://www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk/early-autumn-walk-greenlands-farm

TO BOOK ON CALL – 01202 641003

There were reports from some of the harbours best locations today with coverage from around the whole perimeter of the harbour shores.

Starting at Arne where 40+ Song Thrush were together on the ground on a small patch of heathland. The Spoonbill count was 34 today, and it was noted that five of these birds have colour rings on their legs. IMPORTANT – If possible, when watching the Spoonbill at Arne, if you’re able to see the colour sequence of rings on both right and left leg, please email the info to us so we can get important information about these birds origins.  Also at Arne 1 Peregrine Falcon, 186 Cormorant on Long Island and 206 Oystercatcher.

There were 6 Black-necked Grebe with a Common Scoter off Middle Beach, Studland and at Knoll Beach Studland a fly over Brambling, 1 Firecrest, 4 Chiffchaff and 2 Redwing.

Greenlands Farm hosted 2 Stonechat, 4 Reed Bunting, 40+ Meadow Pipit, 1 Blackcap, 2 Kestrel, 4 Redwing, fly over Siskin, Redpoll and Linnet.

Out in Brands Bay a single female Common Scoter with 6 Great Crested Grebe.

Out off Shore Road, Sandbanks 26 Sandwich Tern, 3 Turnstone and 8 Bar-tailed Godwit.

At Lytchett Bay 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Peregrine, 2 Sparrowhawk and 4 Buzzard.

There have been some huge Redwing totals from various places around the country with figures like 55’000 birds over Kent in one morning and 17’000 over Slimbridge yesterday morning. Things have been mildly slower in the harbour with totals of only just over 100 passing over various places such as Lytchett Bay, South Haven and Arne. Redwing can be heard calling overhead on most evenings at the moment, so if you haven’t gone and stood out in your back garden at 10pm to listen…a true sign winter is almost here! Surely a big Thrush movement is due in the harbour over the next few days.

Other highlights have included a late Hobby over Lytchett Bay with 4 Stonechat there a single Mistle Thrush, 1 Fieldfare, 7 Blackbird and 3 Song Thrush over.

At Sunnyside a late Whinchat, 3 lingering House Martin, 4 Chiffchaff, 100+ Linnet, 8 Skylark, 1 Dartford Warbler, and a very pale morph Buzzard. 

At Arne 30 Spoonbill continued to impress, also there 28 Pintail, 4 Brent Geese, 18 Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Grey Plover, 1 Sandwich Tern, and excellent numbers of Teal, Wigeon, Oystercatcher, Little Egret, Redshank and Black-tailed Godwit.

Jack Snipe were recorded at Lytchett Bay, Swineham and Arne Moors with a male Hen Harrier at the latter.

In Brands Bay 1 female Common Scoter, 1 Greenshank and a Knot. With the Wytch Channel supporting 2 Spoonbill and an impressive 14 Spotted Redshank.

Off South beach, Studland six Black-necked Grebe have returned and there were six Ring-necked Parakeets in the area.

I’ve been receiving some cracking photos of the Grey Phalarope from Brownsea Island over the last couple of days. It’s not often these birds show so well down to just a few meters, but this bird has been well and truly showing off in-front of the lower hide on the lagoon. I have included a couple of the recent photos for you to enjoy.

copyright Lorne Bissell                                  copyright Phyl England  

I also received a historic photo from Emma Seidel of the Poole Harbour record count of all 34 Spoonbill out on Shipstal Point, Arne. However, the log book in the NT hide at Middlebere actually claims 37 last week! So the challenge is on to try and capture that amazing total, although I think some have dispersed over to Lodmoor already.

Other reports from the the NT hide Middlebere include 4 Little Stint(?), 1 Barn Owl and 9 Greenshank, 1 juv Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Spotted Redshank, 15 Dunlin and a Grey Plover

Raptors continue to impress with a decent variety out on Hartland Moor including a male Hen Harrier, Marsh Harrier, 1 Peregrine, 1 Merlin also Buzzard and Kestrel.

The Lytchett Bay locals seem to be settling in for the winter as numbers should hopefully continue grow now with 33 Dunlin, 26 Redshank, 2 Greenshank, 4 Green Sandpiper, 1 Pintail, 3 Sparrowhawk and 1 Peregrine.

On the Brownsea Lagoon the Grey Phalarope was joined by 5 Spoonbill, 10 Spotted Redshank, 1 Curlew Sandpiper and good numbers of all the usual Knot, Bar and Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin, Greenshank, Turnstone etc

On Hatch Pond an impressive roost of 200+ Pied Wagtail have begun to roost in the reed beds as a Sparrowhawk was trying to figure out how to pick one off.

Also just outside the Poole Harbour area 5 Redwing flew over Lytchett Matravers.