Have we missed the Wood Pigeons? We were amazed to see this morning that Portland had 110,000 Wood Pigeon migrating past/over the Bill yesterday. This is a phenomenon we don’t usually see here over the harbour until at least the first week of November. The other strange thing is that it was overcast and foggy yesterday morning with a light southerly wind. This is the total opposite set of conditions we normally expect Wood Pigeon to move in, with ‘Poole’ birds usually leaving on clear, cold mornings with a hint of north in the wind. There’s every chance the conditions were different at Portland and the birds simply by-passed Poole Harbour due to the cloud cover and early fog? Who knows, but if we too see a big push of Wood Pigeon here in early November then it could potentially be a huge combined autumn passage of Wood Pigeon across south Dorset. The Poole harbour record was in 2010 when c160,000 passed over during the morning of November 7th. There were some new arrivals today with a winter plumaged Red-throated Diver in the Wareham Channel this morning and a Hawfinch passed over Carey Secret Garden just after dawn. An Osprey was in Middlebere with 6 Spotted Redshank in the channel and a Merlin flew through. A Great White Egret was on Wareham water meadows and another was in Middlebere. Early this morning a Golden Plover was sound recorded over Oakdale during a noc-mig session and lots of Redwing and Song Thrush were on the move last night. The 4 Black-necked Grebe were reported out in the Wareham Channel again and male White-tailed Eagle G463 was on the edge of the Wareham Channel for most of the morning. In the PCW Drain Chiffchaff numbers have dropped right down with only c10 present, but also 2 Kingfisher present there. Marsh Harrier numbers have reached 12 recently, birds regularly being seen in Lytchett Bay, Middlebere and at Swineham. Finally, a Jack Snipe was flushed on Middlebere Heath this evening but (as they do) immediately dropped down again 20m away, allowing for a close, slow approach and a game of ‘hunt the Jack Snipe’ to ensue.

Jack Snipe lurking in the cover. Can you find it?

Jack Snipe close up!

It was a classic late October day today, with fog at dawn, soon lifting to reveal a mixture of damp golden greens across the landscape. Our Autumn Safari saw the perfect mix of autumn, winter and even some summer birds moving around the harbour this morning. The summer-vibe consisted of c40 late Swallow moving south out across the Wareham Channel. The harbour was like a glass again and allowed for 4 Black-necked Grebe to be located out in the Wareham Channel with a minimum of 4 different Marsh Harrier also logged and a Great White Egret. The White-tailed Eagle pair were fairly sedentary in the Wareham Channel but soon lifted and moved off north by late morning. The Brownsea Lagoon hosted 56 Spoonbill, c300 Avocet, 10 Bar-tailed Godwit, c15 Grey Plover, 4 Greenshank, 5 Sanderling, c50 Dunlin and decent numbers of Teal, Wigeon and Gadwall. The first Water Pipit of the autumn/winter was ringed in Lytchett Bay this morning and amazingly a 5th Yellow-browed Warbler of the autumn was ringed at the Carey Secret Garden ringing station. A Black-necked Grebe was in Studland Bay with 44 dark-bellied Brent Geese and yesterday there were 9 Ruff on the floods at Swineham and Bestwall. This evening 2 Mandarin Duck were on Poole Park lake again, an Osprey was eating a fish on a post on Middlebere Heath this afternoon and up to 4 different Merlin are currently present along the southern shores (2m & 2f).

Dark-bellied Brent Geese arriving into the harbour from Autumn Safari this AM – Alison Copland

Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon from Autumn Safari this AM – Alison Copland

Water Pipit ringed at RSPB Lytchett fields this AM – Shaun Robson

Female White-tailed Eagle G466 flying across the Wareham Channel from Autumn Safari this AM – Alison Copland

Yellow-browed Warbler ringed at Carey Secret Garden ringing station – Matthew Scraggs

Today was the calm after the storm, with the harbour like a mill pond pretty much all day. There were 2 Northern Wheatear on the rocks at Baiter, one of which was doing it’s best to try and look rarer having seemingly gone for a swim, and looked dark in colour all over. There was another Northern Wheatear at Greenlands Farm and 1 up on Ballard. The White-tailed Eagle pair were in Lytchett Bay before disappearing off towards Holes Bay. Wigeon numbers are certainly building day by day with what looks like a four figure count now in Holes Bay and c400 in Lytchett Bay. Pintail numbers seem to be building slower than normal but there were 18 in Brands Bay and 42 were in Holes Bay. We still have an Osprey! with an adult (probably Scottish 511) eating a fish in Brands Bay this morning. A Merlin was on Hartland Moor this evening, Marsh Harriers were in Lytchett Bay, Middlebere and Swineham, there were 61 Spoonbill on the Brownsea Lagoon with c400 Avocet and the 2 Spotted Redshank were still at Lytchett Fields.

Kestrel – Hartland Moor – Rob Johnson

What a beautiful October day. Certainly the calm before the storm. Once again there were plenty of good birds around with the Black Redstart on Brownsea Quay again this morning and another in the Millfield area of Poole, just north of Holes Bay. Also in Holes Bay was a high count of 101 Shoveler which were new in. An Osprey was in Middlebere this morning with one being seen over the Brownsea Lagoon, and then one (probably the same) over Middle Beach, Studland going south. Was this our final Osprey of the year departing? The Brownsea Lagoon had 55 Spoonbill, 344 Avocet, 19 Greenshank and 455 sinensis Cormorant. This morning 3 Red-breasted Merganser flew into the harbour, 2 Spotted Redshank were at Lytchett Fields, the Goshawk was sat in a dead tree again viewable from Coombe Heath and a Great White Egret was in Middlebere. A few Swallow were passing over Coombe Heath too and 2 Red Kite passed over there too.

Black Redstart – Brownsea Quay – Nicki Tutton

Osprey and Avocets – RSPB Arne – Mark Wright

There have been plenty of birds migrating over night in the last few nights, mostly Redwing. However there were two great examples of what can sneak over your house during the course of the night whilst your tucked up in bed. One was this early this morning when a Hawfinch was sound recorded over an Oakdale garden at 05:36 this morning. The second was a night migrating Yellow-browed Warbler sound recorded over one of our teams gardens in Lytchett Matravers at 07:37 yesterday morning. The recordings and accompanying sonagrams can be found below. The Hawfinch recording is a perfect series of flight calls which they regularly do whilst migrating at night, with the sonagram providing a visual representation of that call. The Yellow-browed Warbler is harder to hear, but starts at 4.5 seconds into the recording. The sonagram for this call helped clinch the ID and again, is the typical contact call of this species. Both are considered scarce autumn migrants in Dorset and are hard enough to find during the day, so to have them flying over peoples gardens in the dead of night just goes to show that not only should we be looking, but constantly listening too (and never go to bed).

Elsewhere (during daylight hours), the Brownsea Lagoon was still busy on the high tides and held 65 Spoonbill, 401 Avocet, 11 Bar-tailed Godwit, 17 Greenshank and the autumns first Black Redstart was son Brownsea Quay. A Short-eared Owl was in the Wareham Channel this evening, Keysworth side, and female White-tailed Eagle G466 was in Brands Bay this afternoon. A Goshawk was perched up in a tree at Middlebere and an Osprey was also in Middlebere which was apparently Scottish male 511 who is amazingly still around since arriving a few weeks ago. This is the male that was also around last autumn and didn’t leave until October 28th, so he may stick around for another week or so yet. There were singles of  Spotted Redshank in Lytchett Bay and on the Brownsea Lagoon with a minimum of 5 Marsh Harrier in the harbour. A Golden Plover was on Shell Bay Beach, Studland this AM along with 7 Sanderling.

Hawfinch – Call of night time migrant, Oakdale – 18/10/24 @ 05:36 – David Foster

Yellow-browed Warbler – Call of night time migrant, Lytchett Matravers – 17/10/24 @ 03:37 – Paul Morton

Golden Plover – Shell Bay Beach – David Foster

This morning heralded the first proper Redwing arrival of the autumn with flocks ranging between 20 -200 individuals passing over multiple sites during the course of the morning. Initially, as dawn broke, the flocks were heading south as freshly arrived birds from further north continued their southward journey. However, by around 8:30am, the flocks were all then heading north, preferring to head back in land to find food and feed for the day rather than attempt an open water crossing in broad daylight. Redwing weren’t the only birds moving this AM with a Hawfinch also heading north over Holes Bay NE this morning. Up on Ballard there were plenty of newly arrived Blackbirds in the scrub plus 2 Ring Ouzel plus 15 Chiffchaff. Around the harbour there were 2 Osprey along the southern shores this morning, with one then later being seen in Middlebere. The White-tailed Eagle pair were circling together over the Wareham Channel, being beaten up by 2 Raven and there were 3 Marsh Harrier at Swineham. The Brownsea Lagoon looked great and had c60 Spoonbill, c400 Avocet, 2 Grey Plover, 11 Bar-tailed Godwit, c300 Dunlin, c20 Ringed Plover, 8 Turnstone, c300 Black-tailed Godwit and 5 Greenshank. There were a further 2 Spoonbill on the ‘Curlew’s Cottage’ pools at Swineham. At the PCW Drain 2 Firecrest were in scrub opposite KFC and c30 Chiffchaff were actively feeding. The Middlebere track Ring Ouzel was still there this morning feeding with 3 Mistle Thrush. 

Ring Ouzels – Ballard Down – Nick Hopper

It seems the harbour managed to avoid the worst of the weather today with torrential rain just north of us this morning, whilst the harbour even bathed in brief sunlight and warmth. Our Autumn Safari jammed in on great views of female White-tailed Eagle G466 who was perched up in Brands Bay but decided to go off hunting just as we passed, giving great flight views just off the side of the boat, before she then u-turned and flew back past us again. We then later had nice views of male White-tailed Eagle G463 sat out on the gull islands. The Brownsea Lagoon was busy due to the high tide and saw 61 Spoonbill, c300 Avocet, c40 Dunlin, c150 Black-tailed Godwit, 11 Bar-tailed Godwit, 13 Greenshank and 5 Knot. A Kingfisher was on the sea wall of Poole Quay with other individuals seen on the Brownsea sea wall and Goat Horn Quay. At Swineham 3 different Marsh Harrier were logged and on the Stilt Pools at Swineham c80 Shoveler, c100 Teal and c150 Black-tailed Godwit. There were Great White Egrets in Middlebere and Lytchett Bay with 1 Spotted Redshank at Lytchett Fields. A Black-necked Grebe was out off Jerry’s Point and c20 dark-bellied Brent Geese were in Middlebere. At Wareham Common 10 Cattle Egret were feeding with cows and 29 Swallow were out on the floodplain there feeding.

Black-tailed Godwits and Teal – Swineham Pools