Despite being a weekend, there didn’t seem to be much birding going on, with very limited reports coming through, although all the old guard are still about with the 10 Glossy Ibis still at Swineham, the 3 Purple Sandpiper were at the Haven Hotel groyne, 2 White-tailed Eagle flew over Brownsea and flushed c3100 Black-tailed Godwit. At Shipstal, Arne 17 Spoonbill were roosting, c15 Cattle Egret were around Worgret and a Spotted Redshank was at Lytchett Fields. These still mornings are allowing for early bird song to be heard with Woodlark almost in full voice at multiple sites.

Black-tailed Godwit flock flushed by White-tailed Eagles – Brownsea Lagoon – Derek Morgan

White-tailed Eagles passing over Brownsea Lagoon – Derek Morgan

Great Northern Diver – Brownsea channel – Derek Morgan

Finally some blue sky, but the chilly easterly wind persisted. A huge high tide and super flooded river valleys means there’s currently large amounts of water dispersed around the area, and today a large number of waders were on the Brownsea Lagoon including 1000+ Black-tailed Godwit and 500+ Dunlin, plus 100+ Bar-tailed Godwit and c200 Avocet. Also a magical Merlin chase ensued over the lagoon this morning in perfect morning sunlight. There were 5 Great Northern Diver along the north channel, and off Jerry’s Point this morning a Red-necked Grebe was reported, plus there were 3 Slavonian Grebe, 6 Black-necked Grebe and 3 Great Northern Diver, and out in Studland Bay 2 Common Scoter, 1 Black-necked Grebe and 1 Great Northern Diver. In The Wareham Channel and at Swineham a Ruff was with the Lapwing flock and there were another 2 Merlin hunting in that area, along with 1 Red Kite and 4 Marsh Harrier. The 2 Brambling were still along Thrashers Lane, Studland, a Siberian Chiffchaff was on Wareham Common and another was in the PCW Drain, 20 Spoonbill were on Shipstal Point, 1 Spotted Redshank was at Lytchett Fields and 2 White-tailed Eagle were in Brands Bay this afternoon.

Siberian Chiffchaff – Wareham Common – Trevor Warwick 

It’s suddenly got colder as a strong easterly wind picked up during the course of the day, and with it delivered another new bird for the calendar year in the shape of a Short-eared Owl. However it may have actually been 4 Short-eared Owls, with a group of four ‘owls’ seen chasing each other across the Arne Road this evening, one of which definitely was a ‘Shortie’, so it stands to reason all four could have been. The Cirl Bunting flock was still at Old Harry, with 9 counted today, the 10 Glossy Ibis were on Wareham Common, as was a female Merlin and 53 Cattle Egret. At Sandbanks 3 Purple Sandpiper were on the angled groyne by North Haven with 35 Sanderling. At Lytchett Fields a Little Gull was still milling about, a Slavonian Grebe and 4 Great Northern Diver were off Jerry’s Point with another Slavonian Grebe in Studland Bay. The Siberian Chiffchaff was still at the PCW drain, 3 (Lesser) Redpoll were at Hatch Pond and Holes Bay held an amazing 4600+ Black-tailed Godwit.

Also we’d like to thank the RSPB Arne team for allowing us to install a new camera on a favoured perching branch we know many migrant Ospreys like to use, which will allow us to read ring numbers of local and passage birds during the Spring, Summer and Autumn of 2026. Today this Raven came and tested the camera out for us.

Raven on ‘Osprey perch’ 

Glossy Ibis flock – Wareham Common – Trevor Warwick

Our Winter Safari Cruises are a real pleasure to run, and this morning’s outing was no different. Mirror calm conditions across the harbour enjoyed a Great Northern Diver-fest, clocking 5 in the North Channel, 3 across South Deep, 2 at Whitley Lake and a further 2 off Hamworthy. The trip also featured 7 Black-necked and a single Slavonian Grebe around the back of the islands before two adult White-tailed Eagle stole the show, gracing the Wareham Channel before taking flight and settling on Shag Looe Head. Other trip highlights included appearances from the two over-wintering Sandwich Tern, roosting Spoonbill at Shipstal, a colour-ringed Great Black-backed Gull from Portland and a satellite-tagged Dark-bellied Brent Goose (presumably local celebrity “SY”).

Elsewhere around the harbour, the Old Harry Cirl Bunting flock is now confirmed to hold 10 individuals, remaining faithful to the scrub and set-aside crop field just west of the iconic chalk stack. A vigil from Jerry’s Point offered Red-necked Grebe still, while scoping out across Poole Bay boasted 14 Red-throated Diver south, plus a light scattering of auks on the water. A commendable Black-tailed Godwit count in Holes Bay NW during the intermittent downpours logged 3,453 individuals(!) and neighbouring Lytchett Fields recorded a Merlin. A male Black Redstart was located in Ridge and an adult winter Kittiwake made a brief in-land appearance on Wareham Common.

Good to log sat-tagged Dark-bellied Brent Goose “SY” again on today’s safari © Alison Copland

Cirl Bunting (male) – Stubble field near Old Harry Rocks © Martin Wood

Thats it, January is now done and dusted, as we now move into the era of very early Spring. Depending on how February pans out, there’s potential the first spring migrants could arrive with House Martin, Sand Martin, Garganey, Little Ringed Plover and Wheatear all on the ‘February list’ from past years. All it takes is several strong weather systems to hit from southern Europe and we could see the first signs of summer arrive. Equally, February can also deliver ice and snow, so we’ll just have to be patient and see how this turbulent month evolves.

Todays sightings allowed for confirmation of a decent sized Cirl Bunting flock at Old Harry with a minimum of 9 confirmed. This is just incredible and highlights the nature recovery theme here in the Poole Harbour and Purbeck region. We really hope that by April and May the slopes and cliff tops of Ballard and Old Harry are serenaded by the song of multiple Cirl Bunting setting up new territories. There was also good sea watching to be had off Old Harry with an incredible Red-throated Diver passage underway during the morning with 31 counted between sunrise and 09:30, including a flock of 14 heading south past Old Harry, and 6 settling in Studland Bay, plus other smaller groups. There was also a flock of 4 Great Northern Diver and 1 Black-throated Diver that left Studland Bay and also headed south just after sunrise, along with 5 Common Scoter, 300+ Guillemot and Razorbill, 4 Fulmar, 15+ Kittiwake and 20+ Gannet. The/a Siberian Chiffchaff was still in the PCW drain showing well this morning, there were 3 Black-necked Grebe in Studland Bay and an incredible 6 White-tailed Eagle were soaring and interacting just over the ridge at Kimmeridge this morning. The river valleys are still so flooded that not much are using them but 41 Cattle Egret were making the most of Wareham Common by the afternoon.

Cattle Egret – Wareham Common

As January fades away, providing plenty of memories of wet, overcast, dreary days, it’s actually been a phenomenal start to the year in terms of pure numbers of species logged within the recording area since January 1st. Tundra Bean Geese, White-fronted Geese, Yellow-browed Warbler, Glossy Ibis, Snow Bunting, Red-necked Grebe, Bittern, Black Redstart and Brambling are all excellent January records, and to the best of our knowledge so far, a cracking 150 species have been logged since the start of the year. Today, species number 150 was logged, and what a great record it was too, when local surveyor Nick Hopper found a flock of 6 (but possibly up to 10) Cirl Bunting out on Old Harry in a field within an area of set aside. This is an unprecedented total, and we think possibly the largest gathering of Cirl Bunting in Dorset since their disappearance in the late 1960’s. We’ve had no confirmed breeding records within Poole Harbour since their recovery along the Dorset coast, but with plenty of good habitat around, we’d like to think that over the next few years they’ll become a regular feature along Ballard, Nine Barrow Down and Challow Hill.

Elsewhere there were 15 Spoonbill at Shipstal Point, RSPB Arne, 22 Crossbill were on the edge of Greenlands Farm, 2 White-tailed Eagle were soaring around the Goathorn Peninsular and we’ve also received some quick news back thanks to the Scillonia Seabird Group regarding a dead 1st winter European Shag that was found on Poole Quay this week. It was ringed as a nestling on the Isles of Scilly on June 30th 2025, and was seen in Brixham, Devon a few months later on October 21st, before sadly being found dead along Poole Quay earlier this week. It coincides with the discovery of a dead Great Northern Diver, Guillemot, Cormorant and Razorbill within the last week and a half on various beaches and shores around Poole, and although it’s easy to assign the deaths to bird flue, it’s more likely they died in relation to the torrid weather in January, as each of these species are visual underwater hunters, and the murky water hinders finding food. Especially younger, inexperienced birds.

Dead European Shag ‘3PN’ on Poole Quay on Tuesday 

Life history of ‘3PN’ thanks to the Scillonia Seabird Group 

1 first-winter Little Gull was in the harbour entrance off North Haven this morning. 1 Siberian Chiffchaff was still in the PC World Drain. There was lots of Peregrine activity from our Winter Safari Cruise this afternoon with 3 separate sightings, 1 in Brands Bay, 1 in the Wareham Channel and 1 sat on the shingle in Shipstal Bay. 6 Spoonbill were feeding on the low tide in the Wareham Channel along with c200 Grey Plover, c200 Avocet, c1000 Dunlin and 2 Marsh Harrier were also active here. There were also 9 Spoonbill were in the Middlebere Channel. Off Jerry’s Point there were 4 Great Northern Diver and 1 Slavonian Grebe. A further 3 Great Northern Diver were off the north shore of Brownsea and 1 was in Shell Bay along with 1 Black-necked Grebe. 3 more Black-necked Grebe were in central harbour close to Round Island.

Avocet – the Wareham Channel from our Winter Safari Cruise – Harry McBride