It’s felt so grey for so long now, we’re keeping everything crossed that the New Year brings a change in weather and in birds. Not that there hasn’t been good birds around this winter! In fact it’s been a great end to the year. However, with Christmas Eve now in full flow, and with many folk probably nicely lubricated already, it’s a good chance to settle down and look back at whats been a busy year for the Poole Harbour birding scene and conservation sector. Whether you’re a local, or have visited the area this year, the harbours offered a stunning variety of birding experiences and education opportunities which wouldn’t have been comprehensible 10 years ago. Therefore we hope you’ve you’ve enjoyed your time here and with that in mind, regardless of what your plans are for the next few days….relax, enjoy and we look forward to seeing you on the other side.

Highlights from today included 23 Spoonbill and 1 male Hen Harrier in Middlebere. On Wareham Common 12+ Cattle Egret were still with the cows and in Studland Bay there were 4+ Black-necked Grebe with 1 Great Northern Diver. At Lytchett Bay there were 3 Spoonbill, 2 Marsh Harrier and a White-tailed Eagle was in the Wareham Channel.

Spoonbill – Middlebere – Mark Wright

All quiet on the western (and southern, and eastern and northern) front today! It seems that last ditch Christmas shopping took president with sightings few and far between. The only main highlights that were logged were c600 Avocet and 12 Spoonbill in Middlebere, 1 Spotted Redshank in Holes Bay, the White-tailed Eagle pair were back in the Wareham Channel, a Hen Harrier was at Shipstal and a decent count of 115 dark-bellied Brent Geese on the Brownsea Lagoon.

Of course, each day there are thousands of regular wetland species that occur around the harbour that we don’t report on because they’re considered ‘common’. That doesn’t mean they’re not important and each month they’re all counted as part of the important monthly ‘Wetland Bird Surveys (WeBS), a census some of our team have managed since 2011. For interest below are the totals for our latest survey which was carried out on Dec 10th which logged an incredible 23,649 waterbirds.

Species of Poole Harbour importance: Dec10th total and our max count since 2011 in brackets.

• dark-bellied Brent Goose – 1001 (2442)
• Shelduck – 572 (1826)
• Wigeon – 4467 (5606)
• Pintail – 359 (443)
• Red-breasted Merganser – 147 (299)
• Avocet – 1485 (1829)
• Black-tailed Godwit – 2838 (5156)
• Spoonbill – 33 (66)
• Little Egret – 46 (242)

Harbour WeBS Records: On Dec 10th, no less than four post Nov 2011 records were broken (previous record in brackets)

• Dunlin – 3139 (2850)
• Great Black Backed Gull – 211 (207)
• Great Northern Diver – 16 (12)
• Eider – 6 (4)

Diving/Open water species Species: Other than Great Northern Diver, Eider and Red Breasted Merganser, diving species numbers were low during the Dec 10th WeBS due to the choppy water, but a good variety was reported, as follows:

• Great Crested Grebe x 139
• Goldeneye x 15
• Black-necked Grebe x 3
• Red Throated Diver x 2
• Slavonian Grebe x 2
• Black Throated Diver x 1
• Long Tailed Duck x 1
• Common Scoter x 1

Many thanks to Rod Brummit for consolidating and bringing this info together.

Avocet flock – Middlebere – John Thorpe

A pretty mild day in the harbour today with 2 Eider, 1 Great Northern Diver being seen at the harbour mouth this morning as well as 65 Shag flying into the harbour. The male White-tailed Eagle G463 was seen from the Middlebere Lookout at RSPB Arne as well as 1 ringtail Hen Harrier, 21 Spoonbill, amongst Grey Plover and hundreds of Avocet. A juvenile Peregrine was visible in Poole Town today.

Juvenile Peregrine – Poole Town – Rene Goad

Still much of a muchness today, with the predictable Long-tailed Duck still off Jerry’s/Brands Bay with 2 Black-necked Grebe also there and 4 Great Northern Diver, 1 Black-throated Diver, 2 Eider, 1 Slavonian Grebe and 4 Goldeneye. In Middlebere there were 2 Spotted Redshank, 1 Great White Egret, 1 White-tailed Eagle and 1 Marsh Harrier. In Holes Bay there was another Spotted Redshank plus a great count of 54 Knot. 

Great Northern Diver – South Deep – John Thorpe

Our Christmas cruise this morning featured 1 ringtail Hen Harrier amongst 5 Marsh Harrier surveying the reedbeds over Arne Moors and Swineham, with the low tide at the top end of the Wareham Channel giving views of 200+ Lapwing and Dunlin. 2 Spoonbill were present on the shoreline near Ower Bay and at least 13 Great Northern Diver were counted across the harbour, with 1 Red-throated Diver off Furzey Island and the Black-throated Diver off the south shore of Brownsea. In Studland Bay, there were 5 Black-necked Grebe and 8 Common Scoter. On the rising tide in Brands Bay was a high count of 554 Wigeon, 227 Pintail, 161 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 21 Lapwing, 25 Grey Plover, 91 Black-tailed Godwit, 7 Knot, 5 Bar-tailed Godwit, c.550 Dunlin and 240 Common Gull. Also from Jerry’s Point on the higher tide were 3 Great Northern Diver, 2 Black-necked Grebe, 2 Slavonian Grebe, 2 Eider, 17 Red-breasted Merganser and the Long-tailed Duck. 1 Spotted Redshank was reported in Lytchett Bay this morning. 1 White-tailed Eagle was seen flying high from Coombe Heath at RSPB Arne this morning.

Alison Copland – Black-throated Diver – South Brownsea Shore

A very wet yucky day/morning, one that seems where most people were either in hiding or out Christmas shopping as sightings were limited to just 5 pale-bellied Brent Geese that were found in Lytchett Bay this afternoon. We’ll be out on the water tomorrow morning for our last cruise of the calendar year, so hopefully the goodies from the last week or two will get logged and do the decent thing and hang around to the New Year, to get everyones New Year lists off to a good start!

Common Buzzard – Upton CP

With Christmas Day now only a week away, it seems a white Christmas is almost definitely off the cards sadly. Will we ever see one again? Who knows, but there are certainly loads of Redwing and to a lesser extent Fieldfare currently moving/arriving in Dorset. This is really late in the season for numbers to be arriving, but this last week has seen a dramatic increase in Redwing moving about with October, November and early December seeing almost none spread across the area. It would be nice if some Waxwing could arrive with them too. Perhaps a few will turn up on Xmas Day as Christmas present in someones garden? Other sightings today included 2 Slavonian Grebe and 5 Great Northern Diver off Jerry’s Point, 12 Spoonbill on Shipstal Point, RSPB Arne and a male Hen Harrier in Middlebere. A Spotted Redshank was on Lytchett Fields and off Middle Beach there were 4 Black-necked Grebe and 6 Common Scoter. 

Bar-tailed Godwit – Shore Road, Sandbanks 

One of the highlights from our Winter Safari Cruise this morning was a male Hen Harrier being tailed by a Marsh Harrier over the Keysworth shoreline of the Wareham Channel, with at least 3 other Marsh Harrier active around Swineham. Across the harbour, at least 12 Great Northern Diver were present, with the Black-throated Diver showing well near the south shore of Brownsea. The Brownsea Lagoon provided views of 300+ Avocet, 350 Black-tailed Godwit, 350 Dunlin, 30 Grey Plover, 60 Redshank and 2 Greenshank. The flock of c.25 Spoonbill were roosting near Ower Bay. Studland was well watched throughout the day, with counts from Jerry’s Point including 6 Great Northern Diver, 2 Slavonian Grebe, 2 Black-necked Grebe, 2 Eider, 4 Goldeneye, 36 Red-breasted Merganser and 41 Great Crested Grebe. On the early low tide in Brands Bay there were 208 Teal, 413 Wigeon, 176 Pintail, 74 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 21 Grey Plover, 95 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit and 126 Common Gull, and the Long-tailed Duck was present in the afternoon. There were 6 Common Scoter and 10 Black-necked Grebe also counted in Studland Bay. 15 Cattle Egret were reported on Wareham Common this afternoon.

Black-throated Diver – South Brownsea Shoreline – Seb Elwood

Today, after a couple of weeks of trying, we finally managed to break the Poole Harbour Great Northern Diver record with 25 logged across the entirety of the harbour. The biggest total was in the north channel between the Poole Quay and Sandbanks which consisted of 13 individuals, with 8 around South Deep and 4 in central harbour/Wareham Channel. There are still plenty of other good birds around with the Long-tailed Duck, 1 Black-throated Diver, 1 Red-throated Diver, 2 Slavonian Grebe, 2 Eider, 2 Black-necked Grebe and 7 Goldeneye off Jerry’s Point. Off Fitzworth there were 21 Spoonbill, in the Wareham Channel there were 4 Marsh Harrier and male White-tailed Eagle G463, with the the pair both in Middlebere this morning. On Swineham GP 8 Pochard remained, and this evening, a long awaited double figure count of 10 Black-necked Grebe entered the roost in Studland Bay, where there was also a single pale-bellied Brent Goose.

Long-tailed Duck – Jerry’s Point – Clive Hargrave

Eider – Jerry’s Point – Clive Hargrave

Slavonian Grebe – Jerry’s Point – Clive Hargrave