A drizzly day in the harbour today, meaning sightings were minimal. However, there were 2 reports of Little Gull today with one being seen in Lytchett Bay and a 1st winter at the South Haven Houseboats. A new record total of Pintail were counted in Holes Bay this afternoon with 108 being seen. 1 Great Northern Diver was also off Baiter Park and the Long-tailed Duck was still in Brands Bay off Redhorn Quay.

The poor weather didn’t stop our School Bird Boat from going ahead this morning and the kids stayed mostly dry! Some good sightings while on the boat including 2 Great Northern Diver in the Wareham Channel, 40+ Red-breasted Merganser, 10 flyover Pintail, c70 Lapwing and 4 Marsh Harrier. On the Brownsea Lagoon c200 Dunlin and 3 Greenshank were present but the large numbers of Avocet and Black-tailed Godwit must have been elsewhere in the harbour with only c60 and c100 of each respectively.

1st Winter Little Gull – Bramble Bush Bay, Studland – Rob Johnson

It was such a shame the fog never really cleared, as the harbour was like a mirror all day, which would have provided perfect viewing conditions right around the harbour. Situations with zero wind are rare, and the fact we were due to host a bird boat today held so much promise. Unfortunately we had to cancel the boat (despite postponing it for two hours) meaning reports were few and far between. In the gloom off Jerry’s Point the Long-tailed Duck did just about show it’s self and there were also 2 Great Northern Diver off there too. Best bird of the day was a newly found ‘eastern’ Lesser Whitethroat sp along the promenade at Canford Cliffs. Other than that….today will just be classed as ‘a whiteout’! Hopefully conditions will improve in due course.

Long-tailed Duck in the gloom – Jerry’s Point – Peter Moore

Well, we’re now on the run in to not only Christmas, but the end of another busy year too. The years just seem to be going so fast, as do the weeks. Well, it definitely felt like winter today with a hard frost on most folks windscreens and the mercury reading -3 degrees. A cold NE wind at dawn didn’t help much either, but there was some hope for a last ditch vis-mig pulse of birds, however a session up on Ballard at dawn didn’t produce much apart from very cold fingers and toes. The only movement along Ballard was in the form of 5 Greenfinch, 17 Goldfinch, 10 Chaffinch, 5 Linnet, 2 Siskin, 10 Starling and 2 Fieldfare. Also up on Ballard there were also 2 Firecrest in the scrub and 1 Chiffchaff. Once again, the main interest came from around the Studland Peninsular with the Long-tailed Duck off Jerry’s Point again along with 1 Black-throated Diver and 1 Red-throated Diver in the main shipping lane near the harbour mouth, 2 Great Northern Diver, 4 Goldeneye, 28+ Great Crested Grebe and 1 Slavonian Grebe. There were also 2 Black-necked Grebe near the harbour mouth and at Lytchett Bay 5 Spoonbill were in the bay and a Great White Egret was at Lytchett Fields. The White-tailed Eagle pair were in the Wareham Channel for most of the day and there were 4 Marsh Harrier at Swineham. It’s a very strange scenario when Fieldfare are outnumbering Redwing as the most numerous ‘winter thrush’, but that certainly seems to be the case at the moment with a decent sized Fieldfare flock feasting on apples at Middlebere, but barely a Redwing to be seen (or heard) across much of the harbour, just small numbers of ones and twos.

Long-tailed Duck – Jerry’s Point – Rob Johnson

Fieldfare – Middlebere – Rob Johnson

We had the first snow of the winter this morning making for a very cold, fresh day which may push some more winter visitors into the harbour. This didn’t stop the White-tailed Eagle pair from being active with some amazing footage of them this morning hunting a Cormorant on the Brownsea Lagoon. They then took off and cruised over the north shore although by the sounds of it, without their prey!

We were also running one of our Poole Quay walks this morning, although just too late to see the eagle action. We were still rewarded with plenty of good birds despite the cold including, 112 Brent Geese on Baiter Park, 8 Ringed Plover, 20 Turnstone, 1 Dunlin, 15 Common Redshank, 25 Oystercatcher, 4 Shag and 1 Mediterranean Gull at Baiter that had a colour ring on it’s leg which we are still awaiting the life history on, but the ringing scheme would suggest it was ringed in Belgium or the Netherlands.

At Lytchett Fields there were 2 Great White Egret and 227 Dunlin and at Jerry’s Point, Studland, the Long-tailed Duck was still present as well as 1 Slavonian Grebe, 4 Great Northern Diver and 3 Goldeneye.

Another blissful day across the harbour with flat calm waters and a very light NE wind, bringing with it an almost (dare we say it) Christmasy chill to the air. There was plenty going on again all day with our Winter Safari this morning logging a decent haul of birds including 11 Great Northern Diver spread across the area including birds off Jerry’s Point, in central harbour, off Baiter and in the Wareham Channel. There was a Slavonian Grebe off Jerry’s Point and a marked increase of 13 Goldeneye with 8 in the Wareham Channel and others in central harbour and now up to 100 Red-breasted Merganser. The White-tailed Eagle pair, G466 and G463 were active in the Wareham Channel for most of the morning and the younger female eagle with the deformed beak, G801, was seen over RSPB Arne first thing, before she was later observed flying over Ballard Down and settling on Swanage Beach. A Great White Egret was over Swineham and there were 3 Marsh Harrier around the mouth of the Piddle and Frome Valley. The Spoonbill flock seem to have de-camped from Shipstal in recent weeks and are favouring the shorelines along the south of the harbour with 25 roosting off Fitzworth Point this morning. On the Swineham Scrapes a Green Sandpiper was feeding and there were 4+ Bearded Tit in the reedbeds. The Brownsea Lagoon was packed with birds including c350 Avocet, c1600 Black-tailed Godwit, c800 Dunlin, c20 Ringed Plover, 8 Grey Plover and c200 Oystercatcher. Another vis-mig session was carried out up at Glebelands on Ballard Down, and amazingly yesterdays Tree Pipit was still around, which was heard calling somewhere along the ridge. Also logged were 153 Chaffinch migrating NE, also 2 Brambling, 2 Bullfinch, 1 Lesser Redpoll, 35 Goldfinch, 2 Fieldfare, 5 Redwing and 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker. Hen Harrier sightings were logged at Lytchett Bay, Lytchett Fields, Middlebere and Swineham with both ringtail and adult males logged. Out in Studland Bay, from Middle Beach there were 6 Black-necked Grebe, 2 Great Northern Diver, 5 Common Scoter and 2 Sandwich Tern. Another Great White Egret was at the top end of Middlebere and in the PCW Drain at Holes Bay a minimum of 7 Chiffchaff were active. A 1st winter Little Gull was in Brands Bay late this afternoon plus the Long-tailed Duck was off Redhorn early afternoon where there were also 3 Great Northern Diver, 1 Red-throated Diver, 1 Black-throated Diver (near the harbour entrance), 3 Goldeneye and 42 Great Crested Grebe.

Masses of waders (Black-tailed Godwits, Avocets) on the DWT Brownsea Lagoon – Alison Copland

Masses of waders (Oystercatchers, Bar-tailed Godwit, Dunlin & Avocet) on the DWT Brownsea Lagoon – Alison Copland

The harbour was at it’s very best today, bar a few exceptions (Red-necked Grebe for example), it provided everything you could possibly hope for from a winter days birding. Yes the calm weather helped, but when conditions like this occur, not only does it deliver new birds, it also allows for great coverage and today pretty much every corner of the harbour was observed returning a great mix of species. We’ll start with our Low-tide Cruise this afternoon which produced an incredible 24 Great Northern Diver spread across the entirety of the harbour. We were then treated to great views of a Black-throated Diver close to the harbour entrance and then 2 Red-throated Diver close to the boat in central harbour. There was a single Goldeneye off Pottery Pier, 1 Black-necked Grebe in Brands Bay, c20 Red-breasted Merganser in central harbour, 2 Kingfisher, the White-tailed Eagle pair were in the Wareham Channel, a ringtail Hen Harrier flew across in front of the boat in the Wareham Channel and there was also an adult male and female Marsh Harrier in the Wareham Channel. We also only logged 1 Spoonbill (also in the Wareham Channel), c200 Avocet off Fitzworth, c400 dark-bellied Brent Geese around the harbour fringes, 1 Great White Egret (in the Wareham Channel), c400 sinensis Cormorant, c300 Black-tailed Godwit and really good numbers of typical winter birds such as Shelduck, Wigeon, Teal, Dunlin, Oystercatcher, Curlew and Redshank. The best bird of the day was a newly arrived Long-tailed Duck in Brands Bay late this afternoon and there were singles of Slavonian Grebe off Jerry’s Point and off Middle Beach Studland. Also off Middle Beach were 7 Black-necked Grebe, 2 Great Northern Diver and 4 Common Scoter. The male Hen Harrier was doing the rounds being viewed at Swineham, Lytchett Bay and Middlebere, as was the female ringtail Hen Harrier which was also seen at the same locations. This morning 3 Great White Egret settled in Lytchett Bay and 5 Cattle Egret headed up the Frome Valley just after dawn. There was a single Brambling in Arne Village and at Middlebere 1 Merlin, 1 Spotted Redshank and 6 Spoonbill. Fieldfare were moving around in small numbers this morning, there were also 7 Cattle Egret logged over Wareham Common, 1 Spotted Redshank was in Holes Bay and 12 Spoonbill were in Lytchett Bay this afternoon.

Black-throated Diver – South Deep, from Low-tide Cruise – Dorothy Windall

Red-throated Diver – South Deep, from Low-tide Cruise – Dorothy Windall

Great Northern Diver, from Low-tide Cruise – North Channel

Goshawk – RSPB Arne – Mark Wright

Great White Egrets – Lytchett Bay – Alison Copland