It’s always a good day when a Poole Harbour 1st is found (especially one from North America), and thats exactly what happened this morning when Mark Wright found a Spotted Sandpiper in Bramble Bush Bay. This has been on the Poole Harbour radar for a while, but locating one was always going to be the challenge seeing as one could appear literally any where. Thankfully Mark was in the right place at the right time to grab some photos which helped enable the identification. Todays bird was a juvenile, moulting into winter plumage meaning it didn’t have the ‘spotting’ of a breeding adult, and therefore looked essentially like our more familiar Common Sandpiper. Thankfully Mark’s photos were so good that all the key features were there in plain site, allowing for a swift ID. The main key features are how short-tailed they are compared to Common Sand, plus Spotted Sandpiper often have much brighter yellow legs. The supercilium is also very pronounced and the bill is an off yellow, pinky colour and slightly thicker set plus they plain edged tertials . The clincher is when they fly, the wing bar is much reduced compared to Common Sand, which is highlighted in Mark’s great picture below. The time of year is also a good clue, because (nearly) all our Common Sandpipers have migrated to Africa by now, although during most winters we see at least 1 over-wintering Common Sandpiper which always get scrutinised for this very reason! It was great that the bird hung around in the same spot all day meaning everyone got great views of it as it fed happily with Dunlin and Turnstone.

Elsewhere the first movement of Wood Pigeon got going with c2000 over the harbour during the course of the morning. The large Cormorant flock thats currently touring the harbour were split into four flocks with c320 in a fishing flock by the houseboats at Bramble bush Bay, c240 fishing off Russell Quay, 250 roosting on Shag Looe, and 60 roosting on Brownsea lagoon. The Brownsea lagoon returned some decent totals with 30 Greenshank, 120 Redshank, 1140 Black-tailed Godwit, 5      Bar-tailed Godwit, 398 Dunlin, 22 Ringed Plover, 20 Grey Plover, 8 Grey Herons, 242 Avocet, 1 Rock Pipit, 1 Kingfisher and 120 Wigeon. There were 2 Red-throated Diver, one in North Channel and one off the north shore of Brownsea. Plus there were 2 Great Northern Diver with one in the North Channel and the other off Green Island, plus here were 8 Great Crested Grebe in Brands Bay and 35 Red-breasted Merganser were off Furzey. The Wareham flood meadows between Swineham and Bestwall were awash with water but there was only 1 Spotted Redshank, 5 – 6 Bearded Tit off Swineham point, two Fieldfare flocks over and 1 Grey Wagtail at Wareham Quay. At RSPB Arne, 24 Spoonbill were on Shipstal and ringtail Hen Harriers were seen in Lytchett Bay and at Swineham. The Common Scoter was also in Lytchett Bay again and a White-tailed Eagle was soaring high over the north of the harbour, viewed from the Wareham Channel area.

Spotted Sandpiper – Bramble Bush Bay 

Spotted Sandpiper – Bramble bush Bay – Mark Wright

Spotted Sandpiper in flight showing restricted wing bar – Bramble bush Bay – Mark Wright

In some instances you tend to find the good birds during the bad weather, but then sometimes, you often have to wait for the dust to settle for the decent stuff to appear, and thats exactly what seemed to happen today with a definite arrival of birds across the harbour of all shapes and sizes. The undoubted highlight was when a Great Grey Shrike appeared in a bush at Lytchett Fields, right next to a net where Stour Ringing Group were attempting to catch Water Pipit as part of a national study. Not only did the shrike appear next to the net, it also then had the decency to fly down straight into the net, where it was caught and then processed by the team. This was the first record of Great Grey Shrike for Lytchett Bay and the first ever to be ringed in Poole Harbour. Plus, this wasn’t quite what the team were expecting after near hurricane force winds from the west over the last 24 hours considering this is a species from central and north eastern Europe! Oh yeah, and they did catch a Water Pipit too. The excitement wasn’t just limited to Lytchett Bay with a Bittern seen flying over the reeds at Swineham Point as it then got harassed by a Marsh Harrier of which there were 8+ present in the same area. Also at Swineham Point 20+ Bearded Tit were being incredibly vocal, and sounding like they wanted leave/depart imminently. We think the strangest sighting of the day went to a Black-necked Grebe that was feeding quite happily out in the middle of the flooded fields at Bestwall (west of Swineham). We’re obviously more familiar with seeing these out towards the harbour mouth, with 1 off Jerry’s Point this morning and another in Studland Bay, but out in the middle of some farm fields is a new one for us! On Swineham GP there were 2 drake Pochard and on Arne Moors 5 Spotted Redshank and 5 Greenshank. At Shipstal 2 Great White Egret flew over and 3 were seen in Middlebere where there was also a ringtail Hen Harrier. Female White-tailed Eagle G466 was sat on the post on the smallest gull island around 10am and out in central harbour there were 3 Eider (2 imm male and a female). The first Great Northern Divers of the winter were seen at several sites with 1 in the Wareham Channel, 1 in central harbour and another off Jerry’s Point and the first Goldeneye of the winter arrived with a female also off Jerry’s Point. There seemed to be a lot of newly arrived common wildfowl around, and with the river valleys so flooded it’s no surprise as they plenty of places to choose to feed. At Bestwall alone there was a single flock of 74 Shoveler, plus multiple other smaller groups moving up and down the Frome Valley between Swineham Point and Bestwall, as well as slightly smaller numbers of Pintail, Gadwall, Teal and Wigeon. There were also 16 Knot roosting on Shipstal Beach and a minimum of 5 Sandwich Tern flying around the harbour. It’s now getting to the point where any Chiffchaff that are  present are likely to be over-wintering individuals rather than late migrants, however 1 was in full song at Carey Secret Garden this afternoon, which you don’t quite expect in early November. This afternoon a redhead Goosander was also on the floods at Bestwall, and over on Keysworth (viewed from Slepe Heath) there were 14 Cattle Egret and a ringtail Hen Harrier with 2 Great White Egret also there and both White-tailed Eagles out on Shag Looe Spit.

Great Grey Shrike when it appeared in bush next to ringing net (note net pole to the right) – Lytchett Fields – Shaun Robson

Great Grey Shrike after being ringed and processed – Lytchett Fields – Phil Saunders

Thankfully the local impacts of last nights storm didn’t seem too bad, with just some minor flooding on the roads and a couple of downed trees. Hopefully everyone stayed safe and well. On the birding front, the impacts of the storm were equally uneventful locally with high anticipation and expectation for this mornings sea watch, only for it to not produce very much! Weirdly when we headed out at 6:30am there wasn’t a breath of wind, so the best we could muster from Branksome Chine was 1 drake Eider, 1 Great Northern Diver, 6 dark-bellied Brent Geese, 1 1st winter Kittiwake, 8 Sanderling and 1 Turnstone all west, with c30 Gannet heading both east and west. At the harbour entrance 2 small diver sp entered the harbour, almost certainly Red-throated Diver and a Razorbill was in Shell Bay. However, later in the day another vigil at Branksome did produce a few decent birds including a European Storm Petrel and then 2 distatnt petrel species, also 110 Black-tailed Godwit, 5 Common Scoter and a Merlin flew across Poole Bay. The storm did produce the goods for one area though, and that was Lytchett Bay as it hosted it’s first Common Scoter in 30 years, with a juv/female type present at dawn. Elsewhere there were 12 Cattle Egret in the Frome Valley at the Wareham – Stoborough causeway. Then, late this afternoon an incredibly late Hobby was over Arne Moors.

Common Scoter – Lytcehtt Bay – Ian Ballam

It’s always promising when the first (unofficial) day of winter starts with a raging storm. So while we sit and wait to see what Storm Ciaran blows in tomorrow, here’s todays limited highlights. A sea watch at South Beach, Studland produced 16 Kittiwake and this morning 2 diver flew into the harbour, 1 definitely a Red-throated Diver and the other unidentified. There were 12 Spoonbill at RSPB Arne, 4 Marsh Harrier at Swineham and 7 Red-breasted Merganser off Hamworty Beach. Talking of which………

A fairly wet Halloween this year but still plenty of good birds around. 1 male Ring Ouzel was still at Godlingston Hill. Lots of sightings of White-tailed Eagle as well with 1 being seen first thing in the morning at Lytchett Heath along with 2 Marsh Harrier and then the pair later on at Middlebere.

The high tides in the harbour are continuing and with plenty of floodwater a lot of waders are being pushed out of some of their usual sites. Holes Bay had very few Black-tailed Godwit but there were 714 Wigeon, 40 Dunlin and 3 Common Snipe and at Middle Beach, Studland, 3 Razorbills were out at sea. The high tide in the Middlebere Channel produced 2 Great White Egret, 1 Spotted Redshank, 4 Grey Plover, 1550 Black-tailed Godwit, 350 Avocet, 1 Pintail and 7 Red-breasted Merganser. 1 Cattle Egret was still present at Holmebridge amongst several Little Egret.

Finally the Brownsea Lagoon had some very impressive counts of waders including 3 Curlew Sandpiper, 1420 Dunlin, 5 Sanderling, 28 Knot, 620 Avocet, 4 Spotted Redshank, 18 Greenshank, 2470 Black-tailed Godwit, 39 Bar-tailed Godwit and 25 Spoonbill.

Curlew Sandpiper – Brownsea Lagoon – Hamish Murray

Several torrential downpours and an exceptionally high tide made for a slightly wet final Autumn Safari of the year this morning to say the least, but none of that could dampen our spirits when we were rewarded during the dry spells with 1 Great White Egret, 1 Cattle Egret, 2 White-Tailed Eagle, and 3 Marsh Harrier in the Wareham Channel, 3 Red-breasted Merganser in the central harbour, plus 27 Spoonbill, 300 Avocet, 500 Dunlin, 5 Rock Pipit on the Brownsea Lagoon. Great White Egret were also reported elsewhere with two over Lytchett Fields first thing and one over Middlebere early afternoon along with 2 Spotted Redshank. Cattle Egret were present at Holmebridge once again with 6 mixed in amongst 10 Little Egret. At Brands Bay this afternoon there were 5 Brent Geese, 131 Wigeon, 14 Pintail, 7 Avocet, 7 Grey Plover, 131 Black-tailed Godwit, 7 Bar-tailed Godwit, 139 Redshank, 3 Knot, 88 Dunlin and 2 Sandwich Tern. And in Holes Bay there were nearly 1000 Wigeon, over 100 Teal and doubles figures of Shoveler and Pintail, 500 Black-tailed Godwit, 100 Redshank and few each of Oystercatcher and Curlew. In the Ulwell gap 3 Ring Ouzel were still feeding on berries and there were 3 Firecrest up on Ballard Down.

Cattle Egret – Holmebridge – Mark Wright

The on/off down pours made it difficult to get out birding today for long periods but there were several highlights including a very late juv Common Tern which was flying around the Brownsea Quay. If both the Arctic Tern from the last few days and this Common Tern hang around for a few days more, then there’s the ridiculous possibility of having 3 tern species (possibly 4 if the Forster’s Tern is still about) still present in the harbour into November as there were also 5 Sandwich Tern in Poole Park this morning. Also on Brownsea was 1 winter plumage Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Spotted Redshank, 17 Greenshank, 35 Grey Plover and 12 Knot, with a Brambling there yesterday too. The Red-throated Diver flew into the harbour early doors and an amazing 18 Marsh Harrier left the west harbour roost. A Ringtail Hen Harrier was over the mouth of the River Piddle in the Wareham Channel and 4 Cattle Egret were with 6 Little Egret up at Holmebridge. Finally, there were 5 Spoonbill in the mouth of Wytch Mouth this evening.

Spoonbill – Wytch Lake

There are some nice totals building in the harbour as autumn progresses with more and more winter birds arriving. A high tide count on the Brownsea Lagoon this morning produced a whopping 19 Greenshank, along with 440 Dunlin, 32 Grey Plover, 281 Avocet, 138 Redshank, 21 Bar-tailed Godwit and 25 Spoonbill also logged. In the Wareham Channel this evening, yesterdays Arctic Tern was still around, hunting in the mouth of the River Frome and a ringtail Hen Harrier was active in the mouth of the River Piddle. The White-tailed Eagle pair were chilling out on the edge of the Wareham Channel this evening in the dimming light. Off Jerry’s Point the Common Scoter was still present and there were 19 Great Crested Grebe and 3 Red-breasted Merganser. In Lytchett Bay this morning 6 Little Grebe were across the bay, 6 Lesser Redpoll flew over and a Marsh Harrier was over Otter Island. In Middlebere 2 Great White Egret were feeding on the high tide, a Merlin was on Hartland and the Red-throated Diver was seen flying into the harbour at dawn.

Double Rainbow over Wareham Channel from Slepe Heath