I drove down to Dorset yesterday morning through some heavy showers and planned to spend the day around Christchurch harbour. Thankfully the rain stopped as arrived at my first destination, Stanpit Marsh where I spent an hour or so following the marked path around the reserve. I didn't see many birds of note, apart from a curlew, and a large group of oyster catchers. As I walked, mallards flew up from the grass where they had been feeding, allowing me to attempt some flight shots.
On the other side of the harbour lies Hengistbury head, and with skies clearing, but with a brisk wind I took a walk round the headland, following a route described in a book I had recently acquired. I think the high tide and brisk wind were having an effect and birds seemed few and far between. However it was interesting to see the row of beach huts ( which fetch up to £500,00 each!) and there was a good view across to the Needles on the Isle of Wight. I stopped off by the 'Coast Watch' on the top of the headland building and was invited to look around by one of the four volunteers on duty which was interesting. Their job is mainly to look out for anyone who might be in danger, around the coast, and alert the coast guard if necessary. They were currently watching a someone standing in a small RIB boat who had no life jacket.
After staying overI got up in good time today to arrive at Poole Quay ready for the aforementioned boat trip. Today was my third trip with Birds of Poole harbour, a small charity which puts on regular birdwatching boat trips around Poole harbour with the purpose of not only, increasing their funding but also educating the public about the wildlife and birds which exist in the area. The 'Osprey Cruises' in August and early September are timed to make the most of the migration of ospreys passing through as they return south to warmer climates after breeding in the UK. Poole harbour itself has 2 pairs of nesting ospreys. After the poor weather earlier in the week, this morning was fine and sunny and the water completely calm. Hopefully this would prove good for osprey watching and sure enough, within 15 minutes we had seen our first osprey.! As the main aim was to look for ospreys we spent most of our time in their preferred fishing area, with eight sightings over the three hours we were on the water. However, the birds remained fairly distant although could be seen easily through binoculars. Only one bird made an attempt at diving for fish but was unsuccessful. As well as ospreys we spotted other raptors including sparrowhawk, hobby, marsh harrier, buzzard and kestrel. Sadly no white tailed eagles today though apparently one was reported perched just off Brownsea island, but of course had left before we arrived.
In the reed beds we saw a bearded tit and heard water rail calling, and in the Brownsea Island lagoon there were numerous waders including redshanks, greenshanks, dunlin, knot, turnstone, avocets, ringed plover. We also had two sightings of a kingfisher . However, although there was room to move around on the boat, I found it hard to get photos of the birds we saw, Generally they were too distant or there wasn't really enough time to focus before the boat moved on.
mallard at Stanpit marsh
Christchurch priory
curlew
lesser black backed gull
View of the Needles from Hengistbury head
Coast watch station
view of Christchurch harbour
A rather rough sea at Hengistbury head beach
Starling in the car park at Hengistbury Head
some of the many starlings in the car park
Closer view of the needles, the white rock is a reminder of the shape of a polar bear
A much calmer Poole harbour
A cardboard cut- out of the osprey
osprey hovering
Poole harbour
entrance to Brownsea island
gulls and sandwich terns
up to 30 Spoonbills
